The Daily Zeitgeist - Dark Horses 2026

Episode Date: June 10, 2026

Time to preview the 2026 World Cup, yes that one. We got Dark Horses, Favorites and we ask the tough questions like WILL NEYMAR WEAR A WIG?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Three days? It's starting in, yes. What? It's already here. Look at us. We just are coming down off of the high of European football ending. And now we have another gift right on our doorstep. The World Cup, 2026, Canada, United States, Mexico is here.

And I think the one overarching, consistent thing I hear from people is like, when's it start? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Are you excited yet? I'm kind of getting excited. Now that we are in the week, I'm still don't believe that it's going to happen. But I think it is going to happen. And with that said, welcome to this World Cup edition of Ain'Footy. I'm joined by Chris Martin and Jamel Johnson.

I have to ask you both, are you excited? Are you feeling the fever yet? Because I'm feeling something, I'm feeling the tickle in the back of my throat. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I started smoking cigarettes again, but I got a little. I don't know what it is.

I'm starting to feel it. Yeah. You can put a thermometer under my armpit and you'll, you'll get a reading on that. People don't do that anymore, do they? I just have a, I just have a, one of my G spots is under my armpit. This is a difference thing.

Yeah, okay. I like to have cold metal near my arm. There's nothing to do with me having a fever. I just really want someone to put a thermometer. Under my left pit. Cheap thrill. Under my left Brad Pitt, there you go. But a Courtney Rhyme slang for you.

It's not real Courtney Rhymey slang. It's a thing that me and my friend made up. But yeah, I'm getting, it's as I start to look at the fixtures and I realize the fact that you, it's like, because it's on in daytimes, it's in the weekdays, it's a naughty time to watch football. Like even when the Champs League was on in L.A. It feels naughty. It's midday. Should be doing work. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's like, it's pure naughtiness for three weeks. Yeah. It's a naughty time to watch football. And like good, I mean, it's, you know, the games are usually between 12, 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. So throughout the day, you're going to have little, the one thing I really loved about watching the World Cup from the U.S. And it being abroad was like, before work started, I could watch three full matches.

And then get into it. And then be like, yeah, whatever, I'm going to wake up at five. I don't give a shit. Like, it is what it is. But listen, my girl's going out of town for a month. I got the World Cup to myself. Oh, nice. Hey, girl, get in here.

Did she schedule it? Because of the World Cup? Yeah. Yeah, she's going to Mexico. Yeah, yeah. Leaving your ass behind. But yeah, we have the biggest tournament ever. Now with, what, 48 teams?

Is that what we're at right now? What an expansion. There's also, like, new technology. There's going to be, like, semi-automated offside. The ball has some kind of AI. powered thing in it. Man, I thought it was a gun. You did it twice.

Simi, I thought you were about to say semi-automatic pistol. Yeah. The ball's got an AR. It has a switch on it. Yeah. The rep should have guns at this. We could go full auto. I mean, it is the U.S.

I'm seeing a lot of memes about guns and how to get things into the World Cup matches. But I guess maybe to start, I think it is worth going group by group talking about how we think things are going to shake up. Who's going to advance? Who might be a dark horse? and then maybe talk a little bit about what the, you know, the professional prognosticators believe are the favorites.

But to start, Group A, this is the group with Mexico, South Africa, South Korea, and Chequia. Now, if you go just straight off the pure rankings, it would be Mexico, South Korea, right? It would be the, just for talking about globally who is ranked where. But I'm curious, for me, this feels like, this is like L.A., this is like the most LA group between Mexico and South Korea because we have such huge diaspora communities here and also shout out California for being Mexico originally. But any feelings with these four teams, any interesting vibrations you're getting from any of these teams. Well, I mean, I've been watching L.A.F.C. for the past month and Sun looks terrible.

Now, maybe that's, maybe that's just because he's been dogging it because the cup is coming up. Sure. Not trying to fucking get two-footed at fucking Houston Dynamo before the shit jumps off. Right. But he hasn't looked great. And I feel like the door's open for a check you. You've got to remember with that man, though. I've never seen a player play harder than a man that was going to have to do military service.

If South Korea didn't win the Asian Cup of Nations, that what it's called? Right. That guy, that guy was playing to avoid two years of going to war. that's a very hard motivation to sort of replicate as someone ages up. And I feel like, I mean, maybe the Americans, man, you guys, there's that, that's coming. We're already, because conscriptions happening again in America. So if they, if Trump's, Trump drops on Wednesday that they're all going to have to do military service, then you're going to, you're going to progress pretty well. But no, I like Mexico.

Mexico, I'm a big, I feel like home nation, the home advantage in tournament. is gigantic and Mexico. Does Mexico have a home advantage? I thought they hated the team. Do they hate the team? Well, I mean, they kind of hate the team. Yeah,

I'm sure there's some, some anger or whatever, but I think at the end of the day, once World Cup happens, everyone's brain just turns off, and you're suddenly like, yeah, man, I've actually been the most diehard

in search country name here since I was born. You know, my great, great, great, great, great, great, great, grandmother was half Scottish. True. Guys are guys all over, That's every American.

Oh yeah. Americans love to buy. Americans love to fucking bust out that 23 and me. And they're like, I'm actually French and Russian. Yeah, I can pick anything. No, but especially Scott, they love being Scottish is their favorite one. They're like, they're like, I've always known I love like whiskey. I've realized I like left my family for whiskey and it's never really made any sense.

You know when that started though? 120th Scottish. You know when that started though? Braveheart. Yeah. When Braveheart came out, so many white kids around me were like, I'm a It's the power of Mel Gibson and movies. You needed some jingoistic propaganda to get you pumped up.

Oh, you were Scottish too? I was doing it too, but to be different. In my school, everybody was pretending to be Native American. So I was like, nah, I'm Scottish, though. I got Scottish in my family. Look at my hair line. I can hear the pipes right now. Yes, they're calling.

But yeah. So I think, so South Korea, maybe. That's a third. Mexico, Czechia. I mean, Czechia is just always, I feel like they're, they come alive in the tournament usually. They always, they always have, they've got, as Patrick, Patrick, Chick, is that his name? The guy up front who had a really, he had a good World Cup, I think four years ago, good of Euros, I'm sure. Right.

He's, he's one of his players that is always pretty good. And the thing I remember about international football nowadays is it is where like a messy or run, these guys are too old, too, like, not dynamic enough for, like, European, fast-paced physical football can come alive because it's just there's less pressing. So yeah, anyone that looks a bit, even sun looks a bit old and slow, but you just don't know, mate, it's because it's going to be hot and there's going to be water breaks and it's just no one's really, yeah, no one's really trying like in the level they do for their clubs. It's going to be great. Yeah, I think that's where Mexico probably has the advantage in terms of

being the most used to what the weather can be like, because you're already seeing like a lot of, I mean, they're not ready to play in the south like teams from like Northern Europe with that humanity? They're keeping everybody in the locker rooms. They say that teams are thinking about having the subs stay indoors

and watching the game on a monitor. That's when you know global, that's when you know global warming is the next. We've got to confine subs. They're like, no, you got to put him on ice. Like, oh, he has an injury? No, no, no. Preserve his body on ice for the moment.

he has to step out into 99 degree weather with 100% humidity. They say about a player he's got ice in his veins. If he literally has ice in his veins, then he's going to be a very useful player for it. Somehow inserting frozen water into this man's biceps, we've got a chance. Yeah, do we see Cole Palmer doing that celebration? He's probably going to, I don't know if he'll make it.

I'm worried about it. He's got to do a. He's not, he didn't switch to the swimway. He didn't make the squad. Oh, yeah, I forgot about that. Yeah. So he's going to be. So he'll be doing that at his house with the Central.

for Lair, he must have AC. I mean, not allowed, I mean, the UK is a little bit behind in terms of air conditioning adoption, but that's because of global warming. Yeah. Okay, group B. Canada Which two did we just say, though? Go through. I think honestly, I'm Mexico.

I'm going Mexico, Korea, too, just because it feels like L.A., I just feel like, man, there's going to be some watch parties in Korea town that are going to be fucking wild, probably. Nah, no, I'm going Mexico, Czechia. I'm going to Mexico check. Yeah. I don't like their rebrand,

but they are the only European team in the side. I think that's an advantage. You don't like them demanding that the rest of the world call them by what their name. Yeah, fuck that. He doesn't like their pronouns. Jamel's like the,

the like, white-wing comedy bro. What do we do? Come on, just a Czech Republic. How are we calling the Czechoslovakia? That's what we were calling it when I was a kid. I want to call you word that's longer for me to say.

Yeah. Because I prefer it. Because I remember it. Yeah, exactly. Okay. So a bit of some slight disagreement there. Mexico to top the group. Mexico to top the group.

This is what we want. Then group B, Canada, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Qatar, and Switzerland. This one, I feel like is, I don't know. Canada, I feel like they're going to get, they're going to get excited for this one. You'd hope. They feel like they have, they're not as down. in the dumps as Americans are about their nation. So hopefully that will buoy

them the same way Mexico isn't down in the dumps about where their nation is. So I think Canada will probably benefit from that. And Switzerland is just, they've got players. Yeah, Switzerland should body slam those fools. This is Switzerland's group to lose, man.

Granite Shackas had a great season. Yeah. It's, yeah. And he must be healthy. I feel like he hasn't played in like the last month. Yeah, he's been on ice. He's been on ice. I mean, just looking, they've got a lot of interesting people, you know, that are going to be playing.

I think the one thing, though, is just sort of, is Bosnia going to do something interesting? I don't think Qatar is going to do much of anything at all. So, you know, not to, not to slap them off. But the hate for them, this is the winter. Right. And they've been coming to America for games for the past motherfucking, a few. 15 years now or whatever. Right, right, right.

I mean, they have to benefit. They're playing in, they're playing up north in the bay. So they're not going to be dealing with too gnarly of weather, I feel like. They're for their first match, Switzerland and Qatar. I was going to say that they're just quietly delighted that another country's made their hosting of a World Cup look even more sort of equitable and sort of humanitarian. Right, right, right. They were like, we at least let everyone on it.

We let everyone in. We didn't let everyone out, but we let everyone in. And then America are like, we're not letting We're like, fuck that. Also, I hope you have $7,000 to go to a group stage match. Did you see they didn't let a ref? You see they didn't let a ref? The Somali ref.

And I've realized that America, if you're going to do that, they should just stop letting really good players from Ravit because I don't think of a reason. Whoa, whoa, whoa, what's your name? Sorry, Lionel Messi? Harry Kane. Nah, nah, nah, nah.

What are you, Al-Qaeda? What do you? Get out of here. Get out of here. Get out of here. Do you know what's funny, though, because it's obviously, it's not funny. It's pretty depressing. Okay. Because it is a, sort of my, my belief in the fact that I feel like, you know, people should be allowed to work in countries and live in countries, and we shouldn't be stopped at borders based on where we, which country we were from,

even though they haven't given a reason, is there. But my hatred of refs is also there. So I'm like, I don't know whether I, feel sorry with this guy or want to chant something, but I've never seen

the guy, it's not like, if it's Michael Oliver, then I'd be like, yeah, baby, more of that. It's like,

yeah, you hear about like a cop who's like not white experiencing racism at a department, you're like, oh, that sucks.

Like, but also, bro, you a cop, man, what the fuck you, man? You know what I mean?

Like I'm, what do you want me to say here? So me, from my boys up north, it's, and also, this, just feels like the laziest one.

Canada and Switzerland just feels like the uncontroversial pick. I'm going with the same, though. I think that's the same. Qatar bottom. But Bosnia, I think it will be like, Bosnia and Canada shoot out for a second. And so if Canada, like, I was going to say the most obvious thing,

if Canada lose their first game with Bosnia, it's going to make it really half of them come second. Really interesting. Yeah. It's going to make you, they're going to have three less points than Bosnia guys. Yep. Yep. That's a big one. That's a big one. It'll probably be a drawer or something. game and then we'll go from there.

I actually put cash on a draw in that game. Oh, for Bosnia, Canada? Yeah, yeah. You like those ads? Oh, they're a minus 20, minus 125. Come on, man, it's just, it feels right. Like, an aging European side versus

just Canada. Just Canada. Just Canada, bro. And those guys. You know what I mean? They got Alfonso Davies, you know, Jonathan David. Yeah. They got, they got some guns. we'll see. But last time I watched them play,

was it in the last World Cup? And they had Alfonso day. It was very funny. It was like a guy so much better than everyone else who's like a left back who would just be like, I'm just going to try and dribble

the length of the field because everyone else is bad. And Brian's asked if Jonathan David is from Corn. No, he's not in Corn. Davis. Jonathan David. Yeah,

yeah. Also, they got their own Saliba, just so you know in Canada. So shout out Nathan, Saliba. Over there. That would be funny,

though. It would be a good tactic. Their defense is like, are you, were you in corn? He's gone. He's in there. Oh,

might buy you. I sign a hoodie after the game. Yeah, yeah. Peace. Group C. This one's interesting. Brazil,

Morocco, Haiti, Scotland. Brazil, obviously, Brazil and Morocco, their sixth and eighth, respectively. Morocco had a really good World Cup last year, or last time around in California. hudder um

Haiti I'll have a soft spot for Haiti just because you know first country to liberate themselves from slavery slavery like a and and punished by the globe for for centuries after the fact um

and also do you see like young thug and Cuevo were hanging out with the Haitian national TV TV series yes really yes they were because they probably they probably got they probably got the same hair braiders man right right right right they're like That's probably what that is.

They're like, you know my, you know my girl in Miami, right? She's like, I had to hook her. Yeah, we had to take some pictures. Or maybe they're Haitian. I don't know. I mean, blessed to you. And then Scotland, though, I really would love a Scotland to get to the knockout phase. That would just, that would be fun.

My wife's Scottish. So I'm, and I will say, I would say pound for pound, I do think Scottish people are the nicest people on the planet. They're so nice and very, have you, I, have you, I, I watched Andy Robertson on the overlap the other day. Have you seen Andy, Andy Robertson interview to him? He's just... Oh, yeah.

I mean, I haven't seen that one, but he's such a nice bloke. He just seems like... And he's just so Scottish. He's like, like, you know, a multi... You know, it sounds like, plenary. Like, won the lead. Just the humblest, sweetest guy. Yeah.

You know, very, talks very glowingly about, and very honestly about the Jota, Jotter. I call him Jotter. You got a Jotan what happened now. And then, I don't know. I just like, I'm like, Kieran Tieni, him. I love MacTamany as well.

He's so likable. Have you seen him do his little docu-sacus series when he was in play for Napoli? And he's again just like just this sweet guy who's like a superstar there. But yeah, his look is like

it's like if Holland is Urkel, McTamane is Urkel. Stefan. He's Stefan Urkel. For sure. Funny. Yeah, it is

it is a little bit because yeah, Holland has like exaggerated features a little bit. And McTominy is more like the looks maxing version of that. He's like, not, man, you're doing it. Smooth out, man. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's got shades now, a little tan.

Make the eyes a little less beady. I also like the fact that he like got binned off by United because they were trying to play him because he's big as like a holding mid and he's like a box crashing 10 basically. Yeah, right. Quality. Reber. But yeah, that first, that's, hey, they're playing Haiti in the first game, Scotland. Scotland, Haiti, so I think Scotland's, I think Scotland will win that one. And then Morocco's a tough game, though.

Morocco got to the semis of the... Yeah. I think of the semis of the World Cup last time. Is that it? Yeah. They went deep. I mean, you know, African nations got a plus 10 out there in Qatar, you know? Right, for sure.

They were balling. What do you think? I mean, like Brazil, a lot of... Obviously, they are the powerhouse in the group, but they are... are one of the most inconsistent of the, you know, dynastic nations that tend to typically do really well in the World Cup. Is, are, is anybody optimistic for this Brazil squad? Did, uh, Marquino's do enough to get Gabriel Magalyaise's head in the game after he skied that penalty? What, what, it's, it's, it's just hard. It's like, every time I see,

like, like, for the last three World Cups, I've been like, yeah, whatever, we'll see, bro. I don't know. I just think they lack a, they haven't had a really good sense of for a long time. And you always think of them at that, I mean, R-9, I was going to call him the meaner name that he gets called by. I don't want to call him that.

He's just one of the best strikers have ever seen in my life. Once you, yeah, it's never really had someone at that level. Yeah, I think they're going to slip up in like the quarters or something like that. I don't seem going much deeper than that.

Namar's like, I don't know what's going on with that guy. He's kind of, he went, once he decided to go to Saudi Arabia, it was a bit of a, we'll see, we'll see. But no, I think Morocco,

I do, I mean, I think Scotland might, I don't know why, Scotland might just nab second. And it might be, I am a bit biased, but they're Scottish,

they're going to be so up for it. They're going to be sunburn to shit. And they're going to play angry because of it. Playing in Boston, is that an advantage for Scotland? Got to be a bunch of Scottish motherfuckers. I feel like the Atlantic seaboard. Yeah, you got to have some

the homies out there. I mean, I don't know. Is this the year where Igor Tiago or Ryan from Bournemouth become that center forward that they've always been looking for? I mean, Igor Tiago is good. It's because he plays with Brentford. He kind of doesn't get seen as that.

But he's pretty full, complete center forward. And then Ryan looks, 19. He looks, I mean, he's just looks phenomenal. Yeah. Oh, man. Hendricks scored in the send-off game. Yeah.

I mean, Alcholotti, Ancelotti, you know, he's smoking cigars. And he's, he's hitting the right vibe for that team,

which is bring your cigars and just, just play properly for 90 minutes and then we can chill. And you know he's going to be, yeah, then go out to the clubs and then you can experience

what an American store. Ron Aldeño's got a VIP booth already for us. He's, he's bagged us a spot. Ronaldinho's like, wait, you guys aren't playing any matches in Atlanta? Oh,

I'm, I'm, well, oh, oh, wait, no, you are.

You are. You are. I bought Magic T. He's like, he's like, we don't have any group stages there. He's like, oh, that's fine. I'm here to see the Spain-K.

Verde match, man. And Magic City Mondays. Well, I truly, I can't call it. Brazil, Morocco is going to be, I hope it's one of the best games

of the tournament. It's on paper it is. Yeah, yeah, that's like the first one you look at on that Saturday, the 13th, and you're like,

okay, this is like the first one I really want to see because you, you figured both these teams can actually make a run. I mean, Jesus,

is they, Marcos got a goddamn Champions League winner over there? Yeah. If one, and, and you know, not to sound like,

obvious Chris as I do sometimes, but if one of them loses the game. Nice. No, but I'm going to, I'm going into psychology now. I'm not going into literal points. But then,

and if Scotland win, then I feel like, when a team loses that foot, you get such little wiggle room in these little talk in these group stages. If you lose the first one, you go into the next game, you're not like free to play how you would. So, yeah, I mean, we'll see.

We'll see. Okay, moving on, group. Give me Morocco, Brazil, by the way. I'm going to go Morocco first, Brazil, second. I want Brazil, Scotland. I'm going to Brazil, Scotland. That's not based on anything except for what I want to see. Although in my heart of hearts, I do feel like Morocco will probably prevail.

But, you know, we'll see. Group D, the United States, Paraguay, Australia, and Turkey. Speaking of another country, are you fucking with that name, Jamel? Trying to have, as everyone would call him Turkey A now? I hope so. You know, I mean, the amount of hair transplants they're doing, they get a little more, they get a little more leeway with me. I'm surprised.

Actually, Namar, how come Namar hasn't gotten his shit done? You know, because his, it's, my guy is looking, he's looking weathered for 34. He's waiting to get through this tournament. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. You're not allowed in the sun for like a few weeks after having it. Yeah, yeah. Been told.

what I've been told. He's watching in the locker room for different reasons. He's like, no, I can't get a UV light. My stitches is still. You would like to see a, you know,

great stat, first player to wear a wig at the World Cup. Yeah, yeah. Namar, that would be a, and he goes through, because they always have thing

like half of your tournament, they'll be like, everyone dies their hair yellow. Oh, it's fun. Be like, why's that guy, he got,

why he's got an Afro? Yeah, why's he got an afro? He went, that's so funny. Andre Agassie to play a, a competitive professional sport with a wig

on fully. He's like, yeah. Just on the banner on the bottom. It's just very deadpan. Like they don't even like make a joke about it. It just says it. First to be to play earnestly with wig on in international competition.

I'm seeing. He's out there and that dude that, remember that one Brazil fan who was crying with the World Cup, but he's crying. The old man. Looking at Namar. Yeah. The old man.

He's in tears looking at Namar with a big rainbow wig. Oh, that was that was a tasty one though when, when, when Germany beat the absolute shit out of them. Seven one was it? Yeah, it was just unbelievable. In Brazil.

Yeah. And it was great. At first I was like, oh, no, but then when you started seeing people being like, I'm watching a murder take place. Like their faces, I don't want that for you all. You know what I mean? And also I want, I want Big Gabby and. And you want Brazil to stay in it a long time so that the sort of English commentators

who every tournament will use a stereotypical adjectives. about the fans of each nation will get to talk about. What a carnival, what a carnival atmosphere. Yeah. They're going to be sambaing tonight in the streets of Rio. There's some very boring Brazilians. It's a lot of pressure on my shoulders to be constantly having a party. There's going to be a lot of uncircumcised men having raw sex tonight.

Sorry, just going off of the raw statistics I'm reading. They don't do a lot of circumcisions down. That's the only reason I said that it's on my fact sheet. My producer made me do this. Yeah, I could just see the comments. Why did you put that on there? Combinators in England have just like one stereotypical adjective they have to say about each. Yeah.

Americans, war hungry. Yeah. Oh, thirsty American fans. They're going to be exploiting a lot of soybeans after that. That's their number one export in Brazil. Okay. Like, nothing to do with anything. So what do we think about Group D?

Now, this brings us to one of the main narratives that are going in to the World Cup is what is the United States men's national team going to do this time? A lot of people since the 94 World Cup were like the U.S. probably isn't going to have a shot to really go any meaningful distance in the tournament until people have always pointed around this time because a new generation comes in. People get more fluent in the sport, more embracing of people who come from countries that actually give a fuck about soccer and then those kids get to end up playing for the national team. And plus, we have actually

European-based players now on this team. I think contrary to what I think Jamel has been feeling about the team, I think the USA are going to, I mean, Freddie Adieu is now at his peak, right, based on the age of stuff. He's 28 and he's

come into this tournament. He's going to do a good job. No, but I actually, they are, do you know what, they're my dark horses. Are you asking, I don't we're supposed to at the end of this or whatever. No, I know. And it's a little bit based on, based on the fact that John McKenzie from the Athletic did a good little video,

12 minute video that I still skipped some of because I have no attention spent. But he basically is like under Pocitino, they can play, you can play against worst teams with, they're pretty flexible, which I think is a real key at a World Cup tournament to be pragmatic and they can play it back three or a back four. Right. And they've got, yeah, you've got enough.

And you've got Brendan Aronson, we joke about a lot, Premier League times. but I will say this, especially these, a lot of these guys have finished a long, hard season, and you know that bastard is going to chase everything. Yeah. It's like, when you play football, if you play a pickup game and you're like,

I'm kind of like half walking and then just some guy just keeps going. You're like, but it's not really what we're spoke. It's not the unwritten rule of this, but it's effective and annoying. And I think they'll, you know, I think they'll go deeper than we think.

Whenever somebody is playing that, we're going that hard in pickup, like when you're playing a soccer out there or whatever. And so we go, the thing you always say, your head is, brother, this ain't the World Cup final. That's the thing you always say. Like, what the fuck do you think this is?

The World Cup final. People were out here drinking beers five minutes ago before they just, they laced up their boots. And you're going to fucking do, you're going to sprint after this. Get the fuck out of here. Yeah. Great fucking goal from Anthony Robinson. Oh, mate.

That goal. That goal was, that goal, but he did the funniest. Do you see the celebration, Jamel off? Oh, yeah. The set of, is the angriest, angriest, angriest somersault I've ever seen. He took the like aggression of, because he hit it so clean and so hard.

It was like, full on, like hit the ground hard and it was like, yeah, and then, you know, ended up not mattering. But in terms of what we like to coin the,

the best pointless goal, that is up there, one of the best pointless goals we've seen. Yeah. Yeah. Top 10 most pointless send-off game goals ever. Pointless game and you lost to make it doubly pointless. Yeah.

But they still looked great. I was surprised. They got set pieced by the guy, Kai Hevers himself. You know what? That header was power. I was like, bro,

you never look like doing that shit for us. What the fuck was that? Kai looked. He looked tasty in the up front. He was like the link. He was doing a bit of everything. Yeah.

I just love that people, they're in Chicago. They were in Chicago. And all these people were just flicking it up with them in the streets. And a lot of people were like, man,

they are, we thought they would be in the nice part of Chicago. But they were not. They were just out of... They're in O'block? They're staying on O'block? But shit. Yes.

For those picks, though, U.S. Paraguay, Australia, Turkey A. I thought what... U.S. Turkey... Turkey is tough, man. Turkey A are always the dark horses, right? That's the sort of unwritten rule. But I...

And they've got some... They've always got a couple of good, but they've got a really good... It's that winger called. He's really good. Yielders? Yeah, he's good. Yeah.

but I do think USA they're my they are my dark horses and I do think home advantage will help and I don't know we'll see they've got

I don't think I don't want to win it but I think they're gonna go deep okay and my son's American so I've got I'm really going off

with my family wow care about he said to me he goes he said to me I call it soccer and you call it football

because I'm American and I went I never wanted to I've never wanted to hit my child more and Jesus why is he being so British about Being American, tell him too the hell out.

He's half. He's halfie. He's got that blood in him. Okay, so officially, U.S., Turkey, A, probably? Yeah, U.S. and Turkey. I got to reverse that. Turkey A beat the fucking shit out of us. Turkey, yeah. And it was not that long ago.

Now, I do think we were doing a little bit of a, little bit of a Trojan horse in the lead-up because we was bringing in all these MLS guys. But then when the roster came out, it's like, you know what it is. What do you mean? We're not bringing Ricardo Pepey. Right, right, right.

Who are you stupid or you dumb? So we can score, but our defense is ass. Right. Miles Robinson, one of the worst mistakes I've seen since a fucking David Louise was back there. You know what I mean? Like he did some David Louise type shit.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And everybody's worried about that now, but we'll put up goals. So I can honestly see us finishing third, but Australia is trash. Australia stinks. Yeah, I don't know. Paraguay, who knows?

Who knows what Paraguay is going to give us? But I do know this. Australia Paraguay is going to be one of the more violent games of the tournament. It's going to be a fucking slug fest. Yeah, Turkey, yeah, man.

I mean, I remember they got to the semis in 2002, and that was kind of like shocking at the time. But they- I wonder if maybe they might get a minus 10 coming to America, you know, like, not even because of the heat, just because, like, I feel like the Turkish team's going to like it out here too much.

They're going to be over here eating candy. They're like, damn, this shit is good. You ever have this fucking raisinettes? Oh. Group E, Germany, Curisow, Ivory Coast, Ecuador. I'm going to have to just go for my two boys. Pyro Hincapie and Kai Havert's, with Germany and Ecuador Advancing.

but I do have to say Curacao is that's for me the little country that could that I'm really going to be rooting for because did you see they're sending off when they left? They were just in a school bus like it wasn't

anything fancy. It was truly like this is a nation of around 150,000 people or so and they're like what do we got to send them off in? Yeah, yeah, just put the bus. Yeah, yeah, we'll just pick the bus. Boom. It was like the end of sister Act 2 when they go do the big concert. And the nuns paint the bus?

Yep. Yep. Exactly like that. May. There are a sort of team, though, that like, if they score a goal, it will like the country will go. Yeah.

If they get a goal, they would just be like, that's been in the Great World Cup, which is not patronizing. It's just, if you just base it on size of nation, it'll be incredible. I went to Curisal on a cruise ship

when I was working on one as a staff. up comedian. I don't want to clarify that. I don't know what else I'd been doing on there. I think I'm going to say it's like an ivory poacher.

Yeah. It's my side hustle, baby. Entertainment business is going down the Swanee. So I've got to poach some ivory. But no, I was on the, you're like,

this is the smallest place I've ever been. There's no way they can ever football team. And then the sort of lovely story is that Dick Advocate, he got them you know, to the World Cup and then he had to step down

because of a family health thing and then only just learn out, learn now he's back. They've rehired him and he seems like a really nice bloke. He also, he sounds like a sort of liqueur, doesn't he?

Dick Advocate. Yeah. Advocate sounds like a drink, like a classy person. Yeah, come back to my members club and get you and give you some dick and advocate.

I don't know. But he's a lovely guy. But he's the oldest ever coach at the World Cup. Yeah. 78. I mean, there's a lot of Dutch affinity there because there's a bunch of guys who

who played for the Dutch national team who are playing for Curacao because they're like, oh, you know what? I can't get on the Dutch team anymore, but I will play for Curacao. I forgot about him. Remember he played for United?

He was like one of the young United players a few years ago. I just remember because he had a big Afro. And like, he was always in FIFA. And I was like, well, who does this kid called Chong? But then, yeah, he is going to be playing for Curris. for all the United fans who remember to Heath John. My son, as he develops as an athlete, the aim is England's, and then it goes Scotland,

and then it goes, US, then it goes Philippines, and that's just, Philippines. Philippines is like, that's a walk on, you know. I mean, it'll be, it walk on the, and also probably by that point, every nation in the whole world will be automatically in the World Cup. So he'll get some minutes. Yeah. when the World Cup is played in stages across four years. Yes. And then the final tournament in the fifth year.

Group F, this one is near and dear to my heart. Netherlands, Japan, Sweden, Tunisia. This is a tough group. I will say Japan is my dark horse team. I feel like Japan this year, they have the potential to go pretty far. And they've always cobbled together some interesting performances. But I guess also the Netherlands, most people will be like, like that has to be a shoe in, right?

But Sweden is also... Jury and timbers out? Yeah, Jerry and Timbers out. Yeah. Just showed, he just got forced to play an hour of football for Arsenal with like no groin. And then... Yeah. Which is really like...

It wasn't like he aggravated, right? They're just more like, he's not fit. It's kind of like, oh, honey. But you'd think if he was like pretty close to recovery, that then they would have played that and then he's had enough minute, like... Yeah. I don't know. He played the Champions League fine.

So, yeah, played 50 minutes. Listen, as an Arsenal fan, I am going, I'm not going to act like I'm sad. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Fire. At least we'll have one starter at the starter next year. We'll get to Sileva in a minute who I'm like, bruh, you need to sit your ass fucking down. Bro, I don't care how long you've wanted this. You're going to have surgery at the end and mess up my season?

No. But yeah, Sweden's been playing really well, too. Did you see that Yaccarus free kick that he scored? He banged it, didn't they? Yeah. Yeah. Far away. And Tunisia, I mean, like, this is all, there's some, there's some parody in this group.

But yeah, I've, for me. By the way, on Group E, did we say, you said Germany, did you say Germany, Ecuador going through? Germany, Ecuador, yeah. I'm going Coat de Bois. Coat de Bois. Oh, yeah, got, they beat France. They did. They did.

They've got, and every World Cup, you think an African nation is going to, like, go really, really deep. and they never quite do it, but why not? They were pretty good at Afcon. They brought Pepe back. They were pretty good at Afcon. They didn't bring Pepe to Afcon. They brought him to the World Cup. I worry for Pepe in Houston, though.

In what respect? He's going to have a strip club going crazy. That guy loves that American ass. Yeah, and he just loves ass. And he loves, like, like, porn, like, sex workers, sex workers, sex dogs. all that shit. He's super pro-sex work. How did I miss this?

It didn't come. It wasn't on the big... Who was the latest one? He was dating. All or nothing. It wasn't on the real nothing. It was Tiana Trump. Yeah.

Yes. Chris, are you familiar with the work of Tiana Trump? She related to Donald? No. No, no, no. Can you, you know, give me the lame... Give me the...

I'm an alien. Tell me, tell me... Give me some headlines. I need to know about Tiana Trump. I'll tell you. She's having hot sex on camera, brother. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Often. Often. Yeah, but are they getting married or no? That was like a thing that they broke up, right? I think they might have broke up, which is probably why he made the team in the first place. Right, right, right. So he was dating a porn star named Tiana Trump. Yeah. He gets dropped from Afcon. He starts dating a porn star.

It's the classic. It's a coping mechanism as old as time. It's the modern day version. It's the rich guy version of go to a strip club. it's it's data porn stuff yeah you're like you're sad how she's go to the strip club and you know you're like and there's no one day a porn stuff boom my wife there she is

um yeah I was just think I feel like Ivory Coast man they do go far I guess I'm still just thinking about that 2006 World Cup when they had like drug but like they were stacked and I always like you guys are so close but you know everything's an evolution and I'm sure

they'll be all right but yeah But sorry, yeah, Sweden, Sweden, Tunisia, Netherlands, and Japan. Yeah, I mean, I'm thinking Sweden. Japan, yeah, I'm going Sweden too. Wow. You're not input in Holland.

Japan-D interior design? Japan and Scandinavia? Okay. The Holland, there's always a chance that the squad have a big fight. That's the big, there's always a chance they have an infighting, and they've got, who've they got?

They've got Van Hal. They got Van Hall, right? As their coach. Always been forever, man. Yeah. Yeah. And he didn't let Jury and Timber's brother watch him at the world, in the Champions League final, which feels a bit of, again, I'm thinking, come on

mate, it's just that it's one training session for the World Cup where you could have let him do that. That feels like that's going to come back and buy him on the ass bit like Mick McCarthy annoying Roy King back in the day. And what if Memphis DePri starts selling drugs again? pie you never he's he's someone who can just bring it um yes i know i think i'm gonna go i'm sorry miles i'm gonna go sweden and and holland i think like yorkerez and i've no idea what hezac's gonna do because he's had such a disjointed season yeah yeah for various reasons including injuries no man you know i don't take that person man man some people know soccer

you just kick me off the zoo and never never invite me back on you just get a different english man on and i just have to watch and listen every week what the fuck was that guy who's this new guy you got? Trist Houghton? He's that guy, just another British guy. I think it's Miles is doing an English accent talking to himself. Yeah, I'm curious what I've, I hope, I really hope the Dutch do a good job. But again, not at the expense of Japan.

But again, I'm glad to see that Japan and Holland are facing each other in that first match, because that'll be, that'll be one of those ones. That's my second one that I see it coming up. And I'm like, yes, yes, yes, yes, a lot of data to be collected from this one. And I did say we've got, I did my background for, if it comes out as a clip, is a lot of Dutch people, fans. And they're planning a thing they always do, which is just everyone to march to the game. And I just think, it's very, it's very impressive just to organize a march for, not even for like, you know, normally it's for some sort of, it's for some sort of really like sort of liberal reasoning to sort of like fight for democracy. This is just a bunch of guys.

It's like someone's organized a group of, a really massive group of mates transport to the game. And instead of an Uber, we're going via March. It could be like a societal sort of demonstration or some kind of ethnic cleansing that's about to happen. Yeah, those are the two. So this is a bunch of Dutch people. Yeah, that's true. That's true. Or if you're, you know, if you're in Northern Ireland and you see everyone dressed in orange marching,

it means there's something very different to anywhere else in the world. So it's getting to religious stuff there. They're playing in Dallas. They could do a JFK style. I'm more worried that somebody might show up in blackface. You know, they might have heard about America's history with marches. Black Pete, yeah. Is that he called Black Pete?

Yeah. Or whatever the Dutch word for black is, it's like Zvite Pete or something like that. Or I don't know what the fuck it is. But hey, we'll get to other nations with their tradition of blackface when we talk about Spain in a little bit. So who did you have, Jamel? Yeah, I'm going Sweden, Japan, actually. Okay, okay.

I'm Ryan Witcher. Oh, there we go. Thank you, Jabari. Zvart, Zvart, Pete. Okay, great. Group G, Belgium, Egypt, Iran, New Zealand. I want Iran to go as far as they fucking can go possible.

I just need, I want Donald Trump to have a meltdown when Iran does their thing. Belgium, it's weird for how high they're ranked, you really never know what you're going to get with Belgium. sometimes. It doesn't feel like all the times.

Speaking of teams, they might start fighting, yeah. They might fight too. How is everyone feeling here? Do you have a dark? Is there a, do you, are you going strictly off? If you're going strictly off who is ranked highest, it would be Belgium, Belgium and Iran.

But then Egypt, New Zealand. Iran are ranked ahead of Egypt. 21. Wow. And Egypt is 29. Yeah. I mean, listen, that's got to be some,

that's got to be a string of Asia Cup results. Right. That did that. I mean, the narrative of Iran progressing is pretty delicious. As you said it, you know what I realized? Iran making a deep run in this tournament might be the only thing to get our country to take football seriously. Oh, then suddenly the jingoism comes out. Yeah, a bunch of like military-ass kid.

Yeah, okay, you're going to play soccer. We're stopping these. these guys next time yeah we're not gonna oh man I can't that be wild is there any possibility

that Iran could face the U.S. down the road I'm sure I mean it's got to be there I don't know where they are as far as the brackets go but this one I really have no clear idea of like I could I could even see New Zealand

doing something wacky somehow I think I mean maybe lucky or maybe a great start of not looking losing a single game but getting knocked out in the group stages where they drew, they drew three games at three in a, was it World Cup, 2000, I want to say 18 or 14. But yeah, I mean, they're not, they've got Chris Wood who can score a goal. And, but yeah, I'm, none of these teams are like, in Belgium, their golden generation's gone. Here we go, here we go. We got chance of the US. The US finishes is. runner up in Group D and Iran finishes runner up in group G team who face in the round of 32. Very possible.

Oh, on July 3rd. That's crazy. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Oh, come on, God. Come on now. Let us see that shit.

Please, please, please, please. Wow, that is, that's also highly likely. Man, I can't imagine what the betting activity is going to be like for that shit. If those actually end up, if we end up face. each other in the round of 32. So, okay, for this one, ah, man, I'm strictly. I think Egypt, because I just think Salah,

it must be Salas last, probably his last World Cup. I like Egypt and Iran. And there's a good team as well. I'm going to Egypt, Iran, just to shake it up. I'm going Belgium. I'm going Belgium, man. I'm going right down then.

There you go. Right down the middle. Pride is like love. You feel it in your heart. IR radio. Canada's number one streaming app for radio and podcasts, including IHart Pride, Your favorite hits and must have party bangers,

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It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast Point Game is about defining the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reef. and finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows.

Without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stopped by like Quentin Richardson,

we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nash would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court, licking his fingers, why he got the ball. Like, you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah. You figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the court,

and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I love the sounds, the buzzing from the stadium, the chanting from the the fans, the announcers calling the place soccer, football, it's home. Why do I watch the World Cup? That's like asking me, why do I breed?

I inherited that fandom from my mom. I like watching it with my dad. It's a connecting force. From Futuro Studios, I'm Fernanda Echaberry, and this is American Football, a show about soccer culture in the U.S. and its underdog roots. We go beyond the game to the people. and the stories that make it great. A soccer game is a festival.

It's not just a game. It's your culture. I took an elbow to my head, which cracked my skull. It is an American game. The Brazilians don't like hearing that, though. Are they the only ones that don't like that? Nobody likes that. As we get ready for the Men's World Cup this summer,

listen to American Football as part of the My Coutura podcast network, available on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A decade ago, the ethanol kingpin of Iowa became the king of corn in Brazil. So we met with a lot of larger farmers, went from Bahia to Tokatines to Madagroso. And he brought a team of executives.

They were going to help the country get in on a gold rush. Carbon and its derivatives are going to be really the next great commodity that the globe's going to trade. But back home in Iowa, trouble was brewing. If you live in Iowa, your land, your water, and your voice could all be at risk thanks to a man named Bruce Rastetter. Now, people are questioning if his climate solutions have anything to do with climate at all. You got to give Bruce and the guy's credit.

They're Republicans. They don't get a bit of money. It's now. On this season of drilled, Carbon Cowboys, the story of how the ethanol kingpin of Iowa became the king of corn in Brazil and what it tells us about the limits of technology and markets to solve the climate crisis. Listen on the IHeart Radio app. Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Speaking of Blackface, Spain, Cape Verde, Saudi Arabia, and Uruguay in Group H.

Now, this has got, there's a lot of, there's a lot going on here. Cape Verde, also one of the new, new kids on the block, small nation, and Saudi Arabia, Urui, I mean, we saw, we saw how Uruai played recently in a friendly, not so friendly. They bring it. They bring it. They watch Braveheart before they get on the field. I'll tell you that. Yeah, I think this one, for me, yeah, Spain, I think I will probably be going pretty far.

People are mostly healthy. They look good. They're ranked number two right now. David Ryers, they're number one now, golly. Yeah, thank God. I don't it took so long. Like, what was this, like, obsession with Eunice? Once he got more volume in his hair, they were like, all right.

Yeah. Yeah, they had to deal. Yeah, yeah. He had to do some serious work on his hair over the 25, 26 season. No more taper fades. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't know what you think this is. We want flowing locks.

I need Euro hair. Let me see. On volume. Yeah, I think Spain are going to, I think Spain are going to probably win the whole thing, is my guess. So that's your, so that's your pick for the whole shebang. Yeah, I mean, obviously, if England's, as soon as they get to the, if they get to the last 32, I'm going to be telling you it's coming home. It's coming home.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I think Spain, I do think Spain are going to win it. I think they've just got so many, so many good players. So, their midfield and attack is just excellent. I guess my only question mark is, are they going to all make it out of the game versus Uruguay? Yeah, right. You know, you know they're going to come super violent.

Yeah, exactly. Amric Le Port is going to get a boot. through his chest wall, off kickoff. Devian said, yeah, I got Spain, too. And then I guess I think I'm going with Saudi. Unfortunately, I don't follow the money, baby. I'm going. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Oh, okay, I like that. Listen, they got a lot of paper. And they got a lot of guys. They've been bringing in a bunch of coach on the field types out there for years. You know what I mean? Right, right. Saudi league is just a bunch of 30-some guys telling the Saudi players what to do. They're rich kids who, yeah, they've had private lessons and stuff.

Yeah, amazing private lessons. Well, same like with how the Qatari national team is like that too, or they just have schools churning out players and like all these academies to try and get like just as much talent developed as possible. But having said that I'm going Uruguay. I think just from watching Uruguay against England in England. I mean, I didn't watch in life, but they played really well against. England on the home tour. And they're just, you know,

again, I think if you're just to physically in the heat, if you're just bringing it, people are not going to be up for it. It's going to be hard to break down. So yeah, I'm going to go Uruguay and Spain. Same. Group I, France,

Senegal, Iraq, and Norway. This is also another interesting one too. Man, that Norway team got blacker, huh? Did you see, Did you see the Norway announcement? No, not the fact. I meant the fact that the king announced it as an

advert on the king. Oh, no, I didn't see that. The king of Norway announced the team like Nash is that as a great King Harold Bluetooth? Is that his name? No, no. I mean, that's just one of the famous Norwegian Vikings. Is that his name in Macbeth?

Yeah, well, Bluetooth is that one for a Danish? Like Bluetooth looks like a run. Because of that. If you look at the logo for what that Bluetooth jagged bee thing. That's like it meant to look like a Viking Rune. Yeah, yeah. Sorry, I studied Viking history in college. Oh, I think I can contribute.

So actually the phrase Bluetooth comes from this guy. Yeah, yeah, there was a guy King Harold Bluetooth. What a grace. He was the first dude with a speaker. He had a speaker on a boat. He was the first dude. He was the last dude to start brushing his teeth.

And they were like, bro, look at that damn Bluetooth. I'm going to fucking do something like. And you could see it like from you know, from within 50 meters and then it's look harder to see. Hey, Harold, that shit is stinking, bro. My, what, my Bluetooth?

Oh, man, come on, man, what the fuck is? It's kind of my name. So, if I, if I clean it, I don't have anything else. I don't have anything else. The artist formerly known as Bluetooth doesn't really work. Because he was eating those blue tachies all the time. Yeah, I, this one,

oh, yeah. Norway are going to be decent, man. Norway's, I'm not going to be decent. Harland and an Oedegard behind him is a potent mixture. But do we think, does Senegal have a chip on their shoulder? Senegal also has a defense problem. Yeah, that's true. But, I mean, they're a squad, made the Afcom final, you know?

They want, depending on who you have. Kind of, then most then technically lost that shit. And Moniz look good in the lead-up as well, like in the warm-up game. Yeah, because sometimes, you know, like, in the World Cup, it just takes, like, one guy to just fucking go out of body for, like, a few matches, and then suddenly you have, like, a competitive team. That, yeah, I don't know, say,

Gadil may have it. Yeah, Garf Bail would just, like, just hero ball it. And, yeah, I mean, that's kind of up there with England's group, I think, for the group of death. France, Senegal and Norway, all of them I could see. Yeah. Winning every game. Iraq are not a terrible team.

That's going to be hard. I mean, again, it's hard to not think France going to win that group, but then... Again, that'll be another really interesting one because, what, the Tuesday, the 16th is when it's France, Senegal. So I'm glad we have some of these matches where you're going to really see immediate. You're like, okay, who's going to show up?

As soon as the groups came out and I saw France, Senegal, I'm like, I love, you know, a colony... Versus Colony. Yeah, I love that match. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Colony versus colonizer. We love that. The French versus most of West Africa.

Yeah, which I have to assume they will have a bit of a fan advantage. Well, maybe not. Right. I don't know who's affording tickets, but it's a lot of Senegalese motherfuckers up there. Are you normally on the side of the colonizer or the colonizer? Always the size of the colonizer. Yes, yes, yes, yes. Just confirmed, Jamel.

you know you are American so I wanted to be yeah you know what we love Belgium he loved Belgium he wants you know I'm with that he's like I don't give a fuck about what King Leopold did bro miss me with that that man that guy that guy killed 10 million people and it doesn't get talks about enough and this is the podcast to stop to hear we're gonna do it sorry to yuck your yum Belgium fans they also have one of the I think only the few flags that's like not shaped like an actual rectangle Belgians. The geometry of their flag is actually different to most flags. Like, it's more square.

That was another weird thing I learned. That's also because, like, if you go to Belgium, it's actually quite a boring country, so they've had to do that thing where they're like, hey, we're really fun. We've got a different shape flag. We know how to party. What about that shit you did in the Congo? Nah, this flag is weird, huh?

Y'all seen Im Bruges? Look at that. That's here. It looks like a square. but it's not a square. Peter Dinklage is in that. Okay. What's got to do with your country?

Yeah, so this one, I think France, Norway. I feel like Holland might be freaking out this World Cup. I just feel like we need to be seeing something like that. He's going to be eating a lot of steaks, and this is a good country for steaks. Yeah. We've seen the man make a seven-minute video on his YouTube channel

about how to perfectly cook a steak. I mean, it might distract him. He might get invited to a cookout, and he'll be like, he'll be really paying attention to the marinade or something, and it's like, he had in the game, Erling, all right? Yeah. Wait, what is they not sure that is true on the flag from Bell? Wait, what happened?

Jabari, you're saying it's not the right shape? He just hit me up on the side, I think. He said, hey, man, I think you may have fucked that up. But just to confirm, he is correct about King Lip on the second. That's true. No, it does. Nah, fuck that, Jabari. I'm right.

It has weird dimensions of 13 by 15. So it's not a perfect square. Everyone knows. Oh, it's a rectangle, not a square. And the other ones are squares? No, like, there are only a couple of countries that have square. Like, the Switzerland flag, the Swiss flag is square, I believe. The Vatican has a square flag.

But this one is just a little bit off. Which group of the Vatican in this year? Yeah. The group of death, bro. The group of afterlife. Stop trying to humiliate me, Jabari. So, yeah, I'm going to go. Oh, also, what was the thing when Norway?

There's like, they got a bunch of NEPO kids, not NEPO kids, but their dad, like a lot of these players' dads played in the 94 World Cup. Doesn't that sort of fit the stereotype of what you think of like Scandinavian countries where they sort of raped and pillaged from other countries, brought over sort of what they deem the sort of ideal beauty and size people and then they just they just inbred more people

to then play everyone's eventually got to be from the same family. Did your father play in the 1994 World Cup the last time we were there? Yes. In the 2100 World Cup it'll just be 11 players called Harland. Yes.

But yeah, his dad, Alfinga Holland, then Alexander Sorla, the Athletico Stryker, his father, Gorin Sorloth, and Christian Thorntzvett, who plays for Sasuolo. His dad was the keeper,

Eric Thorntzvete. So, must be nice. You know what, man, we're laughing and we're learning on this podcast. That's what I like about it. Exactly.

Now you can tell people like, you know, Holland's dad was the last player to play for Norway in the World Cup, actually. And you can say to people, you know,

the Belgian flag is maybe the same as other flags or maybe not. by 15 aspect ratio. And everyone's like, what other flags like? I just stop asking me questions. That's all I fucking know about the flags, all right? Find another angle.

They just get the podcast up and play. Just listen to this. They're like, he's doing that thing where he's playing a podcast off his phone for us. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hate hanging out with this dude. Group J. Holders, Argentina versus Algeria versus Austria versus Jordan. This one, I'm, I don't, hmm.

It's really about who between the. Algeria, Austria, Jordan. Probably not Jordan. So Algeria, Austria will make it out. I like a lot of the Algerian players. Yeah. So I just realized when we got to Group J that this is such a big... So we're on J.

Yeah. I don't feel well... And we've got to Jee before. Group L. Or England is. Yeah, we got K. L left. Yeah, yeah. Because, I mean, look, when we're looking at Algeria,

they've got... They got some interesting. We got, obviously, Riyadh. As is one we think about a lot. Or Nabil Benteleb. Husam Ahrar, remember who we would always get linked to? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. The little, um, Leal player.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, it looked like really good for a bit, yeah. Um, but I don't know, I mean, any, any strong feelings with this group, anybody have, like, obviously Argentina. What, what's, I mean, I, I wish Jordan was just, um, a different contributing of A, just for some sort of sort of, sort of, yeah, happenstance. That's, they're really letting the team down being, beginning of a J. There's ever to change their name.

What were they thinking? To A, A, A, A, A, A, Oden. they've got to call themselves out for the whole tournament. Just from my own OCD. I got no clue what Austria is capable of. I'll tell you that. Right. Austria is a team that will always just get three points.

Somehow just get three points and not qualify. That's it. That's the definition of how I imagine an Austrian team doing in any World Cup. I mean, it's going to be Argentina and Algeria. I can't really see anything apart. Yeah. Yeah. I'm just trying to think like...

And we know it doesn't matter if Argentina loses their first match. It'll just work out. Or will it? I mean, like, that's a thing, right? Messy in the state that he's in, is this really going to be the same thing? Well, you know, they got a good-ass goalkeeper. I'm going to give Emmy Martinez his flowers right here. Yeah, for sure.

Yeah. I don't want to see that. I don't want to see that man pretend a glove as his penis. I don't want to see that again. Oh, Celebration police showed up. You know I like when he hump the glove, brus. In front of the sheets. That was nasty, dude.

It was gross. It's not only fans, Emmy. That's sort of, very British watching that. What are you doing? Children watching. It just reminded me. Do you remember that movie Airheads with Steve Bouchemy and Brandon Fraser?

Of course. And Billy and Adam Sandler. There's that one scene where they go to jail, like at the very end and they're performing. And the one guy, like, I think it's Bouchemi, is kind of humping his guitar and they're performing for a bunch of inmates. and then like I think it's Brendan Fraser or maybe Adamson's like,

yo, yo, yo, knock that off, bro. Like we're performing for a bunch of inmates and you're humping the guitar and there's just like a shot of the inmates like, yeah. Anyway,

that's what I thought of, Emmy Martinez with the club. Like, go, easy, easy. Airheads. Check it out on streaming. Pride is like love. You feel it in your heart. IR. Radio.

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And he knows without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reed. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us

on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nash will get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court, licking his fingers while he got the ball. Like, after you go through a training camp

with that, Isaiah, you figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I love the sounds. The buzzing from the stadium, the chanting from the fans, the announcers calling the place.

Soccer, football, at home. Why do I watch the World Cup? That's like asking me, why do I breed? I inherited that fandom from my mom. I like watching it with my dad. It's a connecting force. From Futuro Studios, I'm Fernanda Chavari, and this is American Football,

a show about soccer culture in the U.S. and its underdog roots. We go beyond the game to the people and the stories that make it great. A soccer game is a festival. It's not just a game. It's your culture. I took an elbow to my head, which cracked my skull. It is an American game. The Brazilians don't like hearing that, though.

Are they the only ones that don't like that? Nobody likes that. As we get ready for the Men's World Cup this summer, listen to American Football as part of the My Cultura Podcast Network, available on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A decade ago, the ethanol, kingpin of Iowa became the king of corn in Brazil.

So we met with a lot of larger farmers, went from Bahia to Tokitans to Madagroso. And he brought a team of executives. They were going to help the country get in on a gold rush. Carbon and its derivatives are going to be really the next great commodity that the globe's going to trade. But back home in Iowa, trouble was brewing. If you live in Iowa, your land, your water, and your voice could all be at risk thanks to a man named Bruce Rastetter. Now people are questioning if his climate solutions have anything to do with climate at all. You gotta give Bruce of the guy's credit. They're Republican. They don't give a shit about him in this now.

On this season of drilled, Carbon Cowboys, the story of how the ethanol kingpin of Iowa became the king of corn in Brazil and what it tells us about the limits of technology and markets to solve the climate crisis. Listen on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Yeah, this is going to be, I mean, Latar Martinez, I think he scored and had an assist in their friendly right before they took off. Curious to see, like, how, what impact he has. He's a player who you keep getting, I keep getting told is really, really good. And just whenever I watch him, he's fine. Yeah, I mean, for Inter, he definitely has some performances.

You know what I mean? But I think in those moments when everyone's watching, it's a little bit like, hmm, are you there? He knows, he's just Chris Martin watching. All right, I'm just going to give it a five out of ten today. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I play my best work in the shadows. It's like Batman. So what, Argentina?

Algeria, yeah. Yeah. Archive. Yeah. Group K, again, speaking of the last final, maybe not the last dance for the go, but yeah, Cristiano Ronaldo with Portugal, Congo, Uzbekistan, Colombia.

I mean, goddamn, what a nice draw. Yeah, right. Yeah. Yeah. I saw an article on BBC that was like, arm Portugal better without Ronaldo in a team. It was like, yes, next. But they're not going to not do that.

Right, right, right. They're going to be inhibited by him. I watch him in the friendly, in the friendly game. Who are they playing? They won or they play. And Bruno Fernandez scored. They won two one, I think. But I saw him breaking away one-on-one,

I scored a goal. That was really funny because Raphael Liao got sent off a smash. someone in the face. Did you see that? He got a red card flight, getting in a fight, just banging someone in the face.

Oh, yeah, I did see there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I just saw the image of it. Yeah. In a friendly, which is very funny.

But Ronaldo is cleaned through and he bagged him. I was like, wow. Oh, he's still, and then he was just so far off. He was like seven yards offside. And I was like,

okay, yeah, you don't have the pace to play at this level anymore. Yeah. So I think they will get undone by, by him being forced into their team, to be honest. I can't really...

Yeah. We've got... There we've got. Columbia. Let's go Colombia and Congo. Why not? Wow. Tripping.

I mean, Hamas Rodriguez, as we know, only cares about World Cup, so maybe there's some juice there, but Portugal, Colombia, for me, dog. It's too easy. And I... Of course I want Congo to win this group, man. They win the group,

and then people stop stealing their co-bolt, that'd be amazing. The battle for rare earth medals? Yeah, yeah. I mean, yeah, this is going to be Messies and Rinaldo's sixth World Cup. And I think Ronaldo scored in five. He scored five out of five. So he'd really have some shit if he scored in six World Cups.

That is, that's a wild record to have. But also, we know none of those goals are going to happen in the knockout stage because this dude just never scores in that part of the tournament. But you know he is hype for Uzbekistan. He's going to lay his outfit out the night before and sleepbeck's doing it. He just puts it on the bed. Shh, shh, go to sleep. He puts the socks in the shoe, in his cleats even.

He actually puts the fucking sock in the boot. Just like, yep, that's how that's going to look. And you just fucking, he's just going to take 40 shots from outside the box is hoping just a rip one. Just go to the bench. All right, man, get me off, man. I'm fucking, I'm out of here. I'm off this. If you ever play with someone in pickup who just constantly kicks a ball?

It's so annoying. Yeah. So I can only imagine, especially if you're like Bruno Fernando, who's very good footballer and like in his prime and you have to like this defer to this eagle mania. He's like this guy's going to smash you. This old crazy guy. Right. Like his old crazy uncle who's like, yeah, just give me the ball.

Give me the rock. Give me the rock. Give me the rock. You're like, oh shit, man. Because like even like with Messi, you know, he's adapt. He's been able to adapt his game over time with his loss of pace and he just can use his like footballing IQ whereas like Ronaldo's like

why don't you fucking pass it to me bro I was fucking open to the box man it's all I fucking do fucking around man they're like dude you're fucking 40 man relax chill out night yeah so I think that one

I'm gonna go Columbia winning the group and then Portugal the second now group L a group very close to our very near and dear Chris Martin's heart This is the group with England, Croatia, Ghana, Panama. Vindaloo.

Vindaloo. Vindaloo. Vindaloo. Nana. Vindaloo. Do you not know that song? What? Oh, mate, get that on.

That was one of our big songs in the 90s. Why are you singing about Vindaloo? Just put it on, mate. Is that what you found out about Indian food? Yeah. No, they couldn't have been. That's when that's what you were being. Me, man, man, man, man, man, man, gran and my dad at a bucket of Vindaloo.

It sounds like, I sound like a crazy person that made up a thing that's not a real thing. This is a real anthem that was going around in the 90s after three lines on a shirt, which is obviously the big one. Score one more than you. It's like it, the US fans.

Score one more than you. England. It's like at the US. fans started chained about ox tales or something. Yeah, right, exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Of course, it's very English. Like three lines on our shirt.

We've got animals from Africa on our shirt. We're singing about food from India. It's very English. But sorry, just, again, it's really good living in this country because just when you're there, like, well, obviously three lines on shutting and there's the Vindaloo song. And as soon as I say, okay, this is insane trying to explain this to this. Yeah, yeah, yeah. This was a national song for the England team.

Yeah. I got a song about stolen artifacts as well. You can't even know what to say about it. It's just insane. It is wild. It's like, yeah. You'll never get your artifacts back. Never get your artifacts back.

You'll never get your artifacts back. Who's the Egyptian crying at his stuff in our museum? Who's the Egyptian crying? Yeah, that's, yeah. Oh my God. So this group. Very, very, very, very interesting. This is a death light group.

Because anybody, anybody can get touched. Yeah. England, Croatia, Ghana, Panama. I gotta say, I always like rooting for the black stars, the Ghana national team. Croatia is just all, you never know, although this team is old, baby. It seems to be the theme of this World Cup is like some of the best. It's like when you watch tennis and it was Djokovic and Fed and Nadal and they're like all about to be 40 and still playing. And like there was no one had quite taken the crown.

And it feels like we're in that transition. So yeah, it'd be interesting because I'm sure there'll be some breakout young players. But it does feel like old, just old people.com is what's happened. Yvonne Parish. My man is going to be out there 37 years old. And a wingback. Yeah. Like,

Hey 7, it's like crazy. Oh, shit. Okay. Uh, Mateo Kovic is 32. Uh,

Mario Pasalich is 31, but the real one is our boy, Luker. Yeah. Uh, Maudrich, bro, 40 years on the fucking set,

uh, he's going to be out here. All five foot, eight inches, 146 pounds of 40 year old freaking fury, bro. Old school for life.

Yeah. Um, what's, I don't know. we'll see. I mean, England's squad, England's like starting team on paper is excellent.

And I like, I like Tuchel. The question marks are Saka has not looked the same with this Achilles injury. And so you're like, all right, so if you don't play then Maddowackay. But Kane,

the thing I think we're doing this time, which we were really good in the Euros, last yearos, we got to the final book, really crap. The one in England, And when Rahim Sterling was playing of Kane, because Kane,

at his best, is essentially a number 10, isn't he just drops and, like, sprays balls. And we didn't play, Saka's great, but Saka doesn't run beyond him.

He's also facilitated. But on the left, he's got Gordon or Ashford, who can just sprint behind, and battle it out for who's going to play for Barcelona. So I like that. And then midfield is like Anderson Rice. Yeah.

I mean, those two are quality. Even in Maynu, too. And Maynu, yeah. He'd be your like sub option, I think. And then you'd have, it'll be between Rogers or Bellingham and on paper, you're like, well, Bellingham's definitely the better player. But I do think he has shown a little bit, I don't know if he's brought into the team of it all. And so that's, that'll be interesting.

But then our defense is our worst feature with our centerbacks. Yeah. Hey, but Nico O'Reilly. Rico Riley made quality. So, yeah, yeah. The one context, I'm like, yeah, he good. That boy good. when it comes to the league man fuck that guy

but yes nico riley i think he's going to do we'll do a solid job it's crazy Morgan rogers is older than jude bellingham just for the record yeah it's just something that's hard to process i mean i know jude belling is young but in my mind just seeing Morgan rogers emergence and us calling him young the whole time

he's still actually older than jude bellying is jude and deckland bifing is that a real thing i mean about here's gonna be the next who's gonna be the next captain. Yeah, yeah. Because what Declan got vice captain, right? So he was named vice. I mean, this is not, it's not even a

biased Arsenal thing. I think if you just look at the way those guys play, I remember when Bellingham scored in the last tournament and he just was like, who else? Who else? Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. It's like, is that, you know, Declan's telling everyone it's not, it's not done. It feels like he's more captain's cereal.

But, um, yeah, we'll see. It could blow up, though. If Bellingham doesn't start, is he someone? that's going to, a lot of this stuff is like, are these people going to like piss each other off after like going on holiday for a month together? It's kind of backpacking with your mates. You're like, are you

still going to, are you going to be arguing? Are we going to be friends after this? Yeah. Yeah. I feel like we have, I, Tuchel's management style feels like he's going to pick what he believes is the best team for how they play and not. Which is great, which most of the managers don't do. Yeah, exactly. You kind of get, you

sometimes the locker room runs things. Chris, we've allowed you to sound smart about this team for long enough. Yeah, yeah, come on. Give me some trash. What the fuck are you guys going to do? How are you going to blow it this time, man? Yeah, I mean, I don't.

I mean, if you look at the team and the squad that you think, surely got to go deep. Kane off the back of an amazing season. Yeah. But it's very hot guys. And England... Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's hot.

No, but England's... I mean, I was just in London. There were people going down in 77-degree heat. I'm not looking forward to watching Anthony Gordon out there, man. I'm worried about his cheeks. I'm worried about all of it. May. He's been learning Spanish since he was three.

He's probably been, he's probably been holiday in like in the south, in Spain as well. He's probably like got his body temperature up to the crowd. I've never seen him. Right, right, right. This pure manifestation takes to the Macs. He's like,

Scouser who just learned Spanish. He learned from his like doctor or something. He said he worked for like a physio. Yeah. He knew he was going to play for Barcelona from when he was three or something. something mad. So, you know, he's probably been, I can't lie. I like, doing some prep.

As much as like I'm like, whatever about him, I do like when someone is that mentally unwell where they're like, you know, I've been doing, you know how foolish I look, speaking Castellic Cattagano when I was in Newcastle upon time, man. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was going. I was going into like, uh, going ordering paella. Pallella. And then people are like, what you do, like?

Tomat. Patatas brava. It's chips, mate. It's chips. Patas brava. See, I would like... Antsie, mate. It's fucking chips.

Cali mocho, por favor. That's just... That's red wine and Coca-Cola. Yeah, yeah. That's how we do them. Paisbathco. I'll be picking England and Ghana to get out of this group.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Gotta do it. Gotta get, got to get right with God. I think it's going to be England and Ghana, too. Come on, Black Stars. Um, okay. Before we go, though, there was some, there were all kinds of power rankings. Um, you go by the stats. You can go by, you know, who again, the odds favor again, in that respect, Spain is the favorite followed by France, then England, then Brazil, then Portugal, then Argentina. So with that said, what about height? Should we be also looking at who, if we're, if we're picking like bullies in an elementary school pickup game, do we go with, who? Do we go with? Who big and who tiny?

And go from there. Yeah, this is a very fascinating squad by height. I mean, you know that Mikhail Artetta's looking at this. He's like, where do I get my next big bastard from for the Premier League? Yeah. Jamel, do you want to guess the top five tallest teams at the World Cup? Top five tallest? Average height, okay.

Average height. Average height I'm going to put the Netherlands on there. I'm going to put, damn. Yeah. Is Norway on there? Yeah,

baby. It had to be. Okay, so then give me, how about, how about Bosnia? Oh, God damn, yeah.

Hello. Yeah, Bosnia in Norway. I didn't know they were that. They play ball, they play basketball. I thought he was going to be like, oh, yeah. I thought it was going to be like,

college. You day at a Bosnia girl at college. All her cousins, bro, they were huge, bro. They were like six, eight.

Yeah. I felt like a baby boy going on. Yeah. Her little brother held me in his arms. Like I was a baby. Yeah. He was 13.

They used to give me a little bottle before bed. And maybe it feels sick inside. Yeah, they put some Hennessy in it, though, but you know what I'm saying?

Anyway, yeah, I don't know. It just felt right, man. And I was thinking about Ed and Jekko. He big as shit.

Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Okay, so I've missed one. You're in the right part of the world. You got to. Yeah. So, well, then might as well, then just toss me, toss me Switzerland as well.

Seven. Damn. Yeah, you're close. Yeah, baby. Three. You've got the top three. Okay. I went three out of five.

I went three out of five. I can go to give me two more troops? Okay. No, no, I'll tell you. Do you want to go for the next children? Let me, tell me. Then it's fourth is Belgium and five is checkier. But then this might be fun because it seems meaner.

of it's meaner, but it's, because it doesn't really matter as you're short. Which are the out of the 40, the bottom five for heights? Who are the smallest players in the world? Listen, got to go to Japan. I'm sorry. Starting there. Oh, mate. False. We've overcome the stereotypes.

Yeah, where is Japan on there? They're mid-table? Yeah, they're mid-table. They're 36. Mid-table? Okay. What about what about, what about Kirosau, little asses? No. No, because they're all Dutch, aren't they? They're all done.

Yeah. Actually small. New Zealand. No. That's just a small country. Come on. Oh, they're just actually small. Do you know what?

The second bottom team for height, Miles, are you looking at the thing as well? Yeah. That surprised me. I didn't think they'd be the second bottom for. Mexico is the bottom. Yeah. Yeah.

Listen, I know a lot. Hey, I got a lot of five two homies. Mm-hmm. That's a funny brag. All my homies. Five, two. Still buying kid jeans. Five to.

We saving money at JCPenny. And I, man, if I had one more guest, tiny guys. It is hard. Like, I'm looking at this and like, and nothing tracks. Yeah. I honestly would have thought Japan, too, because I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah. We've got like the Taki Fusa Kubos and shit on the team, too, but there's other freaks that are even in it out.

There's a couple in there that are tricky because of, I'll just say, because you don't know really where the players, how long they've been nationals of those countries. So they're getting them. I don't know what pull they're buying them. They're training them in though. But are we got guesses from Brian here? Hang on. He's gone.

He's gone, Mauritian. He's got Maritian and Vatican. I mean, yeah, I mean, obviously. They're little.

If they're full of popes, they're going to be pretty little. The Pope's the tallest. He's the tallest person in the country, right? Yeah. Because he's from Chicago. Yeah, yeah. That's funny.

That's how they, that's how they anointed him. I'll say Algeria. I don't know, man. How about, yeah, that's my life. Saudi Arabia are the smallest thing by height. And in South Africa, second small. I don't know why I didn't think of South Africa.

I didn't think Qatar. See, that's you with your racism. Jamel thought Japan was a smother. Yeah, I was being racist too. These black African men are the shortest. You can be short. You can be short and black. You can be short and black.

And you could be tall and Japanese. Shout out to me. That's true. I mean, Mexico. It could be the black side of me that's doing it. I don't know, but we'll take that. We're not going to get to that. We're not going to.

This isn't a eugenics podcast. No. What is the perfect blend of races? That's on Patreon. That's on Patreon. Yeah, that's on Patreon. They've got to get that. Hatriam.

Then is Argentina, who is just a little bit less short than Mexico. Which is crazy because what? That's like around 5-8, 5-9 is what the average is. That is fucking small. You guys are going to get dead. on some set pieces. Well, that's the thing again. Let you look at the,

it is a lot of tired footballers. If you've got big bastards in the team, you are going to score off corners and set pieces. So Norway, yeah, I think they can, yeah.

And then where's England on that? England 14th. That's fine. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And 14th and about, and about,

they're 10 places high just due to Dan Byrne being in the squad. Right, exactly. Oh, man. Well, so that's going to do it. Do we all pick our favorites? I know, Chris, you said you think Spain.

I think Spain will win it. And I think my dark horse is, is the U.S. of A for once to. They've broken free of the shackles of the great amount of himself, Freddie, to do. And I think they can, I think they can go, I think they can go quarters. And maybe, I mean, maybe our boy Balagan can do something too. Am I allowed? I'm not. It doesn't feel correct or fail.

to call Germany a dark horse, but I don't see a ton of people like confidently talking about them. But I mean, I'm going with France. Yeah, France. No, people don't have them in their like top five, that's for sure, which I think is a little odd.

That feels odd, but like in the spirit of a real dark horse, you know, give me Ghana, man. Nigeria's not around. Yeah, yeah. Oh, man, they had such good uniforms too. You know, Nike's probably kick in their own ass right now.

They're like, man, God damn it. We got the ones fire fucking kids for them, man. They forgot to fix Afcon, bro. Yeah, and all they could, instead, they spent all their money hiding those pictures of A-Rod shirtless when he was on the steroids. You know what I mean? That's all their resources went.

Yeah, I've honestly, I think Japan's going to make the semifinal and then probably lose there. But I, I feel like it could be Spain, probably. France just seems like disfew, even though with Mbabe, like, hanged up. Yeah. But there's just something about France. I just feel like energetically with Mbapé there, it feels kind of like toxic a little bit.

And I go there. I do think squad vibes is is a big thing at this point. Especially it's so hot. You know, to be somewhere hot where someone's pissing you off. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Can we just, they're like, Killian, can you just wind your neck in, mate? I can see it.

You can feel people being like in there and like, shut the fuck up, man. Like just thinking. like that while he's talking, then if you don't have that in some of these other squads, I feel like maybe you stand in the chance. And you've got, like, in Spain, you've got, Laminia Malhe's going to be like, just find it so funny about the different age.

He's like, he goes, I can't, you know, he's going to be like, this place is crazy. They're not letting me in the nightclub. I've been clubbing since I was 13 in Spain. Yeah, that's not a good thing, man. Yeah. But he's also childish. He's like, guys, there's a machine that you get free ice out of in the hallway.

You can just get as much ice as you want. You can put in these buckets. Can I have your bucket so I can have some ice in my room, too? Yeah, Le Mien. Sure. Guys, check out how big this cup of Coca-Cola is. Two liters of Coca-Cola. He's just got, like, photos of him holding just giant American things near his little head.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's like, my mom would never let me have this before bed. Pedri, what about you? He's like, I'm trying to sleep. Yeah. Just shut the fuck up, please. All right, well, that's going to do it for this World Cup roundup. We'll be back to keep talking about all the matches, all the matches.

We'll have some fun guests in store for you as well, people with some, you know, just some different viewpoints, different allegiances when it comes to this World Cup because I'm sure there'll be a lot of disappointed or energized people. Different heights as well. We'll just, we'll measure them before. Make it all work. We'll make it all work.

But yeah, until then, you know where to find us. Jamel, Chris, anything to plug, anything to let people know about. I'm plugging the World Cup. There you go. Wow. Watch that shit. Hey, they could use. They could have used that.

They could have used that. Always with the underdog. That's what I like about you. What about you, Chris? No, just rate and review this thing if you like it. Yeah. Hell yeah. Hey, and get ready because the fever is coming on.

Put your thermometers in your armpits and check regularly. We'll see you then. Bye. Bye-bye. This is Michael Rappaport, and my podcast, the I Am Rappaport Stereo podcast is unlike anyone you've ever heard. If you're looking for strong. opinions about sports, entertainment, politics, pop culture, and whatever else catches my attention,

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