SoccerWise - Spain Dazzles, Belgium Disappoints & Cape Verde Does It Again | World Cup Daily

Episode Date: June 22, 2026

Jordan Angeli has entered the studio alongside David & Michele to break down a big weekend of action World Cup Action. A bonus addition Valair Shabilla joins from the road to take us into the scenes with the Iraq fans & from Atlanta.

The World Cup rolls on after a loaded weekend of matches. Upsets continue. Big-time performances from the smallest countries in the history of the World Cup. And it is an even bigger day here at the Kickback Studios live from New York City. I'm David Goss. We are coming to you with our live World Cup for such 26 show every single day at 9.30 a.m. Eastern time. And on this day, I am joined by McKellie Giannone, who you've come to know very well.

And for the first time for this World Cup, we've got Jordan Angelie in the building. Jordan, this is a big year for you. It's the first time a World Cup has ever had yourself in it as a competitor, the Jordanian national team. Honestly, reading the rundown, I am confused a few times. I'm like, are we talking a lot about me? We are talking a lot about you. Congratulations on a fairly strong performance against Austria in the first game. Yeah, I appreciate it.

And trying to bounce back better for the second one. Yeah, we need more goals is really what's going on. I'm going to talk to myself about it. and hopefully implement that, but really excited to be here, especially with you two. And yeah, this has just been, it's crazy to feel like we're already so far into the tournament. Yet nothing has happened. Yeah, it's been, it's been amazing to be able to witness it so far.

So we have a lot to talk about. We are going to go through all of the games we saw yesterday, how it affects the groups, obviously Cape Verde throwing some things up. Egypt gets a big result. So we'll talk all about that. We have some special segments for you in this show. We are going to talk a little bit about the U.S. men's national team and what the roster could look like for a game that doesn't really mean anything technically. We are going to have Matt Doyle, who will join us for our tactical segment.

We've got a special guest in this show, our very own Valer Sheabella, who has been now, I believe, at four World Cup games and is, of course, getting ready for the Iraq game against France later today. He's going to join us live. For this one, we're going to talk about some of the great French kits of all time. And then, of course, we're going to preview the games of the day. So a lot to dig into. We are so thankful to Football Manager and SACR.com for helping sponsor much of the work that we are doing at this World Cup.

We always like to start with our big things. This is your first time here. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. We haven't done this in person, okay? The last time. The show gets into a flow. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. So disrespectful.

I wanted to congratulate you about everything Denver Summit related. Oh, my gosh, thank you. That's related to what we're doing. Right here. So disrespectful. Look at that. I've already spent my time.

I know. That's what I said. It's the first time that I'm with Jordan. You know the last time I was with you guys, both at the same time? Roster Revealed, 22. I was here in New York for the USMNT roster reveal and we did something. I don't remember which show on air talking about the roster reveal and what we're expecting like surprises.

It was 2022 men's World Cup. Yeah. I was in my room in New York City. A rat actually came into a. room. I had to jump on the bed. It doesn't matter. Congratulations. You signed my second favorite player of all time in Lindsay Huron or Lindsay, sorry, Lindsay Heaps. And so I'm rooting for you guys. Thank you. I love it. We're going to have to get you some gear then. So one, please and thank you. Shameless. Two, there's an isolation camera on this spot because I'm the host of the show.

And within four minutes, McKellie has usurped that and taken over the show for his own. McKellie, can we talk about the World Cup? Yes. I'm just on. I'm the way. I'm going to put the Denver scarf in here. I'm wrapping Denver at all the time. You do shows with Jordan all the time. I do shows with Jordan all the time. Thank you. I appreciate that.

Jordan. Yes. About the World Cup. Yeah. We normally do our one big thing of the day, positive, negative, whatever it is. I, you've not been on. I know. So I can do many things.

So I can go big at first. You can go huge. Since, you know, I'm coming in kind of halfway through this group stage, I feel like my big thing has to be, I've just been surprised. I did not think I was going to a World Cup game when everything happened. And I think everybody was a little jaded about the ticket situation. And the fact that I have been to two games, one has been honestly a dream come true. I've gotten to go to other World Cup games on the women's side, which have been an incredible experience.

But this, the stadiums packed, the fans, like the noise, it gives me chills, just thinking about the noise in the stadium when Turkey is trying to score a goal. when Argentina fans are rooting for the third goal that Messi scores in a game, just being in the same spot as people who have very different lives, very different points of view. And yet everything has seemed to go really smoothly. Like, everybody is cheering for one another. And I don't know, it feels really unifying in a way. And I really have loved that.

Yeah. Yeah, it's been a dream come true. I've just enjoyed this so much more than I could have possibly imagined. It's a beauty of a World Cup. That it's the one thing everyone does and everyone connects with. And I think for a lot of people, it's been a really exciting moment to see the world come here. Yes. And to have these moments in our backyard?

How many times have you been to Kansas City? How many times have you been to games in Kansas City or the Bay Area where you saw Denver make their debut? But this was, I assume, a little different. Yeah, so different. And like walking into the Paraguay Turkey Eye game, there's a Mexican fan with a sombrero on pouring tequila shots into people's mouths. Like because you couldn't bring it into the stadium. Like those are the things that you don't get unless you're out of World Cup game. You know, it's been scenes.

And just so cool that we get to live that out here. And I think it's going to be transformational for America in the sport here. I absolutely love that. So I had one that I thought of yesterday, which is for me, it's a lot. always been pretty safe when I watch most World Cup games of who I'm rooting for. I root for underdogs. And for the most part at World Cups, anyone who's won a World Cup is never an underdog until you get to like a quarterfinal, a semi-final. And it's like, oh, I'm picking France or Germany. Oh, am I picking a Spain? You know, Portugal sort of sits in that space a little. I was excited for Spain in

2010. Like, they were clearly the best team in the world and I wanted them to win. So I always root for underdogs. I always root for upsets. It's been a great World Cup, right? Cape Verde and what they've done, we'll talk about it, Curisout, all these countries. for the first time though the teams I root for normally are doing well in Canada and the US underdogs now mean you flip brackets and big-name teams fall into lower seats so now all of a sudden I'm like oh of course I'm going to root for this team and then you're like oh wait if Uruguay falls the third now they're a third place team if Switzerland falls the third now they're a third place team if Belgium falls the third now they're a third place team and on the one side

I think we should believe scoreboards, which is Uruguay aren't very good. Like we'll talk about these games in a little bit. But Uruguay, Belgium, clearly they're not very good or they'd be winning these games. Right. But you'd love to, like, not have to play Freddie Valverde in a knockout game. Or Lukaku or Doku or any of these other players. And it was the, yesterday was the first time where I was like, huh, yeah, brackets. Like, this might actually matter in a different way besides it's always kind of, I mean, I went to the 2018 World Cup and the U.S.

wasn't even in it. So like totally didn't matter. And I was just rooting for upsets and against Russia and all these other teams. So this has been a new experience for me and now I'm going to have to rejigger how I handle this. Your brain is rewiring in real time. And you add on the fact that it's hard to understand the brackets while you're watching. And it's like, uh, okay. But so I've, I landed on. I'm obviously going to root for most of these underdogs anyway. And then who knows? Maybe it'll be a semi final of Cape Verde against the US. my big thing is exactly or very similar to what you're talking about but with a different perspective

now I don't care and I'm believing even more about a deep run from the US like I don't care that we play Uruguay or Belgium in round of 16 we are better than Belgium and Uruguay at least what we've seen right what we've seen and people will still argue that maybe Paraguay or Australia are not at real I don't agree with that.

I think Paraguay and Australia are really good teams, and it's the USM&T that has made them look the way they've looked, right? So when you see the bracket right now, it's difficult, like you said, it's constantly changing, but right now, the youth will be facing Ecuador, which is not a great matchup, but a matchup that the USMNT, this USMNT against this Ecuador should win, and then you're seeing a runoff 16, could be Uruguay, could be Belgium.

Right now, it will be Egypt or Czechia. I'm 100% confident that if it's Belgian, Uruguay, Egypt, whoever, the USMNT can win that game. And before the tournament, I said it multiple times. I don't think this team has a quarterfinal run, much less a semi-final run. Now, quarter-finals, I do believe. Yeah.

Yeah. You do believe that they could get there. I believe that we will. I have to. You set me up for it. But I agree with you. It's giving me Australia. 2023 vibes for the Australian national team where that team on the women's side just was on a heater.

And they played their best soccer that they've ever had because it was in their home, in their homeland. They filled stadiums, packed stadiums. I mean, the USMNT games are the hardest ticket to come about. And it should be that way for a home venue. But I agree with you. I did not have the faith that I have now just a couple weeks ago in this team. And it has been I think when they played Germany, we got a little glimpse of, okay, this could be good. And now we, I think they could have a deep run. And I think a lot of people are feeling that way, which is so exciting. We had someone coming here in the studios that were in.

It is for secret, not a soccer place. We've had the games on and people have been around, but not as involved. And when they guys came in and said, if you need some USA chance, as we got ready to do this show, has not spoken to us about the World Cup besides that moment. So now people are on board. in a way that it feels like was not the case earlier. We'll talk about the U.S. a little bit more in a minute, but let's get into what we've got on tap for today

and, of course, look back at yesterday. So yesterday was an interesting day of four games. It is this bizarre group G, which we'll get to in a minute, and group H, which we came into, both of them were every team was tied across the board coming into the day. Every team was sitting on one point in both groups, so it really is everything to play for. and of course with the third place teams getting through,

everyone is still alive even after what happened. But we start out with Spain against Saudi Arabia. I went and watched it with my dad for Father's Day, which is very exciting. We were able to get seated luckily right as it started because Laminemal did not wait very long in his World Cup debut. Remember, he was not at a World Cup before. He has helped go to a Euro final and been victorious in his young career,

but World Cup is new for him. It's a four zero win for Spain. They now sit on top of the group. You talked a little bit yesterday about how rare it is for Spain to win a game at the World Cup. They've won less than the U.S. and Mexico since they won the World Cup in 2010. So Spain moves top of the group, comfortable performance for them, and got to be a positive day for Spanish fans. So much frustration in that first game for Spain. And a lot of it had to do with if you let a team get comfortable in these low blocks, it's really difficult to break down.

And I think that has been overall, one of the stories. of this tournament is how good defenses are when teams are the first to score or they they don't allow the opponent to score early and they can sit in and defend and park the bus like there is so much unity in these groups that it's hard to break them down and spain saw that in their first game so you could tell that there was that extra little emphasis I don't think the saudi arabia team was as comfortable playing in this different formation. And so Spain right away, like the ball that that was played into Lamin, Yomal, every time that.

We're on East Coast time, so you've got to wake up for it. And I took a cross-country flight yesterday. So I'm getting there. I'm getting there. The ball that was played into Yomal, it was what we've been looking for, I think, throughout the whole entire tournament, just those dangerous balls behind the back line. You set the tone early.

And then because of that, Spain can then continue rolling. They get numbers forward. A lot of similar attacks that they had in the last game. It's just a little extra class in the final third. And that's what we expect from them. This is what we thought going into the tournament we would see. And I think Saudi Arabia struggled in their shape. They also make, I mean, there's a turnover on both of the first two goals

where you can't open yourself up. You can't expose yourself. Cape Verde did not do that in the matchup against Spain. So the easier chance never came. And as you said, on taking the leads early, I think over half the goals of this World Cup have been scored by substitutes. Most of those have been on the winning team

where it's like you're throwing numbers forward, you bring on a super sub, they go the other way, and they get a goal. And Saudi Arabia, I think, showed a little bit out of their depth. But they are still alive. Yeah, but I think about with Spanish, it's all about talent. We're talking about probably alongside France

the favorites for the tournament. They have so much talent. And having LaMille Amal from the start just changes everything. He's so good. And we spoke about the choices that the coach made on the first, on the first game, like playing Fabian Ruiz, a box-to-box, more type 8 midfielder instead of Danny Olmo,

who's at True 10 who can orchestrate better like he did yesterday. And alongside Yamal, I believe, was the best on the field. But when you have, I mean, we're talking, I don't know, am I wrong in saying that La Melia Amel Yamal is the best right winger in the world? No, yeah, you're not wrong. He's probably one of the five best players. on the planet. He can do every single thing at the best quality so you don't know what to expect.

Right. He can take you outside, inside, in behind, and hold the ball up. And even if he's not on the ball, he attracts two, three players. And that opens up everything for Cuculella on the other side to be a true winback. He doesn't play a win back, but he basically, and you have the staying right back because you don't need a, uh, uh, you don't need with on the right side with, with Yamaha playing there. And with Olmo, they found Oyersabal. On the first game, Ojarzabal didn't touch one single ball in the box for 30 minutes.

Yesterday, he had two goals, the first 25 minutes. We had the assist and two goals. So, I mean, it's just about, you already have a talent disparage between Spain and Saudi Arabia, and when you add Olmo, La Milla Yamaal, it changes everything. The goals were good. The assist was the best. Yeah, it's the ball across. The best.

I mean, I just think this is the Spain that we all were waiting for. And I just love how Spain is the European Mexican. LaMille Amal before the game, calling out the press. The Luis de la Fuente de coach calling out the press after the game. He said you have to treat these like artists like Salvador Adali. I mean, he said like within, wow. I mean, Spain is the best national team of the last, I don't know, at least in Europe. five years probably yeah yeah so putting this team in this group in doubt it's lunacy but the press

and the fans are like in mexico if you if you have a misstep they're gonna be all over you win four one why didn't you win four zero exactly which they did win four zero on this one let me just say because you guys talk about lemina mal here so it's first ever world cup goal he's the eighth youngest player to score at a world cup at 18 years and 343 days he's 14 days younger than messy was when he scored his first. So in 20 years, when everyone's like, this was the 20th day, blah, blah, we can re-show this clip and be like,

we were all there, not there. Is he going to do the same thing or he scores on the same day? That's what I'm saying. I think he has to. I think the staying power might be a little bit tough. But I think many people in the sports world presented this World Cup as a chance

for Laminia Mall to elevate to replace Messi and Ronaldo in the conversation for best players in the world. I think that's a fair statement to make. pressure to put on him is one thing, but I do think it's fair that from us, from the outside, like as new fans come into the game, especially

in the U.S., and they're like, who should I know, what should I know, he is the emergent talent. He is the, for lack of a better comparison, the Victor Webbenyama of basketball, where he's the next one. And I do think he's good enough to be all those things. And I think one of the issues for me over the last eight years is, I don't think Mbapapé is that guy.

Mbapapé is great. And there are other players who have been really good over the last few years. The idea that the next messy comes and is the next messy is wrong to me like that's special there's a best player in the world at all times there are not guys who are elevated into the 510 best players of all time lemian mal has that potential the hope though is they don't burn him out didn't this team just won the euro yeah two years ago with la miliamal two years younger being the best player yeah so what are we talking about it's crazy although

jobertamore younger when we got to talk about something yeah we do not I mean I'm just talking about we as like the press as well it's like what what are we doing here Yeah. I think it really is interesting because the pressure conversation in a lot of different ways. Like, we have to. If you're proving that you're that good, the pressure is automatically going to come. It's up to that player to how you sustain the pressure determines your greatness. Yeah, yeah. Okay, let's jump into the second game in Group H, 2-2 against Uruguay in Capeford. No one would have believed you if you said this. People maybe would have believed a draw. At two goals each, no one would have believed it.

You come into this game and obviously Uruguay have to come back from the performance in the first game against Saudi Arabia. And for Cape Verde, they're coming off the history against Spain. Smallest Nation at a World Cup. They, of course, got their first point at the World Cup. So, like, how do you want up that? And that free kick to open up the scoring in the first half from Kevin Pena, everyone in the world knows he's shooting. And it's one of those where it's like, if you hit this perfect, it's a goal.

otherwise there's no chance from that distance the way you're going to hit it. And he hits it perfectly on the ground with pace, with power, gets it to take the 1-0 lead. Then Uruguay throw a bunch forward. And then there's a second goal in this one for this Cape Verde team as well. It was vibes across the board from them on both. Sorry, vibes on both sides. Both sides. I agree.

Capeford here and Uruguay, if we dig a little bit, we can see the vibes from Marcel Bielsa and his crew. I don't understand why Muslera is starting for Uruguay to start with. I think that's a conversation we've had for 12 years. Yeah, but he lost his spot in Cop America. I think it was Sergio Rochette. I know no option is great. Yeah. And Muslera has the experience.

Right. Which is probably always going to trumping. And I know Muslera very well because he was a Lazio goalkeeper for many years. Italy. Ding. Ding. Do we have that? I just under McKellera.

So I think all the pitchforks are coming for Bielsa this morning. I just don't understand the setup and the way Uruguay has been playing because it's such a different team of what we saw on qualifiers. And I understand qualifiers and tournament playing is different. But in qualifiers, Uruguay was a heavy possession team. Sometimes they play direct, but they like to have the ball. Rotation, finding space. Uruguay, the first two games, especially yesterday,

it was just a million crosses, no ideas, playing Federico Valverde as a 10 out of position. So I think Bielsa, it's obviously I'm not even close to be someone to put Bielsa or criticize Bielsa, but some of his choices compared to what his team have done in the past under him, have been baffling. Yeah. The thing that is difficult, and I see what you're saying about qualifying and ball possession and rotations, but you also are playing this Cape Verde team who are going to sit back.

Yeah. They have one option. They're going to sit back and they're going to counter and they're going to try to win a set piece. And so what's unfortunate for this Uruguay team and maybe that's where they fall short in this particular game is when you can't possess, when you can't, I mean, they had the ball, but when somebody's. So deep rotations are not really not helpful. Yeah, you're not moving pieces. It's ball movement. Right.

And I said earlier, I think one of the big stories of this World Cup is these types of teams who are sitting back and just saying, beat us. We've got 11 players back here in the last 20 yards of the field, not even, maybe 30 yards of the field. And you're going to have to find a way. And it's the lack of ingenuity. I think that's my frustration with a team like this who does have so many. players who can be creative. It's just lackluster. And then the lackluster side, because that's, to me,

the, it just feels, it feels slow. It feels methodical. And that's the feeling we were talking about yesterday, I think, with Bielsa in the press. Like, he feels sad. Like, there's not a good energy around this. Then on the other side, the two goals, I mean, one goal, great free kick, but again, Musilera makes a mistake. The second goal is a passback across the back line. It's gorgeously taken. Like, that's not an easy finish to take it down. as it's skipping across the field and then hit it on the second touch. Yes. Yeah.

But what does that pass across your back line? And that's a thing where it feels like the entire like pervasive feeling through the group is this, oh, we're just kind of like bumbling around. We don't really know what we're doing. And that's something that you've never seen from a Bielsa team before. Bielsa teams implode because the energy and whatever is like hard to deal with. But they implode in ways that are like dramatic, not. lackluster and sad.

And you go back to the Chile teams, of course, that he coached from a national team point of view. And they were not better than teams, but they always made you go and earn the win. And for all of what Cape Verde did yesterday, it was slightly gifted by Uruguay. And that's something that has never been Uruguayan style and it's never been Bielsa's teams.

And that's, I think, the most worrying part. And I think something that, in my opinion, differentiates this Cape Verde team from other teams that play the low blow. and like just sit. Cape Bird is a team that likes having the ball. Like likes having played through pressure. We saw it yesterday.

They're not afraid. And stoppage time. They had the ball more than Uruguay. Oh my gosh. They were the team that almost got the third goal. And the referee, my man, let that free kick. At the end, what are we doing? That was very odd.

That was weird. It was also odd in a game where sometimes it's like, oh, the team that has it has been the one wasting time. So I'm not going to gift them more time. But they weren't wasting time. No, they were the ones pushing. It was very weird. Everybody wanted Cape Verde to win.

And I feel like the photos that they went to of Luis Soros in the booth during the game was like exactly how everybody was feeling. Sadness. Yeah. You could just see the energy drain out in the questions that are around this Uruguay team. But it has been Cape Verde. So excited for Stephen Morrera. Yeah. Are they going to win the group?

I mean, they have Saudi Arabia last. I would cry. I would cry. I think they have a 76% chance to move to the next round because at a minimum, they'll get third place. I need a jersey. Yeah, I mean, the scenario, as we have the group here, we can throw it up. The scenario is that Saudi Arabia, the assumption is,

or the worst team in the group, and that's who Cape Verde has, where Spain and Uruguay have to go against each other. So Spain's sitting in first place, they still have everything to play for to secure first place. So this is not a game. where they take things off against Uruguay. If you're Cape Verde, if you get a victory over Saudi Arabia, if those two teams draw, there's a chance that you get first. If, of course, Uruguay wins, there's a chance you get first as well.

Which will be this last group game against Cape Verde against Saudi Arabia will be exactly what you're just talking about, McKelley. We'll get to see, I think, a little bit more of Cape Verde. Right, the quality. Right. The quality. And not just, yes, they're still going to fly across the box and block shots and do everything that they've done that have made us fall in love with them. But they're also going to show that bit of skill in class and build up.

And I'm really excited. I think that's going to be one of the most fun last days of group play. And I already know talking with people since yesterday, they're freaking out in Mexico. Because the second place of this group plays Mexico in the round of 32. As of now, it's Cape Verde. Yeah. But there's a scenario where it's Spain. Wow.

Going to Stadio Azteca for round of three. No, 32. Can you imagine if it's Spain and England back-to-back games at the Esteka? Oh, my gosh. The Mexican-R-A-Rat altitude in Europe. So Mexicans are freaking out with this group. Can I give you this one, which is fun. Cape Verde is the first team to avoid defeat in each of its first two matches at the World Cup all time since Senegal in 2002,

when they beat France in the opening game of their first ever World Cup. And they have committed the fewest fouls of the tournament so far. part of what has been largely successful tournaments so far for African nations. We'll talk about Egypt in just a moment, but let's get to group G now. We've got Belgium versus Iran, which was the middle game yesterday out in SoFi Stadium. We talked a lot coming into this one about this group. Everyone's sitting on one point even across the board. Jeremy Dooku, who's been, as we said yesterday, in the news for reasons that are not exactly his fault, was sick. So he did not play in this game. We were a little bit wrong, I believe, about the lineup.

It was Salamackers who went out wide with Lukako coming into the team. I think we assumed it would be to Ketlier. Either way, we were pretty close with Lukako coming. Way to call yourselves out. Yeah, this is how I sit there and watch these games sometimes. I'm like, oh, we got that wrong. Oh, we got that wrong. But otherwise, it was what you expected.

Belgium had 23 shots, seven shots on target, 1.91, XG and 70% possession without scoring a goal. So they're most in a World Cup game without scoring goals since 1994. And this is an Iranian team, I think, playing with a ton of belief. The game, of course, flips laid on with the red card. Yeah. Which, as it happened, silly, but an obvious red card, right? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Thank you.

There are people who are like, oh, I don't know. Someone's covering. I honestly, if someone's covering, I don't care. If you were going to pull someone's jersey from behind after making a mistake, you have made the intent to get a red card and you deserve to be sent off. There's the moment, though, when it happens where I said to people on I was like, this might be good for Belgium because it opens the game up a little. And I do actually think the quality of chances they created afterwards were better,

but it did emboldened Iran. And it gave them opportunities to get back in the game. And I don't know that they would have held on for the full 90 if that's not the case. It was a bummer because they had just made those substitutions that made them a little bit more defensive. And I think if that hadn't have happened, you know, if you had a seeing eyeglass and you could have seen that the red card was happening. It's coming in about two minutes just wait for it. I'll just keep those subs on the sideline. I same sentiment as I feel like with Uruguay with this Belgian team is what did you say

underwhelming underwhelming and when you're trying to break down a low block the moments that are most difficult is when you are nonchalant because the game itself slows down and you have to create speed play it to the right foot play it quickly yeah quickly and it's like oh we'll pass it here we'll pass it there it's really nonchalant and that's where they get stuck with that it's a poor, like caught in between, he tries to pass back to the goalie, takes a bad touch, and then it's one mistake after another. And that's usually where goals are scored or big moments happen. And it's the two mistakes there.

But I feel like from this Belgium squad, I get it. You have Lukaku in the box, but their best chances came from when they hit it low and hard across the box. Yeah. Lukaku can score in a myriad of ways. Like he is going to find the back of the net if you get him the service. but it was just these like skyballs into the box and that is not going to beat really any team in this World Cup. Like the quality once they got into the final third because they were breaking this Iran team down, it was not the right.

I think it was it's difficult because all of their star players, Tileman's DeBrona, Lukaku. Yeah, Trussard. It felt like they had two options and they were constantly making the wrong one. Yeah, right. And I would say I thought the biggest chance of the game late, I think. think it was de Claypoe that it fell to where the ball sort of gets cut across the box and he comes into it and hits it first time on the far post and opposite of the Ivory Coast game it's like take one touch because his one touch would have been inside so he opens up a better angle and the space was

there for it but he's so panicked he's not going to get a shot off well you're desperate it takes it first time and that it felt that way a lot as you said of there's desperate decisions made when there was path A or path B and it led them to the wrong decision over and over and again. Shout out to Al Rizé Ben-Varvard, who has the, who's man of the match in goal for this Iran team. This was the oldest starting lineup of any team at the World Cup so far. Yeah. He looked like a movie character to me, didn't he? They all do. Wow. The Iranian players are a bit of a vibe. Have you seen a lot of those?

I have heard a lot of it in my household about the Iran team. I'm with you, girl. Yeah. Everyone I'm related to. I just felt like he was like a movie character and then he's constantly making these saves and I was like he deserved it yeah I mean the double save he comes back on like there's so many moments that are huge and for this iran team I mean they have battled through two tough games they obviously have the travel that they have to deal with they talked post game about how welcome they felt in tijuana and how all the tijuanaans are and all the mexicans are saying like we are one iranians are mexicans i live in tijuana you lived there yeah yeah For like three years, right?

Two years. Where are you from? Everywhere. Yeah. I'm trying to. He was going to say that. I'm trying to figure it out. No, he's a standard Venezuelan born Italian who lived in the U.S., Mexico, and now

now it makes sense. Now I get it. Is that enough? No, I think you might have a couple of war. There's a very obvious bucket you fit in. So I just wanted, you know, I just put it in there. But yeah, this Iranian team now, they could, everyone controls their own destiny in this group. Let's take a look at the, you know.

A second game, New Zealand against Egypt in Vancouver. The Egyptian fans were on point for this one. Egypt gets the 3-1 victory. It is their first World Cup win in their ninth World Cup game. And here is the thing. I've said this many times on our show. As I grew to love soccer internationally, Egypt won three straight Afghans. They have the most African championships of any team.

They're the 10th African team to win their first World Cup game. It is so wild that it has. taking that long and it has been this stain for them. First it was getting there. Through those Afghan runs, they couldn't get to a World Cup. Yeah. 2018, they finally get there. Mosala gets hurt in the Champions League final.

It's not the tournament they thought it would be. Now they come in again. I think it's pretty evident. Mosala is not at the physical abilities that he has been in the past. And through that first game, it was tough. It was physical. They grind it against Egypt or sorry, against Belgium. This first half, it felt like New Zealand's game.

And then all of a sudden, Egypt wakes up. See, everything changed. It was a tale of two houses. a halfs, Egypt was slow, no ideas on the first half. It looked like once again, the stars, Marmouche, Sala, were off. There's clearly, and you've talked about this yesterday, they don't look for each other and it's pretty weird.

I don't know if there's, I don't think there's animosity there. No, I just think it's a style. I just think it's style. It's just exactly the style. But on the second half, we saw the potential, right? They came out, there were more aggressive, they committed more numbers into attack and they were they are clearly a much better team with much more talent than New Zealand is it's unlike our without being disrespectful one of the

team with less talents and worst team in in the tournament right you put it there with Tunisia with Saudi Arabia but to their credit they've come out and tried to play yes and other teams have it right yeah but when in the second time where it was talent a great aggressiveness, New Zealand had no answers. And they, which they normally are, there are very compacted, very good defensive team. They committed some defensive mistakes yesterday and Egypt, especially on the second goal, Egypt didn't. Gorgeous.

Connection back. But it came from the same defensive mistakes. For sure. But we haven't seen a lot of from build out to front connection goals in this tournament. Most have been transition moments, free kicks. And that one was five passes. and then the connection from Solida, slip it inside, go for the one-two, and then hit it left-footed. Well, we've also seen him so many times take a touch to just try to get that little half a foot beyond the defender to take the shot.

So the fact that he did the combination play in that moment, I think just the defenders were not ready for that. What I like about this from Egypt is it's actually only the third time this tournament, you guys, where a team has scored first and lost a game. Interesting. So it happened on the first day. Chequia lost to South Korea. Ivory Coast scored first, Germany came back and beat them. And then now New Zealand scored this first goal and Egypt came back.

And for this Egyptian team, yes, it's the first World Cup win. But also, it feels like with Mosala, it does feel like there's pressure on this team to get out of this group. Yeah, especially with the way this group set up for that. And you don't always get the tests you need in the first in the group stage of tournaments. But when you get them, I think of when Spain won, didn't think. lose their first game of the World Cup. France didn't do well last time. Argentina lost their first.

Yeah, Argentina didn't do. So I feel like these types of tests early on in tournaments can fortify a group really, really strongly. And maybe this is what Egypt needed to just wake up, say, okay, we can come back. They should beat New Zealand, as you said. But who knows what will happen with that kind of confidence in a tournament like this? Mustafa Zico had the opening goal, 29 years old, made his internationally be one month ago. Let's go. I love those stats. It's a great story. And this is sort of one of the stories

with Egypt, which makes them unique. And as I was thinking about it, because we've talked about it with Mexico. I think there's a couple other countries. South Africa sort of goes in these categories where they have really strong domestic leagues, Turkey may be one. They're really strong domestic leagues. And so there's really high quality players who stay their whole careers. And so they come into the national team late. And they don't maybe go and challenge themselves in other leagues because the money is really good where they are. Egypt is one of those where you look at this teams for every generation, and it's Pyramids FC and Al-Hali and Port Said players who are 28, 29, 30,

who finally get into the national team. And so it's just different from what you expect from countries outside of the power, five or 10, where, oh, at 21, they'll go to Europe, they'll try and grind their way through. And that sort of simplifies sometimes the selection of the players. And it also, I think, obfuscates for people how good these teams are. Because you don't know these players like we've talked about. It's open with Hulian Quinoes and Fidalgo and all the, like, people don't watch League

MX, so they don't know who these guys are. And then they come in, you're like, oh, the quality is really high. They just make $5 million a year so they don't go play in the Belgian League because it's not worth their time. That's the case a lot. I'd stay. Yeah, that's the case a lot with the Egyptian players because of the quality of the league and the strength of it.

And I think that's one of the things that makes this team really interesting. They have moved a little with Salas success of some guys getting pushed over a little but younger and obviously now they've got an 18 year old at Barcelona that they're hoping to lean on. For Portland, for Portland Timber zone, Finn Sermon gets the goal in this one. They take a one zero lead. So this is the third lead they've taken at the World Cup and they have one point to show for it. So they're pretty tough overall group stage for all the positives they've had. And now they finish with Belgium head to head in the final game, which if we take one last look at group G,

we see that Egypt now sits on top and Belgium and Iran are tied in second place. Belgium's going to let him score first so then they... So that they can come back. That would be rude. It's deep game planning. So winner of this group will be the USM&T rival in the round of 16. If they were to then win that game.

But yes. Yeah. Yes, well, have some faith. I need you guys for this. No, no, sorry. I meant the winner of this group would have to win their round of 32 game. which based on what we've seen so far. I mean, they will face third place team like most...

And Goss is definitely rooting for the underdog in that game. Chekia. If you have Belgium winning group, I have Chequia coming in as the third place team that they would play, who are fairly well-ful, but would fit in in these matchups. Yeah, as of now, the live bracket is Egypt, Chequia. My guess would be Belgium beats New Zealand. So my guess would be it's on Egypt to win the group, where if Egypt gets the right result, they win the group.

And if that's the case, from what I've seen so far, I would take that matchup any day of the week. I don't believe that this is one of the strongest Egypt teams we've seen. And I think the group works out pretty well for them. But if they play the way they played in the second half against Iran for a full game,

that starts to shift your opinion a little bit. Speaking of the U.S., let's dig into the U.S. men's national team for a moment. We have our North American segment presented by soccer.com. Myself and Jordan are currently kidded out via soccer.com. Jordan's got a dope Germany jersey on. I'm wearing a Senegal warm-up top.

which I forgot in Miami, so I didn't wear it to the Senegal France game. I'm going to get to wear it tonight to the Senegal Norway game. So me and all of my Senegal friends will be hanging out. You can carry the crest as you represent your team this summer as well. 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 using code kickback. 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. So the North American teams are going to come back around for their third group stage games coming up. We also know, of course, that they've already qualified for the next round in the U.S. and Mexico case and Canada pretty obviously are going to get through to the next round, but still some questions. But we want to talk a little about this U.S. game. We'll have our full preview recorded tomorrow alongside Matt Doyle, which will come out on the soccer wise feeds. But obviously, the Turkey game, Turkey are eliminated. The U.S. have already clinched first place. So it's a weird one.

there are 11 days between the game in Seattle and what will be a round of 32 game for the U.S. against a third place team coming out of probably group A between Qatar and Bosnia, but now we're seeing Ecuador's name slip in there. And listen, it's bizarre as like one team plays and now a team on the other side of the world's like, oh, our 6% chance just moved.

I want to ask it this way and we'll talk about the game more as we go forward in this week. One player that you 100% wouldn't want to see on the field because you want them either rested or protected. and one player that you think should get an opportunity in this game. So my mind hasn't changed. You mentioned something that I'm stressing, that it's 11 days between the game against Australia

and the round of 32. I will play the four guys on yellow, not the whole game, but I believe, Jordan, I don't know how you feel, but having played the game and being an expert, I feel I'm not the expert you are. 11 days is too much. I agree.

And I, if I'm Pocetino, I'm trusting my players. Like, Tyler played on a yellow, Tyler Adams played on a yellow against Australia, a very physical game, and he stayed off. You play them 45 minutes, 50 minutes, 60 minutes, and then you take them off. My player that, again, will be out, will be Christian Polisick.

I think that calf injury is more serious than it has led to be. known. Yeah. So I'm not risking Christian Polisick. That's my opinion. They told us it was more serious than we thought it might have been, but not even rostering him in that game.

And I think if he's at least on the bench, you're thinking, okay, if the game is on the line, he can go in and give you 15 minutes. Right. Cavs are tricky, especially if you're fast. I wouldn't know, but I have heard that they are tricky if you're fast. And he's so agile. And that's what he realizes. on in those moments is his creativity and tight spaces to explode and had that little zip.

You don't play Christian Polisik. I don't think that that is worth it right now, especially with how the U.S. is doing. Players on yellows, okay, yes, I agree. It's too long of a wait, but if I had to pick one, because are you asking for one? Yes. Okay, you put Baligan in because I think you need him to keep scoring goals. So you're 100% play him, even on a yellow card. I think you play him for the last 20 minutes.

Okay. Bring him off the bench, not from the start. Yeah, because you want him to be on the field. You want him to get into those situations where he is understanding what's happening. And he started two games. So now you give him a different spot off the bench, solve the problem that is being presented. And maybe that is the U.S. is winning and their space to be had. I don't know.

Yeah. There are so many different scenarios. but I think if you are a goal scorer, you need situations to score goals and keep it running. So that would be my have to play, don't have to play players. All right. Well, that's perfect because we thank you to soccer.com for sponsoring this segment. But we have a Mr. Matt Doyle who is talking a little bit about balligan. So now it's time for our first touch tactics board presented by Football Manager 26.

Today's segment is all about Flo Balligan. So let's take a look at that right now. Marisa Pachitino surprised everyone with his 11 versus Australia. No Christian Polisic and instead of a like-for-like swap, he goes with two strikers, pairing Flo Balligan with Ricardo Pepi in a 3-4-1-2. Here's a thinking. Australia are playing with a back three.

That means whenever Balagan drifts wide or drops deep, one of those outside centerbacks is forced to follow him off the back line. Every single time. That's the exploit. It opens the channel right behind him. So watch the buildup. The U.S. are patient here, working it side to side across the back, forcing Australia to defend the width. Now look at this moment. Tim Reams on the ball with Anthony Robinson in space on the touchline.

Look at Australia's right wing back, 20 yards off of him, panicking already because he can't close the gap in time. And that's the trigger. Baligan checks, drags the center back out with him, then spins straight into the vacated channel. Game over for that Australia back line. against Paraguay, it was Pulisic making that run. Here it's Baligan, a different player, different starting spot, different way to open the channel. But the trigger is identical. And that's not a coincidence.

That's a team whose patient buildup creates the exact same opening, no matter the formation or who's in the side. Well, we appreciate the nerd talk for Mr. Matt Doyle. Just kidding. He's a legend. We've been having a ton of fun with these. It's been fun to watch the games then and be like, oh yeah, Doyle was right. Like that's what he said, especially on the messy one.

We've said that a lot. We have said that a lot. Not all the time, but we have said that a lot. And it is going to be a huge factor, of course, for the U.S. going forward, as Bolligan has been one of the best players on the team or one of the biggest performers. Football Manager, 26th, international mode is available now. You can download it on Steam or your favorite console, PlayStation, Xbox, or Nintendo Switch. And the sale runs through July 9th. It is 50% off right now.

So if you want to go and win the World Cup, you can go in there. and pick up the game. So we have a nice little special piece to go to right now. We have on the ground in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the birthplace of America 250 years ago. I just realized over the last three days, we're about to hear that a lot. Yeah, a lot.

It feels like everything has shifted into 250th anniversary. But on the ground for this is going to be something that has nothing to do with that. It is going to be the France-Iraq game happening at the link later today. And someone who, of course, has been following this team heavily is Iraqi native, Valer Shabella, one of our own here at First Touch, and we've got him on the phone right now.

Valer, you've got the kid on. You're ready to rock. Oh, my God. I'm so ready, God. You don't even know. But by the way, saying, saying like the United States 250th birthday has nothing to do with Iraq and France is not true. Totally fair. Like, come on.

That is totally fair. The French fought. The French built the statute of Libya. Iraq has been heavily involved in everything that has happened in a American history. You are absolutely right about that one. Okay. So what's the vibes for today? It's a 5 p.m. game. So currently doing this around 10 a.m. So you've got a ton of time to build up. What's your schedule look like? What are the Iraq fans saying? What's it going to be like? Yeah, we have people coming from all over the United States, all over Canada, too.

You know, the Iraqi diaspora is pretty huge. And it's just kind of been all these WhatsApp messages and all these Facebook messages and stuff like that popping up of where to. meet last night I wasn't I didn't get here until like 10 or something like that but just seeing the videos of the fans from last night looked amazing you know just enchanting and and we're very excited for a team that's about to be probably destroyed by France we're still very excited and you know I think I texted you like when we first got here into the World Cup and I was like it's just so cool to see my flag there next to all these flags like it has never happened in my lifetime and I know it's a silly thing but like it's so exciting for me just

to be like part of the conversation. And once the game starts, it's going to be something different because I'm a fan and I'm going to want my team to, you know, win. But until then, I'm just happy to be here. I love that. Valer, is this the kit you're going to be wearing at the game tonight? So I wore you. You probably have a few, huh? Yeah, I got, I got a white and a black as well. I might switch to the white one today. I don't know. Maybe just to switch it up because we lost in this one last time. You know, so just give it a little bit something different. Well, after that first game, what are the big takeaways for you? And, things that maybe you think need to go a little bit better here today to try to get a result against France. Yeah, I think that the first game, we got a better performance than we expected, but a worse result than expected, which is a weird thing to say. And I don't know how to, you know, put that into words other than saying those words. And the thing with that is that we played well for 70% of the game. And maybe I'm being a homer, but like you guys saw the game. And, and you guys saw the game. you saw just how well Iraq team kind of kept up with a team that's way better than Iraq,

really, when it comes to quality. So I think the goal today is I hope it's more of a Capo Verde performance and less of a Saudi Arabia performance, if we're talking about yesterday. And I think the main thing for Iraq is to be to balance the stability between staying compact but not to just absorb pressure forever, that when they see that moment to strike forward. and we saw that against Norway really well. It's just that finishing touch wasn't there. So if they can just apply that finishing touch,

maybe we can sneak in a goal or two there, and I'll lose my mind again. That's the plan. Valar, first of all, I have two things. Well, three. One, congratulations on everything you do covering Nashville in Major League Soccer. You're one of my go-to guys all the time.

Two, don't say it's silly watching the flag, watching anything. Enjoy every second. my guy. It's amazing. I will tell you that 25 million Venezuelans will kill to be in the spot that you are right now, or me as an Italian, I miss watching Italy in the World Cup and singing the national anthem, watching the flag, having that waking up and having that opportunity to watch your national team play. But my soccer question is, now you guys are here, right? What do you think is the next step in Iraq's program to keep evolving?

Yeah, Michaela, by the way, you came to Nashville like two years ago to do the Leaks Cup or something, and we didn't talk, but I just remember you having really nice shoes, and I was like, man, those are really nice shoes. That's the only thing I remember. Were they Italian? That's why Ben Wright is my favorite, because he talks to me. You don't talk to me. Yeah, I need to actually step up and say hello next time. On the Iraq thing, I think the main thing for us is to continue this sort of middle talent and the European talent.

So we have a lot of, half of our team is born outside of Iraq and is through dual nationalism. Some of them were born in Iraq and left early. Some of them, their parents left Iraq, obviously, for very terrible reasons, like why I left Iraq. But what has happened is that these players have been born and brought into systems that are very professional, that are very, you know, well-respected around the world. So I think the main thing for us is to combine that with the local talent and maybe get because we have the In Iraq we have really talented players our issue is that we don't have the systems to develop them and if we can get to that level to where this sort of outside influence is actually positively impacting the young talent coming out of Iraq I think that would be a major key for us to continue building into the Asian Cup that's coming up and then obviously

hopefully 20 2030 and what I will say also is that Graham on Arnold, it has been an incredible coach, not only on the tactical front, not only on the pitch, but he really understand the Iraqi players and knows how to talk to both sides of players, because the player who's born in Sweden and, you know, speaks three different languages and has been raised there is different than the player born in Baghdad. And, you know, so having a coach that knows both and can trigger both and get the best out of both is very, very important key for us. Also, probably has a decent legal career going forward when he had said, like, oh, if Iran can't,

can't play iraq should just be in the world cup we shouldn't have to play this playoff against bolivia speaking of we obviously spent a lot of time at first touch with you after that game in monterey with um against bolivia your experience around the fans seeing your team for the first time out at the hotel till four a m dancing the street singing i'm curious what was the environment like for the iraq fans in boston around that first game it was awesome it was really good uh i think uh i personally underestimated the amount of norway fans. I just thought, you know, there are so many Iraqis already in North America. So I was like, you know what, maybe I don't think there are that many Norwegian people in North America. Here come

the Vikings. But from Iraq perspective, it was really nice to see all these people coming through and, and you know, we've talked about it from First Dutch. Iraq is a diverse country. We have different religions, different languages. And this national team represents that in many ways. And I think it's so important to see these different sects of people in many ways, in many ways, in many ways the diaspora communities even more diverse. And again, because these players, half of them are part of the diaspora community, it's actually another sort of inclusion thing because a lot of people felt a connection to that. And I saw so many people.

Some people did come from Iraq, by the way. It was very hard to do so, but they did. And just seeing a combination of all these people, you know, chanting, dancing. I did see a bunch of people stay after the match and chant and still encourage the players. While I totally applaud that, I wasn't distraught and I just wanted to get away from everything because I was like I cannot I cannot live with this. And like I was telling you, I was so happy just to be there seeing the flag singing the national anthem. I'm like I was so excited.

And then when that game kicked off, man, it's like it's nothing. It's like I'm like I don't care about the flag. Go score a goal like I'm just losing my mind screaming at the ref, which is a very different, very different watching experience from like the press box where I usually I'm just like quietly typing on my laptop, you know, but this is a national team. It's a completely different thing. Last one before we let you go. I know you've been at a couple other games as a journalist covering. I believe you covered Spain's first two games in Atlanta.

You've seen Cape Verde in person. You watched Saudi Arabia yesterday. What have your overall World Cup experience been? What's sort of halfway through your takeaway of your experience? Yeah. So I'll actually have an article in 615 stalker.com. Sorry for the plug. Coming out on sort of my experience a little bit on in Atlanta.

specifically because Atlanta has been beautiful, man. They have embraced the World Cup. And I, I, I covered three games there, Czechia, South Africa and the two Spain games, like you mentioned. And the World Cup vibes in Atlanta have been amazing, man. Just like walking around striking random soccer conversations. For someone who's lived in the US for 17 years, I have never had this experience of my life.

Like you just, you see all these jerseys coming through from like the cap of verde, like a fake ones with a shark in the middle of them to like the retro Zedda. John jerseys, everything. You just eat all there. And everybody's talking soccer. And Atlanta's like a cultural hub, as we've mentioned. Like, they have Migos, they have co-Cola, you know. Like, it's like, so seeing that clash as well is awesome.

And they're like, I posted a video like everybody doing the cupid shuffle with like different jerseys. Like so cool. I'm like this is like the most Atlanta thing ever. And like I just love it, man. It's been great. I, I know the tickets are twisted, but I highly recommend everybody to just go to at least one or at even go near it if you're close by. Because even the fan fest would be worth it just from a experience perspective.

So yeah, fully on a World Cup vibe. And I'm just excited. I'm hoping to get back there for the knockout stages as well. And maybe covers. By the way, I love the Iraq scarf you have there. I just noticed it. We just got it a couple of days ago because we've been trying to add it. I have an Iraq t-shirt as well that I will, after they beat France,

I'll wear it tomorrow to celebrate just for you. Valer, one of our own, myself, Matt Doyle and Valer, the bald, the bald bearded guys on the show. So we just like to pass around and move it around. So excited for you to get to go see your team play. Once again, I know Monterey was special. I know Boston was great. And I am hopeful that it will be a special night in Philadelphia. Once again, thank you for joining us.

Go read 615 soccer. If you don't, follow Valer on all socials. We're posting a lot of his stuff on our first touch feeds as well. So if you see it, click through and make sure to give Valer a follow on Instagram on Blue Sky and on TikTok. And Valer, we'll do this again. Thanks, guys. Appreciate it. All right. Well, thank you to Valer for taking the time to come on here. As we said, the game's coming up later today.

So we will get the France-Iraq game coming up in Philadelphia. But first, the first game of the day for today is Argentina versus Austria, 1 p.m. Eastern time in Arlington, Texas, Dallas, Jerry World, whatever you want to call it. And this is going to be a big matchup. It is the top of the table clash between these two teams. You then move as you see the day's schedule, as we've gotten used to now. Group I sort of fills in in the middle with back-to-back games.

And then we finish the day with that Jordan-Algeria game in San Francisco. And Jordan, we are very excited for you and your opportunities against Algeria in this game. It is really funny when I text you that every time I write your name, the flag pops up. It wouldn't have been the first thing I associated with that name on the planet until. that. But let me start us with Argentina versus Austria. Obviously, Messi gets the hat trick in the first game. The assumption is that the winner of this game, if there is a true winner, will lock up first place in the group because they will probably move to a head-to-head situation where they're first place, which puts a lot on the line for these two teams to play for it for Austria and not a

ton of World Cup history success for Argentina. I think they are probably the team most that would manage their energy because they've been here before. They know. how to handle it what do you expect from this game i want to see a better argentina it's tricky because this is the same team that won the the world cup without di maria it's literally the same team and um lautaro instead of julian alvarez it's kind of like the only question mark what's the decision there i will stick with lautaro i think lautero it's a better number nine and if i'm I'm Escaloni, I will try to put Julianne Alvarez on the wing. I thought Tiago Almada was terrible.

I'm not, I want to, I would, I try to be softer in my criticism, but winning and Messi having had that hat trick, I think, um, covers up a lot. It covers, I was, yeah, that's, and this Argentina is not a great team. We saw it on, on the, on the qualifiers. And again, they've been here before. There are the world champs. It's basically the same team without Angel Di Maria, which is not a small thing because Di Maria,

it's one of the most under, how do you say that? Underrated. Underrated players, in my opinion. He is. Angel Di Maria, underrated player in the history of soccer. He is, trophies follow him and everyone forgets about him. Because he was in this era with all these other players without all the credit. It was Real Madrid.

Oh, of course they're going to win. But then he leaves Real Madrid. He goes, yeah. But of course they're going to win. And it's like, right, but he's always there. Yeah. So maybe he's important. So I just want to see.

I'm more intrigued or seeing what Argentina are going to get against a rival, very trick rival. Austria, I've heard like they're like the Red Bull style of Europe, very high press, trying to take opportunities out of like offensive transitions. But you're playing in Argentina, right? I know. That's the thing. So it's pretty tricky.

I want to see more for Argentina. Obviously, all the lights are upon Messi, but this is not going to happen every game. So I want to see what Argentina has, when Messi is not saving the day, if that makes sense. Well, he's a safe. He's always saving the day. I know.

I mean, it's an older Messi. You can expect this every game. Yeah. I feel like the big question for me for this Austria team is how do they handle the overload centrally when Messi drops back? Because that is when he is, I think at his best when he just says, I'm going to come out of the space that you think I am usually in.

I come all the way back and then it's overloaded in the midfield. There's numbers. How do you stay with just the three that are in there? Do you drop back with Messi? How does Austria handle that? I think is going to be a really important key in this game. And it was the opening goal against Algeria was. My brother was like, why is he all the way back there?

I go, because he does this. But then the center backs didn't know if they should step because you've got runners behind you, but it's messy, but they forget, and it only takes half a beat. Yeah, so those moments where it's a little bit of created chaos on Argentina's spot, they love that. If Aschia can handle those moments and the communication between their centerbacks and their midfielders centrally, they have, it has to be on point. And I think that this is the difficult part when you play Argentina. They're one of those teams where you can play, like a team can play a certain way all the time,

and then they play this Argentina team. And they try to play different. Or they try to play different because they can't be as expansive or they can't be on the front foot as much because they're so worried about what's in behind. So what's interesting about this game is I do think Austria is one of those teams who's probably better as the worst team because having to open up and create against Jordan was probably not their ideal setup because they want to play counterattack counterpress against the ball. But this is a huge gap.

I wanted to ask you before we move on. So I've been to 10 or 11 men's World Cup games, World Cup games in general. Very lucky. The only one I've ever been to that felt like a home game for one team was Argentina in 2018. You went to Argentina, Algeria. It's been a little different at this World Cup because there are such massive populations of Brazilians and Ecuadorians and all that. But like, what did you make of that crap? Home game. It was incredible. Just the chance that the Argentinians do. And the stadium was rocking. I mean, goosebumps throughout the game in different moments when they just would erupt. Like, yes, of course, for the goals, but in certain plays in the games, too, and they're just going off and they're chanting back and forth. And you're just surrounded.

I was sitting next to an Algerian fan and he was like, we are totally outnumbered here. This is not easy. It was one of the coolest experiences on the soccer, like in a soccer game on my life. Yeah. So Jerry World's what, like 90-something thousand? That was 60, I think. There were more Austrian fans in San Francisco. than I knew existed in the world,

let alone the U.S. I would assume this... Their whole country traveled. Yeah. I would assume this one's going to be pretty loud and pretty intense, but it is obviously a huge opportunity for this Austrian national team.

If they can steal a point here, they would potentially secure their spot in the next round. And we, of course, we'll have all a review for this tomorrow. Let's move to our next game, which, of course, Filar just talked to us about. France playing Iraq and Philadelphia. That one's at 5 p.m. Eastern time.

We got a chance to talk about Iraq. Luckily with Valer. France, we know we have talked about them a lot in this tournament, but we wanted to do something special here. We did it a little bit with the U.S. And Derek, if you get me set up here, we have our soccer.com kit segment, our all-time best France kits. Don't forget, you can go to soccer.com to get these beautiful kits in the widest selection of World Cup product, free shipping on orders over $49. Let's dig into this, though. And you guys both sent me some people. for this one. And I got to say, it wasn't hard.

No. It was hard to choose. And this is one of those things that's wild is it's red, white, and blue. They're simple colors. Yeah. So it's not just the colors that pop out. And from 1982 to now, they have been absolutely incredible. So I threw this one down. This one was the 1992 to 94. I think this was the qualifying kit. But one of the ones you wanted me to touch on was the 1994 World Cup kit, which they didn't end up qualifying for. Which is a bummer because this would have been, iconic in a World Cup. And if you are listening and not watching, it is sort of that like, what?

I don't even know. Argyle? Yeah, down the right side only. I think the rooster makes things really easy. And the collar. I love a collar. Their best kits have a collar. Yeah.

Yeah. This is one of the best kids I've ever seen in my entire life. And I didn't realize it existed. And I might have to go out and find it. But then we have the 1998 World Cup. they did qualify for. And I believe Sous was wearing this for Game 1 on the show. And it was his Zadan jersey, which is what I'm looking at on the website right now.

Now it's just sitting on top of a car on this website, which is great. You think this is the best one. That combo is the best one. That one and the away shirt, the white. So it's basically the same shirt, but what it's white. What it's blue here, it's white. With the lines across. And you see this kid and it's immediately prime Zidan.

And that's, that's. It is. Enough said. Enough said. I do think it's and Taram as well. I think it's the thing that people most associate with them. For me, this was the pick. The 19802 World Cup kit. It has a really big collar. Big rooster. It has a big rooster. You know I love a large one. The retro Adidas.

It has the retro Adidas. And then it has thin but wide pinstripes. Double like a double different pinstripes. Right. So you're getting red and white. So you kind of get it spaced out so it feels a little blockier. But it's also like clean and thin. And I found this photo as well of the French team coming out for a game taking pictures in the warm-ups back then. And I think French guys in 1982 were kind of cool at the time. So you have like both combination of kit is cool as well as the people in it. I've always had this question.

Why nowadays we see all the pictures of 20 years old, 30 years ago, all the kits and everything is so much better? Because people actually spend time to make things and didn't just have like AI robots. just like copy paste, copy paste, copy paste. Yeah, exactly. Everything, you walk around this city, buildings are gorgeous, and now they've slowly, because it's gotten cheaper and easier. Also, I think we've figured out bigger roosters make better.

I stumbled upon one of the Nike commercials, pre-98 World Cup, with, like, Paulo Maldini wearing that Italian jersey, Ronaldo wearing the Brazilian jersey, the Umbro one. You also had these hilarious things where you had, we have a couple in this tournament. I think Iraq's one of them where it's like smaller companies that are in the countries that really build it.

But Derek, if you pull this back up, I will say in disagreeing with you, soccer.com has this year's kits. I love that. For France. So this is the blue one. It's another collar, a one button collar. It has this texture to it, which I don't know that I'd always be a fan, but it works perfectly. They have their best combo, in my opinion. And then this both are beautiful.

This might be the jersey of the World Cup. This is the Statue of Liberty honorary kit. So it's a mint green. The Statue of Liberty originally was, of course, nickel, copper. What's a penny? Penny. It was penny. Copper.

Copper. Copper. And then it oxidizes and becomes green, which is what happened, the Statue of Liberty. And that's what they did because, of course, the French created and gifted the Statue of Liberty to the U.S. It's the 250 year anniversary of the country and the World Cup happening here. So they have this mint green jersey, which I am a New York Liberty fan. So I have things that are already in this color. That is what their basis is.

They call it seafone green. Yeah, Soccer.com has been awesome, and thank you for the kits that you gave us. I also was just, I was in a pickle. I had both of these in my, I was like, I'm going to get the mint one. And then I saw the one with the collar and I was like, France in a collar. And I was going back and forth, I couldn't choose one. That's how good there. So you just didn't.

So I just didn't do either one. I'm canceling decisions for today. Instead, you went with Germany and Columbia, and I think you nailed those as well. Yeah, thanks. I appreciate it. So make sure to go to soccer.com for your opportunity to get your kit. and we are doing our third kit giveaway coming up on social. So make sure to follow us on First Touch, KSM,

and on Soccerwise. Huge shout out to Mark Dancer and Kate H. who won our second kit giveaway. We did a first one as well. We've got more coming. So if you want an opportunity to get a free kit, you don't have to worry about paying. You just have to stress like Jordan on what to decide on.

Then you can go and do that one. Let's close out with our final two games of the day. The one myself in Jordan will be. be at is Norway versus Senegal reports are thunderstorms to the level of flooding and I those are also reports in Philadelphia so we might get our first day with delays we will see how FIFA handles out of how many hours they can allow a delay for if you end up moving a game what it looks like this is all unknown territory also I'm surprised we've gotten this far without any of it I think that's a huge part of it coming out of you covered the club world cup last year where there was lightning

and rain and everything. I mean, it's just the nature of weather in the summer around the U.S. This one's at 8 p.m. Eastern time, Norway against Senegal. From an on-field point of view, it's a must win for Senegal. Because of head-to-heads, they lose this game. They have no shot at winning the group. They probably have no chance at set. Well, no, I guess France result.

They have no chance at second place, probably. Like, this is the World Cup final for Senegal in game two. Yeah, and it's a game for Norway to, If they want to win the group, last game of that set group, it's against France. So getting to that game with six points put pressure. It's going to put pressure on France because it's most likely that France is going to beat Iraq

and both get with six points. But I'm interesting to see what Norway does because you're facing obviously a physical team, a fast team, and something that I believe Norway struggle, and I'm using the world struggle loosely because they want for one. but they didn't seem very, they didn't see very good, especially wide.

Like, I don't think Sorlot has had a good game playing on the right wing. Then Oscar Bob came in and I think he did a better job. Bob is a much younger, much dynamic, much faster player. And if it's going to rain, then the field is going to be faster. So I think that's going to help Senegal. Which also... Depends on how much rain there is. Well, yeah.

Yeah, it was a complaint from the France and Senegal players out of the first game. They felt the field in New York. No, they felt it was very dry. Well, they felt it was very hard. I think Saliba's phrase was, it felt like artificial turf. It was a couple of pretty hot days. And Venetius said about the Brazil game there, it ran really slow. It helped, it made it hard because they were asked about rain coming up.

And they were like, we'll take it. So I think Norway has some decisions to make how to handle the physicality and the speed that Senegal is going to present. and we'll see. I mean, I think it's going to be a very tough game for Norway. This should be one of the best games, I think, that we see in group stage. I would say Norway has so many positives, but they are a little rigid in the way that they play. And this Senegal team can be fluid, and their ability to utilize their speed is something that can punish this Norway team. So we'll see.

I'm really hoping that. there's no thunder source. Me too. I think for me the big question mark around this game is I think Norway, I think sort of to your point, they while they were dangerous, Iraq kind of gifted them a couple chances. Their actual ability to create chances themselves, I thought they struggled with at times in the first game. And Senegal really sat in against France for large stretches. They didn't press high. They made France come and beat them. And then when you make mistakes, you're dangerous in transition. If that's the game states, I think Norway struggles at times. But because of the need for Senegal to win the game, they can't keep the game states there the whole game.

And that's where I think the chess match comes in of when do you go, when do you stay, when do you push. For Senegal, obviously, you bring a substitute off the bench. They score a goal for you, the only goal in the last game, what the starting lineup looks like. I thought Senegal's transition moments were really, really good offensively in the last game. So I think it's opening 45. Can you sit in? Can you pick off a couple passes and find chances. Nikki Jackson has to finish them.

Like, can you maybe do that for, this is one of the, my favorite tactics is when teams do that for like 30 minutes in the first half and then they go. And now it's kind of quarter, so you can really do that. So we'll see. It should be a really great game. Yeah. Very excited. I think it's one of the most even matchups with some of the most intense stakes of this World Cup. And I think it's going to be a pretty special atmosphere as well.

As you, as we heard Valer say, I've seen Norway jerseys every. everywhere. Obviously, Holland's a big deal. I don't think a lot of random people are buying like bright red Norway jerseys. So I think the Norwegians have invaded the area. And I know there's a huge Senegalese community here that was out at the last game. And I'll be in my kit representing them. So if anyone's a Senegal fan who's around Taranga Lions, we're all together. We can enjoy this one. And the final game of the day. 11 p.m. Eastern time, Algeria faces off against our own Jordan, Angeli. Angelie, almost Algeria. It's almost your full game. Both teams sitting on zero points coming out of the first game. Obviously, this Jordan team put together a really

strong fight, scores their first World Cup goal against Austria, hangs at 1-1 for a while in Algeria. They thought they took a 1-0 lead early in the game against Argentina. It got called back, and now they face off. These are two teams that have some familiarity with each other. They've played Arab Cups against each other, not always your A-team, so a little bit different, but compared to some of the games where it's Norway-Senegov haven't faced each other since 2006. And the Jeopardy once again, really, really high. Two teams sitting on zero points. You have to start to stack wins.

Three points might be enough to get you through. As a third place team, here's an opportunity, and it's going to be a big one for these two squads. Being at this game and watching the 20-year-old Algerian Ibrahim Maza, this kid is brave, so good on the ball. I feel like in this type of game where the stakes are high, you know the team a little bit better. He could really flourish and have one of those breakout games.

I'm hopeful because he's. was electric for them and the only player that really looked like they were willing to do the unexpected to try to find a solution. So I think he's the player that I'm looking at to say, okay, if Algeria gets a result, I think it will go through him. Yeah, I think Algeria, they're going to be the aggressors. They're going to try to dictate the tempo of the game. You saw the individual talent. And again, I don't want to take anything away, but I think two of the three Messy's goal are on the keeper. Yeah.

Are completely on the keeper. Zadal was terrible. Zadal was terrible. So if you can avoid those self-inflicted mistakes, wounds, I think Algeria has a really good chance. We've seen it in the past.

Algeria has been in past World Cups, a difficult team to play. And now, like you said, and you're highlighting there, they have now the individual talent that can create chances. The other big thing to watch from this one was Rian Maris came off the bench

in the first game and Hussam Aura came off the bench. I thought Aura was really, really good when he came up. on had a couple pullbacks to him chances. Marez obviously attracts attention and gravity in a way. I don't know if that was Pekovich sort of looking at things and saying, well, we're not going to win this. It seems like an odd way to start a World Cup, but you never know.

And so that's what I'm watching for as these lineups will come out as we will be sitting in the soaking rain covered in lightning and getting ready for the final game of the day. And guess what? We will be back tomorrow. 9.30 a.m. Eastern Time live. If you miss it, it will be up as a podcast immediately on the first touch. pages as well as on soccer right so thank you to youtube for being here excited to have jordan in studio for the week matt doyle will be joining us once again as we go along big shout

out to derrick and ben and sandy who was alongside us today for this one huge shout to everyone helping out on the back end with social and with graphics and we'll talk to you all again very very soon