Halford & Brough in the Morning - Canada Has To Beat Qatar

Episode Date: June 18, 2026

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports (3:00), plus they preview today's big Canada vs. Qatar matchup at the World Cup with Sportsnet soccer analyst John Molinaro (27:13).  This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

You're listening to Halford and Brough. The Vancouver Golden Eyes select from the University of Wisconsin, defenseman KK Harvey. It's that time of the year. Lots of chatter the teams are calling about Elias Pedersen. I am shocked. Shocked. Well, not that shocked. Louis Barlin dominates. the Red Sox here in the bottom of the ninth inning. Good morning, Vancouver, 601 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody.

It is Halford and is Brough. It is SportsNet 650. We are coming here live from the Kintech Studios in beautiful Mount Pleasant in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adaw, good morning to you. Good morning to you as well. Hello, hello.

Halford and Brough of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Are you drowning in tax debt? If you are, Sands and Associates can often reduce your debt by up 80% with no upfront fees. visit them today at sands dash trustee.com. We are in our one of the program. Hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Banker's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal recycling, they recycle you get paid.

Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to live from the Kintech Studios. Step strong with orthotics and footwear from Kintech. If you want to text into the show today, maybe you're nervous about the Canada guitar match and need a little support. The Dunbar Lumber Text line is 650, 650

trusted by contractors and DIY champions across Metro Vancouver for generations. Find them at three convenient locations or visit Dunbar Lumber Online today. Okay, let's get into our morning guest list. It's the Doick Morning Drive, brought to by the Duick Auto Group begins at 630. John Mollinaro is going to

join the program, Sportsnet Soccer Insider. Today, 3 o'clock from BC Place, Canada taking on guitar, as Jason mentioned, in a massive match. to see who gets out of their World Cup group. John's going to join us at 6.30 to preview the game. 7 o'clock Adnan Verk from MLB Network. We actually really need this hit with Adnan today

because with the World Cup starting and all the hockey news happening, I am absolutely lost with baseball right now. Just have no idea what's going on. Adnan's going to help us with that. Get us up to speed with the Jays. Does Vlad Guerrero have four home runs yet? We're going to find out at 7 o'clock with Adnan Verk.

That's going to be your lead question. What's going on with baseball? What's going to deal with baseball these days? Adnanberg from MLB Network is going to join us at 7. 7.30 sports net golf analyst Adam Stanley is going to join. As if we needed another major sporting event right now, the U.S. Open is underway from Shitticock Hills in New York. Play got underway about an hour ago.

There was a fog delay this morning. We'll check in live from Shinnock. Adams there on location. He's going to join us at 7.30. That course is going to be a beast. Between the weather. It sounds like it's very challenging. I didn't do a ton of research into Shinnock, I'll admit, but I read a little bit about it last night.

It seems like it's going to be really tough. 8 o'clock Thomas Drance is going to join the program. Athletic Vancouver Canucks talk. The Canucks rumors really took off yesterday. Multiple NHL insiders reporting the team is ready to move on from a lot of players, a lot of veteran skaters. It's not even a tear it down to the studs rebuild. It's a burn it to the ground rebuild. What's Drans are hearing?

We're going to find out at 8 a.m. Also at 8 a.m. We are giving away another pair of tickets to the Outdoorsman and Conservation Festival. That gets underway on June 26th in Squamish. It goes the 26th and the 27th. Visit them online at OCFFest.ca for more. Caller number 5 at 8 a.m. this morning, 604-280.0-650. You go to that every year, don't you?

Oh, what a lineup. You can't wait. It's one of your favorite outdoorsman and conservation festivals. It may be the best one of them all. So caller number 5 at 8 a.m. 604, 280, you'll win a pair of tickets for that. We got a lot to get into on the program. Without further ado, Laddy, to tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night?

No. What happened? I missed all the action because I'm losing. We know how busy your life can be. What happened? Missed it? You missed that? What happened is brought to you by ATS traffic.

Start with a career path in traffic safety. receive competitive wages and training at one of Canada's best managed companies. Visit them online at aTS traffic.ca. Despite all the stuff going on in all the sports, we got to start with the Vancouver Canucks. And the rumors are heating up as we get closer to the draft and the start of free agency. Yeah, the draft is next Friday. And it's Thursday today.

So eight days away. And there were multiple reports yesterday from the likes of Rick Dollywell, Thomas Strand, Pierre LeBron, that suggested the. We're looking to unload more contracts this offseason and that players like Elias Pedersen, Brock Besser, and Jake DeBresk were available to be traded. Now that DeBrusk is available is no surprise. He probably made himself available given his hints last season that he didn't really want to be part of a rebuild.

Well, be sure in one now. The situation with Pedersen and Besser is a little different because, Because despite what was said publicly, we weren't really sure what the Canucks were thinking with those two or what those two were thinking about their future with the Vancouver Canucks. LeBron went on Edmonton Radio and said the Canucks, quote, want to tear it all down. He also said, and I think this is very important. Okay. That he thinks this is news. Okay.

If he's right. I'm leaning in. that he thinks the Kinex would be willing to retain salary on a Pedersen trade, which is something that's thought to have been a non-starter under the previous regime, which, of course, signed Pedersen to his current contract. Not too long ago, but right around the time Pedersen's game fell off a cliff. LeBrun did qualify that a team he spoke with wasn't sure that they could get Pedersen back to a level that would justify a trade,

even with salary retained. And that makes sense because nobody sure, if Pedersen will ever rediscover his form. It's a bizarre situation with him, and it would take a big gamble to pick up his contract, even at a discount because of how long the contract is. But at the same time, the payoff could be huge

if a change of scenery reignites something in him. I just want to get a few through a few things here. Yeah, go ahead, man. We haven't spoken as much about Besser, who just a year ago looked like he would be signing elsewhere. But you'll remember the Cunucks struck out in free agency and came back to Bessor's camp with an offer that he signed on July 1st. And here we are today, and the Cunuchs are apparently looking to,

to move that contract. So why are the Canucks trying to move these players? Well, lots of reasons. One is that they want to change the culture. And to change the culture, you often have to change the personnel, especially the highest paid personnel. They also want to bring in some new players and give those guys an opportunity. Whether those are young players or high character veterans,

they sign in free agency or acquire in trades. finally you have to wonder if at least some of this has to do with saving money sure the Canucks sounds like they're going to be running a pretty lean operation over the next few years sorry Drancer but I don't think they're going to be going out and spending crazy money in free agency yes they still need to hit the salary cap floor but they also need the budget space to go out and acquire new players um okay So the big news yesterday really was that, you know, the Canucks want to keep dismantling. And they might even be willing to retain salary on Elias Pedersen, which again, if LeBron is right on this, that's news.

can we just pause a moment and appreciate what a massive indictment this change of course represents? I'm willing to pause and reflect. I really want everyone to stop and think about what the Seneens and Ryan Johnson must have been thinking about this team over the last few years, even though they worked for the team. they weren't making the decisions. They've already basically said it without actually saying it, but bad culture, bad leaders,

not involved enough in the community, not a team the fans could be proud of. I mean, other than that, things were great. I think they thought, you know, Linus Carlson made some, some nice strides, but, you know, other than that, I mean, they probably felt the same as we did, about the team.

Probably. Yeah. The proof sometimes is in the pudding, Jason. Yeah. Seeing the pudding get made right now. So I guess we also have to wonder what happens if the Canucks aren't able to move Pedersen or Bessor.

I'm confident they'll be able to move to Brusk. Are they willing to retain on Bessor 2? I really don't like the idea of retaining on either of them, to be honest. These are long-term contracts. And you only get three retention slots.

They're already retaining on Tyler Myers for next season. Sometimes you need those slots. You know, sometimes you need them for, I don't know, not too long, but sure. The trade deadline, right? Okay, we'll retain for the rest of the year, right? Like, I do not see them retaining on Bessert and Pedersen. And frankly, I still think that they're going to be hesitant to retain, but if they

are willing to retain, that just says so much about how they think, like, some guys just like, no, we got to move on from this player. How awkward is that going to be, though, if they can't trade these guys that they're like, we want, we want to move on from. Could they maybe build like a separate dressing room for the players who aren't going to help build the new culture, but more renovations? But also aren't movable? I mean, I don't want to use the word shun.

And I don't think they need to wear a scarlet letter. anything but okay never mind that's a bad idea if they're part of the team they're part of the team but I'm just trying to I'm trying to I'm trying to think you're being thinking creative I'm just I'm just throwing out I'm just throwing out these ideas okay

I'm an ideas guy just trying to come up with stuff but you know RJ listing fiercely scribbling down notes I do I mean they can't buy Pedersen out the contract is it's buyout proof and like they're not going to do

that and he he they shouldn't have to okay with with all the teams out there looking for centers and if they are willing to retain salary you know they they should be able i guess they should be able to to trade them depending how much salary they are willing to retain but if they ultimately don't decide to do that and they've tried it so many times like it's not going to get any more normal with peters okay here's my my thinking on this and i don't do believe that the previous regime, in part because it was their signatures, like, you know, theatrically speaking here, on the Pedersen contract, right? It was...

They were the ones that strong-armed them into it. You know, I've often said that I think the Jim Rutherford era in Vancouver, now that it's over, is largely defined by the fact that he did the Pedersen. Okay? I honestly don't think we're critical enough of Jim Rutherford and what he did. Yeah, we just don't have the bandwidth for this morning. It is crazy. Because we're trying to look forward.

We're ideas guys now, right? We're trying to figure out how we can help this thing along. I think the previous regime was always convinced that they made the right move with Pedersen, that the contract wasn't an anchor, and that when they entered into these contract negotiations, sorry, trade negotiations and talks with other teams, it was never about freeing themselves from Pedersen. it was always about what are we going to get back in return and what, you know, how

tangible an asset is this for us in a trade? You know what I'm saying? Like they never viewed it as we need to get rid of this because in part I think there was some hubris involved. Absolutely. Absolutely. It's it. You that they'd have to admit they made a mistake then.

I think the new regime is freed from all of those ties. Mm-hmm. And you know what I thought about when, you know, you were going through all of these different notes from yesterday was what shame to Goldman said on our show yesterday about Darnell Nurse, talking about his ticket and how the Oilers

might have to retain. And she's like, you know, if you can break down his game into it sort of and you can compartmentalize the parts of what he's decent at, you could make an argument that his ability to skate and his strength and his reach, he becomes a viable four or five defensemen at a reasonable ticket

if you retain some of the money. And I thought, can you apply that same logic to Pedersen with some other teams right now? Like, hey, we know at 11.6, that's a lot to swallow. But at a reduced rate, can you talk yourself into a guy that's probably going to give you 50 to 60 points, is going to play reasonably sound defensive hockey and might rebound even a little bit more? I just want to throw something out there. because if you go on the premise of

Pedersen goes to a team and he's the third line center, right? So is that your premise? Maybe it's two. Okay. But let's say he's the third line center. Yeah. Okay. Or even the two.

It doesn't matter. Yeah. Okay. So if he's the third line center on a team, he's not playing with the best winger's. He's not getting as much ice time. he did in Vancouver. He's not on PP1.

This notion that he's automatically going to put up 50 or 60 points is wrong. But that's the, that's the sell. That's what you're selling. That's the sell. Also, he's never played with good wingers. Put him with good wingers, maybe he generates more points.

I'm just saying, that's a narrative that's always out there. That was the only part of your hypothetical I would have pushed back on him. Like you always hear that. He wasn't playing with great wingers ever here, right? He piled up so many secondary assist this year by passing the puck back to Heronic on the power play and

Heronic would shoot it and either score or get tipped in. Be like another point for PD. He's not going to get the opportunity to do that on other teams. Yeah, but you put him with a decent wing or like a defoli or something and not saying he's playing with that. Okay. That kind of a player he's talented enough that he could generate

points. But let's not get... He has a good vision. Let's not get bogged down in this part of it. So maybe that's how the Canucks could sell it though, I'm saying. It's like you talk to a GM. Hey, you guys got good wingers, but you don't have a good center. Well, this center can make your wingers better and vice versa. So there's yourself. This center is not going to make your wingers better, though.

It's a good playmaker. Let's not get bogged down in this part of it, though. Because I think the major takeaway from yesterday, and what you appropriately phrased is the news of the day, is the report from LeBron that they were willing to retain on a deal. So we just had a text in unsigned to the Dunbar Lumber text message in basket. And it said, boys, they aren't going to trade him now while his value is at its lowest peb.

Or they shouldn't anyway. his value can still rise and realistically the Canucks can still want extra picks in the 2029 draft so that they're staggering ELCs. There's so much time. To the texture I would say this, you're looking at it from a purely

analytical perspective in terms of what the asset means. I think you need to look at this in terms of the damage that he might do being around the group and what the Siddins and Johnson have talked about in terms of culture, work ethic, habits, preparation, and what they want this group to be.

I'll even go so far as to say, this might not even necessarily be just solely a Pedersen problem. I think, to your earlier point, they want to gut this thing like a fish. And I know I've used that before, because I've said it before. But when the team is this lost and has so little soul and spirit and heartbeat to it,

sometimes you need to do major surgery. And sometimes you need to deal guys at a loss. I understand that you would be trading him but it's lowest debt. But I also understand that in order to truly move forward with a rebuild, sometimes you just have to say we're clearing the decks. We're getting rid of it all. And I know this is counterintuitive to a lot of analytical liens who would say,

you can't do that. You have to treat every asset as if it's an asset. But I would push back on that notion. Also, the text is assuming PD will bounce back. Well, this is the notion that I'll disagree with. Because this is what we heard last year or previous times when there's been considerations of trading Pedersen. Well, his value can't get any lower. Yes, it can.

There is downside risk. If you can actually trade him this offseason, then I think they should do it. Because if you wait and you're like, let's wait and recover his value. How the hell is his value going to recover on this team? I mean, Adog, you're talking about the, you know, he's never played with any good wingers. Look at this team now. Well, yeah, but if you trade him, then maybe he will.

No, no, no. You're not going to play with him on this team. You're not getting my point. You just kind of came in too late there. But I'm talking about if you keep him, if you keep him, people seem like, oh, well, his value is going to go up. Not necessarily. His value might go down even more where it's like, no chance he's traded.

like no chance. Oh, I agree with you about that. Like none. Yeah, I totally agree. And you're not getting out of it no way. You know, like it could get to that point. Things could always get worse. I was saying that texture.

There's a downside risk to keeping him. And some people seem to think like this is as bad as it's going to get. No. If you can trade him right now, even if you have to retain a few mill, that's, it's like people say, you know, if your stock goes down from like, like 100 to 50. Well, I'm going to hold on to that because, you know, it's probably going to go up, right?

It was at 100. Now it's at 50. I mean, at 50 it was like, yeah, but what if the company is broken? Right? Then you know what it goes down to? It goes down to zero. That's the next number. It's Homer with the pumpkin stock.

From one Vancouver franchise player to another. We now turn our attention to what happened last night at the PWHL draft. The Vancouver Goldinize have a new franchise player. Caroline Harvey, the first overall pick at the 2026, PWHL draft yesterday. The 23-year-old Harvey widely considered the best player in this draft class. And appropriately, she went first

overall. The first defender to be selected number one overall in PWHL history. Now, for a little more analysis on this pick, let's turn our attention to the number two pick taken by Seattle. This is Abby Murphy out of the University of Minnesota, a rival of Caroline Harvey's

in NCAA hockey. This is from the Spit and Chick-Chiclets podcast with Ryan Whitney. Here's Abby Murphy talking about the newest member of the Vancouver golden eyes, Caroline Harvey to me, like I was like, holy shit, like seeing her skate. I know you guys are both O2. She's a rival at Wisconsin,

but how long have you kind of known her and realized like she has to be the best skating women's player, right? Yeah, dude, she's insane. I mean, she's on a whole other level, you know? Whoever taught her out of skates got to get a hell of lot of other people to learn from them. But just the way she moves and her agility is incredible. I mean, when I watch her, like, work on the blue line,

it's like putting people literally in blender. like back and forth. It's like they literally cannot keep up with her but she's so impressive up there you know, like watching her with the puck it's like yep, let her do her thing

and then something's gonna happen out of it and it's just gonna be like holy shit like she just did that like her goal against the Swiss I don't know if you guys saw that but absolutely just down the wall made the goalie look like an idiot. Just like she's like Quinn Hughes

like it was the same way like just such a better skater than everyone else. And it's not even matched either like it's here to here. So props to her, but love playing with their hate playing against her, you know. So really cool. So the cool thing about the PWA HL draft, just drafting near the top of it is that at 23 and having a bunch of Olympic experience,

you're getting one of the best women's hockey players in the world. Like, it's not someone that needs to go in and cut their teeth at the professional level. We got the Quinn Hughes of the PTHL. So she's gone in five years. Please never leave. Can we stop those comparisons now before it gets any further? So what do you like, what do you? She's such a good skater, laddie.

Yeah. But what do you? You've seen her play. It's, it is, it is unbelievable. And she's immediately going to become, oh, the most entertaining player on a team that I think we can both admit needed a little bit of like. Oomph. Structure from the back end to start the rush, perhaps.

Or just, no, I structure, sure, but like more just like entertainment. Wow. Wow. Wow factor. Do we want to. As someone who goes to a lot of golden eyes. games, I'm very excited to see your play many, many times.

Do we want to try and work through the Quinn Hughes comp given how complicated it is for a Vancouver market to deal with this right now? Because it's accurate. I believe it's an on-ice comp. I know. Does Minnesota have a... Does Minnesota have a PWHL team? They do.

Oh, God. We shouldn't do this. That makes it even more complicated because it's like the on-ice comp is pretty bang-on. Can you imagine? It's hard not to make it. Right? but there's and honestly it does give the market a sense of like yearning like I remember that right and now we're going to be reminded of it on a pretty regular basis I think she's going to be terrific for the franchise I think this Quinn Hugh stuff is is funny but it's a completely different

league and I think she's going to be great and the golden eyes I think did a great job last season off the ice and everyone who went out to games there a lot of you went about to buy. Everyone said the same thing. So much fun in the building. And it was juxtaposed a little bit to the Vancouver Canucks, right? And it was like, yeah, there's just such like a positive atmosphere in the rank. Everyone has a good time. They do a good job.

It's kind of fun to be back in the Coliseum again. But their play on ice wasn't great. Remember, I mean, they were with the talent that they got in the expansion draft. Remember at the beginning of the year, they were the favorites to win it. Everyone was angry at the expansion teams. They stole all the talent on that turnout. You know, and it just, and it didn't,

it didn't work out for them and it didn't work out for Seattle either. I mean, it's hard to, it's hard to say, all right, you're all, this is your new team, now go. Right? It is difficult and now they've changed their coach and they've got Caroline Harvey and hopefully they keep the same atmosphere

at the golden eyes and that carries on, but they need to do better on the ice now. They also drafted a Messie too, but we won't get into that right now. We don't have time or the bandwidth for that right now, Laddie. From the PWHL draft, we go to the NHL draft. I need to remind you that NHL draft coverage on SportsNet 650 is brought

to you by the Vancouver Giants. Don't miss your chance to secure your 2026, 2027 season tickets now. They're on sale now. Visit Vancouver Giants.com. The future is now. First half hour in the books, you're listening to the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650.

Canucks Talk with Jamie Dodd and Thomas Drance. We'll dive deep into all that's happening with the Vancouver Canucks. Listen 12 to 2 p.m. on SportsNet 6.50 or wherever you get your podcasts. 631 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody. Halford, Brub of the morning is brought you by Sands and Associates. Got debt?

If you do, reach out to Sands and Associates during regular business hours. And they'll get back to you within 20 minutes. Visit them online at Sands dash trustee.com. We are still in hour one of the program. John Mollinaro Soccer Insider for SportsCent is going to join us in just a moment here. Our one of this program is brought to by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle you get paid.

Visit them at 1170 Palis Street in Vancouver. So it is finally upon us. I know Canada has already played a match at the 2026 People World Cup, but it was in Toronto. it was the first match. And this was the one, this guitar match at BC place where we thought two things. One, this is going to be the first real

home pitch advantage because of the massive crowd that we're going to get. Not that they didn't have one in Toronto, but there was a lot of Bosnians in support. And the other one, the other big thing about this match, it's a must win. I know it's not really in the truest sense of the phrase, but the Canadians need to get a result today.

Bosnia with a draw, that was okay. It was fine. But this is a chance to get that. What has been elusive first ever victory for Canada at a World Cup. So lots on the table today. We go now to the Able Auctions hotline. Our next guest, as mentioned, soccer insider from SportsNet. John Mollinaro joins us here on the Halford & Brough show on SportsNet 650.

Morning, John. How are you? Hey, good morning, guys. Okay. So prior to getting you on the show, our producer, Andy Cole, said, hey, it's great that Alfonso Davies is going to play today. And I said, hold on, Andy. It's not that simple.

John, can you lay out for us what Jesse Marsh said about Alfonso Davies' availability for today, how he got to the point where he could be made available selection? And if you expect him to feature at all when Canada takes on Qatar this afternoon. Yeah, he basically said that he had been training this week and that he got to the point where they thought, you know, that he could be available for the game of against guitar so he's going to be in the match day roster I don't think he plays

I think this was gamesmanship to a large extent on Jesse Marsh to make you know guitar sort of prepare for Alfonso Davies you know we have to consider a couple of things he's had you know an injury riddled season with Byron Munich I mean he's missed a good chunk of the season

he got injured and he hasn't played since you know the semifinals of the UIF at Champions League which was last month So it's been a while since he played at all. And he hasn't played for Canada since March of 2025. So it's been a while there too. I don't think they're going to rush him back and play him today. I think it'll be available, but I wouldn't expect to see him.

Definitely not going to start. I'd be stunned if he starts. You know, maybe he sees some minutes off the bench. But, you know, quite frankly, I don't think they need him to beat guitar. And let's don't disrespect to Qatar, but, you know, I think that's the truth of the matter. So I would think that they're probably going to save him for the Switzerland game, give him another whatever it would be weak just to kind of get really, really sort of match fit and bring him on there. And I don't think they would sort of risk him against Qatar unless it's, you know, a must,

they find themselves down and, you know, they're going to bring him off the bench. So I really don't think he's going to play today. So I know in hockey when you have a groin injury, you, you, go out there and you kind of hold your breath and you and you pray you don't you don't tweak it because if you do tweak it that's it you're you're done for another few weeks maybe maybe months is that kind of what davies is dealing with with his hamstring injury like i'm not a great runner but i understand the importance of hamstrings in running and you know it it does feel like we'd all be holding our breath a little bit if he turned on the afterburners which is something he has to do to

be effective player. Yeah, I think that's a big part of it. I mean, he's, you know, as I said, he's been dealing with this hamstring injury for quite a while now, right? And he's come back early before, only to suffer setbacks. So, you know, I think that's a big part of it. Again, I'm not sure that, you know, it's all that wise to play him in a game where, you know, again, they don't really need him.

So, you know, if he does play, it would probably be only a couple of minutes off the bench. I think it's behooves them just to give him the extra. couple days, right? The Switzerland game isn't for, you know, until June 24. So that's another six, seven days. Give him that extra time, you know, to really sort of rest and recuperate and to make sure that he's fully, fully fit and ready to go. I know Jesse Marsh said, has been saying that he's, you know, fully fed and he's passed all his physicals, but I don't know. It just seems to me you don't overcome an injury like that, you know, in a short period of time, you know, and he wasn't even in full training earlier this week. I mean, he was on

kind of modified training. So to go from that, you know, on Monday to now he's ready to go. I mean, I'm sorry, I have a hard time believing that. So, again, I think it just makes sort of sense to leave him out for this game. Have them on the bench if you want, but, you know, just save him for the Switzerland game. Tell us what Jesse Marsh said about Jonathan David. Essentially that he's going to score. You know, he's, you know, he's Canada's all-time leading score with whatever it is,

39 goals and 78 games. But he hasn't scored an open play since last September, a stretch of 10 games. He scored twice in a game in March, but both of those goals were from the penalty spot. And so Charlie David has come in for a fair bit of criticism just for his lack of production. He isn't coming off the best debut season

in the league with Juventus, the club that he signed for last summer. Had a poor outing against Bosnia. substituted in the 60th, first, second minute, I think. That's the shortest run that he's ever had during Jesse Marsh's tenure. He's never been pulled from a game that early since Parsch's been in charge. So, you know, he's come in, as I said, for a lot of heavy criticism. But, you know, Jesse Marsh kind of stood behind him yesterday, saying, essentially, look, he's going to come good.

He's a young man. He's got a lot of football left in him. You know, they're not going to be able to have every firm belief that he's. he's going to come good against at this World Cup. And so he's just, you know, essentially standing behind his strikers saying, you know, he's been there in the past. He's got goals in him and the goals will come. We just have to sort of trust in Jonathan David that he will score eventually.

Should Canadians be pretty confident that Canada is going to go out there and get the job done against Qatar today? Yes, I think so. You know, I know Qatar did really well to earn the result against, Switzerland last week in San Francisco, but when you compare the two teams, there's no comparison. There's no comparing the two. I mean, you have Canada who have players like Alfonso Davis,

plays with Bayern Munich, Jonathan David, with Juventis, Tejong, Buchanan, and then Villarreal and so and so forth. These are, you know, players who are playing at top European leagues. You look at Qatar's roster, their 26-man roster, 25 of the players play in Qatar's domestic league.

So I think there's a big sort of quality and difference in terms of, you know, the two rosters. You know, Qatar can't sort of match up with Canada in terms of the quality or depth of talent. So, you know, this is a very winnable game for Canada. It's a game that they should win. I suspect that Qatar is going to do what they did against Switzerland, which is just sort of sit back and bunker and just try to frustrate the Canadians, force them to sort of break them down and then look for moments in trend. transition to hurt to hurt Canada.

But it's a winnable game by all accounts. And it's a game that Canada should win. And even like a draw would be a massive, massive disappointment. I think it's a disastrous result for the Canadians. I guess the key is how do you, does Canada have what it takes to break down Qatar? Because scoring has been such a massive issue for them. Yeah. well, we'll see.

I mean, I think, you know, I think there are going to be times that they're going to be frustrated, right? Unless they score early and kind of, that would be great. I mean, I think if they can get like an early goal in the first 15 minutes, then that opens the game up, right? Then you, Kuktar has to sort of come out and open itself up a little bit and can't sort of like bunker. But, you know, short of that, you know, Canada will, I'm sure that they're going to be, they're going to sort of struggle to do it. and there's going to be frustration. They just have to sort of keep their composure. And I think they have to vary up the attack.

There's no sense in... We saw it in the Spain game against Cape Verde the other day. I mean, they essentially were just sort of pumping crosses in the box and just sort of attacking wide. I think, you know, the Canada, the key would be just to vary up the attack a little bit. I mean, try to go at them in different ways and just try to, you know, unlock, you know, that defense in different sort of ways. You can't sort of just repeat the same...

you know, thing that you're going to do from an attacking perspective. You have to sort of vary things up and change things up a little bit. I'm glad you brought that out because one of the things that I've been pushing, promoting whatever on the show for the last 48 hours is the need to get Ali Ahmed into the starting 11 because I find that part of what makes him such a unique player is the unpredictability in which he attacks when you think he's going to take someone one-on-one suddenly slips a nice little tidy ball into space. And as soon as you think he's going to do that again,

then he's got that sort of like rangey, herky jerky one-on-one, and he just keeps defenders on their toes with that sense of unpredictability. Agree or disagree that Marsh needs to find some way to get Ahmed into the 11 today. I would agree. It's actually, it's funny

you bring that up because during the press conference yesterday, that's what I asked him about was about Ali Ahmed and just, you know, because he came off the bench in the second half against Bosden, I just sort of wanted to get Jesse's perspective on that at whether he thought he'd made play a, you know,

more prominent role in this game against the guitar. And he said basically, you know, a lot of the things that you just mentioned that, you know, things opened up for Canada a little bit more against Bosnia because of that unpredictability that Ahmed brings. And, you know, he, you know, it wasn't only him, but I thought, you know, he played a big role in sort of turning the tide and just sort of turning it up a notch for Canada and allowing them to break down Bostia. So I wouldn't be terribly surprised if he starts.

I mean, I think, you know, he was pegged to be a starter, you know, going into it. woke up, but then he kind of, you know, picked up that injury that, you know, limited, that's just sort of his limited. I don't think he played in either of the two final friendlies in Edmonton and Montreal. But now he's, you know, fully fit. And, you know, no offense to Liam Miller, because I think he's, you know, a fine player as well. But I think Ahmed just brings something a little bit more, a little bit more kind of gauge,

a little bit more on predictability. So I wouldn't be terribly stunned if that was one of the changes, is Hale Ahmed coming in for Liam Miller on in the game check. Well, you know, like, obviously Ahmed prior to going to Norwich, who's playing here in Vancouver with the white caps and we followed

the MLS Cup run that they went on last year. There were times last year, especially in the semi-final against San Diego. And the final against the final, because I was there in Miami for the final. There were times with all of the talent and quality that the caps had on the pitch, including Thomas Mueller,

all of their attack was, let's the ball out wide to Ahmed and see what he can do. And defenders had such a tough problem with him. I know there's major differences between the domestic game and the international game. But to give everyone a sense of just how creative he can be with the ball, this has happened already at club level, at the highest levels of MLS too. And he was at times unstoppable in the biggest matches. So I like I think that whether he comes in for Miller and we can have maybe a conversation

about Buchanan on the other side as well, I think Ahmed is going to be crucial to this whole thing. on the topic of Buchanan, though, I don't think we're quite there where we need to have the Tejon-Bucaninanin, quote-unquote, conversation, but it's almost unquestioned to me that they need more out of him, especially in light of how effective he was at the previous World Cup in Qatar. I would agree.

I mean, it's kind of similar to the Jonathan David's situation. We haven't seen the best of, you know, Tejon Buchanan necessarily for a little bit. And, you know, pretty quiet game from him against Bosnia, too. I mean, he was part of that triple-sub. substitution that left the game in the 62nd minute. And then as I said earlier, I think the attack just enjoyed a major optic after that point with the substitutions that Jesse Marsh made.

So, yeah, I don't necessarily think you sort of take out Buchanan for this game because I do think he has a lot to offer. But I don't think there's any question that he has to play a lot better and offer a little bit more because it just seemed he was, you know, it was rather uninspired rhythm. and he had a rather quiet night against the Bosnians last week in Toronto. So if you had to guess right now, and assuming March sticks with two strikers up front, who will they be?

I think he's going to put Kyle Laron back in. I think he wants to reward him for the performance he had and the impact that he made against Bosnia. When you look at the partnership with him and Jonathan David, first of all, the two all-time leading scores in the history of the men's team, they played the bulk of their time together in the national team together. it's a firm partnership who really, they really know each other.

You know, and I think, you know, one of the reasons why he brought in Taniola with Shea to partner Jonathan David last week was because he thought, you know, excuse me, Tani's a little bit quicker. And they wanted sort of that quickness

to potentially, you know, stretch, you know, Bosnian's defense and getting behind. And also kind of serve as that first line of defense, you know, really, you know, in a pressing manner and impress, you know, the Bosians as they try to build out from the back. I don't think you really need that against Qatar

because, you know, I think they're going to defend very low in a block, right? And I don't think you, you know, the so tan you sort of speed and, you know, ability to stretch defenses, I don't think he's necessarily coming into play. So for me, it makes more sense to bring in Kyle Laren, who's, you know, a bit of a bull and more of a physical presence. And again, I just think he's,

there's that sort of longstanding partnership with Jonathan and David. And as I said, he's coming off, you know, an impactful game against Bosnia. And that, you know, for me, that would be the major change that I could foresee Jesse Marsh making. Like, can we also just point out here that the defending that the Bosnians did against Canada? Like, I've gone to, they got this great thing called FIFA Training Center. And it's got 52 page PDFs, like a very deep, nerdy statistical breakdown of everything that happened in every match. Right? You can dive deep on this stuff. But I was looking at the quality of the Bosnian defending in that.

match. If you stack it up to some of the other performances in the World Cup thus far, like tops in terms of clearances collectively and then per 90, a lot of the match ratings for a lot of their defenders were off the charts. And you look at it and it's like these are guys that are all applying their trades either in Italy and Seriaa or in the Bundesliga, like guys that are true top five league defenders. It's going to be tough for Qatar to replicate that today just because they don't really have the quality of defenders. match up what Bosnia did in that opener?

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, as I said earlier, you can't compare the two sort of roster lists, right? I mean, it's a side that predominantly plays its sort of club football in the league's domestic division, which is very modest, and I think that's sort of putting it kindly. You know, and I don't necessarily think they've ever faced a team, you know, with the quality of Canada's sort of attackers. You know, full credit of them for getting the result against Switzerland. I think that was a fantastic result for them.

I do think, though, that had more to do with Switzerland's sort of failures and shortcomings than anything Qatar necessarily did. Qatar certainly made life difficult for the Swiss. But, you know, there were chances there for the Swiss to sort of win that game, and they were rather wasteful. And so, you know, under normal circumstances, I think the Swiss, you know, would have won that game. But, you know, just a lack of finishing and let them down. So, you know, that might be the downfall for Canada. today. This is just sort of that lack of finishing because it's something that's sort of plagued them

for less, you know, for a little while. But all in all, I don't think you compare the two sides in terms of the quality and the depth of talent on offer. Real quick, before we let you go, what do you think is going to happen with that match? It kicks off at noon before Canada, guitar, between the Swiss and the Bosnians.

It's an interesting one. You know, both, you know, very talented teams. I think it's, you know, an interesting tactical battle. I think it's going to be a physical affair. I think it'll be, you know, very much, I think we'll see a little bit more attacking intent from Bosnia. I don't think that they will just sort of,

not that they bunker necessarily from Canada, but I do think they'll show a little bit more intention to kind of go after it and sort of play the game on their terms. And so I think it'll be a tougher game in a lot of ways for the Swiss. Obviously, you know, having played guitar, it's obviously going to be a little bit tougher. but I don't think it'll be as sort of one-sided possession in terms of the possession stats as it was, you know,

when Bosnian played Canada, I think, you know, Bosnia will sort of go at it a little bit more and try to force Switzerland to play the game on their term. So it'll be interesting to see. John, thanks for taking the time to do this today. We really appreciate it. Enjoy the match. It should be a good one. No problem, guys, anytime.

John Mollenaro, our soccer insider from Sportsnet here on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650. The World Cup has been pretty entertaining. You had fun yesterday watching England, didn't you? I did, but I also had fun watching some of the other matches. Columbia, Uzbekistan, was really fun. Columbia and Argentina really turned around South America's fortunes in the last two days. I'll say that.

It was looking grim for the South American clubs at the World Cup. That was a wild atmosphere. That was at Azteca, the Columbia, Uzbekistan game. and obviously lots of Colombians there. That was fun. Yeah, England was, I don't want to say bizarre, but it was not, you know, Gareth Southgate football that was not typical English football,

I'll tell you all. And they are, now this has negative connotations in some ways, but like they're in the Let Russ Cook stage of, they've been told, or they, you know, Thomas Tuchel, their German manager, I think he agrees with this notion, but there has been a push for a number of years

to let them play, to unleash all the talent on England and not to play so stodgy, not to play so conservative. And they let that happen yesterday. And I think the key goal was Jude Bellingham's goal right at the start of the second half because they went into,

the dressing room after being tied to two, and there were some good things about the first half, and there were all some bad things. And Thomas Tuchel apparently said to them, like, guys, if we lose, let's lose the way we want to play. And they went out there and, you know, Harry Kane said, you know, we just stepped on the gas. And Croatia couldn't handle it, right? Because England does have very talented players. I mean, Jude Bellingham is one of the most talented players in the world.

I think the squad that Thomas Tuchel picked, and you would know more about this than me, you know, they wanted to emphasize speed, which they were able to sub on, and that definitely helped. And it's just, for me, it's just, I was kind of like, I don't know if I'm entirely comfortable watching this because it's not the England that I'm used to, but it sure is fun. Well, I thought, you thought the most important goal or the most telling, was the third goal, which always she stood as the match winner.

I actually thought it was the fourth goal in terms of symbolism because what Tuchel did at 3-2 was bring on subs that further pushed the pedal down. Right. That was Sond of Park the Bus.

That was Bukai Asaka coming on. That was Marcus Rashford coming on. Those two actually combined for the fourth goal with Rashford potting it. And this would have been a team maybe in years past. I'm not trying to cast dispersions on Southgate, but maybe in years past, they would have said, we just got a three-two lead. Let's put on a defensive midfielder or two or add an extra guy at the back and let's

salt this thing away at three-two. A very bold and unique approach from a manager who has done a very interesting job of tailoring game plan and the style to the athletes that he has. Yeah. England's scoring four in a World Cup opener and conceding to and having this sort of open, aggressive, let's get forward and let's try and win a match

by putting balls in the back of the net as opposed to keeping them out of ours is a very interesting approach. They had great success under Southgate, especially at tournaments. The fact that they decided to pivot like this tells you one thing. Stylistically, they felt like maybe there was more to offer

from a country that does have a lot of talented footballers. Be curious to see how it translate to wins and losses. I wonder if they said, look, we've shown that we can get to the semi-fifference, finals of the World Cup. We've shown what we can get to the finals of euros, but we haven't won them. And the teams that have won them,

well, maybe not Italy, the way that Euro final went, but, you know, losing to teams like France, losing to teams like Spain. Supremely talented teams. Supremely talent. And those teams let their talent do talented things. JD and Ku Klutlam just texted. the fact that they can bring in Saka and Rashford, Morgan Rogers and Marguer, off the bench.

And you're talking about guys being paid in the tens to hundreds of millions of pounds playing for the most elite club teams in the world. That's the talent that England has its disposal. And I think maybe that match against Spain in the Euro final where Spain was being lauded for having Nico Williams and Laminemal and everyone else, I think England maybe had a little bit of a thought process where they said, hey, we also have these elite footballers. let them try to play on this big stage. My negative England mind is now thinking that England is going to get totally carried away.

Need to get back to lumping it up the pitch. No, no, no, no goals. No, they're going to get totally carried away and just be like, we don't even have to defend anymore. Yeah, we can go back to good old fashion nil, nil, in the group stage, because that'll get us through. Anyway, we got a lot more to get to on the Halford, Inbrewb show on Sportsnet 650.

Our one is in the books on the other side. Baseball and golf. we're going to talk to Adnan Berg from MLV Network at 7 and Adam Stanley live from the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills in New York at 7.30. We're covering it all today. All the sports that are going on right here on the Halford and Breff Show on Sportsnet 650.