Halford & Brough in the Morning - Gooooooooooal!

Episode Date: June 26, 2024

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports including an impressive result for Canada Soccer at the Copa America (3:00), as well as this year's crop of Hockey Hall of Fame inductees (15:00), plus they talk some Euro Cup & Copa footie with soccer analyst James Sharman as well (27:00).  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. Jonathan David I haven't been in the gym in a long time Good morning Vancouver 6-0-1 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, everybody. It is Halford. It is Ruff. It is Sportsnet 650.

We are coming to you live from the Kintec Studios, the beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. Lassity, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello.

You should have committed to the bit there. I thought about it. I'm like, I'm not going to do it. You should have committed to the bit. I couldn't do it to you guys. Half of the Rough in the Morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda. Vancouver Honda is Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff.

They can help with anything you're looking for. Sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in Hour 1 of the program. Hour 1 is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler. Pays the highest prices on scrap metal. 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 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. So, Rafi, what are you waiting for? Kintec, that's what you're waiting for. Big show today. We've got a lot to get into.

Guest list begins at 6.30. Footy Prime host, Sportsnet soccer analyst formerly James Sharman is going to join us on the program. We will talk about Canada's historic victory over Peru. 1-0 yesterday at the Copa America. We'll also talk about everything that happened at Euro yesterday. Andrew and Victoria, that loud goal chant at the beginning of the show. That was a warning shot to

you there will be a lot of football talk on the show today uh Sharman's gonna join us at 6 30. You're even calling it football football or like like you're calling it's soccer it's not we're in North America it's soccer it's soccer talk just call it soccer talk don't don't push them even more don't don't be like have you got a dad mug of coffee where did you get that is that yours yeah i got it from disneyland you can see it on the stream right now all six of you watching the stream can see it on the stream right now it's a disneyland it says disney Disneyland mug with dad on it. It says dad on the handle. Aw, that's nice. I'm noticing it doesn't say best dad ever.

Yeah, it just says one of the times. It acknowledges the fact that he is a dad. Yeah, I am a, you are a dad. Here's your mug. James Sharman's going to join us at 630. 7 o'clock, former Canucks goalie Corey Schneider is going to join us on the program. Now working as an analyst for NHL Network.

We can talk about the Stanley Cup final. We can talk about the ever-evolving goalie Corey Schneider is going to join us on the program. Now working as an analyst for NHL Network. We can talk about the Stanley Cup final. We can talk about the ever-evolving goalie market as we get closer and closer to the start of free agency. Trades that have happened already. Corey Schneider is going to join us at 7 o'clock. At 8 o'clock, Ryan Phillips, assistant head coach of your BC Lions. The BC Lions are in action tomorrow. The rare Thursday night affair.

They're going to host the winless Edmonton Elks, 7 o'clock from BC Place. So we'll talk to Ryan Phillips ahead of that. We've got a lot to get into. There's a lot of stuff going on in the world of sports. So without any further ado, Laddie, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened?

I missed all the action because I was busy. We know how busy your life can be. What happened? You missed that? What happened? I missed all the action because I was... We know how busy your life can be. What happened? You missed that? What happened? What Happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance, making safety simpler for construction companies, giving you tools, resources, and safety training.

Visit them online at bccsa.ca. We begin at the 2024 Copa America in Canada. I can't say it was a good match. I can't say it was an enjoyable match, but my God, was it an amazing result. Jonathan David scored in the 74th minute. Canada knocked off Peru 1-0 on Tuesday night for its first ever victory at the tournament and its first victory over a South American opponent in 24 years. Okay, why do you say it wasn't a good match and it wasn't an enjoyable match?

It seemed like a lot of stuff happened. A lot of stuff did happen. But the match itself, the football, the footy was terrible. How was the soccer? The soccer was great. It was not. There was 33 combined fouls in the match. So there was roughly a foul every three minutes. There was no flow.

There was no cohesiveness. And tell the listeners, first of all, why there were so many fouls and why Peru seemed to be playing with a bit of a bee in its bonnet. Yes. So, Peru in its first match against Chile kind of set the stage for what they were going to be about in this tournament. Hard tackling, at times dirty tackling, not allowing the opponent to ever get into a proper match flow.

They weren't going to let, be it Chile or Canada now, have phases where they were knocking the ball around freely or trying to build up or discover an identity of how they wanted to attack or even get their attack started. Every time that Canada got the ball in the midfield, bang, there was a Peruvian defender right on their back, and it was either trying to force a turnover or if that failed a foul to stop the play so they could reset and do it all over again uh and then there was but the peruvian coach was also saying that canada used excessive force against Argentina.

There was a thin line between strength and violence. And then he said, if we have to use our fists, then we will use our fists. We won't shy away. That was the pre-match sort of like dark arts. But that's why I said they came in with a bee in their bonnet. Yeah. Like I'm an old man. So the bee.

You guys are playing like you got a bee in your bonnet. Peru. Collective bee in their collective bonnet yeah well they were an old man so the bigger guys are playing like you got a bean your bonnet peru collective b and their collective bonnet it's only soccer so um some call it football or footy um so i they were desperate for a win they had drawn nil nil in the opener with chile i think that they knew that going into their third and final match against argentina would be tough to expect a result out of that they desperately that going into their third and final match against Argentina would be tough to expect a result out of that. They desperately needed a win against Canada yesterday.

They set the stage going in, talking about how physically aggressive the Canadians were against Argentina. The general takeaway from the people covering the tournament was that that was going to set the stage so that Peru could come out aggressively as well

and say like, hey, this is how Canada plays. All we're doing, us simple Peruvians, is matching the physicality of our very physical opponents. Then they decided to take that a step further and were the clear aggressors in the match. So there were a few points of emphasis that we need to get here. First, the heat in Kansas City. There was an extreme heat warning issue throughout the week. Temperatures got close to 100 degrees throughout the day.

They kicked off at 5 o'clock local time. The sun was beating down on the pitch. So hot, in fact, that one of the assistant referees actually collapsed. Not funny at all. Collapsed midway through the first half. Max Crapo ran over to help him out. He was later brought up to his feet, but he did not look good. He was in the sun spot the whole time.

Right. So to give you an idea of just how hot it was, I mean, one of the officials couldn't even make it through the first half. The fouls were coming fast and furious and then there was a real point of contention midway through the first half where Alistair Johnson was clearly headbutted by a Peruvian attacker.

They got into it. There was a little bit of a by a Peruvian attacker. They got into it. There was a little bit of a jawing match back and forth. They got into each other's faces, and then the Peruvian guy leaned forward, got Alistair Johnson on the cheek, head-butted him. To Johnson's credit, he didn't drop to the ground like he was shot and start rolling around. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He winced backwards, and he went down because he got head-butted,

but he popped back up pretty quickly. The referee didn't call it in the moment. Good Canadian kidadian kid yeah the referee didn't call it in the moment it went to var while this is happening the tsn play-by-play and color luke wildman and stephen caldwell are talking about not even talking about whether or not it's a red card or not they're talking about what's going to happen in the aftermath of the red card. Right. How Peru will be down to 10 men. And this is going to dramatically, to give you an idea of how obvious this was,

they were talking about the aftermath of the inevitable red card. And then in. So who ultimately made the decision there? VAR. Yeah. And VAR didn't even call the referee over to look at the monitor. Yeah. To confirm what they were saying. Right. That's why I wonder. And I'm didn't even call the referee over to look at the monitor to confirm what they were seeing.

Right, right. That's why I wonder. And I'm going to be honest, I think it had a lot to do with the fact that Alistair Johnson didn't roll around on the ground and pretend like he was shot. Big mistake by him. Big mistake. You got to embellish.

You got to play the dark arts game. So that incident happens. Canada's being soundly outplayed by Peru in the first half. They don't get a call there. They go into the break at nil-nil. Second half, Canada comes out. And then another moment of madness from the Peruvians. Awful tackle on Jacob Schaffelberg, who came in as a substitute.

The Maritime Messi himself. No debating this one. High tackle. Quite, you know, very lucky that Schaffelberg wasn't seriously injured on the play. Because it was lunging tackle, slide straight into the leg, above the ball. I mean, I've seen legs get broken on that kind of tackle. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Even though he got the ball first, it doesn't matter. It was the follow-through that did it. It was the follow-through, yeah. Referee goes to the monitor this time, looks at it, red card to Pru, and then the entire match gets flipped on its head. Canada starts attacking and waves. Schaffelberg again plays hero, setting up Jonathan David. Amazing

finish by Jonathan David to come in one-on-one with the keeper, banking it off the post. Boom. Canada goes up 1-0. Scary moments at the end, for sure. Max Crapo, who's been unbelievable by the way, since he's taken over the number one job for Canada, makes a couple saves late. Canada gets the win. I mean, that sounds like an an exciting game it was just like all the stuff between the

exciting parts that weren't very exciting see my credit to me as a broadcaster for making that sound um engaging and enjoyable because watching it it was actually it was physically painful to watch like i was getting up and sort of pacing around because it was so start-stop. I was like, ah, I can't really sit down and just become engrossed by it. There was no flow. It was just a slog. There was hydration breaks. There was guys feigning injury.

It was just one thing after another. It was funny because we can use this. People are probably like, okay, enough soccer. Well, too bad. No, no, no. Here's the thing. For those people, I had a couple people reach out to me via Twitter, listeners of the show. And one guy said, Mike, I don't know how you can do this.

I don't know how you can watch this. And I give the listener credit. I apologize for not having your tweet right in front of me. But the genesis of the tweet was, I tried. I sat down and watched this. And it was painful to watch. It was all the faking and the diving and no flow to the game whatsoever. And we came off a Stanley Cup final game seven where there was only three penalties,

and there was long stretches that went without whistles, right? And I'm like, yeah, I get it. I get it. I can understand that. Thank you for the effort, for trying and supporting your country and watching the national team. And then Nick Shepard, another listener of the show tweeted. And he's like,

Mike, don't you ever get frustrated watching this crap go on? Because in South America and for the Peruvians, that wasn't crap. And that wasn't bad. That was how they went about the match. That's how they play. And I'm like, yeah,

you've got a valid point. I think I'm not going to try and spin the way that that was played into saying that it was a good match or an enjoyable match. That's why I said off the top, it wasn't good and it wasn't enjoyable. Okay, so we're going to be joined by James Sharman in about 20 minutes. So there's going to be some more soccer talk coming up. So let's get into the hockey stuff that happened yesterday. I guess we can start with the hall of fame where former NHL stars,

Pavel Datsouk, Jeremy Roenick and Shea Weber are now part of the hockey hall of fame. So Datsouk and Weber get in first ballot guys in their first year of eligibility. Obviously Roenick was the big story, having waited for 12 years. He was first eligible in 2012. So he goes in. Very emotional on the call from Lanny McDonald.

Yeah. And I mean, because I kind of thought that the window might have passed him by. But that would mean that I would understand how the Hockey Hall of Fame does things. Still no McGill name. Right. And that's it. I have it. It ain't going to happen next year because there's like four definite at least four first ballot hall of famers guys like Cary Price

uh Duncan Keith what did he do to that like what did he what happened he didn't reach 500 goals I don't know that's the biggest so you got a thousand points every year we do the same song and dances we announce the class we explain how they got in and then when it comes time to explaining why either first time snubs or repeat snubs got snubbed again yeah we don't have any answers it's well let's talk about the guys that did get in okay is this the most disagreeable class that you've seen in recent years how so well just look at the names that are attached to it we got colin campbell getting in which i don't even need to begin that's a tough one that one that's a tough one.

He was always going to get in, though, for a long time service. Well, he's part of the old boys club. We can have a huge discussion about that if you want. He's Gary Bettman's guy. And Datsuk was a good choice. I think that was one that we can all agree on. Poyle, did he win enough? Like, he was around for a long time.

Winning is jam of all time. Yeah, but, like, playoff winning, I'm talking about. I think he was, I mean. That's a longevity vote, which I don't necessarily mind, right? I don't mind it, but I'm just saying it's. He was a long time GM in a new hockey market like Nashville as well.

I know it wasn't his only job, but he spent a long time there. Plus he took a puck in the face from Shea Weber, and I think that gets you the nod. To the eye. Weber getting in the first ballot is. Now why? That's surprising to me, because I think I had no problem with to the eye. Well, Weber getting in on the first ballot is... Now, why? That's surprising to me,

because I had no problem with Shea Weber being a first ballot. I loved cheering for Shea Weber when he played for Canada. That was a little surprising. I agree with Lydie. How many Norse do you have? Zero. Yeah, I mean, I don't know. I mean, I think he deserves to be in there.

I don't know if he's necessarily a first ballot guy, but he's a great defenseman. But I don't know if he's necessarily first ballot. The fact that he has a still active contract. Like, Gatsuk is the only – Somebody joked about that. All these Utah fans go, wow, we got a Hall of Famer on our team. Gatsuk was the only one where I was like, oh, yeah, for sure.

Everyone else was like, okay. I'm glad Ronit got in. I think he deserves to be in. Yeah, waited a long time. And was – you know, it is the Hockey Hall of Fame. And he was one of the most famous players in the game at one point, just because he was part of that group of American hockey players

that took American hockey to another level. Right. So if you're going to go on, and you've mentioned this before. So the Kachuk family wins its first Stanley Cup. And then what, a day, two days later, my brain is so jangled right now that jeremy run it gets into the hall of fame that's a pretty big deal for those american families yeah like here's the thing

you've mentioned this before if you're gonna consider the hall of fame a place where you tell the story of the game and that's all aspects of it right the men's game the women's game the nhl game the international game all of it it's it's the Hockey Hall of Fame, then you can make a pretty valid case that Jeremy Roenick was, for a long time, the iconic American player, right? I know his career overlapped with Mike Badano, who was also in that conversation. But Roenick also had like a cultural cachet.

Like, I'm not even joking. Like, Roenick and... Well, he was the best player I'm not even joking. Like Roenick and. Well, he was the best player in the video game. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Yeah. He was the guy people thought.

Was he making cameos and soap operas? Like he was the guy. Exactly. For a long time. So there's that conversation we made. But then if that is the case to be made, I'll loop back to what Adog said about Alex McGillney. And there's an amazing hockey story in addition to an amazing career. McGillney should be in, but I think I've just talked enough about it.

He should have been in a long time ago, really. I mean, it's ridiculous that he's getting passed over year after year. And you can't really add anything new to the argument. No, like, it's one of the great goal scorers. Like, it's an incredible story. Led the way for Russia, defecting into the... Like, he's, like, this incredible all-around player.

I think they're honestly, it's just some guys are just made to wait. Like, Jeremy Roenick was made to wait for 12 years for no other reason than they decided to behind closed doors with the whole cloak and dagger thing. And I'm assuming, like, one day Rod Brindamore will finally get the call, I bet, at a certain point. And one day maybe they'll just decide that it's Keith Kachuk's turn and he'll go in as well. Or you know what?

They also might not, because that's how the Hall of Fame works. And they're not, they're forbidden to discuss candidates' eligibility or why they got in publicly. That's, if you want to do that, you lose your spot on the Hall of Fame committee. So, you are left with talking about a class, which

again, I thought Datsou, kind of a a no brainer as a first Hall of Famer. And I was good with Shea Weber getting in as a first time candidate as well. Okay. Let's get to some of these news and notes from yesterday across the National Hockey League. A deal that maybe resonated here because of how Jake Wallman impacted last season for the Vancouver Canucks.

Intriguing move leading up to the NHL draft and the opening of free agency. The Detroit Red Wings had to pay to give away Jake Wallman to the San Jose Sharks yesterday. They sent him to San Jose along with a second round pick in this year's draft. That's a significant... Was the second round pick... did anything come to them? No.

Future considerations. Good old future consids. So it's just Jake Wallman and a second round pick. Now, yeah. What's Detroit gearing up to do here? Well. They're clearing the decks to do what? Resign some of their guys or go out and make a big move?

So here's the thing. The Red Wings had, prior to this deal, nearly $30 million in cap space available to them. But that wasn't enough. They needed even more because they need to sign guys like Lucas Raymond and Mo Sider to long-term deals. Those guys are RFAs. Someone was saying that those deals could get to like $17, $18 million combined just in those two alone on AAV if they were to sign a long-term deal.

What's more, Detroit only had 13 roster spots accounted for, so they need to build out like half a team, basically. Okay? So there's that. Still, still, it does seem a little peculiar because Jake Wallman, his AAV is 3.4 million. I have two words for you. Yeah?

Stephen Stamkos. Yeah, maybe. Maybe. Detroit's blue line is kind of set. That's the reason that they parted with Philip Hronik a short while ago, and it's the reason that they were able to give away Jake Wallman.

They got a bunch of defensemen aside from Siders like Edvinson and Johansson, and he's been stockpiling defensemen for a while. Don't you think that would be the perfect move for them? Perfect addition if you're going to go out and spend a bunch of – not only is Stamko still good, we're talking about a team that wants to take the next step. I mean, if you're Steve Iserman, and there is pressure now, right?

There's Detroit Red Wings fans that are like, Steve, we love you. You're one of the greatest players in franchise history. But come on. We haven't been to the playoffs in basically a decade now. We're tired of losing. We want to take the next step. And I do wonder if a gigantic free agent plunge like that. Jeremy and Langley text in Marner to Detroit.

Maybe. Maybe. It's going to have to be a move of significance. Because there's people in Detroit right now that are saying, well, woman wasn't exactly an anchor contract. And at times last year, he was a top pairing guy for us and we just gave him away for nothing.

And what's more, we had to pay a pretty significant price for the luxury of giving them away. Now I know that like woman ran into some problems last year when he wasn't gritting his way to success. And I know he wasn't, He wasn't gritty enough. He did not do enough gritting. To bring more grid. You know what he was late in the season was a healthy scratch on occasion.

And then a couple people astutely pointed out that if this is the price of dumping a contract, a second round pick, it doesn't bode well for Ilya Mikheyev and the Vancouver Canucks. The Canucks don't even have a second round pick well the Canucks should be like well that was Steve Iserman setting the price this is a different price

yeah damn you Iserman for setting the price too you could have done something else something more creative with Wallman so anyway that deal happened there we should mention a couple news and notes from the coaching realm John Cooper has been named Canada's coach for upcoming international play that means

sometimes we don't even plan this stuff Cooper has been named Canada's coach for upcoming international play. That means... Cooper! Sometimes we don't even plan this stuff. That's how good this show is. He will be the coach for the upcoming Four Nations face-off and, most importantly, the 2026 Olympics in Milan. Now, he was going to be the coach of the Olympics in 2022, but obviously the NHL is pulled out due to COVID. Can we just, sorry. So that information about Koop is out there.

Koop's going to be the coach. Yes. Can we just go back a little bit on Detroit clearing cap space? Yes. Does it not seem like there are a lot of teams that are locked and loaded to go crazy on July 1st? Yeah.

I mean, someone was pointing out like LA moving Pierre-Luc Dubois. Now they had to take back the Kemper contract in return, but consider their season. Big disappointment. Moving off Dubois in a single year, and they're still in their competitive window. Like, LA seems like a team that's primed to do something big. You've got the Utah Hockey Club.

Yep. That's probably going to do something big. Detroit clearly lurking in the weeds with a lot of cap space. I think Buffalo's got to do something. There's a lot of time. Buffalo has to. And I'm talking about either going hard after free agents or going hard after trades. Because there's more cap space than there has been in a long, long time.

And you've got this desperation of certain teams like Detroit and Buffalo, and I'll put Ottawa in there too. They got to, you know, they got to do something. They got to make a big move. Their fan bases are tired of mediocrity and mediocrity is the high level bar for a lot of those teams. And they got to do something. And how does that affect the Vancouver Canucks? Well, it doesn't help. It doesn't help them keep the likes of Zdorov and Dakota Joshua, because those are the types of guys that you could sign and get your fan base real excited. And also they're useful hockey players. They're good hockey players.

And it's, you know, I think most of us just accepted that Lindholm is gone. Yes. Most of us accepted lindholm is gone yes most of us accepted that lindholm is gone and i but i think some of us are holding out hope that the canucks can acquire a top level star be it jake genzel or someone else and also maybe manage to hold on to one of zodorov or joshua yeah i'm you're one of Zdorov or Joshua. Yeah, you're more optimistic on Zdorov sticking around than I am. And I think that's partly to do with, I'm just looking at even the two deals that have gone out with guys re-upping with their current teams,

Chatfield and DeMello, and look at the money that they got. And then suggesting that Zdorov could be a more impact player than both of them is a- We're just going to see some crazy contracts, I think. Well, I think it's part of it too. But I want to see some crazy trades. I want to see some blockbusters. I think part of it too is like there's a lot of general managers that saw the cap number

rise and were like, finally, we can start doing some more of that good old fashioned spending, overspending possibly that we've done in the past. Well, with Florida winning, don't you think there are some owners out there that are like, go make some moves. That Kachuk deal was the type of blockbuster that I'm talking about. Sure.

And I know Kachuk was the guy that had to make that happen in the first place, but that meant a lot to that franchise. And I know that Kachuk didn't even play all that well in the Stanley Cup final, but he's been a very important part of that team and that team's popularity. And he was a very big part of that team winning

from a PR perspective when you saw the Kachuk family celebrating, et cetera, et cetera. He's going to be one of their main celebrators, one of their main partiers. He's going to be the guy that gets the attention because he likes the attention. He wants the attention.

He doesn't necessarily want it in Canada where it's cold, but he wants the warm weather attention. Yeah, which is fine. Which is fine, which I don't blame him for. I just wonder if there's a lot of owners out there that are telling their GMs, if you're ever going to get risky do it now okay we got a lot more to get to on the halford and breath show on sportsnet 650 james sharman

analyst with footy prime podcast is going to join us next we'll talk about canada's win over peru and england's disappointment in the group stage they're throwing beer cups at gareth southgate now jason they're throwing beer cups at him despite the fact that england finished top of the group you're listening to the halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. It's Canucks Central with Dan Riccio and Satyar Shah, your destination for everything Canucks. Exclusive interviews, inside info, and even the postgame show. Listen 4 to 6 p.m. weekdays and on demand through your favorite podcast app. I understand the

narrative towards me and that's better for the team than it being towards them but it is creating an unusual environment to operate in.

6.32 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. This is an unusual environment to operate in. This show. That press conference was bizarre. The whole thing's been very bizarre. The question from the reporter, like, I noticed when you went over to talk to

the supporters or wave to the supporters and thank them that when you were leaving the pitch, did you notice a bunch of them were throwing beer cups at you? He's like, yeah, I did notice. You know I did. That was Gareth Selkate, England manager.

You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Halford & Brough in the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda. Vancouver Honda is Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for. Sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in hour one of the program. James Sharman from the Footy Prime podcast is going to join us in just a moment here. Hour 1 of this program is brought to you 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 Powell Street in Vancouver. To the phone lines we go. As mentioned, James Sharman joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, James. How are you? I'm doing great, thanks, guys.

Still enjoying this summer of soccer, as they call it. Every day, every night, this footy is fantastic. Yesterday was amazing. It was just on all day, right? From our time out here on the West Coast, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., just this steady stream of games. It was awesome. Well, the England game wasn't amazing or awesome that's my

segue you know who it wasn't awesome for was gareth southgate in english so they finish top of the group they finish unbeaten they're on the favorable side of the draw as it goes to the knockout stage so some are saying uh it's it's job done yet no one is saying job well done can you explain to our listeners the dynamic at play with Gareth Southgate and the English national team as they now go to the round of 16? Yeah, it's funny, isn't it? I mean, I think you ask most teams,

and didn't mention narratives or points or performances, and said, listen, your favorite team finished in first place in the group is in the easy half of the bracket. They'd be happy, right? Unless, of course, they're England fans, in which case we overanalyze absolutely everything.

But the fact of the matter is, England came into this tournament as the favourites, the bookies' favourites. And listen, whether they should have been favourites or not, we can debate that. But still a very good team, individually as good as any team in world football. And we've seen just three really subpar performances.

One win, two draws, no imagination, no creativity, no energy whatsoever. The fans are turning on Gareth Southgate, who's been in this since 2018, and has done a really good job. He's been criticized for being too conservative over the entire tenure. But he got to a World Cup semifinal. He got to a European Championship final. He did okay in the last World Cup, losing to France. But something's switched in this tournament, it seems.

And the team seems to have either just stopped listening to him or that magic dust is no longer working. And this frustrated fan base who haven't seen a tournament win since before the Leafs won the Stanley Cup are not happy about it. They're pretty upset. They're pretty frustrated. They demand answers. And I think we can break down the team, but a lot of the answers seem pretty obvious. But he seems to refuse to adjust.

What are some of the obvious answers? Well, I think right now you look at who's on form right now, right? Harry Kane, who is maybe England's greatest ever goal scorer, coming off a great season in Germany, is playing well below his standard. You look at Jude Bellingham, this 21-year-old, the face of the team who's going to be huge moving forward, coming off a season where he was the best player in Spain and won a Champions League with Real Madrid,

isn't playing well. I don't know who is playing well. Phil Foden, England's best player this year, you know, in the Premier League, he won the player of the year, is playing kind of out of position, isn't playing very well. Meanwhile, you've got these kids on the bench who really fit these holes better, perhaps, than some

of these other players right now, and he's using them for 10 minutes here, two minutes here. It just seems he's scared to make that big call, that big move. And listen, tournaments are weird things, right? In knockout tournaments, we often see teams struggle in the opening rounds of games.

We see France do it every tournament, and they find their mojo in the knockout phase. Maybe England could do the same thing. But right now, it seems pretty apparent that this team needs some kind of a refresh. But I just don't know if he's prepared to do that. Yeah, and

this is obviously a big tournament for England and Gareth Southgate. Not only do they go in as the favorite or at least one of the favorites, England's got to make a decision for the next World Cup on who's going to lead the team. And I suppose that part of that decision

would be what style are we going to play? Yeah, 100%. You look at the strength of this team, and it is an attack. In that final third, they should be very, very good. They're best players, play for some of the best teams in the world, and they score goals and create chances for fun. But they're not doing that

for England, because they can't, it seems, under this system, which seems a little antiquated right now. So I think the bottom line is, if they find their form and end up winning this thing or going to the final, you might see Gareth Southgate stick around to the World Cup.

But if it continues the way it is, he's gone, he's out. And then they have to find someone you'd think who would be more of an attacking coach, less concerned about not losing, more concerned about winning. And they're out there,

but international football is a weird thing. It's a strange beast. It really is. And like I said, Gareth Southgate is a weird thing, right? It's a strange beast. It really is. And like I said, Gareth Southgate is a good manager. He's shown it in the past, but like in any sport,

in any club or international, it comes to a point where sometimes the message stops being heard. And that's part of the issues right now. But I think the biggest issue is still this pragmatism demonstrated by the coach

who won't let the shackles off these wonderfully talented, creative players. England aside, the tournament has been brilliant, full of drama, full of creative individual young players as well. I think about what Spain has put forth. And then you've got a dynamic at play now where in the round of 16, the top half of the draw is an absolute buzzsaw. In the top half, you've got Germany, France, Spain, and Portugal, all on this collision course to be the worst team.

Where's Austria? Because they look like the most dangerous team in the tournament. And then maybe the story of the tournament so far is this Austrian team, which is, I mean, I think for those that don't understand the dynamics, has all very good players across the board, a lot of Bundesliga influence in the side, but not necessarily the star power of the aforementioned German and French and Spanish and Portuguese teams. But there they are now looking as one of the tournament favorites going into the round of 16. Yeah, you know, they've been the story, haven't they? I think so far this tournament,

they've been just wonderful. They play this attacking, aggressive style of football under Ralf Reignick, who, if you remember, actually coached Manchester United for a few months and it didn't work out. Turns out it may not have been his fault. It may have been the players' fault. He's a guy that's come through the Red Bull system of teams in Germany and Austria.

And he just loves attacking football and high-octane energy gives players freedom. And we're seeing this Austria team show no fear going at every single team. And finally, you've got a dark horse, right? He's playing a bit like a dark horse. This team could go a very long way.

No one wants to play them. They just come up with a win against the Dutch where they were just brilliant, you know? And these players, Daniel Marlin, sorry, that's no goal story, actually. Wrong team. But Marcel Sabitzer is what I'm thinking of here. Marcel Sabitzer has been just

a joy to watch. Another player that was on loan at Manchester United under Rangnick. Romano Schmidt scored the last game as well. This team is just fun to watch. They don't care. They've got no fear. You can just imagine, you know, a better team with more talent playing under that system,

how the players would enjoy it. But yeah, I tell you, if you're in neutral right now, you're trying to pick a team, go for Austria. Because no one's entertained more than them right now. You mentioned Ragnick becoming a, or sorry, a disciple of the Red Bull style from the times in Austria and in Germany. That, of course, also applies to the new Canadian manager, Jesse Marsh, who went through that system as well.

Before we get in and turn the page to the Canadian result against Peru yesterday, can you let our listeners know and explain a little bit more about what that system and philosophy and idea of play is that they've done in Red Bull, in the Bundesliga and in the Austrian League as well? Yeah, I mean, there's many layers to it, but essentially it is what you call a high press, an aggressive press. So, you know, you attack the team with the ball

in their own half. You give them no space, no time with the ball. You win it back in dangerous positions up high on the pitch, and you attack quickly and with great energy that's essentially what it is and it is great to watch now can you do it you know um continuously you have to take you know pick your spots because you do it throughout an entire game you will tire out obviously and throughout a tournament you could tire out but that's essentially what it is giving

the opponent no time on the ball and just depressing them you know up high on the pitch and when they get that ball back as quickly as possible so yeah it's just great to watch because there's very little you know lateral passing massing around it just gets get to the danger area as quick as possible is there something to be said about that style being played in a summer tournament when it's hot yeah well i think you saw yesterday with canada um and you're right jesse marsh you know comes in that score, but he wasn't 100% the Rannoch way. He understood how hot it was.

So they're pressed at certain times, but I think he's showing some real adaption to what his tactics are throughout the game, which is really important, because that match last night against Peru, I mean, we'll get to the match itself, but the conditions were almost unplayable to the point where the linesman got carried off the pitch in the first half through, we think, heat exhaustion.

You see the players out there. That was an awful, awful condition to play football in. Dangerous. In fact, 40 degrees, people were saying, on the pitch at kickoff. So, you know, yeah, you have to be careful playing that style of football. Obviously, you do it at times. You pick your spots, but you can't do it for 90 minutes. There's no way.

We're speaking to Footy Prime podcast host James Sharman here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Okay, the match yesterday. I think a lot of people, that might have been the first time that they've ever seen a Copa America match. And just how the game is played among some of these South American countries. I classified it as this. It wasn't a good match.

It wasn't an enjoyable match to watch, but it was an amazing result for Canada. Tell James about the guy that got at you on Twitter. In a friendly way. In a friendly way. Right, so I've been talking up, watch this team, watch this tournament. This is kind of a historic moment for Canada here.

And one of our listeners tweeted in and said, Mike, I don't know how you can watch this. And I didn't push back because if that was his first look at what a Copa America group stage match against, not one of the powerhouses, but one of the tough and determined teams looks like, it was a tough watch at times. I got to admit, do you agree or disagree?

Oh, it was awful. Yeah, okay. It was as ugly a football match as your watch, 100%. You know, from the conditions to the physicality to the tactics. The thing about South American football is this. You know, obviously it's known for Brazil and Argentina and Jogo Benito and the wonderful players. The flair, right?

And I get that as part of it. But the game is kind of rooted in the fact that that is a strong defensive style of football. It's nasty. There's gamesmanship. The players do whatever it takes to con the referee. They'll take liberties physically with their opponents. It is a nasty place to play football. It really is. And yeah, the flair

is there at certain times, but certain teams are known for this. And Peru, I mean, they said that beautifully right before the match that the manager's saying, you know, Canada played too physically, almost violent against Argentina. I'm like, are you kidding me? You've been coaching your team for how long? This is what Peru do as well and Chile do

and most South American teams do. It's all gamesmanship, right? But that's what we saw last night. I mean, if you're new to football and you're tuning in to Copa America, give it a chance. Don't judge it from that performance because Peru knew what they had to do there.

And it almost worked out, right? They were the better team. They were bossing Canada for much of that match, but this resilience shown by the Canadians was extremely impressive. Yeah, because at times it looked more like a street fight than an actual football match. And

I think it's important that Canada got thrown into that. Importantly, didn't lose their heads at all, kept their composure and just waited and waited and waited and got the goal. And that's why I said, awful match to watch, awful match, aesthetically amazing result.

How important was that result for Canada? Yeah, it's huge, right? Because listen, the bottom line is, as much as they've been looking quite good under Jesse Marsh, they hadn't won the game, hadn't scored a goal, right? At some point, they had to do it. So it was a huge match. You know, they could have crashed out of Copa last night.

And, you know, so much was going against them in that first half. They were losing the 50-50s. Peru was giving them no time in the ball whatsoever. They were misplacing passes. They weren't playing very well. And then the headbutt that wasn't called, which is still, you know, a scandalous blow by VAR and by the referee. How you don't call that a red card,

I don't know. Now, again, that's an example of South African football versus Canadian soccer, right? If that was reversed, if Johnston had headbutted the Peruvian player, that Peruvian player is rolling around 10, 15 feet, screaming and clutching his head, right? It looks worse.

Whereas, you know, Johnston isn't that kind of player. He goes down and it was a good headbutt. He couldn't believe it. It was almost in shock. But he didn't sell it. Perhaps maybe he should have done, and I hate that embellishment, trust me. But, I mean, that was a terrible call.

And then in the second half, again, Peru's playing pretty well, but then a terrible challenge that made no sense, a leg-breaking challenge. Finally, they get it right that time and they're down to 10 men. And then Canada's going to sit and take their time and then bring in a couple of subs at halftime. Jacob Schafferberg, who's been just a joy the last couple of matches,

coming off the bench, creating that chance for John David, the one player that really had to score because he's been in a bit of a drought for his country. He needed that goal. And I think it's an enormous goal for this program, for this team, because that might – we'll see what happens against Chile. That's going to be tough. But, you know, that's a goal that we can look back on as getting them out of the group

phase. Wow, what a moment for Canadian soccer. What does Canada need to do against Chile on Saturday? Would a draw get them through? Do they need to do against Chile on Saturday? Would a draw get them through, or do they need to win this? Yeah, a draw could get them through if Peru don't beat Argentina. Right. All right, but Chile's better than Peru, but they'll play a very similar style.

They were very physical against Argentina yesterday, losing 1-0 late. They defend better than Peru. Five men back there, so it's going to be a real battle. It's going to be very similar, I think, to the Peru game, just that they have more ability on the ball. So, yeah, it's going to be...

Listen, Canada played better against Argentina, right? But they seem to be more overwhelmed against Peru yesterday. Was it a hangover? I'm not sure. The conditions obviously played into it to a certain degree. But if Canada can perhaps find themselves a little more from that Argentine game against Chile, they've got every chance of getting a draw or even a win

because it is a good team. But listen, it's going to be tough, no doubt about it. Saturday night will be another painful one to endure. One group stage match left is Canada-Chile. It's this Saturday. James, thank you very much for doing this today. We really appreciate it. Enjoy all the remaining group stage match left is Candidates Chile. It's this Saturday. James, thank you very much for doing this today. We really appreciate it. Enjoy all the remaining group stage matches at Euro

and the weekend with the first round of 16 matches. And, of course, enjoy Candidates Chile as well. I'll try to enjoy it. I'll enjoy them, I guess, somehow. Thanks, guys. Thanks, James. Appreciate it. That's James Sharman, host of the Footy Prime podcast here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.

So we got a good text into the Dunbar-Lumber text line. And by the way, we've got an open segment on the other side. So feel free to text in to the Dunbar-Lumber text line. You can talk about anything. You can talk about soccer if you want, or you can talk about what's going to be probably, I assume, it's going to have to be, a crazy few days in the NHL as the draft and free agency approaches.

650-650 is the Dunbar-Lumber text line. Dunbar-Lumber with three stores to serve you in Ladner on Bridge Street, Dunbar-Lumber Express at Ladner Center, or our Budas in Vancouver online at Dunbar-Lumber.com. Unsigned text, there are certain teams that the group stage

means everything for them, and there's others that treat it like the quote-unquote regular seasons. The favorites go to another level during the knockout round. I hope that's the case for England. I'm pretty sure that will be the case for a country like France, but England, there does seem to be just a real disconnect out there just watching them play the fact that they have just struggled so badly to create chances with all the talent that's on that team there's something weird about what's going on. Hopefully they can all come together.

Perhaps the galvanizing thing is going to be everyone is criticizing us, all the old England players are criticizing us. Well, we'll show them. And Harry Kane, who is the captain of England, came out with some pretty interesting comments. And he was talking about guys like Gary Lineker and Alan Scherer, former England players and very important England players, none of whom got it done, by the way, in a major tournament,

despite being really good. You know, Gary Lineker famously got England to the semifinals of the 1990 World Cup, but no further than that. And Harry Kane said, look, guys, I think you need to remember how hard it is to play for England, how hard it is. It's a lot like being a Canadian team in the NHL. And maybe that's one of the reasons why a Canadian team hasn't won a Stanley

Cup since 1993. There is just so much pressure and so much criticism and really a lot of negativity behind the England team. And Harry Kane was right to point out that some of these guys like Lineker and Scherer need to remember how hard it is to play for England. Where I thought Harry Kane lost his way was when he said maybe these guys should do a better job of getting behind the boys right right and and and being

positive and bringing bringing that positivity that's not their job as media it's their job i mean that's something we've heard locally with uh people covering the vancouver canada oh yeah repeated absolutely how can you guys be so negative? Why don't you guys cheer on the team? Why don't you guys support the team instead of trying to constantly tear them down? But that's not how analysis works. That's not how it works.

I mean, we did get the Let's Go PD chat going, but maybe they need that. Okay, the only thing that I would push back. Let's go, Harry. The only thing that I would put in context here is that I understand being disappointed if the team uh you're supporting fails to get results but if you just look at the pure results of it they did exactly what they needed to do aesthetically it looked terrible and people are people are projecting this always does seem to happen with

england everyone's ripping southgate during the group stage and then they they pick their way and there's there's a lot of projection right it's like what you're doing right now is going to get you killed when it matters yes yes and ultimately it does it's working right now but it's not going to work later on for example england's on a collision course with the netherlands not confirmed yet today's results are going to have a say in who's going to play who, but there's a pretty decent chance that it's going to be a very stiff opponent in the round of 16 in the Netherlands.

And that's going to be some will say the first significant test that England's going to have all due respect to Slovenia, Serbia, and Denmark in the group. That Netherlands represents a tougher challenge with better players and a higher profile. And if that is true and it plays out that way,

yeah, these people have a right to say what you've done so far won't translate into a match against a high-profile opponent. Or it'll get you at some point. Yeah. Like you can go through these games and you can keep them close and you can hope you get a 1-0 win or you can hope you win in penalties, but it's going gonna get you eventually and it always has with england for for a long long time someone texted in why so much focus on england and not canada and the copa and that is a reminder to download

the podcast because we led with canada's win over peru uh at copa, Halford had a really good breakdown of the game. Uh, so, well, yeah, it was good. It was, it was,

uh, it was an, it was a good result for Canada. Um, but the entertainment value was, God, it's hard to say it was lacking because a lot of crazy stuff happened, but the actual game was a slog to watch.

There was no flow to it. You know those TV dramas that are intentionally built to agitate or to put you on edge? Where it's like you're sweating during it. Or it's like, I can't stop watching it. But I'm not enjoying watching it. Hives almost breaking out because it's kept me on edge the entire time. That's what it was. There was not a real sense of enjoyment

until the final whistle blew and it was over and they had the three points. But it was, and at times it was a slog. But at the end of the day, Canada got, and honestly, the crazy part, that's one of the biggest wins in Canadian soccer history right there is an ugly, down in the mud,

alley fight against Peru, where I don't know how much you watch the match. The crowd was unbelievably pro-Peruvian, like you would kind of expect. But the Canadians were like, it's too hot. It was. A lot of pasty Canadians got sunburned yesterday, let me tell you.

Before we go to break, I need to tell you about the BC Lions, who are in action tomorrow at BC Place against the winless Edmonton Elks. The roar is back at BC place for the BC Lions 70th season. Get your tickets now at BC lions.com hour two coming up. You're listening to the Halford and Brough show on sports net six 50.