SoccerWise - First Touch ’26 World Cup Daily Show: World Cup Fever Builds

Episode Date: June 14, 2026

Day 4 of the World Cup here we go. Susannah Fuller, David Gass and Matt Doyle break down Qatar's dramatic draw with Switzerland, Brazil and Morocco's heavyweight showdown, Scotland's first World Cup win in 28 years and Australia's statement victory over Turkiye led by Nestory Irankunda. Plus, Doyle reacts to the USMNT's opening win and looks ahead to Game 2 as the crew previews Germany vs. Curaçao, Netherlands vs. Japan, Ivory Coast vs. Ecuador and more from another packed day at the World Cup.0:00 Gass Celebrates the Knicks4:46 Three Big Things10:06 Qatar's Dramatic First World Cup Point14:11 Brazil-Morocco Lives Up to the Hype19:06 Scotland's Historic World Cup Win23:12 Irankunda Sparks Australia Past Turkiye28:55 Doyle on the USMNT and Game Two34:04 Can Curaçao Challenge Germany?37:03 Netherlands Meets Japan40:04 Ivory Coast-Ecuador Showdown45:00 Sweden Faces Tunisia48:48 Merlin the Duck in Mexico City

Good morning soccer friends. Welcome to First Touch 26, the best World Cup podcast in the history of World Cups. According to my mom. Oh, okay. Thanks. We're so excited to be with you guys. Thank you so much for joining us every morning here in our beautiful studios in Midtown, Manhattan. I'm Susanna Fuller alongside David Goss and Matt Doyle.

We have so much to dive into, but we have a big congratulations to give to David Goss because the Knicks are world champs, baby. You did it. What a week you're having, what a week. The U.S. game to this. Birthday.

Yeah, what a vibe. The U.S., the World Cup. I'm co-hosting the greatest soccer World Cup soccer podcast in history as well. It matters. So it's a huge week. She knows, she knows ball.

No, she knows ball, obviously. Yeah, it's a big week. What a night. And Puerto Rican Day parade as well. So New York is absolutely buzzing. And it was Brooklyn Pride yesterday where I was watching the game. So if my voice is not as pristine as normal, I apologize.

I would expect nothing less. I think I did okay. I think I did okay. I protected myself as much as Adam Silver and his cronies tried to make it as hard as possible. Yeah, no, it was epic. I've been a Knicks fan my whole life, and this is the first time they've won, and I think you guys are both feeling it. When was the last time they won a championship? 1973.

Okay. Oh, my God. As before I was born. Yeah. Long time. Wow. How! 73, like I was still going through my paces at the time.

And I still have the preview articles of that season. But you guys are feeling it. There's nothing like the New York Knicks in New York. It's a basketball city. The Knicks are the only basketball team. And that's the only sport where you only have one. Yeah. And so it's just something that is special.

And I think we're feeling it right now. I'm more of a Liberty guy. Well, great. Liberty have already won their title. So this will be another celebration. Did you believe that this would happen in your lifetime? Yeah. No, probably not.

Yeah. Yeah. We have the worst owner in sports. I'm a Cubs fan and I like had the same sort of feeling. Like I was like, I just don't think this is ever going to happen. And I don't actually think that I was like asking for it. I think I kind of was like, just be fun, just be competitive. And like all these years, when they finally got competitive over the last five years,

people were like, well, how do you get to a title? It's like, get to a title. If I could watch this team in the playoffs every year, I'd be ecstatic. And then all of a sudden this year, they did two things, which is what they always do. They bottomed me out. it was the lowest I've ever been and then they popped me right back up like two days later

what a roller coaster you've been on NBA finals five games they won four of them they trailed double digits in all five games that's crazy it's a vibe it's vibes mentality monsters through what you guys have been through with the cubs and now the nix relate that to the

U.S. men's national team and what you saw in that game one against Paraguay I told you I told you in our preview show before that the thing that I've experienced with the Knicks is you watch athletes and some athletes are not capable of some things and some are and they don't do it all the time or they don't know how to put it to the game and the thing I've learned from the Knicks is it's safe to believe that it could all click together if they're good enough and what I said to you is the players on the

U.S. men's national team are talented enough to be on the field with most teams in the world. They're not better than France. They never will be. But they're talented enough where if Des does the thing he does, at his best, at his best. On the same day that Chris Richards does what he does, and all the way through Baligan and Pulistic and whatever, that they just belong on the field with everyone,

and it can just click. Because we haven't really had the runway over the last year to say, oh, it should click. Right. And the Knicks didn't either. The whole season, they were good. They had their stretches, but they weren't great. I told you last year this was a championship team

if they fired Tibbs and brought in a real coach. Great. Wow. Okay. Thank you for running the team. You're welcome. But it clicked, and it clicked at the right time, and they played the best they've played at the biggest time. And that's what you're asking for from the U.S.

So that's where, and I think that's what I was trying to say on Friday night's show, just have hope because, one, there's no reason not to. It's fun. It's sports. It's your team. But also, like, give some trust there that what the Paraguay performance showed was they understand the moment. And they understand that if they do that thing, they're capable of something special. So that's what I've learned, and it feels very similar.

Or I'm just colored glasses because the world's the perfect place right now because the Knicks just want to tie up. They say, you know, it's the hope that kills you, but sometimes it's the hope that gives you life. And that's kind of, yeah, how I imagine you feel. It's how I felt about the Cubs, how I feel about the U.S. month's national team's performance against Paraguay. Let's get into three big things. Gass probably already has, like, that's kind of your big thing. Okay, great. But I want to kick us off because I had this incredible experience last night.

Number one, like being in New York, we've talked about it on this show before, but being in New York for a World Cup is just so, so special. And I had this sort of quintessential New York City World Cup viewing experience last night. That was so awesome. I was absolutely exhausted yesterday. Gus and I were both like, yeah, we need naps. And my... We were planning our naps. I was like, okay, we're going to have a nap.

So it was basically like around, I don't know, maybe half-time. of that Qatar, Switzerland match because it wasn't great. I kind of like lulled me into sleep. My hotel room does not have windows. It also said this before. So it gets, you know, nice. It's like prime napping environment.

I woke up and I was like, whoa. Like I was just out of it and tired. And I was like, oh God, do I really want to like get up and go watch a World Cup match at a bar? And I was like, Susanna, you're in New York. Damn it. Go do it.

So there's a cute little Irish bar down the street. And I went and it was crowded, but I was able to get a seat at the bar. And I'm watching and there's this gentleman next man. I knew he was not American because he had an accent. He was speaking to the bartender. And Vinny scores this goal. And I, you know, it was just a beauty. And I jump up and he's like, oh, it's a beautiful goal.

And I was like, yeah, I was studying. And then, you know, he was like, Morocco. It was pretty good team. He was like, you know, Afcon champions. And I was like, oh, are they, though? I was like, kind of. And his eyes got so big. And he was like, you know soccer.

You know soccer. And I was like, yeah, I know soccer. And then we ended up talking for the entire match. Like, and he could not, he couldn't believe that like this like, girl from America. There's some stereotypes about Americans out there. But we ended up having such a lovely conversation. And this guy's like, he was probably like 70 years old. He's here on a language immersion.

course like he's learning english and i was just like how like what this would never happen anywhere else but this city and it was so cool and lovely and he was like you come back we watch matches together i was like absolutely jean lenae was his name was he Moroccan no just from leon leon we had a whole tanner testman conversation i blew his mind lily johannes like he was like it was awesome anyway that was my big thing again i'm just driving home at the point that World Cup rules, New York City rules, and being here for the World Cup and on the night that the Knicks win a championship, it was just, I was just like, man, what a time to be alive.

It was really cool. It was really cool. I was hoping that Haiti would add getting a point to that, because there's a ton of Haitians in New York City. And by last night, I was back home up north. But I just, you know, having lived about 20. 25 years in New York, in that community. Man, they really deserved a moment.

And to be fair, just playing in the World Cup was a moment for the Haitian community. They were better than Scotland. I wanted them to at least get a point out of that game. And my moment was sort of like taking that external realization. And then like, oh, I'm just like absolutely rooting for Haiti. Like I was so all in on that game and you know credit to Scotland they got themselves a nice goal and they held on for dear life but man I wanted that for Haiti. So my moment was just the realization of how all in I am on that team though I could have done with a couple fewer Travella crosses from Lucius Dantins and they're pretty but they were not effective.

He saw Giorina and he was like oh I could do that. Right. Gass, is the Nix your big thing, or do you have another one? No, I can stick with that one. You can stick with that. It took me a while to get that. All right, great. I do like the idea, though, of connecting the NICs performance to the U.S. national team performance.

And just the idea of, like, this is what happens. And it's rare and precious when a team, the parts sort of fit together perfectly. And they all start, like, elevating and amplifying the skill sets of everybody else. And we've all seen it happen with the U.S. women's national team, right? like a number of times, for whatever reason, the culture and mentality around that program has been so killer for so long that they find that flow state so much more easily

than so many, almost any team I've ever rooted in. The U.S. men have had it a few times, not in the World Cup. Yeah. Not in a game, like maybe second half of Slovenia in 2010, but that was fueled by desperation. This was just like kind of like the, right kind of arrogance, like we are going to rip you apart because we all work perfectly

together and we've been waiting for this moment and now it's here and watch. Amazing. Love that. Yeah, we're going to talk a little bit more with you about the U.S. Men's National Team Performance against Paraguay, but we've got a lot of matches to get through today. So let's get into the five matches that we saw yesterday, starting with Qatar versus Switzerland in Group B, 2022 host nation Qatar.

Yeah. they get their first ever point. Yeah. After a 1-1 draw. Now, I did, I fully admit, I did fall asleep during this match because your girls tired. I think the Swiss did as well. Yes. But a very dramatic ending to this one, a towering header from Buele-Lam Kuki at the end to snatch

the point. What was, you've, okay, to Pasa's credit, you've not been high on Switzerland at all. I think Switzerland's the worst national team on the planet. I find I've been to two Swiss World Cup games as like a viewer I find their fans miserable to be around and I and what I have said

over and over and over again is this team has no personality and therefore they play up to their opponents and they play down to their opponents because they don't dictate the way games are played and this is a game where they play down they should have won they should have won 3-0 in the first half they should have won 5-0

in the first half like they dominated early Well, Qatar got a chance in the first 10 seconds here, like, this can't be real. And then it looked like what you thought it would look like. And there were moments where it felt like Qatar doesn't belong on this field in a way where it almost felt dangerous, right? The penalty kick conceded was like, you're punching a guy. And then like 10 minutes later, two Qatari players collide on their own corner kick. And guy goes down like in that position where you're like, this is really bad. So that's like, was the feeling more so then, oh, they could steal the point.

And then the last 15 minutes, all of a sudden it's like, oh, they're like, oh, they're creating real chances here. They had an earlier cross. They were able to play a couple balls into the channel where they were able to break lines and start to get attacking the Swiss back line. Akeef had a couple chances earlier in the game and he kind of always tried to play too perfect a pass and he overcomplicated things rather than keeping the attack going because that's the responsibility that's on his shoulders. That's the 10 of this team. But yeah, this is who Switzerland is. So I said it coming out of the Canada buzzing game. I think both those teams should feel like they had a shot to win the group because Switzerland is not a giant

and you could go beat them. I don't even know what the, I don't even know what the vibes in the group are right now, but Bosnia and Canada have to be happy. I mean, I'm sure they're thrilled. I kind of disagree with you about the way the Swiss played. I thought the Swiss did exactly what they were supposed to do. They were creating chances in a number of different ways, but mostly they were getting to the end line and hitting pullbacks across the six multiple runners in the box and, you know, give credit to the Katari goalkeeper and the defenders were desperate in the way they were thrown themselves to block those shots and sometimes ball not go in you know like like sometimes sometimes sometimes you treat chances like more will come yeah they were I think by the middle of the second

half they were playing with a little bit yeah I was going to say arrogance but but casualness is maybe a little bit better of a term for it but it also shows the you know the the margins are are super narrow. Yeah. And I think that's what people should take from the first few days. This is hard. We need to get a son. I think that should be the lesson people have taken from the first three days.

The World Cup is like nothing is guaranteed. And any result should be like honored because it's really hard. Yeah. Do you think so every team in that group now sitting on a point. I mean, it's there for the taking. It's wide open. Where it sits right now, I think if I'm Canada, I feel the best. Yeah.

Because one, you saw the crowd in Vancouver last night. And that wasn't even for Canada. I think that stadium is going to be bouncing. I think they got more nerves out of their system than the other teams because of the pressure that was on. And I do think they're the best team depending on health going into that game. So if I'm Canada, I feel super confident. If I'm Bosnia, I feel great as well because I went into the host countries home. I took a result and then now I look at two teams that kind of fluffed their way through this game.

And I can go and I think they will feel like they can go and sort of impose themselves on these two teams. on these two teams. Totally fair. All right, let's move it along to Group C. Brazil against Morocco yesterday.

This was the one that we were really hyped about yesterday. This is like, this felt like a proper World Cup match because these

are two very good teams. Brazil obviously has the history. Morocco, kind of the darlings of soccer recently. And I feel like watching this match,

I felt like Morocco came out and really, really had a point to prove, and they were on the front foot. It felt like Brazil, it took them a while to kind of play into this match. But Doyle, for you, what was your impressions of the way this one went? Really good match until Morocco realized five minutes into the second half, that a draw was a good result. And then it turned into, you know, they ended up kind of bunkering the final 35, 40 minutes of the game. And we've seen a lot of teams do that against Brazil in the

World Cup and not get results. And I think it says something both about the quality of this Moroccan team against the ball. And we saw obviously four years ago they are willing to suffer when they need to. But it also says something about this Brazilian team. The way Dave just described the Swiss is kind of how I feel about this Brazilian team playing down to their competition. And then lacking kind of the personality to unlock games, especially through that central

channel, they have a lot of safe passers. They don't have inventive off ball. runners. And then other than Vinnie Jr., they don't really have any individual talents who can be a guy. He's not really that guy, though. Rafina's superpower is his off ball running, right? And he does it from that left wing. That's where Vinny plays. So, like, these guys don't quite fit together. Like, in my opinion, Rafina is the best off ball runner in the entire world. Brazil don't have anybody who plays him that final ball. There's no Laminia Mall out there for him to weaponize that skill set.

And then even when you're not getting that pass and you're making those runs into the depth, you're opening up space underneath. And for Brazil, who is occupying that space? Nobody is there who can really take a game and just turn it upside down with a couple of touches or a thunder bastard from 25 yards. Yeah.

I think for Morocco, as he said, I think they'll accept the result. They deserve a goal and probably a lead in the first half. And then you start to recognize what's at stake and how this group's going to get one is probably going to be the results against the other teams if you get that draw in the first game. So I think that kind of tamp things down a bit,

but it felt like a big game, which I thought was really fun to watch. How many people at MetLife Stadium? I think there was 80,000. Oh, it was, it looked incredible. It was really, really fun to watch. And I think for a Morocco team that's lost a couple players within the last week to injury,

and so there's a little bit of unknown. It's a coach in his first time. at senior level at all. And he's only been with this team for six months. I thought it was a good display coming out the gate saying, yeah, we are back from 2022. We're a real contender in this because I wasn't sure about that off the performances at the Afghan. Mm-hmm.

Two things. Congrats again on Vinnie Jr. Oh, yeah. Thank you. Your golden boot draft. Still waiting for one of my guys to find the back of the net. That's fine. Also, Carlo Encelotti is the classiest dude.

Fit King. fit, his, he looked so good yesterday. Yeah. I was like, just the vest and the glasses and he clearly had just gotten a fresh haircut. I was like, won that much, man, you know. Oh, man, just perfection. I feel like if the Brazil team can just kind of, you know, follow suit with, you know, they need to, they need to play as good as Carlo Ancelotti looks.

And I feel like that's going to be the key for them. I mean, just realize it. I mean, that's a key for every team. Right. Play as good as Carlo dresses. and you're going to be in good shape. I have real questions with his squad selection. I thought that team skewed old and conservative,

and they need to get someone out there, get some fresh legs, get some fresh ideas. Because if you look at a lot of these players, they've spent their entire careers, really, and guys who are on the wrong side of 30, a lot of them, in situations where it's all about pitch control. These teams, whether it's PSG or Casamiro with Manchester United now, but it was Real Madrid then,

and, you know, Arsenal defenders and go on down the list, it's about control and not about creating moments to sort of break out of the structure and punish a team that's sitting in like that. And I honestly think, and I would be surprised if the Brazilian press is not way out ahead of me on this, that Carlo is kind of choosing the wrong guys for this particular job. Interesting. All right. Let's move it along to Haiti versus Scotland in group C. A one no win for Scotland, thanks to a 29th minute goal from John McGinn. This was vibes all over the place. Honestly, watching both of these fan bases just celebrate being there was so awesome.

I, for me, the Scotland fans have been the MVP of the World Cup so far. They've been so great, but maybe a close second are the Haitians. Just a party. And Doyle, I know you were disappointed. I was disappointed that they couldn't find the goal. But, you know, do you feel like this is a fair result based on the way they played? No, I think these two teams are even. I think they're clearly the third and fourth best teams in the group.

Yeah. And so I had Haiti going into the tournament. I picked Haiti to finish third and Scotland to finish fourth, and it was all based off this game. I won't say this was their World Cup final because they're both better than Qatar, Morocco and Brazil are better than Switzerland. So in all this context, we should remember that there's always an opportunity. I think we saw what we expected coming in from Scotland, which is they're going to whip crosses in. And then John McGinn and Scott McTominee are going to either McTaminee being a third runner, being dangerous,

and McGinn cleaning up the scraps. and that's literally what the goal came from. But Gannon Doak's been the difference for them over the last year, which is some youthful energy like you just talked about with Brazil, where this was a Scotland team that was, we're going to bash balls long, we're going to try and sit in. Can we get Robertson into the attack,

which never happens for them after all of what he's done with his club team, your club team, whatever you want to call it. And like, where is it going to take a step forward? And they don't take a step forward. Stylistically, they haven't in six years and eight years. 30 years. whatever you want to call it. I was just given the Steve Clark error in that time.

And this game was the same, but that has threats. They have McDominie's dangerous. Jay Adams can be dangerous. And then McGinn is a special player who in this group finds the game. And it's exactly what they were looking for. They're able to push the back line deep because you're worried about dealing with those crosses. You're worried about the strength of some of these center forwards. Second ball falls to the top of the box.

there's bodies in front of the goal, and it's a deflected goal. And then you have a lead to play off of. And this is a Haiti team that in the final third and the attacking third has struggled after some of their good movements for years now. And sometimes you look at it and you say, okay, is that the quality of the field because it's on the Concaf they play in? Is it the quality or lack of opponents? And I think this one you saw sort of the limitations, but these two teams are 50, 50,

51, 49. Like there's not a huge gap. The XG was exactly even. I think the box touch. for the teams or exactly even. I thought 1-1 would have been a very fair result out of this one. To your point about not completing those final movements in the final third, I thought Francie Perrault was really, really good,

both with his hold-up play and sort of inventiveness and bringing the other guys in. But Haiti have naturalized a couple of French-born Haitians over the past six months, and these guys, they don't really seem to have chemistry. with a lot of the holdovers. And there was, I thought, some hero ball decisions, especially from Isidore, the second forward up there. A lot of diving from him as well. And that was disappointing.

Because those were the moments where the pass was on, right? Spray it out wide, then make the hard run to drag, and then you have the pullback for Don Lee Jean-Jacques. Like, that was all on, and Haiti weren't quite executing it. And then the other thing about this, I made that video the other day, that tactics video about everybody in the world is trying to get into a 3-2-4-1. And not these two teams. These two teams are just going to bash away at each other and classic 4-4-2 for the full 90 minutes.

It felt like going into a time machine. The exception to the rule. All right. Let's move it along to our final match of the evening, which I will admit I was in bed asleep for this one. Australia taking on Turkey in Group D. A lot of eyeballs on this match because obviously this is the same group

as the United States. I will tell you when I woke up this morning and checked Fat Mob, I was very surprised to see that Australia got a 2-0 win against a Turkey and I'm curious to see if you guys were also surprised

at this result. I'm probably less surprised than most people. I've been saying I think Australia is better than people realized for the last few weeks. I've said they're better than Paraguay, which we will see proven on the field or not when they play against each other. But the thing about Australia that I've mentioned over and over is in their moments, they are dangerous. They don't impose themselves on games against big opponents, but they have a plan to win where I think what we'll see from Scotland versus Brazil is there's not really a plan to win. There's a plan to survive.

And that's what we saw from Qatar. But in the end, they got there. So this is an Australia team that traps aggressively in their moments. And I think credit to Popovich that he went with Nestor Irocundi off the jump. He went with Motori. These are young but dangerous attacking players. And with the injuries that Australia has had in midfield, they needed more threat and more burst in this team because the runs of Yazbek that they've lost out of central midfield, which I think would have been a difference maker and given Jackson Irvine, you know, a little bit more of a foil. that I thought was going to be their threat.

And that went away. And so this is a team that believes in themselves. I mean, we talked to Milo Stegadet coming into this tournament for one of our shows. And he was like, we love this. No one thinks we belong there. No one thinks that we're good enough. This is where we thrive.

And the other thing is Australian fans party. And they travel because if you're going on a holiday, that means it's a six-month trip. So if you're going to go, you might as well go. Yeah. I mean, I thought to me this was like the first, World Cup Stadium feel. Like as I watched the game and the highlights, it was like, oh, this game could have been

an O2 in South Korea. Like, just the way at all, I thought BC Place looked great, just the way the energy was, the colors of all the fans and all the sections, it was like yellow red, yellow red, and just, I don't know, something about it just felt very, like, familiar in a World Cup way. And I think both teams stepped up to that level, but Turkey obviously dominated possession, as you expected, and had some dangerous chances. Turkey didn't have a plan to win.

To bring it back to what you were saying. Because it just falls to the individuals. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. And that's why if you look at their, go look at the highlights, go look at their shot map. I think they took 30 shots. I think about 20 of them were from like 20 yards or further.

It was just Artagula in particular guilty of just coming into the, you know. And Australia will give you that. Yeah. Like that is the plan for Australia. Like, okay, we can get into a low block. We have lines of five, right? They don't play in banks of four at all. It's a back five because they want to get out there and get pressure

on the crosses, and they're willing to give you 25 yards out from the corner of the box. And Turkey was like, oh, this is great. I can take these shots all day long. And like, yeah, you can, and you're going to lose because of it. And then, look, man, when we were doing the previews a couple months ago for Australia, we talked about Irankunda and how dangerous and how he was so good against the U.S. And then he really translated this, translated that. It's a perfect transition to our next segment, Doyle.

It's time for our first ever level-up segment presented by Football Manager 26. One of the most exciting things about the tournament is some of the young players that break out into the world stage. So as part of our level-up segment presented by Football Manager 26, we're going to talk about that guy, Iracunda, Goss. So, Cook. Cook on this fellow. Doyle mentioned him. So 20 years old. And when we talked with Australian veteran, Milo Shegeneck, and asked him, he said, he,

he said he's for real. I think Irunda is the best attacking prospect out of Australia since Tim Cahill. He's signed as a teenager for Bayern Munich. He is an example of the new Australia is what they talked about, where if you look at that 06 World Cup team, it's Italian immigrants, it's Croatian immigrants, it's Greek immigrants. Now it's a lot of people coming from northeast Africa, from West Africa, from other parts of the world that have become part of this Australian society,

and soccer has always been an entry point to that. And Iracunda is an example of that. and you saw in this game still a little bit raw, but he has an understanding of how his skill sets can affect the game and the way he fully commits to the runs when he thinks he's got a half chance. And then the huge cutbacks because he knows he can stop a little bit quicker and he knows the spacing of the field.

Those gave him openings. And that's what Byron Munich saw, transferred to Watford, learning a little bit more how to get on the field and stay consistent with Watford. But I thought it was bold to get him in the starting lineup, but necessary. and what a performance from a kid to say, yeah, I'm here.

Like, you don't have to worry about me. Age is not an issue. Experience is not an issue. The talent is there. And I think, as a start for this World Cup, he's going to be in a young player, the conversation for the rest of the tournament. I just realized, too, that that football manager 26 simulation that we did is kind of. Yeah, had Australia winning the group.

Whoa. Credit to you. You ought to live in hope, Suez. Oh, my. Learned at the top of the show. Australia winning the group and the U.S. winning the World Cup. I'm a little creeped out, but in a good way. That's amazing.

It means, though, that you can't bottom out on Friday because in theory it says Australia wins one zero. So that's the plan. No, absolutely not. That's, yeah, no, that's erroneous. All right, guys, time for our North America dedicated segment presented by Soccer.com. Carry the crest as you represent your team this summer. You'll find the widest selection of World Cup gear at soccer.com. Get a free goal club membership with the purchase of any World Cup jersey with code kickback.

And as a reminder, the goal club is the longest running and largest soccer loyalty program in the country, providing members with a lifetime of savings and rewards on their favorite soccer gear like this Japan away kit, which is probably my favorite kit of my whole. I am obsessed. I think everything Japan put out for this World Cup, the warm-up top is really nice. Yeah, they're killing it. You're a big fan. I'm a big fan of the kid.

Nice. Okay, so Doyle, we didn't have you here yesterday when we were just all up in our fields about the U.S. men's national team, and I know you hit on it a little bit, but I am just kind of dying to hear. What was your emotional reaction to watching this performance for the U.S. against Paraguay? I mean, it was similar to what Dave was talking about at the top of the show, watching the NICs sort of coalesce into this juggernaut. And whether it was for a game or hopefully for a full tournament for the U.S. US, just getting to see that as a fan is such a, it's such a precious thing. And I, so I was determined to just, you know, as I'm writing my column and watching you guys on the, I was just

determined to enjoy every moment of that, because there's no guarantee that get back to that level anytime soon, but just to know it's there, to validate all of this. It felt really, really good. And then the sort of analytical reaction was like, well, why is it working so well? And part of it was the way Paraguay were set up, right? Like they were, and Paraguay, to be clear, very good defensive team. We saw that throughout qualifying. They only conceded 10 goals in 18 games in common ball. They shut out Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay. But the U.S. made them look bad because the interchange and movement and understanding and partnerships really throughout the whole it was so in sync.

Like within a couple of minutes, we saw McKinney and Dest swapping spots like McKinney would drift out to the touchline when Dest came in and then McKinney would make a hard run into the space and that opened up or into the depth and that opened up space underneath. All of this was working for 45 minutes at the highest level I've ever seen at work for the U.S.

And so I was, you know, just... Big and shit, happy, man. Just a special moment. That's what I loved here. Yeah, we loved everything about that performance. And I said yesterday on the show, Doyle, but it is the first time I could remember that everyone is on the same page about that performance. Like, there was really not a bad thing to say, and it just felt really good. It felt like a nice unifying moment.

Let me ask you this, so based on what you saw yesterday from Australia, that is the U.S.'s next opponent, you know, how they played is this, can the U.S. replicate against an Australia side and the way they play? So the U.S. is going to have 65% possession again and probably 80% field tilt. That's exactly what Turkey did to Australia as well. Like Australia is going to sit and try to absorb

and they will try to play out, but not to play out and then charge through midfield to play out and then to hit over the top. And so Alex Freeman, Tim Ream, Chris Richards, all three of them are going to have to be really cognizant of guys like Irankundo over the top, Toure, you know, even the wingbacks will get up sometimes. But the U.S. are going to have to be comfortable being protagonists again, and they are going to have to not settle.

Those shots I was ripping Turkey before when we were hit, like the U.S. cannot just settle for ripping 30 of those per game like you have to be willing to play through and the whole point of the three two four one is you have the rest defense to put out fires 80 yards before they start so you are like the whole point is to give you give yourself the platform to take those risks in the central channel and they were great at doing it against paraglige and there's no reason they should think any less of themselves heading into this game against Australia. They certainly didn't look like a team that was lacking for confidence at any point. Yeah, we've got to wait until Friday for that game.

3 p.m. Eastern time. Oh, all right. It's going to be pretty wild. It is going to be wild. Because it is June 10th on Friday. I know a lot of people don't have work or school or whatever because of that. And then it's the earliest game because it's 9, 10 p.m. Eastern time as well. And it's in Seattle, which is going to be bumping.

Wow. So, yeah, I think this, based off what happened last week or on the weekend, It has the chance to be a really special day. Epic. All right, guys, let's look ahead to some of today's matches, shall we? Let's start with Group E. Germany taking on Curisau. Curisau debutantes of this World Cup.

Germany, obviously, a European powerhouse historically in the World Cup, maybe recently not so much. But, I mean, this feels entirely lopsided. And, you know, one of those cases of Curisow just happy to be. be there. Am I wrong, Gus? I mean, they would tell you wrong. I think Eli Ruhum told us that living out in Miami. So shout out to my neighbor and Yergen Laucadia as well. They would tell you that. I think the one opportunity for Curacao is I think they are comfortable playing in transition out of a low block. So the game states that are required of them are something that they played most

of qualifying. They've played over the last five, seven years as this group has slowly come together. So it won't be a shock to the system of we're a free-flowing team going into a big tournament. Now we have to restructure how we work. And I think a lot of the strength of this team is centrally, especially with the Bukunia brothers and their ability, if they can keep the game in front of them, I think they can get out of tight space is pretty clean and give you a relief valve. So I think it's enough that at least puts pressure on Germany. And with Leonard Carl going down and with Sane in bad form, it really is going to fall on

who see all his shoulders to go and find the pockets and be able to create for the team. Otherwise, you're talking about can you find Kai Haverts on a far post? Right. Not a bad spot to be in going into a World Cup for the first time. Found him against the U.S. on the fire post. I did. Found him against PSG as well. Yeah. Yeah. So no, it happens. He's pretty good. But yeah. I would be surprised if this was close, but also. I would have the same thing yesterday. Yeah. Yeah. Like, Curis, I'm looking at the FIFA rankings. Curisau are 82nd in the

world on FIFA rankings. Haiti or 83rd. You know, Qatar are 56. So the teams that we all kind of looked at and said, man, I hope they don't get embarrassed. They have not been embarrassed at all. That said, Qatar played Switzerland and Haiti played Scotland. And neither of those teams is world powers. Germany. Even a relatively weak Germany. And this is the most lopsided of the four games today. I think in general we have a really good slate of games that are pretty even and probably will decide groups. And this one is probably the one standout. Outlier. And maybe your golden boot guy, Undov, get a couple goals in this one.

Yes. I need, man. My guys are really slackened. I think you guys haven't played yet. Well, Sunny had a handful of chances. Jonathan David was won't. Yeah. But everyone, everywhere is doing like World Cup standings, pools, all this stuff.

And they're like, look, I'm winning. It's like, well, half the teams have played. It's just a pure numbers game. I'm telling you, it's going to be Harry Kane. That's going to save me. I fully, fully believe. All right, let's move it along to the next match of the day. Netherlands taking on Japan in Group F.

This one's fun. This feels a lot more even than the previous match because I feel like Netherlands are, they're just one of those teams that they tend to show up in these big, big tournaments. They've got some talented players. They do. but their elite talent is probably not enough to win this tournament.

That's how I feel about the Netherlands. And, you know, they struggled in their friendlies leading up to this. Danielle Malin starting up top was great for Roma, but has found chances, but has not converted them. And I know that that has my Dutch friends worried that they're going to end up starting Memphis to pie up top. And they do not want to see Memphis to fly starting. But Ronald Koehmann has always kind of loved him. but this is not like this is going to be a very even battle i would say i do not like

japan's propensity for getting bunched up like i think they actually lose their shape in rest defense and i think that's it you know when you have ball progressors like um you know frankie de jong central midfield like if you lose your shape and lose possession 70 yards from goal, you could be in really, like, huge trouble. And it doesn't matter if Malin is finishing or not because the ball end up on Cody Gakbo's foot in the box and then you're 1-0 down. Yeah, I think the midfield for the Netherlands is going to be what powers them through this tournament or not, because I think there's at least, in a positive, there's kind of some knowns along the back line. And then there's the unknowns along the attack. But, I mean, I know you

have a long relationship with Frankie Deion, up and down and up and down. And Rinders, I think, quietly is one of the best central midfielder's in the world and obviously plays a huge role for a big club and him translating that now where he's not had this role in the Netherlands national team. So can he sort of step in and take responsibility and help move the game? And he's not a goal scorer. And he's, but he's not a, he doesn't provide the last ball either. That's the problem with this, this Netherlands midfield is that it's three guys who do the same thing. Like they don't have a Wesley Schneider in this team.

They need a chance. I don't hate the idea of can we just have a high. Can we just have a high volume of the thing we do well around the final third? And then chances start to pop up because we control a ton of the game or you make a mistake. And that's where we find an opening. So I think this one is like split down the middle. Can you sell me on Japan? Because I'm a skeptical.

The hard part right now is with the injuries. I need to see this team play missing the pieces that I know are missing. Because the, I mean, Matoma from starting pre World Cup, that to me was the ace of like he breaks to them out of their shape. creates chances outside of some of the structure they don't have, and now they've lost a ton of experience in central midfield. So I will sell you on Japan tomorrow after I watch them play tonight. There you go. We know they're going to look good, though, because both of their kits are straight fire.

So there's that. All right. Next up, we've got Ivory Coast against Ecuador in Group E. Ecuador is one of those teams that we, was it a dark horse? They are a dark horse. All of our football manager Sims. They made it to the final. both the U.S. one and the world won.

And New York City is buzzing right now for Ecuador. These fans are everywhere. I can report that Peakskill is as well. Yes. This is, I have been to so many Ecuador games. None of them were FIFA windows. So they were like, whoever played in the Ecuadorian League called into Giant Stadium.

In the early 2000s, they'd play Ireland in like a random April game. And it would just be buses from Port Authority with beers being had by both fan bases. and I think all of the Northeast is going to be a vibe for Ecuador and playing in Philadelphia is awesome. So it's going to be yellow for this. It's a pretty even matchup. The story with Ecuador, talk over and over, best defense in South America and World Cup

qualifying, arguably the best defense in the world. The spine is elite. You've got two Champions League finalists at centerback. You've got Moises Caicedo at defensive midfield. So you're going to have to come and take the game from them. The question is if they can create enough chances in front of goal. and they are reliant on one of your own, enter Valencia, 36-year-old. Lon died.

I'll do my best. And we talked about Iracunda, where some other young players will talk about. Kendri Paez is hoping to be on that list. If he has an Iracunda-like performance, which isn't dominate the game, but create your moments. Create a moment. Then this team can go really, really far. Amazing. Well, on the other side of this matchup, Ivory Coast, they've got some young talent as well.

And so it's time now for another level up segment presented by football manager, 26. Yandiyomande, the 18-year-old winger for the elephants. What makes him special? Well, one is he's coming home because he played high school soccer in Florida. So he was born in the Ivory Coast. His family moved when he was a little bit older. He played high school soccer. Then he played UPSL, I believe.

So like, you know, semi-pro, basically the top of a youth player. top of a youth club and then he took his chance on himself he goes over to europe and does one of these can you get some trials through an agent on the backside this is not like a clean pathway thing you're kind of out there in the ether most players fail in those because no clubs really committed to you they don't owe you anything but not spent on you and so you really have to like jam your way through the door uh to get there and diabande was able to do that at laganez he ends up but Arby-Libsick explodes this year. And as you said, there are heavy rumors, reports, but no confirmation.

No confirmation. We haven't gotten it. But here we go. Yeah, he could be on his way to Liverpool next, just 19 years old. So to already have done all of that in basically two years as a professional soccer player. And I think he's been a bit of a godsend for every coast because this is a group that what we saw at the AFCON when they fired their coaching yet still won is leaning back on older talent.

Wilfred Zaha continuing to be around Nicholas Pepey. guys like that who have been good soldiers for this group but are not game changers at the international level anymore and diomonde comes in he's going to come off that left wing he's willing to take players on one v one but he always has his head up to find a runner and i think that's where he's special is you can't isolate in on him you can't send too much help because he will pick up his head and he will find the next guy and he can score he can create and he's going to be one of the breakout stars of the storm he actually reminds me of a young christian politic because what really separates him is what he does after he releases the pass, right? He's not going to sit there in midfield and pick locks and he's not going to square up two defenders and, you know, from a standstill and beat them.

He's just really cerebral about how to apply his gifts, his pace and his acceleration and then his deceleration as well. Like he knows how to actually sort of invert his run in a way that lets defenders sort of flow past him, and then he has the whole field to play with. And like you said, Cotefoir have needed that. Yeah. Right? They have a lot of really good players.

They haven't had anyone who can sort of make the game his own. He's 19, though. It's going to be tough. And let me throw out on the Ivory Coast side of things. Frank Kessay is one of those players. I will always sign up to watch. I don't watch all of the leagues and teams he plays for sometimes. And every international tournament, it's one of those where you're like,

that guy's on my TV. So I'm excited to see him play. and they're not out of this game because of the way Ecuador play. You're never out of it versus them. But as you look at the group, I think it's a very even group with these top three. You're going to have to pick up. You can't really make a lot of mistakes because you can't really make up for them later. And so this is a huge game to kick things off.

All right. That game at 7 p.m. Eastern. Let's move it along to the final match of the day. Sweden taking on Tunisia in Group F. Sweden kind of backing their way into this World Cup, but they're here and anything can happen. And there is some talented players on that Sweden side. Doyle, what are you expecting? I'm expecting them to play like an old-fashioned 80s style, 352, you know, maybe even a 5-3-2

because they have those two giant world star forwards. And then they have a number 10. Susan doesn't want to hear about Isaac. Don't get injured. migrant who will play underneath them and like that's the plan sit deep absorb and then let those guys try to create something and it wasn't particularly effective in qualifying but it was just effective enough to get them through to here and we have seen Sweden in the past look like trash in qualifying and make the World Cup and then get out of the group yeah every time Sweden just

about every time Sweden makes the World Cup they get out of the group they tend to have guys just get hot at the right time. And I know that would probably be bittersweet for you, Suez, given that you know, Alexander Isak maybe didn't have the best season of his career. But he certainly has... But he'd be happy for him. Of course I would. You're a happy person.

No, absolutely. I want good things for my players. Oh, is that... I don't know. I think the street... The street... Oh, that's what it is. It's the Puerto Rican Day Parian. Yeah, there's a lot of a little bit. Guys, New York is wild right now. Literally buzzing. What do we think about

Tunisia. They've never gotten out of the group stage at a World Cup. But last World Cup you saw once again, they'll go toe to toe with anyone. We saw them beat France. So there's a lot of confidence in this group. The strength is Gehry and Kadira as the two central midfielers, the holding midfielers, who protect the back line, who help them at times get out of the, get out of pressure. And the difference now with this group that they've never had, Tunisia as a country at this level, is Hannibal. as that number 10.

He's special. It's just incredible that Tunisia's best. Tunisia is Carthage. Like from Roman history, Carthage, the great general Hannibal and the number 10,

the best player on Tunisia, is named Hannibal. Wow. He went through, what, he conquered Spain. He went up along the coast, came across the Alps. This is,

yeah, he spent a large time in Italy. This is why this is the best World Cup show ever because you also get history lessons. Well, you can't, you can't avoid it. They are the Carthage Eagles.

Although Carthage, I don't think it ever actually got salted. That's a myth. That's a myth. I didn't realize. Yeah. And so him as a number 10, and I think a lot of people have seen it with Burnley, but the way he controls the game with Tunisia is even more. And you saw it in the friendlies leading into the World Cup.

They played Austria. I don't remember who the other one was, where the attack goes through him. And any time the game opens up, he has a great ability to receive and then find the far runners. Yeah. And so he opens up the spread, and then they can get out in terms. transition and create. There's a lot of young attacking pieces in this group. This is a different Tunisia. We've now seen them at a World Cup for 20 years. You know exactly what to expect.

It is normally domestic-raised, hard-tackling, defending players. A lot of these players now that are coming from European families or different academies or different setups, there's a little bit more flare and openness to the game. And so if they can meld this together the correct way and weaponize it, I think Tunisia are a dark course. I have them getting out of the group as the third place team in this one. And this is, this is to me the game that decides it. But what did football manager 26 say?

I don't remember everything on the top of my head. Don't do that to me. All right, Sweden, taking on Tunisia 10 p.m. Eastern tonight in group F action. Guys, we did it. We did it. Four soccer games today. What a day to be alive. What a day to be alive.

Before we go, I don't, I didn't send you the picture of this, but I just have to mention because I'm gutted that I didn't mention it on yesterday. show. The duck. Oh my God, you guys, it's unbelievable. So the Mexican fans all descended upon Times Square. It was incredible. Like they were literally having, that was here? No, that was in Mexico. That was here? I thought that was here. I just assumed it was in Mexico City. I'm making I think it was in Times Square. I could be mistaken. I got to do some Instagram research now. But anyway, they were having a full-on fiesta in Times Square and then everyone was like walking. Do you know what? Maybe it was because they were going to the stadium. I thought it was. There was a contingency.

of Mexican fans that were having a great time. There's parties everywhere. Everyone was wearing jerseys in New York. But there was a duck, a pet duck, wearing a Mexico kit and was walking with the fans, like, waddling along. And I, I'm obsessed with this thing now. I can't get enough of it. I mean, it looks a little like Edson Alvarez. I cannot get enough of this duck.

It's so good. And so I'm going to be following this duck for the rest of the tournament. I need somebody to like get an Instagram. Throw the duck over your face. Where he is, you know, like, is he going to travel? That duck has to be like a social media influencer by now. Right. Yeah.

It's like Freddie, the German, who now is going to an Ella Langley concert and got hooked up with a ridiculous suite in Houston by JJ Watt. The guy is living his best life. Yeah. Just for being an authentic fan and sharing his experience. Love that. Don't you love it? I do.

World Cup is beautiful, man. It's so good. Guys, you're beautiful, too. Thank you so much for tuning in. Again, we are here. morning throughout the tournament 9.30 a.m. Eastern best analysis, best commentary, best vibes. I told you. Have a great day, everyone. Enjoy the soccer. We'll see you tomorrow.