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Episode Date: July 15, 2026

In this episode, Tony Kornheiser and Frank Isola discuss a recap of Argentina's victory over England, securing their spot in the World Cup final against Spain. The MLB All-Star Game, Update on the Kawahi Leonard investigation and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Part of the interruption, but I'm Frank Isola. It's National Poetry at Work Day, Tony. You got a poem for us? I'm Tony Kornheiser. I'm good with news that's a shocker. On most sports, I'm a good talker. But one thing I'd savor is if you'd do me the favor of taking the lead on the soccer.

We got it. You got it. That would be great. Man. Welcome to PTI, boys and girls. Wilbon remains on his office. Arctic Expedition, so I am joined by our great friend from the starting lineup on Sirius XM, Mr. Frank Isola.

Okay. And right up Frank's alley, we begin today with Argentina in probably advancing to face Spain in Sunday's World Cup final. England scored early in the second half and looked to be headed for the win before Argentina scored late, as it always does to tie the game. And then again, in stoppage time for the win, Frank, what do you make of Argentina? as a win and how they did it. So in 86, it was the hand of God.

In 98, Beckham gets the red card against Argentina. This was the collapse by England. They looked like they were in control. And Tony, they took that one-nill lead. Anthony Gordon, that was a beautiful goal. Morgan Rogers set it up with a beautiful cross. And then they just decided to park the bus. They started subbing out offensive players for defensive players,

and they let Argentina just keep chipping away. And they call England the three lions, the heart of the champion belongs, or the heart of a lion, I should say, belongs to the defending champs. Argentina, all tournament long, has their road been that tough? Probably not. But they were down to Egypt, two nothing. They came back and won that game. But to do this against England, when Thomas Tuchel, the manager, and he's going to face a lot of criticism, Tony, back in England, for making all those substitutions instead of just keep playing, because they look like the better team for most of the most of them. of this match. Why not try to score that second goal? So they give up the first on a beautiful

shot by Enzo Fernandez, who plays for Chelsea in England, by the way. And then the kid Martinez, who plays over in Italy, had the goal, which, by the way, came off the assist from Lionel Messi. That is a brutal, brutal loss for England and another inspiring win for Argentina. So I just have a couple of things to say, because you've covered the waterfront on this. one is that you say the coach will get some criticism because he went to a defensive mindset. I agree with that. The goalie was great, but you put so much pressure on the goalie. It looked like in, you know, in the last 20 minutes, all the action is down on the English end.

And apparently, this is what Argentina does better than any country in the world. They score late. This is their seventh game in the World Cup. This was their 10th and 11th goals after the 75-minute mark. I mean, they are living on the razor's edge, but they do this all the time. Are you surprised? Did you think England had this game? I definitely did until they went to that strategy to sit back.

A couple of things that are interesting about this game, Tony, which you'll appreciate. In 86 and in 98, Argentina, which usually wears the striped jerseys, they went with the dark blue. So the theme was there for them, but England just looked like the better team. I'm surprised they went into that defensive formation. Mexico, England did the same thing against Mexico, but Mexico was not Argentina. They don't have the quality players that could finish the job. And that's what Argentina did. They don't have Messi.

Messi now, at 39 years old, gets to go for his second straight World Cup. And if they win that, it's going to be hard to make an argument that he is not the goat. It's going to be hard to make that argument. Let's move to last night's All-Star game. The American League got three runs in the top of the first inning off of Christopher Sanchez and didn't need any more than that. They got one more in the eighth inning on a home run by the White Sox Miguel Vargas. The game was a strikeout bonanza.

11 A.L pitchers struck out 15 NL batters and nine NL pitchers struck out 12 AL batters. Frank, how would you characterize last night's All-Star game? I kind of think it's symbolic of baseball today. It's a lot of relief pitchers and a lot of strikeouts. And we've talked so much about the National League, not having Joey Otani in the game even as a pitcher, but Mizorowski, right, and Paul Skeens, if they play, I mean, maybe the American League also strikes out 15 times.

So I get it. A lot of people didn't like the game, and I think it's kind of symbolic of where we are with baseball today. I think having Otani in the game to hit, he probably would have had two at bats at least. Maybe that changes things. But how about the fact that Cody Bellinger ends up being the MVP of the game with a two-att single in the first inning?

That essentially tells you nothing else happened. And how about the night for the Phillies? They're three batters. You know, Marsh, Schwabber, and also Harper, they go a combined over five with four strikeouts. So Philly put on a great show. Philadelphia did. The Phillies did not last night. I'm going to agree with just about everything you said.

I'm going to start with a true story. I was watching the game last night with my son and my grandsons. Bellinger gets that hit up the middle in the first inning. Then Rice follows with the exact same hit right up the middle. And so now it's 3-0 in the top of the first. And I turned to my son and I say, I think that's it. And he just sort of looks at me. I said, no, I think that's it.

We're not even out of the top of the first. I watch two or three more innings and I go to bed confident that that game is over because it is over at a ridiculously early point in an All-Star game. I felt terrible for Sanchez. That's got to be one of his worst in his whole year. Two walks, three hits, three earned. I'm going to agree with you. You could say that your impression is the game was boring,

but it speaks to the reality of baseball right now that if you can throw a great pitcher out there and ask him to just one inning, that's all you've got to give me is one inning. That's going to blunt hitters. 27 of the 54 outs were strikeouts. That's unbelievable. And the National League had been crushing the American League

in interleague play. But that's because you can't do this. You can't throw 11 pitchers out there every single night. It's not how it works in real baseball. And to your point about Philadelphia, they put on a great show in the city where the Declaration of Independence was signed in the 250th year of America.

But boy, oh boy, Sanchez. has got rocked. Wheeler didn't even show. And as you say, they're hitters, O for five with four Ks. That was tough. Tough for Philly fans. Tough. Yeah, and then Dylan sees. He opens, you know, he's the starting pitcher of the American League. He did walk a batter in the first, but he struck out three. So it made you think, you know what, it could be one of those nights. And how about the fact the game? Two hours and 45 minutes. That's actually pretty quick for an All-Star game. There's no doubt about it. All right. Let's move to the British Open, which tees off at

1.35 a.m. Eastern time. Scotty Sheffler is defending champion favorite, but missed the cut for the first time in nearly four years at last week Scottish Open. Tony, do you see Sheffler as the favorite at Royal Berkdale? No, no, not as the favorite. Look, I don't put much stock in the fact that he missed the cut at the Scottish Open. There are a lot of people who miss a cut and come back and win a tournament in the next week. What I put stock in is he never even seen the course until the practice round three or four days ago. So I don't know how comfortable he's going to be at Royal Burkdo. I was talking this morning with Steve Sands, our good friend from the Golf

Channel, he's over there. And Sands said to me, look, this course is bait. It has been so dry and it has been so hot that you can get 400 yards with your driver considering the role on this course. And he said, I will bet you that people

don't even take their drivers out. That they play their long irons, that they can control better, and still get 300 yards with the roll. And he mentioned Colin Moracow to me. who is probably the best iron player in the entire world. He mentioned Rory Macquarie and went, oh, wait, Rory, he's great with the driver.

And he said, yeah, but Rory's also a great long iron player. And he also mentioned Tommy Fleetwood, a great long iron player. The problem, he felt there'd be a lot of pressure on Fleetwood because Fleetwood is from that area, lives an hour away, and that tends to create an awful lot of pressure. But that's what he talked about.

Not that Cheffler isn't a great player. he's got, I think, nine top fives in the 15 tournaments he's played in this year. And he is the defending champion of the British Open, but not at this course, Frank. Not at this course, some other course. Yeah. Yeah, and you know what?

I actually spoke to somebody over there as well because I wanted to impress you. They say the course is completely burnt. So there's going to be a lot of tight lies. So Matt Fitzpatrick, the Englishman, you'll like this one. When it comes to scrambling out of tight lies, he converts 70% of them for par.

So an Englishman has not won the open since 1992, I believe that it is. Really? Is that right? The only thing with Matt Fitzpatrick, though, he did mention that he bet England to win the World Cup. So he's not going to be on a good throw. He's Wilbon's guy. Mattie Fitz is Wilbon's guy.

We're not rooting for him. Wilbon can root for him. We're rooting another way on this. We're going another way. ESPN recently came out with its ranking list of the top 10 NFL quarterbacks based on a survey of NFL coaches, executives and scouts, and some additional

help from ESPN research. Here's the top 10. Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, Matthew Stafford, Joe Burrow, Lamar Jackson, Dak Prescott, Justin Herbert, Drake May, Jared Gopff, and Caleb Williams. Frank, any problems with this top 10 list?

I'm going to give you two quick ones. Number one, Sam Donald just won the Super Bowl. He beat Drake May. and he had a much tougher road to the Super Bowl. I'm putting Sam Darnold ahead of Drake, maybe. That's one. And we all love Josh Allen. I think he's a great player.

He's the only player in NFL history, at least 200 throwing touchdowns, 50 rushing touchdown, unbelievable accomplishments. He's never been to the Super Bowl, much less won the Super Bowl. And as long as Patrick Mahomes is in the NFL, that's right.

He's number one. Because, Tony, if you went into a game and you said there's one quarterback, out there that I need to win a game. And they're great players, a lot of them. You're picking the guy in the Chiefs. I don't even think it's debatable. We're going to agree down the line on this.

And Josh Allen's a terrific player. But as you say, he's had a lot of opportunities to get to the Super Bowl. And Patrick Mahomes has won three of these things. Now, maybe they thought, oh, he's coming out of an injury, and so we're going to downgrade him a little bit. But I would have thought you base this on what has actually happened already. And Patrick Mahomes is the best football player on the point. planet. I was a little surprised that Jalen Hertz was not on the list. I was a little surprised

Dak Prescott was all the way up at number six, because most conversations we have about that Prescott end with how come he gets so much money? I was surprised Justin Herbert was at seven because he's been terrible in the playoffs. I believe he's 0 and three in the playoffs with two touchdowns and four interceptions. That's what we call Lamar Jackson territory. And I thought he was rated a little bit too highly. I was a little bit surprised that neither Baker Mayfield, who else am I thinking of? The quarterback on the Packers Jordan Love, I thought maybe they might make the top 10.

I know what you're saying about Donald. I'm not certain about that. But, you know, it's not that I disagree with people in the top 10. It's just that I might have bumped them back a little bit. And Wilbon, crazy happy because Caleb Williams is in that list. Caleb Williams and Drake May have been in a league for an hour and a half. I think it's, I just think it's a little early on them.

I do. And also, the one thing, too, about Josh Allen. I'm thinking about the last time he played a football game. He had some brutal turnovers against Denver. Again, I love the guy and they move into a new building. Maybe they'll finally make it to a Super Bowl. But how about, forget about winning it.

I'd like that. Get to one first, right? No, I agree. I mean, I just think he needs to do that before you rate him number one overall over people who have won. In Holmes's case, multiple Super Bowls. Let's take a break. Exactly.

Coming up, the scope of the NBA's investigation. into Kauai Leonard reportedly widens. And what's the word for Brian Kelly's sudden enthusiasm for Notre Dame? So we had soccer in the show. Whether life serves you an ace or an unexpected backhand, the high-protein yogurt, Oikos Pro, is there to feed your strength and help you turn every challenge into a smash. Oikos Pro helps build strong muscles and support muscle recovery

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All right. So, Tony, you know that the NBA's hired a law firm to investigate whether the clipper is circumvented the salary cap when they signed Kauai Linder back in 2019. Now, the athletic has reported the last couple of days that they're looking into whether that law firm has looked into whether the Clippers in properly covered expenses for Kauai that, and they were not reimbursed. Essentially, but my word is ominous because the longer this goes on, it seems like they're going to keep finding something, because as we all know, our good friend Pablo Tori broke the story in September, and the investigation is still happening. And in the meantime, there's a trade that is in limbo with Kauai actually going

back to Toronto as fate would have it. So the longer this goes on, it seems like they're going to find something. Does that mean Kauai's contract will be voided? Does that mean he'll be suspended? There's going to be punishment for the Clippers. And the commissioner last night, Adam Silver, said he hopes that this is over by the end of the summer. So we could still go on for four to six weeks. So your word is ominous. And my word is anesthetizing. This thing goes on and on and on and I am numb to it by this point. I've always believed

that something was done between Kauai and the Clippers that was probably not right. And I've also always believed that at some point all of it would be swept under the rug because it never reached the threshold where it affected games. So now

as you say, Adam Silver is saying let's get this done before the start of the new season and Kauai was traded out of the country. Trated to Toronto, out of the country. This thing is on hold. I believe that the league is thrilled that Kauai is out of the country, and

I believe the league will be happy to assess a lot of big fines to a lot of people. But you give me a call if Kauai is actually suspended for six months to a season. You give me a call on that one. What's next? Brian Kelly's enthusiasm for Notre Dame is blank.

I'll take this one. My word is self-serving. Ryan Kelly is now going around saying how much he loves Notre Dame and how much he loves Marcus Freeman and how he did great work at Notre Dame in terms of the infrastructure there. And he's apparently going on some sort

of a tour to the colleges he coached and he's meeting with people there and coaches that he hired. And this, to me, sounds like rehabilitation. Because I understand that Brian Kelly at this point needs to make good on why he left

Notre Dame for LSU because he left the impression, whether it was intention, He left the impressioner a lot. He left the impression that he was going to LSU to win a national championship because he could not win a national championship at Notre Dame. And they didn't win a national championship anywhere. And then LSU canned him either because of or in spite of the southern accent that he invented. So my feeling about this is that Brian Kelly is going to have a second act, and this is the runway to that second act. Yeah. Yeah. So my word is going to be revisionism, and I think you're 100% right. And, you know, he now claims I never came out and said I couldn't win a national championship at Notre Dame. All I said was that if I leave, I'm going to go to a school where I can win a national championship. So it's all about semantics at this point. We know why he left.

It was 10 years, $95 million that he was getting. He felt like it had run its course at Notre Dame. That's why he wanted to be part of the LSU family, as he said. And you're right, though. Family. He wants to make good with Notre Dame because he's... says, remember what it was like when I got there, I left it

in much better position. So for me, it's a little bit revisionist history. He wants to make good with the folks at Notre Dame. I get it. He's got his money. He got his 10 years, $95 million of obviously that was a buyout at the end, but he made out all right. Yeah. And the self-justification is he ripped the coach

before him and said, you needed me. Look what I did. That's the final word. Let's take one last break, but still to come. The Sixers put the press on LeBron James. And should the Knicks win best team at tonight's Espies? Tony will be watching. Yeah, I've carved out a lot of time for the Espies tonight, me.

I got that. I'm good on that. First, the replay of England, Argentina. I have an Espeas. Hey, y'all, it's Kelly Clarkson with Wayfair. Ever order furniture online and wonder what if? Like, what if it doesn't hold up? That sofa was four days old.

You should have ordered from Wayfair. With Wayfair, there's no what if. Just style you love and quality you can trust. Visit wayfair.ca. Wayfair, every style, every home. Happy time, people. Happy 34th birthday, Tobias Harris. Harris has been in the NBA since 2011

and has played for five different teams. He just left Detroit to join San Antonio, which will be his sixth team. Harris came into the NBA with Milwaukee after being drafted 19th overall by Charlotte and traded to the Bucks. Harris played one and a half seasons with the Bucks, then was traded to Orlando.

From there he went to Detroit, then the Clippers, the 76ers, then back to Detroit. In his career, Harris has averaged 15.9 points, 6.1 rebound, shooting almost 48% from the field, almost 37% from three. Harris' best season was split between the Clippers and Sixers in 2018-19 when he scored 20 points a game and grabbed nearly eight rebounds. Great guy, good player, and Tony, his career earnings, $33 million.

$10. Pretty good for a good player. Not a great player. For a journeyman. For a journeyman, yes. Happy anniversary of Cal Ripkin Jr. On this day, 30 years ago, Ripkin moved from shortstop to third base for the Baltimore Orioles, ending his consecutive streak of games at short at 2,21616. This was just a position switch. Rickon's consecutive game streak remained intact and finally ended at 2,632. All told, Ripkin played 2,302 games at shortstop and 674 at 3rd. By the end of his career, Ripkin had played 3,001 games in the major leagues. The current active players with the most games played are Andrew McCutcheon,

who just signed a minor league deal with the Braves at 2,299, and Freddie Freeman with 2,273 games. Yeah, and remember five years later, it was Alex Rodriguez and Joe Tori that told Cal Ripkin to move from third to shortstop. out for the All-Star game in Seattle, and Ripkin also had a home run in that game. Not bad. Happy trails to the Red Wings GM role for Stevie Eisenman. The team today announced that Arzeman will stay with the team as a senior advisor to the owner

while it searches for a new GM. Arzeman was hired to the spot in 2019, and the so-called Izer plan has not produced a single playoff berth. It's been so dispiriting in Detroit that Captain Dylan Larkin, who grew up a Red Wings fan, has requested a trade out of town amid reported tensions with the front office. Eisenman played all 22 years of his career with the Red Wings, scoring 692 goals, winning three Stanley Cups, getting his jersey retired and making the Hall of Fame.

That's always the risk of hiring a legendary player into a front office position, because if things don't go well, it's not going to end well, and it's not ending well for Steve Aserman. It is not. Let's go to the big finish. Tyrese, Joelle Mbitt, and Jalen Brown, have all been in communication with LeBron about joining the Sixers. Your thoughts?

I don't think it makes any difference. You don't think that LeBron James already knows where he's going before those phone calls take place. I'm not buying it. The Wizards, they shut down A.J. DeBonson for the remainder of Summer League. Do you like what you saw? Yeah, he's ready for the regular season. No point in staying in Summer League.

The Brewers have traded with the Astros for starter. Lance McCullors, Jr. is that significant? Eh, he's still trying to work his way off. The IL, rotator cuff, and pinchment. We'll see how that works out. The Detroit Free Press reports that Michigan is discussing a buyout with A.D. Wardmanville. Your reaction. What's taking so long?

This has been in the news for months. And Michigan won in football, one in basketball, and both coaches are gone now. Last one. The Espies are tonight. I know you're watching. Who should win best team? The Knicks are going to win. Indiana Hoosier football.

How about a right-in ball? How about Argentina soccer for that performance today? I would have said, honestly, I would have said the Indiana Hoosiers. They never have winning seasons. We're out of time. Trying to better the next time. I'm Tony Kornheiser. And I'm Frank Isola.

Thanks for watching. And now, here's Sports Center.