Halford & Brough in the Morning - Max Scherzer Comes To Nat Bailey

Episode Date: July 2, 2026

In hour two, Mike & Jason discuss the latest baseball news with MLB Network's Adnan Virk (3:02) as Max Scherzer comes to town, plus the boys talk yesterday's wild World Cup action, while also looking ahead to today's matchups (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.

It's time to chat with Adenan. It's Adnan Berkey's on the show. We're gonna talk some baseball and take a trip to the silver screen. That's right, it's time for Adenan. Yes, Adnan Berkey joins us now. We'll head out to the ball game and talk about all the films he sees see. 703 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody.

Halford Brough, Sportsnet, 650. Halford and Brough for the morning is brought to by Sands and Associates. All their clients say, I wish I'd called them sooner. If you're ready to be debt-free, why wait? Visit them today at sands dash trustee.com. We are now an hour two of the program. Adnan Verk is going to join us in just a moment here. Hour two is brought to by Jason Hamanuk at jason.

If you love giving the banks more of your money, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage. for you, visit them online at jason.morgage. We are coming to you live from the Kintech studio, Step Strong with Orthotics and Footwear from Kintech. So before we get to add, Dan, I need to do today's, tonight's whatever, one to watch Brat to you by Limitless A.V. What's so funny?

Or whatever. This one's pretty obvious, right? 4 o'clock Pacific, 7 o'clock Eastern, from Bimo Field in Toronto, Portugal, Croatia, in the round of 32. Ronaldo, Modrich. sweltering Bimo Field. Also, tickets approximately

going for $980 billion each. That is not a thin resale market there. It is. There is nothing going on. It is great to see. Everyone is really excited. Obviously, huge Portuguese and Croatian communities in Toronto. So 4 o'clock

today, Portugal, Croatia, from the World Cup. The 8 o'clock Pacific start time for Algeria and Switzerland. Yep. is weird because who does that like they're both getting up real early and Algeria and Switzerland real early

this was one of the ones the 8 p.m. round of 32 was one of the ones flagged the early stages of the tournament being very odd for whoever lands unless it was one of the unless it was Canada yeah it was designed for Canada right and of course didn't end up although it did end up

but yeah it's going to be very very strange for both of the countries given the time zones and everything else. But anyway, 4 o'clock today, Portugal, Croatia, your one to watch. Brought to you by Limitless AV, Vancouver's most trusted audiovisual integration experts, specializing in seamless video conferencing solutions and hybrid work spaces. Book your personalized tour of their experience center today. Visit them at Limitlessavie.com.com.com. To the A.A.2A.2A.2.2A.2A.

Our next guest is a presentation of Angry Otter Liquor. It's Adnan, Verk, from MLB Network here on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Adnan. How are you? I'm doing great, Mike, doing great, Jay. What a great day was yesterday. Four hours of NHL free agency I did. On NHL network with AJ Iraq and Tony Grano and I course had one, I peeled to the England match.

I've told you guys, mom moved from Pakistan, England, which was young, all my cousins in the group chat losing their mind, how you lose in the DR Congo, and somehow Harry Keynes goes a couple goals that wins. And I'm going to tell you, I'm such a nerd. I just love the broadcasters. I love how great the calls are. And the call against goal is,

cometh the game, cometh the man, which is an expression to come and, the hour come at the man and I said, God, when you hear that in a British with full exhilaration, come up the game, come up the moment, like it's unbelievable. It feels like braveheart. I'm just ready to go run through a wall.

Great drama for England. And of course, then I watched Team USA last night. Going down to tan with a red card. It's been fabulous to watch. Okay. There's a lot to unpack there. By the way, we were doing the exact same thing.

We did an extra hour of the show yesterday. So we were in here for the first half of England in Democratic Republic of Congo. Bruff just completely shut off. It was the Halvard, the Halvard end, occasionally looking up. Did I tell you when I was driving home, I got pulled over? Oh, tell this story. I don't know this.

Okay. Yeah. So I live like 10 minutes away from the studio. So I left at halftime when they're down 1-0. And I'm, I'm a pretty slow driver. Like, I've slowed down a lot. And my 20s, not so much. But so it wasn't an egregious.

mistake, but I will admit that there was an intersection that showed an orange light, and I may have accelerated a little bit to get through the intersection. Okay, there was no one turning left in front of me. I didn't think it was particularly dangerous, but I did make a mistake. So I get pulled over by this cop, and he was walking up to the car, and I'm like, I'm like, I got to get home. Like, I'm going to watch this game. He starts talking to me, and I'm like, this guy's got an English accent.

I got pulled over by a cop with an English accent. So he yelled at me for a bit. And then I was like, I was like, look, I'm sorry, but can I give you a funny excuse? It's not an excuse, but it's, you might enjoy it. And he's like, yes, fine. And I said, I'm really mad at England right now because they're down by a goal and I need to get home to watch the game. And he goes, so am I, mate. So he was angry too

And he was like There's still time for them to come back But drive a little slower I was like they're going to win And anyway, I just want to shout that guy out Because I probably could have got a ticket And England did go on to win But of all the cops in Vancouver

To get pulled over Mine had the English accent Which was nice What's going on in baseball, Ednan? Well, I'll tell you My brother and his kids are visiting from Wisconsin, my brother and my nephew are big Cubs fans. But there's only so much you can do for a week in Jersey, so we've hit the Jersey shore,

we've gone to the beach, you've been to the mall. I have not gone to a World Cup match because we're not that rich. But I felt thinking to the Yankees game, Tuesday, what was the match of Scoobel Schlitler? I said, oh my God, you guys are in luck. I know you're not huge baseball fans. You don't follow the American League. But this is as good a pitching match as you're going to get. Is there any more deflating fellows?

I get tickets for eight people. Me and my kids, my brother and his kids, you show up first inning. The Tigers hit three homers off Cam Schlitler, who is the favorite. it to win the Siong right now. He had a 1.62 ERA going into that game. He gave up six runs in three plus innings. His ERA went a half a run higher in one hour. Think about that.

In three months in one hour, with half a run. And when school pitching, it's over. Two hits, he gave up in six innings, only two runs. So it was a little bit deflating. I can't be any worse moments. Imagine you go to a hockey game, four nothing in the first five minutes.

You go, whatever you want to leave. Just let me know. You want to go get some refreshments, get a beer, whatever you like. So in baseball-wise, the Yankees are reeling. That's a big story. They've lost seven straight games. But in fairness, they're without Aaron Judge, they're without John Carlos Stanton, they're without Trent Grisham, they're without Jazz Chisholm.

So when those guys are healthy, they're probably still the best team in the American League. But I get to see up close and personal how futile that offense can be without their stars. Hey, you mentioned potential SIE Young winner there. And now we've got a three-time Sigh-Young winner pitching right here in Vancouver tomorrow. I don't know if you're aware of this or now, but Max Scherzer is going to have a rehab assignment start for the single. A Vancouver Canadians tomorrow. And that, of course, that coincides with the Mariners hosting the Blue Jays this weekend. That series begins

on Friday as well. So Scherzer is going to start here. Apparently tickets were flying yesterday when it was announced that Scherzer was going to start on Friday. He's then going to rejoin the team in Seattle, but very cool for local baseball fans. They're going to get to see a three-time Syong winner in Max Scher. Obviously, it's been a tough season for him, but he's going to pitch at Nat Bailey on Friday, which should be very cool. it's so cool, Mike.

I remember where I lived nine years in Central Connecticut. There was no teams around this when I worked at ESPN, but the AA baseball team was in New Britain. One time, like Phil Hughes had like a rehab, certainly acres. I'm like, oh, let's go see Phil Hues says. It's a big deal. You get to watch an actual major league rather than with all respect, AA guys.

So I think it's not only cool for the fans, but also the players. Like imagine just for one day. You get to share a clubhouse of Max Scher and pick his brain and do what he can. And I know Max has obviously not had the season he's want so far. I'm not expecting much out of him. But yeah, it's cool for Vancouver fans to go. go see him. Hopefully he can still have an impact on the Blue Jays. I all along thought he was going to be like a three-month guy.

Like whatever you're going to get, you're getting 75 innings out of him, and hopefully it's going to be workman-like. And as far as the Jays and the Mariners, I mean, two teams that just need to score some runs. It's stunning how bad these offenses have been. So I hope that there's some runs scored there in Seattle this weekend, because both those offenses are very, very challenged right now. Well, the Jays scored nine yesterday and a 9-3 win over the Mets to take that series. So it's actually a very busy week of prominence for the Jays.

because they're going to Seattle. That's a much Bally Hood series. But I do want to wind it back to this series against the Mets because that was also one that caught a lot of attention. It was Bo Bichette's return to Toronto. That was very emotional. We also got a close look at the Mets and just how awful they are. I know it's been a very tumultuous week for that organization.

You know, it was George Springer's Inside the Park Little League home run, which was just a comedy of bad play and bad defense and bad airs. And I thought the Mets were supposed to have cleaned up. up all of these issues with the fielding, but it seems like it's only gotten worse. And not surprisingly, they've just been a complete tire fire this season. Yeah, I'll get the Mets in a sec, Mike. I just want to mention about Boba Shett. Again, for the TV nerd in me, there's nothing better I find, nothing more emotional,

nothing more appealing to when an athlete lets down their guard. For example, the Knicks win, Lisa Salters asked Brunson after the game. He's a humble superstar as Mike Breed has described him. When she says to him, what is it like to experience this with your dad? Brunson is clearly caught up and he's choked up and he can't speak. after 10 seconds, Lisa says to him, it says everything or something like that. He says everything. He says, hey, never interrupt the guy.

If he's about to cry, let him cry. So Bo Bichette in his return to Toronto, as you guys saw, 30 seconds, 30 seconds, his eyes were welled up with emotion when they asked him, what's it like back being here? And thank God the Toronto did their job. Don't interrupt him. You let him answer if it takes him five minutes. And eventually he says, I gave it all they got. And I said, wow, I love Bo's vulnerability in that moment.

And this is a generally soft-spoken star. And I think for anybody who felt like maybe he didn't. wears his heart on his sleeve. That told me everything. I'm like, don't he really love playing in Toronto. He doesn't necessarily want to leave. This hasn't worked out for either side. I think Toronto misses Bo Bichette.

I think Bo misses Toronto and the tire fire that is the Mets. But very cool moment. I love the raucous ovation he got 10 seasons in Toronto. Vlad telling him the tip the hat, you know, twice of the league. It's very, very cool. As for the Mets, you're right, the whole point was they're going to improve their defense. And what we've learned is that there was just way too much upheaval this offseason. And David Stearns is a guy who did a lot with a little.

He did that with the Milwaukee, Rovers, bottom five payroll, and they were perennially winning the division and in contention. But just because all of a sudden you're good with a little, doesn't mean you'll be good with a lot. Now, Andrew Friedman is an example of a guy who did do that. Again, ran the raise for years. Didn't have any money. Hey, how about the Dodgers can run him? No problem. Give me $400 million. I'm even smarter than I realized. So it does work out. But with Sterns, he has a $37 million payroll, and he can't figure it out. And Steve Coleman was on a podcast today to show with my friends John Hamon and Joel Sherman, basically saying, I'm not getting rid of David Stearns. We already fired

Carlos Mendoza. Look at what Stearns did a couple years ago. But this is an example of fellas where you can't just play fantasy baseball, make it work. He jettisoned the guts of that team, notably Pete Alonzo, Edwin Diaz, Brandon Nimmo, Jack McNeil. And you bought it every single guy hasn't worked out. Freddie Peralta was this guy with Milwaukee, has familiarity, was an ace there, boss so far, disappointment. Luis Robert took a fly on him, stinks. Jorge Polanco, been hurt. Bo didn't start off Strong. It's been much better lately in the month of June he's been raking. So, you know, you're taking. You're taking. taking flyers on guys and it's not going to work out when you take that kind of risk.

You need to have some continuity with your team. Soto is a brilliant hitter, but he was hurt early. Lindor was hurt. And when Lendor's been back, he's been ineffective. So they can't get on the same page. And Mike is right. That literally, home run, which, by the way, somehow was no error charged to Soto, which was laughable. That was crazy.

That was crazy that they rolled out a triple with it. Like, I was blown away at that. I don't want to go off on an official score, but that's one of the stupidest things they've ever seen. The fact that Soto didn't get an. error on that play. It was just ridiculous. They're a bad baseball team top to bottom. It feels like Steve Cohen is, I know it's already gone off the rails there, but it's almost

like he wants to keep it from going further off the rails with his unwillingness to fire David Stearns, unless I'm missing something here. I mean, he makes a point here when he says, is someone going to put their career in your hands if you're going to be short-term oriented? And he's talking about, you know, the president know baseball ops and he said it's a five-year contract and we're going to live that contract out what do you make of that unwillingness to fire the guy that's put this all together one thing i've learned about rich people brough is they don't like spending wasted money so i think his thought process is if i'm paying you for five years i don't like firing you in year three

and i have to pay you for two more years like that is a big thing with these guys so i think he's like all right, I mean, I'm going to keep you for five years, for a complete atrocity the entire time. But I'm also not to be presumptuous. I'm going to give you as much of that time as I can. I'll pay you for one year to do nothing, but I won't pay you for two years to do nothing. So I think at the very least Steve's saying, okay, finish out the season. Let's at least show a glimmer of hope, a glimmer of light, show me some prospects that look good. Give me some more Nolan McClain that there's reasons, there's hope on the horizon. And then we'll see what happens in 2027 if indeed there's no lockout, if indeed there is baseball, etc.

But that's generally my vibe on this is that these guys, you think of them as being rich gunslingers and impetuous, but they're actually not. They're more patient than you think. I'm sure privately is screaming and kicking and screaming, but they don't like to lose money. Same thing with Hal Steinbrenner. Like everyone saw, Rudy should lose his job, Brian Cashman. No, if you're under contract,

they like you to finish the contract. They won't fire you until the deal is done. What they do is they don't renew you. That's their way of doing it. That's their cold-blooded calculating move. I'm not going to fire you. I just won't renew you. The reason I wondered about Steve Cohen, though, It's like he's not a buy and hold investor. Like he is a trader.

He's a hedge fund guy. He moves in and out of positions all the time. So I wondered if he might be a little bit more like that with the New York Mets. He's a pretty fascinating guy. You know, he has a history. And as soon as he bought the Mets, I was like, oh, this is, regardless of wins or losses, this is going to be interesting. Yeah, I think it's good to have guys like this in the sport.

I mean, he's got deep pockets who clearly. cares about winning and he's willing to spend, but at the same time, it's not a success, which probably helps the small market teams. Because the negative appeal would be, this guy comes in and spends the most money in the Mets win. But it's much more entertaining, of course, for the rest of us if you don't have a dog in the race.

He spends so much money and yet still doesn't win. Why is that? How can that be? That just shows how bad David Stern's has done in terms of identifying talent and trying to bring out the right players. The chemistry is just been awful. Adnan, this was great, buddy. Thanks for taking the time to do it.

As always, we appreciate it. enjoy another loaded weekend of sports. It's going to be a lot of fun. We'll do this again next week. Yeah, let's take down Morocco on Saturday and no heavy feet for Bruffer, right? We can only get on so many English cops, helping you out. Thanks, dude.

Appreciate it. Thanks, boys. And I have Eric from MLV Network here on the Halford and Brough show on SportsNet 650. Okay. With regards to all of the moves that the Canucks made yesterday, a point of clarification from earlier in the show where we may have led some listeners astray.

Okay? The pick that the Canucks acquired and the Marcus Pedersen trade to the New York Rangers is a 2030 first round pick top 10 protected. If it falls inside the top 10, the New York Rangers must take the pick and then it slides to 2031 for the Vancouver Canucks pick and it will be completely unprotected. Everyone got that? Yeah. The Rangers do not have the option to pick and choose. It's almost like an automatic. There's no option.

It's like automatically slides. So in case I inferred earlier in the show that the Rangers had a choice, they do not. If that pick falls within the top 10 in 2030, the 2031 pick automatically goes to the Vancouver Canucks and it is lottery unprotected. So there you go. Okay.

Can you add a little more? Let's talk a little bit more about Zach Werenski. and this statement that was put out by the team. It was Don Waddell and Zach Wrenski. And let's go through this and let's go through this situation here because this is still a superstar player that could be traded. So when we got in yesterday 6 a.m., we came into the news that Rorensky had been traded to Dallas

in a package that included Thomas Harley going from Dallas to Columbus. But the deal was scuttled after being agreed to as well because Werenzky turned it down. His preference was to be traded to a team in the Eastern Conference. And it was later reported that those teams were most likely either Tampa Bay or Toronto. So we had Frank Sarvelli on at 7 and we had Elliott Friedman on at 730. We asked both about the situation. They both said it's gotten ugly. everybody's pissed off. Obviously the blue jackets are irate

because they made a trade for a guy that asked out even though he's still under contract. The Dallas Stars are upset because they agreed to this trade and now one of their guys knows that they were willing to trade them. And the Werenski camp is upset because they got thrown into the mix where they had a deal consummated to a place Werenzki

didn't even agree to go to. Everyone was upset and everyone was pissed off. Then everyone apparently took a deep breath. And the Blue Jackets and the Werensky camp issued a joint statement yesterday. And I'll just read some of the highlights from it. This is from Don Waddell. After some time in discussions with his family, Zach informed us that he didn't want to leave Columbus.

Werenstki then added, I want to win and I want to do that in Columbus. Then the kicker of all kickers, and the one that we talked about earlier, and the one that was pretty bothersome. This is from Rorensky. Don and I have had a very open and honest dialogue since the season ended. Ideally, this wouldn't have become such a public thing,

but this is the world we live in now, and everything got blown out of proportion, in my opinion. End of statement. So there's a lot to unpack there. You said a bit more after that, but... I'm just cutting it short for brevity's sake. Yeah, it struck me as pure damage control, this whole thing. because Waddell confirmed that they did take a trade to him.

He said, we found something that would work for the club and took it to him. And then he said, you know, Zach informed us that he didn't want to leave Columbus. Was it that or did he not want to go to Dallas? Zach informed us he didn't want to leave Columbus. Dot, dot, dot, dot. Yeah, to Fort Dallas. For Dallas. For Dallas.

For Dallas, right? Yeah. Because Zach has also apparently informed the blue jackets that he doesn't want to resign in Columbus. or that he doesn't have that intention reportedly. So he's like, Zach is really set on staying here for two more years. You know, like I, there's clearly something going on here. And what I don't like is how Columbus kind of screwed this up.

They screwed up the process. They got to take ownership of that for sure. And then they're blaming the world we live in. Like, what does that even mean? That people are interested in what's going to? on with the Norse trophy winning defensemen in that, you know, there are teams around the league that are there, you know, if you're Dallas Stars fan, you're like, oh man, why doesn't want to come to our team? So you're wondering about that or if you're, you know, a fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs

or where else did Zach Wrenski? Tampa Bay. Tampa Bay. That door now is seemingly closed with them is signing John Carlson to a two-year, $17 million deal. Yeah, well, two-year, though. Here's the thing. Maybe. The reason I think it's closed now is for two reasons. One, they went and got Carlson, but also I don't think Don Waddell has any interest trading Zach

Rensky to the lightning for pennies on the dollar. What's he going to get out of Tampa Bay? Yeah. What's you're going to get out of Toronto though? That's the nice. That's why I think that they've hit the breaks on this thing. But would Morgan Riley, but would Morgan Riley waive to go there? And this is why I think they've hit, this is why I think they've hit the brakes on this thing is I think they've reached a point where

the only thing that can happen right now, if you keep moving forward is bad things. You know, sometimes you just need a moment to sit and take a deep breath and hope that something solves itself. They are... We're still going to talk about it, though, because that's the world we live in. Yeah, right. I think it got blown out of proportion, that trade that was consummated and then had to be reneged

on. I got blown out of proportion. I really, really... I don't like Werensky, by the way, and all that. I really dislike the... Well, that's the world we live in. an excuse because first of all, downplays

the value of having eyeballs on your product. Sure. And second of all, it's like it's basically acting like this was a nothing burger. It was like, and it wasn't a nothing burger. So you want to know what I think has happened here. I think Werenski's going to play that

card where he says, well, I never requested a trade. Right. And that'll be true. But by telling Columbus, that he has zero intention of resigning there when his contract is up. It's pretty much doing the same thing. And nobody in their right mind is buying

that this is just coincidental timing around the same time that Brady Kachuk got moved and Dylan Larker requested a trade out of Detroit and Connor Hallibuck seems to be ready to be on the move. Like no one's buying this. But do you know what kind of reminded me of that statement was when we had BC Lions general manager Ryan Rigmeaden on?

And there was a lot of criticism of Mike Benevides at the time, the defensive coordinator. And I get that Ryan Rigmeadem might, you know, he has a lot of respect for Benavides. This is the guy that's been coaching for a long time. And he might feel that Benavides is doing a good job. Yeah, he might just had to go to bat for him. But I get what you're saying.

But it sounded so dismissive. And it's like, because it was. And it's like dismissive of your fans. Yeah. You know, your fans that are frustrated by the team. And they're like, you know, is it? maybe you think it's cruel or unfair to be singling out. But there wasn't any like, like, I understand why our fans are upset.

It was like, well, that's just the internet. I'm like, you're kind of lucky that anyone's talking about. You go on the internet right now because you're not exactly off to the hottest start. And there is other stuff going on. I just, I don't know. Maybe it's just a specific trigger for me. But like, I can't, when people are like, well, that's the world we live in, well, it's like, Yeah, where people are interested in you?

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Dottery.com. You're listening to the Halford and Brough show on SportsNet 650. It's Canucks Central on SportsNet 650. From exclusive interviews to insider scoops and post-game breakdowns, we've got it all. Tune in weekdays 4 to 6 p.m. on radio and on demand through your favorite podcast app. 34 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody. Halford Bruff Sportsnet 650. Halford Brub in the morning is brought to my Sands and Associates. Don't spend summer sweating over your debt.

Sands and Associates is ready to help you get debt free. Visit them today at sands dash trustee.com. We are in our two of the program. We're the midway point of the show. Hour two is brought to by Jason Homanoch at jason. If you love paying too much for your mortgage, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit them online at jason.com.

So yesterday, very exciting day at the World Cup. Today, three matches on the slate, a little bit of a later twist to all of them. First kickoff isn't until noon. Heavily favored Spain going up against Austria. After that at 4 o'clock, it's Portugal and Croatia from Toronto. Portuguese are the favorites there. And then in the finale at 8 p.m. tonight, a late one out on the West Coast.

Second and last game, the penultimate game at BC Place. Switzerland takes on Algeria. This could have been the Canada. spot had Canada finished to top the group instead of Switzerland. In a very... We did it okay. In a very fortuitous

way, I think it all worked out for the best for Canada. This is to say that they couldn't take care of Algeria in the round of 32, but if you go by the FIFA rankings and quite frankly the quality of players involved, Algeria is a superior squad to South Africa and Canada, of course, was able to be in South Africa.

In the short term, it worked out. But who does the winner of Switzerland and Algeria get, they get, oh, they get Columbia or Ghana. So if it's Columbia, that's a tough match. It's a tough matchups. It's a tough matchup.

Very rarely do you, sorry, round of 16. Very rarely do you get, and I know it's an expanded field now, but two knockout matches where you're, you can handle the opponent. Anyway, Canada's got Morocco on Saturday, or did you want to talk about something else first? In your mind,

is France the heavy favorite now to win this tournament? even though Argentina is still alive, Spain is still alive, there are other very good footballing nations. It's just that France has looked so dangerous. And we all know that talent-wise, like the consensus is that talent-wise, they have the most of it. I have a hard time putting anyone out front as a huge favorite

because there's too many good squads still around, including the defending champs. I mean, I would still say with Brazil alive and kicking, that's someone that you always have to consider. That's going to be a fun matchup, Brazil and Norway. Yeah. I mean, that's

an outstanding outstanding storylines coming from that one. So of the good teams, Holland is the most important player for his team, right? I'll tell you what. Harry Kane is certainly making himself a prominent figure in that conversation. But it was funny because

You were asking this the other day. Like, superstars on teams. And France, with Mbapé, you're saying, yeah, well, that's great. But they've also got like, like, L'Isa and everyone else. It's hard to say that Mbapé is the most important player by a wide margin. But with Norway, I mean, the goal scoring exploits that Holland has put on and continued into this World Cup, he scored in every competitive match for Norway since 2014, October of 2014. That's insane.

I believe he has 25 goals. in the 13 competitive matches that they played. Yeah. And I mean, it's a remarkable feat. And Norway, correct me if I'm wrong here, is the original reason why Italy is not in this tournament, right? That's correct. They were in the qualifying group together in Europe.

Norway won the group and got the automatic qualification. Italy had to try and find a way through the back door, but Bosnia... By the way. Yeah. Yesterday did not do the Italians any favors for making themselves feel any better about losing to Bosnia. because in case you missed it, the U.S. up 1-0.

I never thought of that, actually. Against the Bosnians yesterday. Suffered what many consider to be, and it was, to be fair, a controversial red card to Florian Balligan, who's been their best player in this world's up so far. Yeah. And it's been their leading score. Balligan takes a red.

And I won't go into the fine details on it because we got a lot to get into. But it was a controversial call. So Bosnia is now faced with roughly 25 to 30 minutes remaining up a man in a very down a goal, in a very similar circumstance to what they faced against Italy in the European playoff. Bosnia did absolutely nothing with the advantage. They were. In fact, they conceded. They were terrible 11v10.

I think they had one fairly decent chance when it was one. 1-0. And then when Malik Talman scored, which I'm going to be honest, was a saveable free kick. It was a nice free kick. He did really well to get it up and down over the wall, but the keeper was poor. How big an advantage? I mean, we're talking about Canada

has to go to Houston to play Morocco. And I think probably Canada might have more fans than Morocco at this tournament, although the Moroccans have traveled pretty well for it. But I don't think there's going to be a decided advantage

for any team in that game from the crowd. But I think we can see the advantage that the Americans and the Mexicans have with the home crowd. I think it's been pretty obvious. Oh, yeah.

And I know I looked at the sports books today and England is actually slightly favored over Mexico at Azteca on Sunday. Yeah. Slightly. But I don't know, man. Like, I don't know. First of all, I stand by what I said yesterday

that England doesn't look right. Like they don't look like they're firing on all cylinders. And I realize it's tournament football and the whole idea is to survive and then you just meet the next challenge. And maybe you come up with an incredible performance. But

they just don't seem to be working as well as they could be. And, you know, like Matawakee, I don't love him. You know, Jensen. I thought that right side for England was dreadful to start and there's a reason those guys got subbed off.

And I just think the advantage that Mexico is going to get at Azteca in this one. And by the way, this is the match of the tournament for all the, for all the excitement about Canada, I mean, you definitely should be more excited for the Canada match. But if you're a neutral watching this tournament, this is, this might end up, you never know, this might end up being the match of the tournament in terms of, terms of the hype, in terms of the atmosphere, in terms of the matchup, the pressure on both these countries, it is going to be incredible. But I could, I'll be honest with you, I could see Mexico winning this one.

And I could see them, I could see them in some ways running England off the pitch because there's also that whole thing about like, you got to get acclimatized to playing, well, you can't. And actually, Thomas Tuchel said like. Well, Harry Kane said it too. Yeah, he says, like, you just playing in Mexico City, it's like, this is an advantage that you have to concede to Mexico. Yeah, it's, England has a superior squad to Mexico. Yes, they have more talent.

However, of the three host countries, it is not even comparable to the energy and the lift and the bump and the vibe and the atmosphere and the intensity that comes from Mexico playing at Azteca compared to wherever the U.S. are playing in the U.S. in Canada playing at BMO or at B.C. It's not even close. Seattle's a pretty good lift for them. People are raving about Seattle and that's where they're going to host Belgium. But it's minute compared to Mexico.

Yes. Okay. Yes. So that's going to be a great stage and that's on Sunday. Saturday. I do want to spend a bit of time talking about the task at hand for Canada here. So Jesse Marsh said yesterday, I believe he called it a gory, horrific nightmare trying to scheme and plan and strategize for this Moroccan side. And I know what Jesse's doing right now, and it is to further paint his squad and put them in a corner as such a decided underdog in this match, which they are by every metric imaginable,

and every measure that you can think of, Canada is a huge underdog in this match. The only mitigating factors that I can see right now that I don't know what could happen, but could throw the match into her ears. One, it is going to be ridiculously hot in Houston on Saturday. But it's air-conditioned.

It doesn't matter. Sorry. But it's going to be hot. I know it's air-conditioned, but it's going to be hot. No, it'll be fine. It's going to be hot. Trust me. There's a physical element to the way Canada wants to play. And I know it's air-conditioned. But it's going to be hot.

There's going to be- Why? It's air-conditioned. It's going to be hot. Just trust me. You keep seeing that, but it's an air-conditioned stadium. Yeah, but it's not like, it's going to be like sitting in your house of Florida with air condition.

It's not going to be the same as BC place. No, it's in the Switzerland game. So just work with me here on the, what Marsh is trying to stack up here in terms of what Canada can bring from a physical nature and attack a Moroccan squad that he pointed out the other day like they did go to

you know, penalties with the Dutch and even though they've got five days to rest and recover, maybe there's something there. In my heart and in my mind, I want them to try and change the tactics a little bit and try, I know he mentioned it, the half of the Switzerland match, try and go, but at five in the back and it got to nil-nil and let's try and like lock this thing down. And really not unlike do what the South Africans tried to do to Canada,

which was soak up a lot of the pressure and play a defensive shell and maybe park the bus to a certain degree. I think that he's going to try and go after it. I think that he's going to try and have a really hard running, pushing physically aggressive, aggressive match against Morocco. Morocco might be okay with that, though. I think they're going to be more than okay with it. Yeah. I think that's what I'm worried about right now.

I'm worried that he's going to say, what was the line that he used? We got a free hit. A free hit. Just running gun with them? I think it's just going to be doing the things that he thinks Canada are best at, which is high press. I mean, one of his regrets about the Switzerland match

was that he felt like they didn't do enough of it in the first half of the Switzerland match. Remember, we talked about it afterwards. They felt like they were stuck between, let's be a little conservative, but also maybe press when we have our opportunities, and let's pick our choose our spots and all this other stuff. I think that... I think it would be pretty unlikely if Canada parked the bus with their personnel

and played overly conservative if they could get it to penalties. See, I don't think you necessarily need to park the bus. But I think that you could play three at the back in the centerback spot and two more wide and put a five across the back, which is what he's already considered doing, this tournament. Right. Which he says he should have done in the second half of the Switzerland game.

And then what you do is you just make it harder for them to break you down in that final third. Right? Yeah. And that's all I'm talking about. I'm not talking about completely. And that's why I was when we had this conversation with Sharman yesterday. And he was pushing back about I don't think they're going to dramatically change their

style and, you know, strategic approach and everything. And my point was, I'm not talking about a massive alteration here. I'm also, I'm talking about leaning into. So I learned a phrase. Yeah. You're not talking about a low block. A low block is essentially where you sit all 10 outfield players behind the ball. And you have...

Pack the middle of the ice block some shots. You remember the England Ghana match? Yeah, that's a low block. Some of the screen grabs that they had, like every Gunnian player was in a rectangle. And it was basically like between the two lines of the 18. Yeah. And then everyone's sitting in a very like, compact, call it a window if you want.

And they're like, you can have the outsides. But once you try and cross it in, we've got all our guys here. Right. And if you're going to try and do some intricate passing at the top of the box to knife through us, good luck. Because all our guys are here. Yeah. Right?

And it's tough. It's very tough to deal with. So you're not suggesting Canada should do that or maybe you are? Well, it'll be tough for them to do it because they're just not trained to do it. That's the thing. They don't have the reps. They don't have the practice. It's not in their mentality.

it's not in their identity. I do wonder, and part of the reason I want to see this is like, I think they got handed a bit of a gift when they realized that Bombito got healthy enough to play and to start and Defusio old burst onto the scene like he has. Like there's some technical work out there. The FIFA's got, to their credit, a million different like pieces of data and statistical breakdowns.

It's all for free and still available. So Arceen Venger, the former Arsenal manager, got this thing where they do the match ratings for players. And Diffusual's one of the more higher rated centerbacks in the entire tournament. Like he's been great. So my thought would be is there a world where you can play

those three, Diffusual, Bombito and Cornelius at some point together and really lean into what's been a sort of found strength in this tournament? Can I ask you a question about scoring goals for Canada? Sure.

Who is good at headers. I mean, getting on the end of crosses? Yeah. Well, Harry Kane scored a header. Oh, for Canada. For Canada. Well, it's the big lads. It's Tanyolo O'Shea and it's promised David. Okay. Like, you noticed at the end, when they came on... Because it

doesn't seem to be Cornelius. That was tough. He's had a few. He's had a few. I mean, he's a centerback by trade. I know, but the centerbacks are often the guys that, because they're the big guys, right? So it's interesting you bring this up because I think one of the... By the way, I think that's an advantage that England will have them over Mexico is size.

Yeah. You can get balls into the box. Kane's a tremendous finisher with his head. We saw that yesterday. I think one of the interesting things for Marsh right now with regards to figuring out deployment is I don't think they really know what to do

with Promise David. They keep bringing him off the bench and he keeps having an impact. Is he 100% though? All these guys seem like people say start Alfonso Davies. I'm like, I don't think you can't. He's not healthy enough. Okay, let's address that right now.

You can't. he's a he's a 20 minute guy maybe he's at 70% 80% maybe yeah and I had so I had a bunch of people texting me on Sunday be like how can davy's not just man up or sack up and play and I'm like he can't run at full speed because his hamstring might explode again yeah it's not a just like have a hamstring injury and and it's like it's like it's honestly like a hockey player having a groin injury you're like yeah just go for it it's like that thing will get tweaked in five seconds if I go full out. It's

just not feasible to do the things that he wants to do. He can do it in small sample sizes. Like, I think a lot of people have the and this isn't like, well, you don't understand soccer thing. I just don't think people understand how like badly his body has betrayed him over the last 12 to 14 months.

Yeah. He had a torn ACL and then repeated hamstring blowouts. Like it's just not going for him. And every time he tries to come back, he does it again. So they're trying to burn that. Because if he goes into match with Canada and he's not ready to go and he runs and he blows out his hamstring in the first 10 minutes. It's of no

benefit to Canada either. No. In fact, it's a huge mental blow. So rule the Davies thing out. But back to your point about the start at least. I think he'll play 20 minutes at some point. Same thing as he did against South Africa. But back to your point, with the ability to finish on crosses.

David, promised David, is a huge physical specimen. Yeah. He wins balls in there and so does Olo a shay and it is one of their advantages when those two guys are on the pitch together. We saw it at the end of the Switzerland match where everything was about long

throws and crosses, right? And you get it in there and you hope that you can create some chaos. David, because he's, promised David, because he's so big and he's such a tough guy to deal with. He just presents a very unique matchup challenge in a one match winner take all

where maybe you rely less on sort of skill and build up and savviness in play. And you're like, let's just get balls in the box and create some chaos and see what happens. I wonder if they'll forge a bigger role for him against Morocco because of that.

It's kind of unfortunate that the one goal that they scored against Switzerland gets overlooked because they ended up losing that game because that's got to be a top five goal of the actual World Cup tournament. That was a fantastic buildup play. Unbelievable.

Yeah. The touch to bring it down from Sileba and get it over and then promises finish was fantastic. And that's what he brings. how far he had to stretch to get on that ball. And then, like you said, Saliba, he had like, what, three touches, one on his chest, one to his foot and then over, right?

It was, it was, it was incredible. And it's just unfortunate that the goal didn't end up really counting for much. Because I think, I mean, I've watched a lot of the World Cup. How many prettier goals have you seen than that in the World Cup? there was one in the the first Norway goal actually all the goals in the the Noray match were actually of really high quality but the first goal

in the Norway match was really good I try to have to go back and look at some of the but that Canada goal it was up there and it's funny because you meant because it does kind of get forgotten because they lost the match and everyone was talking about so many other things from that match aside from the goal should the Congo keeper

have had Harry Kane's first goal see I have a hard time blaming him for anything yesterday because he was unreal I feel like you should have had it. He was under. Okay, but he also stopped, I would say, two surefire goals in the first half. That was kind of the thing about the England matches.

I know that they struggled and they didn't look great, but after they conceded early, they had about three or four massive chances. Juan Basaka cleared one off the goal. I think it was a Rashford shot. The Congolese keeper made two unbelievable saves. They should have been at the very least going into the break, a halftime break, at 1-1.

Sure. But they didn't. there was some bad. But can you agree? They've looked a little disjointed. They haven't looked great. Yeah. And even in the opener when they scored the four, they still conceded the two.

They conceded a lot of chances. Yeah. And that was one of those things where it's like, well, can we continue to play this way? And then the Ghana match. People were excited about that though, right? Yeah. But I was kind of like, oh, like you got to keep the ball out of your net. Yeah.

So I don't know. I'll be very curious to see what England looks like in the Mexico match. because now there's this added element of with no disrespect to any of the previous opponents, but England was largely expected to win. They were the book. Heavy favorite. They were the book favorites going into the match against Croatia.

Yeah. And they won. And they disappointed against Ghana. They were the favorites against Panama. They took care of. And they were big favorites yesterday. They'll still be a betting favorite in this one in Mexico. But right now, going into it, I would say that the Mexicans have the advantage.

They're rolling. They've won four on the trot. They haven't conceded a goal. And here's the other thing. Those scenes for Mexico are absolutely incredible. This is their last match in Mexico. Like this, the tournament shifts back to the U.S. for them after this. So there is going to be this sort of sending off final match.

You chance to win five of five in Mexico. Pretty impressive stuff. Okay. In Brazil or Norway, we'll be waiting for the winner of that in Miami. Yeah. Okay. So we got a lot more to get into on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Final hour of the program on the horizon.

Rick Dollywall is going to join us. Intrepid Connect supporter for Donnie and Dolly on Czech TV. We'll talk about the Marcus Pedersen trade and a whole bunch of other stuff as well. That's Rick coming up. We should ask him like, does Marcus Rashford, should he start? You know, is Saka ready to go, Ricky? Oh, this is perfect timing. Because I got a question and this is the smart decision brought to you by Crow.

And I'm going to make this once again an important decision for Canada on Saturday. Okay. Please do not start Liam Miller. And please put Ali Ahmed back in the 11th. That would be a smart decision. Is he healthy? That's a question of like every Canadian player. Every Canadian player.

I think if he was healthy enough to be selected, I think he's healthy enough to go. I know that again, Sharman was pushing back on this yesterday too. He's like, you don't like Liam Miller? And you're like, no. No. I don't like what he's done this tournament. I think every time he gets the ball, it is a cutback or a stop and cut into the middle. I don't think there's enough creativity or unpredictability.

So start Ali Ahmed. Get him in the 11. That's a smart decision brought to you by Crow. your trusting accounting and tax advisors for over 55 years. Crow smart decisions lasting value. Learn more at chroma-kye.ca. You're listening to the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet, 650.