SoccerWise - First Touch '26 World Cup Daily Show: Messi Again! Argentina Advance, Switzerland Survive & Quarterfinals Set

Episode Date: July 8, 2026

We are down to 8 as the quarterfinal matchups are now set for the World Cup. David Gass, Michele Giannone and Matt Doyle break down the final Round of 16 matches, including another dramatic comeback from Messi and Argentina against Egypt and Switzerland's penalty shootout win over Colombia after a scoreless draw. The crew also reveals its Best XI of the tournament so far, looks back at how the host nations performed and give their predictions for the quarterfinal matches.0:00 Intro3:49 Reflections on the USMNT7:18 Christian Pulisic Postgame Quote23:30 Was This a Successful World Cup for Mexico?28:13 Which Host Nation as Best Outlook for 203032:16 Canada's World Cup Takeaways39:57 Best XI of the Tournament52:55 Egypt Impresses, Argentina’s Dramatic Comeback1:05:32 Switzerland Outlasts Colombia in PKs1:12:00 Quarterfinal Predictions

From the beating heart of New York City, the home of the 2026 FIFA Men's World Cup final. Just kidding. That, of course, is New Jersey. But I am David Goss with you for First Touch, 26. Coming to you a little bit later on what is sadly an off day of games at the World Cup. I have the shakes. I am going through withdrawals. But to get you World Cup, get you, you know, wet your appetite.

We are here for a full show to talk about everything. saw yesterday the insanity, both in Vancouver and in Atlanta, to talk about what we have seen overall so far at the World Cup and to preview the games to come and to do so. I'm lucky enough to be with once again, Mr. Matt Doyle and Mr. McKelley-Gi-Gianone, McKelley, long-distance runner. He jogged down here for the show, pure athlete, and you're ready to rock and roll. I'm an athlete, baby. Metro North can hold me down.

It is going to be a fun one. We've got a lot to talk about. It is odd having the day off. No. I have an illegal stream of the Champions League qualifiers. Today is the first day of the Red Irons of Gibraltar against... Yes, Kyrati of... I don't even know where in Central Asia, but they play in...

Uafa. Yeah, makes a lot of sense. Here in North America, NWSL has already re-kicked. So if you haven't listened, we have a second NWSL show coming out today. We had one last week in which Jordan Angeli and Jill Lloyden, are carrying the mantle. Carrying is probably the wrong term, since they're better at this than I am.

Talking all things at NW.SEL, of course, Gotham announcing that they'll be moving permanently to Queens, the borough of the world. Are they going to drop the NJ then? Because aren't they officially NYNJ Gotham? So is it just like they're getting rid of the NJ at that point? Do I work for the marketing term?

I don't know. I thought you might have had like an insider source? Yeah. You would be wrong. Okay. I mean, the Red Bulls are New York, right? Yeah, but they play. Yeah, fair.

Yeah, if you can keep the New York. when you're in New Jersey, can't you keep the New Jersey when you're in New York? But would you want to? Tom is about to come flying through the camera. I'm fine with that. I agree with you. We have great news. Tom has returned to the safe ground of New Jersey, and he has fully recharged the smog,

has filled his lungs, and he is a person again. So I know everyone was very worried about that. On the outside, Susanna is going to be back with us in a little bit to help us carry the way through the final. we are going to be back in our normal time slot, 9.30 a.m. over the next four days. So we've got quarterfinals matches on Thursday and Friday, both of those in the afternoon. And then Saturday we have a double header. Thursday, France, Morocco, I could not be more excited for that game. Friday, of course, will be Belgium, Spain. And then the double header on Saturday so that those two teams don't have different rest times going into the semifinals. The semis will be next Tuesday and Wednesday. So we are going to come post-game on the semifinals. We're going to do a little. live post-game shows for those two games as well, of course, on the first day, helping preview the final semifinal. And then we go into a couple more off days in which we're going to do some special content around what we've seen so far at the World Cup, give away some awards, talk about the future

for some of these national teams, very specifically the U.S. men's national team. And then, of course, we will be here for the World Cup final. And Major League Soccer kicks back off next week. So there are games in that. So I have a torrent of preview. The MLS Klausura preview content. There we go. Coming on tacticsfreezone.com.

So make sure to subscribe if you don't already. And if you do and you don't pay, make sure to pay. So you get all the content exactly when you want to and exactly when you need it. Okay. Let's start today by resetting a little bit where we live in the three host countries and what they've accomplished or haven't over the course of the World Cup. Let's start with the U.S. Then we'll talk about Mexico and then we'll dig into Canada to finish things out.

It's been a little bit more time to live with the U.S. loss. And of course, in that preview I just mentioned, Belgium will play Spain on Friday, not the U.S. It would have given them four or five more days in the spotlight, which would have been massive. It also has shown us how big this team has gotten, I think, by the level of reaction we have seen. As you sit with things a little bit longer,

what you're feeling right now on what this World Cup was for the U.S. men's national team. I think it is going to end up being viewed as a disappointment. It's just hard to have it a performance that was that feckless in a game that was winnable, right? Belgium are a better team. They're a more talented team, but it was a winnable game for the U.S., and they looked like a complete group of strangers just wear the same kits that the same team had had for the previous four games. And to book in this performance with what I think is the best U.S. performance, maybe of all time, against Paraguay.

Certainly the best performance we've ever had in a World Cup game itself with what I think is the worst performance in 36 years. It was the worst game the U.S. has played since that debut game against Czechoslovakia in the 1990 World Cups, when the team was a group of amateurs for the most part. It's jarring. And I think the casual fan, the 40 million people who watched that game, they lost a chance to create a lot of new fans out of that moment. at the same time the sky has not fallen right this is not nine years ago this is not the cova loss when it felt like everything had like the bottom had dropped out yeah the worst thing

had happened this was just like okay they rewracked the bar it is like we hit the floor it is the round of 16 that is where we are as a program and maybe this group who a lot of them are going to be on the wrong side of 30 for four years from now maybe this group isn't the right group to push to a higher level. But at least we got back over the last two cycles to where we need to be. And now the real hard work, the logistics of creating new, better young players, making the domestic league better. Like, that is what is going to raise the ceiling as well.

And we're not there yet. Really, I think the performance of Egypt yesterday and Cape Verde the round before really, I think put in light how much we lost in the style of the way that they lost. that it wasn't fun, that it wasn't engaging, that it wasn't energetic. Like if they had lost on a bat, if they had lost like they did in O2, the scandal of that call would have engaged the fan base and energized people or a tragic loss would have given you this, you know, Bill Buckner through the legs is an iconic moment for Red Sox fans

and a rallying point for Red Sox fans. It's depressing, but it is a moment. And the fact that they came out, Feckless, stole that away. and it became this like uproar and furor that I can't believe I let them suck me in. Why am I sucked into this? Because I don't get the return for it. And the return is not winning the World Cup. But the return is showing up and performing in that game.

Now you mentioned some of these stars and whether or not they're the right ones to take us to the next level. A huge conversation coming out of this game and this week has been about Christian Pulisic. And where he stands in the program as well as what's he like as a leader. and then specifically a half sentence that he said at the end of his media zone, which I know you wanted to touch on. But I want to, so use that and get what you said. I'm more sad today that I was Monday night. It wasn't Monday night.

I'm losing track already because the discourse have been so disgustingly bad. And we have prominent media people with the, millions of followers that didn't give an F about soccer about this team that they were so excited during the World Cup, right? Pracing the team and getting excited. And you thought, oh, now these people are on our side, right? And it's going to help grow the sport. It's going to help grow and direction the narrative to where we all want.

But now, all those people, because that's the school nowadays, we just want the clicks and who yells the most. now it's like we got full again it remind me in four years when when this happens again to remind me that to not pay attention these are all hacks policy quit on his team blah blah blah so I'm pretty sad

that that's the narrative today and now the conversation is not okay how can we make it better no it's blame blame pointing a finger and now the conversation is on the other side is like about youth soccer which is a problem, but I think we're not discussing it, right? It's not being productive. It's just people screaming and replying to each other on Twitter, and then on TV and then on podcasts.

And I'm really sad with what it's happening with Christian Polisik. He was awful. We can say that. He was awful. He failed on Monday night. I think out of the top of my head, he had 17 touches. and he missed possession 11 times. Something like that.

I don't know. I don't remember. So I'm going to read this because I don't want to get it wrong. Talking about the clip. Fox Sports post game clip sentence that he said to Jenny Taff when she asked him about the injury. She didn't ask about anything else. She asked him about the injury and he said,

I'll be fine. Now I get to rest. So, blue skyed, how do you say? Do you blue sky at Twitter? Remind me to never? I say tweet, by the way. You're reclaiming your time. I am reclaiming that word.

He doesn't get to have that work. This was a nice reminder that don't ever get on Twitter again. I don't know why I keep doing it. So I wrote, we've taken the police slander too far. We can and should be better. I've sat down with him several times and yes, he can be a ton of of interview and you can say he's as boring as watching pain dry. I know we all want for him to be this amazing vocal leader on the field, off the field, Captain America, Hero, BS, but it is what it is.

He was asked specifically about danger. So we decided to take that clip, that clip alone and take the criticism to places that it should never go. Like, he quit on his team, he's a choker, soft, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. If you are in the media,

I am, we are, critic on the field. The critic should be what he did on the field, right?

He was awful again, terrible, and it's unexcusable. And, but what I've seen by just

taking that clip to massacre him is being shameful. And I'm not talking about the fans. I'm talking about the media. And these prominent media people that have a huge, huge platform,

and after what happened on Monday, it hasn't been constructive. It has been destructive. You can criticize him on the field. We are doing it. He was, let me say it again, awful. He was probably the worst player on the field on Monday night. But if you're saying that he took himself out of the game, he quit, that he's a terrible person

and when you take it to that just by taking that clip because of course we take that clip and take it whatever people want to get it why don't we read and research a little bit

and listen to what he said after on Mixone or on the president or not where he talked I'm finished I'm close in mind where he took accountability and he said

I was terrible I was terrible and he took accountability of what happened. I think if we want the sport to grow, it has to go hand on hand with on the field and of the field. And of the field,

it should be the job of the media to have the right discourse, the right debates, and not being so inflammatory. And again, I understand everything is clicks, everything is like, everything is who yells

because that's the school that we have today. And I'm not going to mention names. But I'm pretty sad about it. I'm really, really sad of how everything is now so bad when, like you said, it shouldn't erase everything that this team did before Monday night. Sorry that I took it so long. No, it was a good rant. And so I have like six different directions I want to go off of this.

One, I call Christian Polisik Soft. Yeah. And I still stand by that. And I don't mean that in terms of his injury. I mean, he's soft as a leader. Yes. We saw in Milan this year they needed him to be a leader midseason and he shrunk. from the moment and he shrunk from the role.

We saw it with this team. He shrunk from the moment and he shrunk from the role. At the very least, though, like you said, he put his hand up after the game and he said, I was awful. Second, and I'm playing a little bit of devil's advocate here because I would like for the discourse to be more intelligent. You spent a lot of time in Mexico. You're an Italy fan.

If this performance happened from a Mexican player or an Italian player and they came out and they said afterwards, now I get to rest. Just talking about the injury, would the discourse have been appreciably different in those two countries, which are clearly soccer countries, Calcio country for one of them,

would the discourse have been appreciably different than what we've seen in the past 48 hours here? No, but I want to trust and say that we are not just going to run or run with that clip only, because people took that clip and basically said he quit. He took himself out of the game. That didn't happen.

And we don't need to have that be our discourse in order to actually climb into the top ten. I agree with you. That's why he wasn't the captain on 2022. That's why he's never been the captain. That's why he's never been view as a leader by his own peers. But also in 2022, we all saw him. almost sacrifice a nut to score against Iran. You don't do that if you're that type of soft.

What he's not as a leader. I think soft is probably long time. I think he's bad at it. I think that's like the part we should come back around to, which to McKelley's point, we've all anointed him the leader, and we've put him in commercials. And listen, Fox is the one who calls him Captain America.

So Carly Lloyd can't go on Fox and complain that he's a soft leader when she's part of the conversation that every single day, five times a day, calls him a leader of the team. When to McKelley's point, the team didn't anoint him the leader of their team. So why are we the ones doing this over and over again? He's bad at it. Yeah.

That probably isn't the role he should hold. And unfortunately for him, he's stuck in this space where he's one of the best players on the team at a time when there weren't very many. And he got pushed into that role. And you know what? It's probably good for Weston McKinie that Pulisic got pushed into that role. Because Weston hasn't had that pressure on him over the last few years. And Weston's made a ton of mistakes.

He got kicked off the national team. not show up on Monday night, which is heartbreaking, given how good he had been the previous four games. And Tyler likes being that part of the conversation and has been very good at it. He was not great on the field and he hasn't been on the field consistently over the last four years. So he has his own black work. They all do.

There's a limitation to the team because there's a limitation to all of these players, whether it's in the way they play or some of the mentality parts around the game. If there wasn't, they would be in a World Cup quarterfinal and potentially a semi-final. So there's going to be gaps in all of it. I think you're completely right. use of this quote is insane. If people are complaining about this quote in a clip that's extended long enough to see that's not the quote.

The quote in this is, I hurt my ankle, but it's fine because I have time to rest, AKA it doesn't matter, stop asking me about it because this is not a long-term issue. And then it's, well, you can rest when you retire. What are we talking about? Spend six seconds using some intelligence. And to your point and yours, I would hope that, and this is why we built this show, We get to change the discourse because we don't have to just copy Mexico and we don't have to just copy Italy in England.

We can have a better conversation around the sport because we're growing the media voices around it. Now we're pulling Nick Wright and Skip Bayliss in because now they're soccer fans. We don't talk bad about Nick Wright on this show. I love Nick Wright. They're going to do what they're going to do. And honestly, their take masters, they don't know anything about soccer. And they're going to do what they're going to do, which is throw takes out there.

But to the soccer people, it is wrong. And there are a lot of people that we know that have used this quote to jump up and down and they should be embarrassed because they are choosing to have zero intellectual moment around it. They're just choosing it for the clicks. And I think that's pathetic. In saying all that,

I understand the frustration from a lot of people and it was some of the response to what you put out there, which is this isn't a 10-second clip about Pulisic that people are frustrated about. This is four to six years of experiencing him and to your point being around him. That's frustrating. And there's a lot frustrating.

about this scene. There's a lot that's wrong, and he is a part of some of it. He is not the only piece of it. So I'm going to say, Landon Donovan had actually, I thought, a good point when he was criticizing this team, which was that, you know, Pulisic is not the type of guy who takes over a game against a Belgium or leads the team into a quarterfinal with his play. And by that, I think he meant it as a dig, which fair enough. But Polisic is not the type of player who creates an advantage with the ball. What Polisic's gift is his off ball work in terms of putting that advantage that has already been created to use. It's not a centerpiece. He's a force magnifier for what other people are doing. And we have not developed central midfielders, attacking midfielders, who are capable

of doing that game after game after game at a high level. I think. thought that's what we were seeing with Weston McKenney and Malik Tillman, but they didn't bring it against Belgium. Ideally, Gio Raina never would have gotten hurt because I think Gio Rana really was that type of player if he had avoided all the injuries. And obviously there always would have been other baggage with Gio, just that personality. But when a player is that good, then you kind of live with that. But it's players being miscast because of issues in the depth chart and in the roster. And guess what?

Everybody in the world, except France and Spain, has to deal with that shit. Because only France and Spain have completely bulletproof rosters. There's a reason they're the two best teams in the world. Yeah. And I think,

and this is completely understandable because we hoped it was the case, we would have loved to see the U.S. go out the way Canada go out, The way Mexico went out. The way Egypt went out yesterday. The way virtually everybody except us in the knockout rounds.

I'm so angry. You brought up Landon. Now I'm reading Landon's comments from his latest episode and I'm looking through his list of international goals and I'm starting to get pissed again about a thing I don't want to be pissed about.

So Landon scored plenty of big international goals against big teams. What is it considered a big team? I'm going to close my point with this. Yeah, and they deserve all the criticism in the world. Again, Christian Pulisic on the field was God awful on Monday. But then, again, taking that freaking clip out of context to challenge and accuse him of quitting on the team, taking himself out of the game.

If you think that Christian Pulisic doesn't care about the U.S. M&T, about his legacy, about not failing in a World Cup in the biggest moment of your career, then I don't know what to tell you. I think just do better. I mean, this is Landon's quote. He's saying you couldn't have dragged him out of that game and he can't believe Christian Pulis came out of this game. He said, I mean, he literally says, I'm starting to look back. It's more than just the trend now. Like when the games are easy and it's a home qualifier and it's Jamaica yes. But in the big moments in the big games, he just hasn't. I'm just saying it factually. He is who he is at this point. This was a game where he needed

to get him to go, quote, give me the ball. I'm going to stick it in the back of the net. It's two, let's go, and he just didn't. And he wasn't even close to it. And in fact, that's reporting that he asked to get subbed out of the game. I can't confirm that. So I don't know if it's true or not. But the reality is, he came out of a World Cup knockout game at home with a leg still intact because you would have had to effing drag me off the field. And I would have punched the doctors in the face and said, you're not taking me off this field, put whatever you need to put me in. I could do two. hours about this. This is unhinged. Let's start with this. Landon spent his entire career

fighting for players' mental health and physical health. And he spent the end of his career saying, I think I should go into media because I can give the players perspective. And he has spent his entire media career acting like a hot take agent like Shaq. And so he has done none of what he said he was going to do. Second of all, who the fuck knows what he would have done in that scenario? Because Landon didn't play hurt all the time. And third of all, if you do want to go through the list of games, it is closer to Christian Polisik's record than you would expect. He scored big goals against Mexico.

Who scored the winner on the penalty kick in the Nations League final? Who was that? Well, that was Christian Polic? So he's not the only one who scored big goals. He scored against Brazil in the Confed Cup final. He scored against Algeria in 2010. An Algerian team that had... That was a pretty big goal.

Yeah, as was the assist against Iran, right? Those are the exact same. Atlanta did not score the big goal. goal. I'm looking through his list of goals. Here are the UAE fit teams he scored against. Scotland? So I can't believe I'm doing this right now. No, I don't want you to do it. I shouldn't do it. You shouldn't do it. I have a Landon, Donovan, 21 jersey sitting over there. And what upsets me the most about this is that we reclaimed Landy cakes for him. Yeah. Because he was criticized for playing an MLS and being quote unquote soft and he wasn't. And every

Euro snob fan attacked him. And I feel like he's doing the same thing to Christian Polisic. Not just Polisic to the team. And I think he should be. better than that. And I think a lot of these guys should be better than that. All of these guys who lost in the round of 16 come out now and they're like, this team's pathetic. So you were pathetic too? Like, what are we doing? What are we going on? Let's move on. Because I don't want to spend the next 30 minutes yelling about Landon Donovan on our own show. Let's talk about Mexico. We know Rafa Marquez is taking over. It was official before Javier Garay has now stepped away. Mexico, you have a second to breathe off what the World Cup was. I think I made my thoughts pretty

clear coming out of the game. Where do you think the game in Mexico sits? Where do you think this World Cup will be remembered for Mexico and where they move forward? Unlike with the USMNT, successful. Successful because, and I stress this point after the game, what you saw about probably the toughest media and the most toxic soccer media that is in the planet. And it was us. And a fan base that booed this team at half time in the opening game, everything was praise. Everything was praise. And it was praised because they fought.

Like you said, they fought stupidly. Yeah, they ran into the same wall a thousand times. With Aguirre, poaching the game, missing all the sobs, no ideas for the last 45 minutes, leaving key players on the bench. but the discourse was about that. The next day, a very toxic, very toxic media environment in Mexico, they weren't attacking the players, they weren't attacking the environment, they were attacking using soccer as the catalyst,

which means they were criticizing Aguirre for the sobs. They weren't saying, Aguirre, you're the worst person in the planet. You're the worst coach that we've ever had. you fell for the first time. No, they were asking genuine questions about why did he do the stops he did, etc., etc. Obviously, it helps

when you lose against England, a top, top, top team in the world with more talent than you at every line. But again, the way they lost. Yeah? Yeah. That we wish, that's what we would have seen

from the USM&D. And there's another big issue in Mexico is that before the World Cup, the relationship with the fan base in Mexico was rupture because they never played there. And the fan base, the

people that can afford expensive ticket that can afford to come to the U.S. to watch them play here. They never see Mexico play. You know, and you have kids that for a decade they never saw Mexico play at home. So people resent

that. And thank Hopefully, this World Cup and the way they played and the way they exited, I think the relationship got repaired a little bit. And there's a lot of hope. Yeah, it has to remain now. They have to play. Now, one of the issues is with no World Cup qualifying, they didn't have required games because that's been the story is they have to play qualifiers at home. So they play friendlies in the U.S. They play qualifiers at home.

They cash out in the U.S. They get to play in front of their fans. I would hope, one, the performance at the Akron maybe extends to, okay, we'll play some meaningful games outside of the Guadalajara Stadium. Yeah, of course. The FIFA sanctioned Guadalajara TM Stadium. I hope maybe they play some, yeah, I hope maybe they play some games outside of Mexico City, because I think that would be a really cool aspect.

And I think we saw it in the friendlies leading up to the World Cup. They played in Monterey, they played in Torillon. So they have moved it around a little bit more. Yeah, they play in Awascalientes in the Kaksa Stadium. Right. Yeah. And I hope as well that the players, because it was a pot of, they didn't get booed. It was a positive experience at the World Cup

that there's a push internally as well of especially if guys do start going to Europe of like we want to play there. We want to be around our fans. We want to put it on a show for them because it's always been so toxic that I think the fan, not that the players have the control. No, Chichoreto was talking about it with our guys

the Cooligans about how awful it is to sometimes be a Mexican national team. And so you're not going to complain when you play in San Diego or L.A. or Dallas because you stay in a nice hotel. It's very smooth. And those fans paid a lot of money. they're not going to boo you because they're just happy to be Mexican for the deal with their friends. And my last point is that unlike the USMNT, the discourse is that you want an elimination game.

I say it doesn't count because at the end, you got eliminated where you normally got eliminated in the past. I'm talking about Mexico. But unlike the USMNT, that beat Bosnia and people say, yeah, Bosnia, you know, Mexico beat Ecuador, and they beat it very well, playing very well. So that got a lot of credit. Now, I would say, one, if you asked me to list the three countries right now, and you said who's going to do best in 2030, I would put the U.S. in Canada over Mexico.

So from a soccer point of view, I don't feel more confident coming out of this that Julian Quinoes, they found in Colombia, naturalized and made him a player, and Roberto Moro is one of one because his dad was a professional and he's clearly a special person. I don't feel better about the pipeline or production of players in Mexico, but also the flip side of that might be even if it's poor, League of Mexico is strong enough that they will always contend at a round of 16 level.

Yeah, and that's been the case for the past 40 years. I think they've made the round of 16 every time except 2022. They do have to worry about that pipeline, the fact that it's opened up now to players like Obed Vargas, who I think is going to be a starter in four years, and Brian Gutierrez, who wasn't great in this tournament, but it's clearly a World Cup caliber squad player. There's going to be more Mexican-Americans on this team.

That helps them a lot, but they do have to make sure that there are more Pachucus in that league because one team is doing, I want to say all, but most of the heavy lifting in terms of filling that roster. So there's stuff they have to fix, which is why I would probably take the U.S. out of that trio, but it's like 35% for the U.S. and 30% and 35% for Canada. You know, it's very, very narrow, the band between these three teams.

I think the youth production and movement of players for the U.S. is number one of the three. I think Canada has the best players on the 2026 World Cup roster that should be available and probably playing at a high level for 2030. And Mexico has the biggest culture. They have the best culture. Yeah. Yeah, so the question is now, look, it always comes back to the Knicks on this show, folks. Haver Aguirre is Tom Tibido.

You know, he did a good job of establishing the culture and the baseline of competency. We're going to beat themselves in a lot of ways, but they do need something new to diversify the attack, to create new ideas with the ball. I have real questions if Rafa Marquez, who we've never seen coach. is actually that guy. Yeah. I will put the US last, but just barely, because first we don't know who the coaches.

So there's going to be a restart on a reset because most likely Pocetinos are going to be coming back. And like you said, with Canada, they have, when you see the projected lineup, they have probably the best or the less holes to feel. Yeah. Mexico has the best younger player coming up. And if Hilberto Mora becomes what he's supposed to become,

he's a true generational superstar. And we've seen what superstars can do on this World Cup. If he becomes, I mean, it's a stretch to say Holland, but if he becomes that. Because in 2022, we thought that this USMNT could have win the 2020s. The 2020s is the best player on the team. Right. Exactly right.

So, and, and they have. And I think... Real Salt Lakes, Eunice Musa was the best player on the team. But like always in Mexico, you have great prospects like their Chivas number nine

who was on the team who was shattered after the game. And I was like, I get it, dude. You were a fan. Like he was, like, I can't believe

I got a front row to the Azteca for this England game and they lost. So hopefully he goes to Europe, which is the big problem with Mexico. But his...

Mexico can learn from their mistakes and GIF. Rafa Marquez is going to be a continuation of Aguirre's style and Aguirres. So everything is up to the players. What we saw, the USM&T were the players that failed. So at the end, are the players who play. So we'll see. Our last one here to talk about is Canada, who we mentioned the positivity about this

group and the way they are set up. And Doyle was good enough to put together one of our first touch tactics boards presented by Football Manager 26 on this side of things digging into what happened against Morocco, which in the three zero loss was still probably their best performance of the World Cup. So let's take a look at that one and then we'll talk about it. Canada gave everything in this World Cup. Real tactical identity, real fight. And in the end, they just got beat by a great Morocco team. But how they competed says a lot. First half, Canada dictated everything. They pressed man-oriented into 4-24. Every Morocco player had a shadow. And the idea was simple.

Take away easy passing options, force mistakes high up the pitch, turn defense into attack. And early on it worked. Morocco kept playing into the same space as Canada wanted them in, and Tani Alouache could or maybe should have made it 1-0. The second half, though, Morocco flipped the script and stopped feeding the press. Instead of playing into the zones Canada was hunting, they shifted the ball away from those triggers, making Canada's markers chase instead of jump. And when Canada did commit numbers forward, Morocco started finding depth in behind. That's the trap of a high press. It only works if the opponent plays into it. Once Morocco stopped doing that, Canada had a choice. Keep pressing into space or drop off and protect the defense. To their credit, they kept fighting, but once

Morocco went up one nil via a set piece, the damage was done. Now, this was a successful World Cup for Canada, no question. But it's also a reminder. Good game plan and full commitment, they get you into the fight. Somebody still has to finish it by putting the ball into the back of the net. Well, take it a look there. We were just arguing about Christian Pulisic. We were still arguing about Christian Pulisic and Landon and Donovan. Do you want to talk about Alfonso Davies? Do you want to argue about Alfonso Davies? I don't think he's soft. Yeah. I know you do. No, I mean, people are going to play. And I don't believe, I don't believe the Bayern Munich forced him not to play. He wasn't fit. He wasn't fit. We watched him play in that,

in the game against South Africa. He couldn't run. And by the way, that will be a story. Yeah. If I say in four years, Canada is better than these two teams. because of these guys, you have to question if Alfonso Davis will be available because that's unfortunately his body and the story of his career, same as it is for Tyler Adams. Like, it's just seems like a reality. But otherwise, as you come out of this tournament, Jesse Marst already signed to a contract through 2030. We're hopeful that Canada will get to play in a Copa America in 2028. They still have not won a regional championship. So Gold Cups and Nation leagues are massive for this team, which is great for them in that there's more space to prove themselves to their fans

then there probably is for the U.S. and Mexico over the next four years because if they can get to a gold cup final, it would mean a lot to the country and probably help boost the profile of the sport. Can't just get to the gold cup final. They got to win something. And that's the goal for you. Obviously there's work to do grassroots and all that stuff, but that's the goal. The goal over this next cycle is to confirm what we've seen over the last two cycles,

which is that Canada can and will henceforth go toe to toe with the U.S. and Mexico. And then suddenly it's three teams from Conccaf all pushing each other to get better. And hopefully every four years, they all, between every four years in one block, it's World Cup, every four years in the next block, it's Copa America. And that's how the entire region gets better. And Canada's been doing its job with that since 2018 or so. It will be, I think, backbreaking maybe is a little too extreme. But if Vancouver does move, you look at this roster, you look at Ali Ahmed, who was in

Toronto gets pushed out of that academy, ends up a Vancouver Whitecaps 2 player, and then makes his way into the team. And I think has been one of the four or five best players at this World Cup. You look at Derek Cornelius, who came through the Vancouver Academy. You look at the players they pushed through Ryan Alumi, who went into this World Cup for Tunisia. Vancouver has focused, and Alfonso Davies is obviously the biggest one of that, on their youth development.

It also gives a larger footprint for youth development into a high professional rank because Toronto and if Montreal remains an MLS team where if Vancouver leaves, we don't know what the future looks like. They can't produce everyone. Now, the CPL has a space to play in that. I do think there's a really big opportunity there because they're going to push guys into first teams quickly. CPL clubs can produce players because you're going to be 18 playing professionally and

then people can come see you. But the white caps were influential to what this World Cup team was. They've been influential to the build and the steps that you've talked about, both on the men's and women side. will be a massive loss if that's actually what ends up happening. Yeah, I agree. And I will plea to the Canadian Federation and the U.S. Soccer Federation, please, because you stress this point yesterday,

do whatever it takes to forever and ever play Cop America. Yeah. Ever. Because Gold Cup doesn't cut it. Nations League, Concaf doesn't quarter. Nobody cares. And even if Cop America is not here in the USA. Yeah.

It's even better. but it would be. That's what I'm going to say. Even don't get comfortable. It's like, oh, we'll play because we're going to organize it. No, no, no. If Cop America is played in Bolivia, you go and play Cop America in Bolivia. Go play on the red dirt of Paraguay.

Alfarro is watching you. And I think for Conma Bowl, it makes sense. One, it brings different styles in so these teams can have some opportunity to practice against teams from other regions that play different styles. It expands their footprint from a commercial point of view because you're getting huge numbers in Mexico, Canada and the U.S.

at a minimum, not including Costa Rica and Honduras and Jamaica and all these other countries. And I think it makes it more global. So I think you get people from around the world who tune in because it feels a bit more like a big tournament, a global tournament, which Euros has because there are so many languages and so many players in different regions of Europe that I feel like I think Euros is the closest we feel like to a World Cup and a non-World Cup tournament. and that is because of the spread of styles and people have so many connections

to different countries that they find rooting interests. Copa America doesn't come off that way because it is much more insular and it is five Argentine managers bringing teams in and most players playing across the same three or four clubs and I think bringing Concaf in could be a really big part of that. Plus, if the two federations want to get better, we've got one Commonwealth team and no Concaf teams in the quarterfinals,

you've got to test yourself and it's going to be harder to find other places to do it and this one makes the most sense. Football Manager 26 international mode is available. Now, you still get 50% off through July 9th. So make sure to do it right now because you don't want to wait and you don't want to miss out on that. As I said next week, we've got a couple more off days. We're going to dig in even more into some of these stories, the futures of some of these national teams, the future of the game. We would love for any questions that you have. If you don't already, follow us on Blue Sky, Soccerwise, and First Touch. Follow us on Instagram.

You can go into the comments and message it's there, DM us. And of course, you can go into any of our YouTube pages and put any comments you need. Or if you're feeling frisky, rate and review us on any podcast platform. If you leave a question in the reviews, I will go in and I will answer them and I will pull them out. So please, soccer-wise or first touch, anywhere you get your podcast, please go there and send us your questions. Let's do one more recap, and then we'll get into the games from yesterday and we'll look forward to the quarterfinals. And we have up until now my World Cup Best 11 presented by Soccer.com. Make sure to visit Soccer.com for the widest selection of World Cup gear.

Plus get free shipping on orders of $49 or more. Our incredible assistant put together a New Jersey wall for us. We have the four teams that are still qualified. I am sitting in front of one of them. France, England, Argentina, and Spain. And then we've got two of the host countries in Mexico and the U.S. I got to tell you. Now I've gotten more people to see it.

The England jersey in person is so much better than it is from afar. There's texture to the collar. There is sort of a design inside of the white that you don't see. I normally wouldn't be like, hey, go get an England jersey. But you should go get an England jersey because it's pretty special. All of France's jerseys are nice. You can go to soccer.com to get all of the national team jerseys before this World Cup ends. Listen, you got a week and a half.

World Cup final, you want to be one wearing that jersey at a party and being like, yeah, I already knew. I knew Morocco would be here. So go get them. and go by them. So here is my best 11. I tried to balance a little with so far versus future potential. I kind of failed on that to an extent, but it's okay.

I will take what I have. So in goal, I did a 4-3-3 that doesn't play as a 4-33. And if you put this team on a field, you'd probably lose 5 to 3. But it would be fun. Yeah. I have Orlando Hill in goal for Paraguay. We talked about it when we did the best goalkeeper award. to me he has been as influential as anyone

for a team that outside of the U.S. game has had a really good defensive record. He was mad at the match, I think, three times. Unbelievable. Yeah. Save PKs against Germany. I think France was his best game. Had the game in his lap a lot and yet was still able to keep things clean.

I thought he was pretty clean in possession at the few times where they put him under pressure that he found long balls but two people where there wasn't a lot of options. and his ability to get up and down and react to secondary saves with everything around him was really impressive. The other names around here are Wozina, of course.

Nyland has been phenomenal, and I think he might be, he and Una Simone might be the two favorites going forward if their teams continue to win. Yeah, Kubel as well for Switzerland, he has been rock solid for that team. I think if I were doing it, I would go with the guy you picked, though.

Orlando Gill was, was, was great. Okay. So that's my goalkeeper. Can I give you my back for it? Well, my goalkeeper will be the Ocosta. I think he was incredible against Spain, and he's been incredible.

Well, he was incredible. He was great against Croatia, conceding two goals. He was great. And we're just, I mean, I'm just taking right now, as of now. Yeah.

I think that's a fair show. It is a damning indictment of Roberto Martinez. I'm doing this for Eric Crack hour. It's a damning indictment of Roberto Martinez that Portugal only made it to the round of 16 and were talking about how great their goalkeeper

had to be for them to get there. Damning indictment of that charlatan. The best arguably midfield in the world, they were playing. One of my best friends is Portuguese. You're talking about Eric. No, not Eric. Oh, wow.

With Bond? No, no, no. One of my best friends, non- Eric name. No, nerdic related. No, I love Eric. Come on. I miss him already. I'm going to see Eric soon at the MLS All-Star Game in Charlotte.

Ooh, baby. So he was so disgusted about Martinez that literally he was screaming during the World Cup. He made Bittina like he made Bittina like a sideways passer. He made Vatina a guy you sub. Vitina should never be subbed. He's probably. the best midfielder in the planet. He's like young Luca Modrich.

Okay. Unbelievable. Anyways. So now that we talk about Vitina, Orlando Keel, my goalkeeper, I did this as a 4-3-3. I have Munoz as my right-back, a Kubarsi as a centerback pairing with Lukumi. And me and Eric watched the Columbia game essay together and spent the whole time debating whether I should put Davison Sanchez or Lukumi on this list. I landed on Lukumi, one, because of the goal.

but two, I do think his stay-at-home nature and his common composure both helps the fullbacks push forward, but I also think it let Sanchez hunt a little, which I don't think is a harder role. It might be more impressive and jump off the screen because he's going out and he's winning the ball more. But I think Lukumi is the centerpiece of the defense. And then I had Zhao Mendez. Now I had Mohika in that conversation at left back. I think Kukorella should be in that conversation at left back. But Kubarsi is obviously, it's the best defense.

Colombia and Spain have been the two best defenses. And he is arguably the best passer out of that position as well. Yeah, I think if you were trying to build a team, Sanchez would actually be the better partner for Kubarsi. Though I understand your reasoning for Lukumi. I never liked the player like Sanchez, so I would end up with two centerbacks. We're the same.

The other, look, obviously, Zhao Mendes is the best left back in the world. But I would, based upon the performance in this tournament, Mark Karela, he's been incredible up and down that left flank on both sides of the ball. Not a player I particularly like, but undeniable what he's done in this tournament. And he, as we get to my forwards, I'll say it, his role in his team is important. because he is different than everyone else. Everyone in Spain wants to connect a pass. They want to find the next.

And Kukrella wants to run through a wall. Yeah, he creates a little bit of chaos that I think is good for them. The other one is Julian Ryers. I guess I'm naming all the Dortmund guys, but Julian Ryerson has been amazing. But he's played two games, because he got hurt midway through the Senegal game, and then he comes back and he was great against Brazil,

because he had to be. I think he played two and a half games. Yeah, you're right. He got her earlier in the Senegal game than I had remembered. Okay, yeah, that's the argument then. And I think Dumfries has a shout in here. Hakeemey would have a shout in here. I had trouble with the Japanese wingbacks because they're wingbacks.

First fullback, I thought Nakamura was the most exciting player at this World Cup when he was in, but he really was a wingback, and it's hard to place him in one of these groups. Let's move to midfield. So I did a midfield three. My base of my midfield was Elliot, Anderson and Unahi. Okay. Unahi, I know, has been a bit more of an attacking piece, but he has played deeper in his

career. And listen, we're going to end up with 15 goals scores in this thing anyway. Yeah. The least shameful thing I did was call Unahy at 8 and not a 10. There's a long list of other players you could put in here. And then I have at the point of the attack, Oise. Yeah, he's a decent player. Yeah.

I mean, Olese has to be on there. Unahy has to be on there. Who did you have as your defense? defensive midfielder? I had Elliot Anderson. Yeah, I'm not sure I agree with that. He was, he's been a little more hit and miss than I would have thought. And that's his nature for how he plays for his club team.

He takes risks, right? He's not a guy who holds and protects. I hate to keep going back to the, the, the Colombians, but Puerto. Yeah. I think Puerto or Lerma could be on this list. But actually, I have Eric Lira there. Eric Lira was immense in this World Cup. And to bring it back to the previous segment,

if in the next World Cup, the midfield trio from Mexico is Lira, who would only be 30, Obed Vargas, who would be 24, and Gilberto Mora, who's 21. And he played as a single pivot, which was very impressive. And that actually gives your midfield

a little bit more structure. I'll shout out to Berger from Norway. Yeah. But he again has started three games. Well, he was one of the starters that got sat. Rotated out. Yeah, I think he started four games. Yeah, he started all the games, except.

Berga. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Number six. Yeah, I like that. Puerga, yes. Yeah, I like that. And yeah, the thing is that you got to make room. I don't know how spots you have left, but up top, it's impossible.

I had to cut some one. But I think this is one where when we get to the final, Roderie will probably be one of these two. because if Spain gets there, Rodry will lead the World Cup in line-breaking passes and passes completed and all those other things. And also, Pedri has played terribly for his standard, so Roderie is the obvious one to include.

Depending on what France does, Rabio or Chouemeni could end up in this conversation. I'd love for it to be, Kone, but I would be surprised if it is. Uri Tillamins was one that I thought about as well. He won the game against Senegal. He was great against the U.S. He is the leader of that team,

if they're able to upset Spain, he is a clear option for Best 11. And if they made it to a final somehow and I don't know how, he's probably in a golden ball conversation because of how important he is to that group. So there's a lot of different options in these spots. And this is probably the most debatable. Elisa seems fairly undebatable. And then I have a front three technically. So I have Messi.

I have Holland and I have Kane. Obviously one of those is not a wide attacking player. Do it as like a 424. I could do a diamond. Right. Well, you would have Messi inverted on the right. Yeah. And you would have Olise on the left, right?

And then you have Unahi and Eric Lira sitting deeper. Or maybe it's like a, the old, remember when Bruce used to do the Y midfield with the galaxy where he would stack the two central midfielder's. So now he would play above Lira, who's as a single pivot, but not, he wouldn't be a 10. So he would, anyway. Yeah. Yeah. Is, is, um, is Messi Steven Oscezziaki in this? Yeah, that's correct.

Stephan is she Zaki. So I think undoubtedly Messy's in the best 11th. Oh, yeah. My debate on Holland and Kane over Mbapé is Holland and Kane are essential to their teams and are the centerpieces of their teams

and their game is built around them and they've performed at the level that's allowed them to get here. Whereas if France put Dembele as a false nine, you could argue they might even be better. Yeah. For me, as of now, of course, we got to wait because the golden ball is going to be given to the best player of the team that wins the World Cup. My golden ball right now is Hurricane.

So for me, there's no debate there. Sorry, what he did at the Mexico game, just his leadership. But the two goals against the Arcongo, especially the second one, for me, the best goal of the tournament. In a game in which they weren't going to score another way unless he created that. Exactly. And it was the moment, the technique, 99.999% of the players would have sky that ball or chunk it or I don't even know how the way he shot the ball, the body, how he put it on the 70s. He is the most perfectly on balance, other than a messy. He is the most perfectly on balance athlete on a soccer field every time he walks onto that soccer field.

He's a remarkable player. And he's English. I still think he's historically underrated. People don't talk about him. Because he's boring as hell. Yes, and he played at Tottenham not winning anything, and the joke, and he was the joke of everyone. How often do you think about the fact that the Bayern Munich front line is

Diaz, Kane, and what he say? It's insane. Yeah. And they've already bought Siberia. Yeah. We were talking yesterday. Someone mentioned Kane replacing Lewandowski at Barcelona. which is part of the Siberia buy,

which would make a ton of sense, just from a, like, Byron point of view, they like to sell and make money. They don't like the last guys out. If not, I don't know how they start everyone. I don't know what it ends up being. But that's Byron for you,

and that's the way they've operated forever. So that's our best 11 as of right now, one that you can all trash and shred and do whatever you want with. And quite honestly, it might change over the next three days, two days. Only eight games left. It most likely will,

because the way these things work is the leverage gets higher as the games move on and what you do in a game in a quarterfinal and semifinal is valued higher than what people have done. Is there another Argentina player who deserves to be in the conversation? I was about to say this. So Argentina knocked off Egypt three to yesterday. We did get a comment in the chat saying the VAR from this game should be three of the spots in the best 11 because it kept Argentina alive.

Argentina trailed in this game to zero. They come from behind to win three to two. and it was in my thinking that Argentina has played so poorly as a group and they have been saved now twice by Messi and friends at times that it's hard to argue that anyone else deserves to be in this conversation. But we should start with Egypt. What Egypt, the performance they put in, like we said, one that any fan I think would hope their team would put in,

this is like the third or fourth time we're saying this. This is the best game they've played. Egypt has been underwhelming in many of the games they've played and some of that's game states in Australia tough to break down that's the game they want to play but Egypt haven't looked great and then in this game anytime they passed midfield it felt like they were going to score I don't think I'm being hyperbolic they dominated Argentina for 80 minutes domination total domination and now we can have a argument about Argentina and how

as a collective and outside of Messi this is probably the worst Argentina that I remember. They are, they should have lost against K Byrd. They should have lost yesterday, but they have the best of all time. And yesterday, even though he missed a PK, just watching him postgame crying, watching Escaloni crying on the bench and then on the postgame interview, he had to cut it short. It's like, I can't keep talking. He was bawling. To see, to see how Messi still cares, it was special. But it, well, I will say that I think. I think. it was someone facing their mortality. The look on Messi's face as they went to kick off after the second goal was conceded

was a look of, I can't believe this happened. He thought it was over. And his emotion in the reaction to the third goal he scored, he scores the second to equalize, the one off the crossby. The one that hits off the crossbigh. To equalize. His reaction, I said it on, I blue skeeted, Skyd tweeted. It was the most emotional reaction I've seen him have to his own goal since I can

remember. and it really felt like he didn't believe it would happen. And when it did, he was overwhelmed. And he was pawling on the field. After a World Cup round of 16, the guy won the World Cup. He's been to two World Cup finals. He's won two Copa Americas. He's been to four Copa America finals.

In the last 12 years, this guy has played in six international finals and beating Egypt in the round of 16, had him in tears. But what I said to people I was with watching is, you can't sustain this emotionally. because they felt the same way after Capeford. You cannot play for your life five times in a row crying after every game. It was Brazil in 2014.

It came crumbling because it's just physically impossible to maintain that emotional state and that where you see it with Scoloni where it's like this is worrying. Yeah, and you don't have the quality. Scaloni made the, you don't have Adi Maria this time around. You have a worse, Rodrigo de Paul,

you have a worse, Macalister, you have a worse. Well, I'll give Ensoferrandes has been really good and he scored. That header is crazy. That header is incredible and that he gets to the box at that moment of the game. It's unbelievable.

But he actually sat Almada yesterday to give that midfield that has been terrible during the World Cup and he put in Paredes to play as a number five or behind. And it got worse.

So that's my point. Scaloni is trying to hit the right notes and the team is not responding. And it's, again, I think it's lunacy that we're talking that. And even older, messy, he's carrying this team much more than he did in 2020. In 2020. I have no worse.

I don't know what to say. I don't know what to say about him. And the point of bringing Predes in and try and cover things, Tugli Fico is just losing 50-50s. Predus is just losing 50-50s. these Egyptian attacking players, I think Zico's been great all tournament, but obviously Hassan's the one who goes on the run that gets called back on the VAR. I'm watching and I stand up and start yelling because watching him battle off both defenders, I couldn't imagine he's going to go 57 yards or 65 yards, whatever he goes,

against Argentina, a team that is known for the battle. Yeah. But they're not, this group does not have a structure. This group does not have the rest defense designed to present. prevent something exactly like that. And that is why they're vulnerable. And that's why I have, even though they haven't lost a group, or a knockout round game since 2019, I just, I have a hard time imagining that they are going to win this thing.

They just look so completely vulnerable and so utterly dependent on that one guy. And that one guy is the most amazing athlete, not just soccer player, but athlete I've ever seen in my entire life. But we're at the very end here. We're all witness to the king right now. Come on. LeBron James is thrown down Ali Ups and the playoffs at 41. Get out of here.

You seen Bolt. I didn't think you were going to go there. You didn't think I was going to go there? No. For this Egypt team, again, this is a one-of-one performance. They've never won a knockout game at the World Cup. So to get here was incredible. To go toe-to-to-to-the-way they did against Argentina is absolutely.

absurd. And it gives us our next football manager 26 tactical segment. Let's take a look at Doyle breaking down a little bit of what they did well and then we'll talk about it off the back end. Egypt did something no one expected against Argentina. They took away the reigning champion spacing for over an hour. Here's how it fell apart though in just 11 minutes. Egypt sat in a compact low block clogging central lanes and daring messy to beat them from range. It's the same shape Argentina has struggled to break down all tournament, patient, disciplined, Two banks of four. The Asser Ibrahim's header off a set piece made it work early,

and Egypt defended their box like their lives depended on it. But holding a lead for 75 plus minutes against Messi means you can't blink. Zico's second goal should have sealed it. Instead, it triggered the collapse. Once Argentina started playing with desperation and winning second balls, Egypt's low block had nothing left in the take. Christian Romero headed home the 79th. Messi finished off a scrum in the box four minutes later.

And here's the tactical mistake. At 2-2, Egypt should have reset into that same defensive shape, except with a higher line. Instead, exhausted and chasing the moment, they opened the game up looking for a winner. That suicide against a team with Messi, fresh legs off the bench, and full momentum. Argentina didn't need to force it. Egypt handed them space. La Torres Cross ends up Hernandez's header, 90 plus 2, a structure that held for 75 minutes, broke in 11. because the moment Egypt stopped defending like it was 1-0, Argentina made them pay.

Do not forget, July 9th, 50% off tactical manager sale end. So make sure, tactical manager, sorry, football manager tactics piece that I combined all of those words together. Football manager.com go and experience the game. International mode still available. You can go win the World Cup, but also get ready for your club form. So you can start to put teams together. Then we're going to have Tom on again to talk us through where his Charlton team stands, as he's probably spent about nine hours on a cross-country flight,

just chopping and changing because it's got to be better. It has to be betta lads in that team. Argentina, when they scored the Christian Romero goal, had a 0.6% chance of winning that game at the time is what the data said. So suck on that one, analytics, because it doesn't matter, and they came back. There's probably a larger conversation to have about Omar Marmouche, whether or not that guy's going to be allowed back in Cairo for a little while, an underwhelming performance for a guy who was supposed to be taking the mantle from Sala,

and this was supposed to be that special time where, you know, like Falcao and Hamas in 2014, where Falcow was the star in the face and Hamas was emerging, and they got one tournament the hope was to play together, and Falcao gets injured. But, you know, you can tell all these stories of when the pass-off happens. These guys don't get along. They clearly can't play together. Marmush came off the bench in this game. He kills the big counterattack that has the opportunity there three on two to score.

Now obviously the VAR call maybe Egypt should have just won anyway and that wouldn't have mattered. But he had a tough tournament. Overall, this team finishes on a high and now this year it felt at the group stage at one point like this was going to be a failure. Now it's Afcon semi-final and losing to Argentina in the round of 16. And it's been a long time coming, right? This was an unquestionable success for this Egypt team that has a history of failure. in the World Cup, and now their job is to look at what Morocco's done and figure out how that could be them. And it's the complete opposite in terms of player development for Egypt. They don't have as large a diaspora to draw from.

That's one. But two is, I think eight of the guys who started for Egypt play for Al-Ali and the other big one in the Egyptian League. But eight guys in the domestic league. Salahlech, but also parameds, a couple of these guys play for as well, which has done well. Right. But like they are almost more like Mexico in the way that they have a core of their national team playing in their domestic league. They are played well. It is a paid well.

It's a really, really good league. And I think that will give them a baseline to build from. It is complete opposite of what Morocco have done, where they pull from the diaspora and they pulled from clubs all over Europe and just a couple of guys from their domestic league. It is, I think that Egypt are positioned well to continue to grow and to hit that baseline of like, okay, where the U.S., where Mexico, where Japan is, where if you don't at least make the round of 16, you're going to be disappointed every single time from here on out. And then you take a look at some of the pieces and obviously in the end, it was an incredible

foreign from Hassam Hassan already at Oviedo at 24 years old. And that's that door that Sala helped open, which Bob Bradley actually really helped open. Just to make a point here, Al-Ali would destroy Oviedo. They were fantastic at the Club World Cup. But if you want to continue to move across European teams, getting there earlier so that you can start to get a visa, that you can start to be able to play. I honestly don't know if I believe that at this point. But it's a longer conversation for a different show. I love that.

Speaking of, Doyle, you sent these to me. Hossam Hassan, the head coach, after the game, quote, I will say what's on my mind regardless of the consequence. This was clearly a rigged match, and the whole world saw it. And I want to say one more thing. If they won Argentina and win so bad, why call everyone to come and participate? Mustafa Ziko, after the game. The referee is unfair.

God is sufficient for me and the best disposers of affairs. He's wasting the effort of an entire nation. The cup is being given to Argentina. Okay. Those are takes, baby. Those are takes. Get me on TV in Cairo right now. I will soak it all in.

That is absolutely incredible. And they have a reason to be frustrated. Yeah. It is a clear foul on the second goal. Yeah. The question of what is the phase of the attacking play is a huge question when the foul occurs 119 yards from the attacking goal. And the player dribbles past three players for 80 yards.

Two passes are completed. to create the goal. This one is close to the line. I understand the concept. It's when the ball is recovered that starts the attacking phase. This is one where it's unclear. This is not black and white.

There is a decision to be made in all of this. Once the referee gets brought to the video monitor, there's no way he's not going to call it because there's a step on the foot. This is one that really falls in the VAR. And I'm not saying it's 100% obvious once again that it's wrong. But if I was Egypt,

you better believe I'd be saying the exact. same thing as that. So credit to them. Unbelievable tournament. What a way to go out. And let's finish for our last game of yesterday before we jump forward. One that breaks our hearts. Columbia versus Switzerland, zero zero draw. The Swiss win four three on penalties. Columbia finishes with just over one expected goals depending on where.

I forgot this game happened. I was snappy. Yeah, Switzerland finished on 0.3 expected goals. That's your guy's team, right? You guys root for them. That's you, Doyle? Switzerland, when Monzombie is up. When Manzabi is on the field, they're a completely different team.

They did not have him on the field, and they did not generate, I think, a single shot after the 30-second minute. Yep. Columbia finished with eight shots in extra time after seven in normal time. And as you said, Switzerland didn't have a shot past the 30-second minute. And I thought Columbia came out flying. I thought Switzerland took control as the first half went along, which put Columbia on their heels. And Columbia ended up, I think, making the decision to go. for it and this is what we talked about I felt coming out of the Ghana game which is a lack of

finishing has killed this team they should have beat Portugal in the group stage it wouldn't have changed anything yeah but that was your warning sign of like you you cannot waste opportunities at this stage of a world cup yeah they can finish and we saw it with uh jammington campas yeah the chance he had uh with five on his left foot too which is old only foot he has five minutes left Sad for Colombia, because it's you put it on blue sky. It's the what if. With Colombia is always the what if. And say whatever you want to say about Hamas Rodriguez,

but when he was at his peak, he carried Colombia. At Cop America, at World Cups, we can go back to 2014. Some people say that he's still living from that goal that he score against who do I? Good. He should because it's probably top five World Cup goal of all time. It's part of our intro video. And just so people understand, of this Columbia starting 11,

10 of the guys on this roster, 10 of the guys in that starting 11 will be 30 or over, not even by the time 2030 hits, but by the time 2028 Copa America hits. This was an old team. This was their choice. chance to make it to the semifinals, to go toe to toe to with Argentina at the World Cup, not just the Copa America, to maybe

even punch their ticket to the final. And they came up short. They just didn't have it. And I don't know if Cordova being healthy changes it. I thought he was their best center forward. But he also didn't finish. Correct. But he changes the space a little bit. And Suarez wasn't great in this game. Cucho comes on late. He doesn't really get an opportunity to affect the game. There will be a lot talked about this World Cup. Lucho Diaz's performance. will be a big one. That was my point.

That's why I brought up Hamas. This was Luis Diaz team. And he was supposed to be Hamas, 2014. And he had an overwhelming World Cup. You need your superstars to be superstars. And Luis Diaz is a superstar. If you don't think so, just go watch Bayern Munich and go watch Champions League,

Bayern Munich games. He's a superstar and he didn't play like one. And Colombia needed him for him to score goals, especially in this type of. of situations and he didn't show up and like we were talking with christian polisic he deserved the criticism because on the field he didn't show up and on the what-ifs Colombia have been eliminated from three world cup knockout ties that have gone to extra time like they have been right there they lost two one to Brazil in Brazil in 2014 and then of course last world cup they lost in

penalties to England. They have been right there. They cannot get over the line. Now, I will say, from a big picture point of view, I think coming out of 94 and what they had built and obviously the narco money affecting some of it, it felt like when I came into soccer as a fan, really, that that was a golden generation and that was what Columbia was. They weren't going to be a great power in South America. They were, Valderrama is a legend, and we're going to look back at that. And I think that's what you see from Peru, right? Peru, when you look at their history, they had one great player, and they've had some teams otherwise.

That's what you see from Chile. Now it's, we now understand, right? The Alexis Sanchez team is going to be a special team. They can't maintain that. I think now post Juan Pablo Anhelle and Cordoba into 2010, this is now a long stretch where post-Wan Quadrado and Hamas, I don't think we would have expected Luis Diaz to come through. Right.

another world-class player. And I think you look at Jeremy fall off and Lukumi take over his role and you see what Puerta's done in midfield. I have hoped that Colombia will maintain as a top four Conma Bowl team in their ups and downs. And when special players come through,

it can push them into a World Cup semifinal. I think the production, clearly the club game is fairly strong there. National and, you know, Medell and all these teams are producing players. People are coming to get players there. There's a wide range of styles because you have the mountains in the crib and all of that. And so I think if you're Columbia, for as upsetting as this is, that you're at that what-if moment,

I don't fear this as much as maybe a Uruguay does or a Chile does where it's like, we go peaks and valleys and peaks and valleys. I think what they've presented over the last 20 years is that they are a high floor national team. And that wasn't something we would have known, you know, coming out of the Valderrama years and early in the 2000. So I think there's at least that positivity. And yes, it sounds like a funeral Switzerland going forward because it's my least favorite national team. And this is why.

This is why. There is no battle. There is literally surviving games with no ideas of how to win it unless Monzambies healthy and getting to the next round. And a team that can't even put together a shot after the 30th minute winning in PKs is the saddest thing. And what is so frustrating to me is it's always a UAF a team that does this.

It's like, oh, maybe the underdogs will win. And then it's like, what the hell? Why is the underdog never a team that we've never seen before? Never a team that's getting their first opportunity at a big level. Morocco. Morocco is our one home. Carry in the torch. Morocco and Argentina are the only two non-European teams left at the World Cup,

one from, of course, Africa and one from South America, as Argentina looks to make it back-to-back World Cup victory. So I mentioned the schedule. Let's go through this real quick for us here at the World Cup. So on Thursday, Morocco, France, 4 p.m. Eastern Time. I want a winner and why real quick. We'll go through all of these. France, Morocco.

France, multiple goals, too much firepower. Well, you were real quick. I thought we were really quick. You're the only one who listens to me. Sadly, I agree with that, and I hate that they're facing each other in quarterfinals. I'm going to say Morocco. I think they learned lessons against Canada of how to play against the ball, and so they can do both.

and I do believe the pressure, Siberia is a big one. If they've lost him, that's a real game changer who can create by himself against the centerbacks, which I don't know that exists. But El Canoos has been phenomenal.

He was one that I was trying to sneak into my best 11. France hasn't been attacked yet. So I understand there's quality along the backline, but like putting pressure under on these fullbacks is not something we've seen, and I would love to see it happen. So France is better when you put pressure on their fullbacks. What do you think is going to help?

But if it's pressure in transition, it's different than I'm dominating the ball and now you can break against me. And I think Morocco is good enough to be dangerous in transition. And then also when they have the ball not to get themselves caught. But to me, this is the best game of the quarterfinals. This is the must watch, both for the off the field, right, two countries that have an insane shared history. I'm going to use that phrase, as well as a lot of players who cross over, whether they're from both countries, whether they've played in each other's leagues and all of that. And of course, it's a rematch of the World Cup semi-final from last time.

Then we have Spain and Belgium, 3 p.m. Eastern time on Friday. You can go first this time. I think we're going to see the best Spain that we haven't seen on this World Cup. Yeah. Spain's fairly easy. Yeah. I think that they'll find room to operate in central midfield. As good as Tilemas is, but without Onana, I just don't think that.

that Belgium has the ability to prevent Spain from getting into a rhythm. And when Spain get into a rhythm, they start finding gaps and pulling you apart. And suddenly you're off the ball is putting the ball in the back of the net. I just feel like it's going to look kind of easy for Spain. Do we think DeBronis sees the field again? I think he's done. Yeah. It looked very much like that in the U.S. game as he sat on the water cooler,

very Laura Harvey of him over there. That's a deep cut one for those who know. I'm going to pick Spain as well. I think Spain 2-0. in this one. And then Saturday, we get the double header of these matchups, which would then go on to face each other in the semifinals. First, we get Norway, England, 5 p.m. Eastern time. Then we get Argentina against Switzerland. I believe Norway England is in, well, you know what? Oh, it's in Miami. This one's in Miami, baby. The Cumburn Derby. Let's go. 5 p.m. is going to be so steppe for this one.

Miami Gardens is gorgeous never time of year, said no one ever. And then Argentina, Switzerland is in Kansas City. So both these are outdoor games for this one. Why don't you get us started with Norway, England? I want to pick Norway because I don't want to see England advance, but England is going to advance, I think, as good as Norway's been. And I think they've actually played better the past couple of games. Odegaard has started to look like himself, adding Patrick Berg to that midfield creates a level of dynamism.

England's structure is actually built to handle that. that's actually what Tommy Tactics does is neutralized teams that are really dynamic and force them to sort of bend to England's very kind of boring and heliocentric attack. But at the center of that is Harry Kane, who has been absolutely phenomenal in this tournament. And then I think that England will have an advantage out in the wide spaces because of that. I think Kane is going to hoover up so much of the focus that it's going to give. those wide players for England, Medueke being one of them, a chance to get on the ball against backpedaling defenders, and I don't think that Norway can deal with that. I think England has too much firepower and much more quality than Norway.

I think England's midfield is going to eat Norway's midfield, and then you have if Tuchel sticks, I don't know why he wouldn't, with Saka. and Gordon. I think it will end up if Saka has it physically to do it. Yeah, I think Nusa and Sorloth can compete with that. Norway probably is going to score because Hallen is unstoppable, but then you have much more experience and you could say a little better Hallen on your team, which is Harry Kane.

But I think England has a lot of quality. And if they win this game, I think they'll be in the final because they will face Argentina. Please let me Real quick, do we have time? Something that in Mexico Somebody told me about Tuchel and what he did against Mexico And why he's one of the great

That's why great coaches make a difference So this is a person that was in the Watching England's The match a minus one against Mexico So they immediately realize That obviously with altitude The ball was flying high So pick

Pickford, when he was kicking goal kicks, they noticed that the ball was going further. So the message to Tuchel was, we're going to be more direct, and we're going to use Pekford to kick him long and beat Mexico's lines. And that's how they got the penalty. Exactly. And that's exactly how they got the penalty. And the Mexican media was talking, there's your difference between Aguirre and Tuchel. Yeah.

That's the difference. That's where you see war class beating. non-world class because they went, like Mexico, I think they had 12 corner kicks. And out of the 12th, just one was like a prepared set piece. No ideas. And took one day in Mexico, he figured everything out. Yeah, Anthony Gordon was pulled in tight on that goal kick. It was a clear flick on from Kane.

And I think Pickford ended up setting the record for the World Cup on crosses taken in. And all those crosses were fairly straightforward that he came in. and got, I'm going to say Norway here just so that Anders doesn't un-invite me to the watch party. Doyle is going to be sitting on the sidewalk. Doyle's going to be sitting on the sidewalk hoping. He's kind of my boss. Should I say Norway? Yeah.

Now, here's the thing. Everything you guys said is correct. I think for Norway, the hope is that they're the ones set up for that counter, right? If England sit in and they can, if they can hang long enough and it becomes the DR Congo game, you've got Nusa and Bob and you've got Holland on the counter attacks. and to the point of Norway looking better and better, Berg coming into the midfield has helped. Odegaard has played his two best games, the last two games.

So whether that's physically getting sharper because he's a guy who's had a lot of injuries and now he's playing high-level games week in and week out or every four days, or if it's the presence of Berg and Berger behind him, whatever it is, that gives you a little bit of hope. I will say Jude Bellingham was right outside my best 11. I thought the performance at the Esteka

is an all-time performance for him, and he is probably a goal or two away or another big performance from getting into that list as well. And then Argentina and Switzerland to close it out, what do you think I'm going to pick? I'm going to pick Argentina

to win this game. I think it's going to be ugly. I think it's going to be boring. And I think Messi's going to be enough in the end to just steal it. And I hope you're right because Messi's World Cup career doesn't deserve to end

at the hands of a team as horrible and ugly as the Switzerland team. But it does deserve to end in a Missouri parking lot. Just saying, it's a fitting place for it to occur for Leo Messey who has connected himself

to Stanley Cups and the future of American capitalism. As bad as Argentina has been, I don't see how Switzerland can win this game, can't even score. And honestly, like, Switzerland on a World Cup semifinal, this Switzerland on a World Cup semi-final?

We didn't even talk centerbacks taking penalty kicks. We didn't even get to talk about every controversial. call that has happened. There is so much more to cover and we are loving doing this show. Thank you to all of you are here live listening with us. Huge shout out to everyone listening on podcasts afterwards on all of our feeds, first touch and soccer wise. No more USMNT live post game shows. So you guys get to sleep a little bit. No more USM&T preview shows, but we'll have some of those

specials coming up for you in a little bit. We'll be back 9.30 am. Eastern time throughout the weekend. So through all the quarterfinal games, we will be previewing every morning. We'll be recapping every single morning as well. And then we'll start to adjust as we get into the semifinals and some big games. But this has been so much fun. This day off has been terrible, but it's been a little bit better talking World Cup with you guys. It's the best sporting event in the world for a reason. It is so much fun to just feel like the whole world is connected. So big shout out to Derek and Theo for being here. No thank you to Connor who walked away as usual. Wow. And thanks to the real Meg Ryan for a little bit of assistance on the side as well. So we'll talk.

to you all again very, very soon.