The Herd with Colin Cowherd - What’s Wright - Best Of - LeBron James & Kyrie BACK to Cavs? 76ers in play? + USMNT loss to Belgium reaction, Messi's INSANE comeback

Episode Date: July 12, 2026

All lines provided by Hard Rock Bet.   Nick Wright breaks down where he expects LeBron James to play next NBA season after it was announced he will not be returning to Luka Doncic and the Los Angeles Lakers. Could we see LeBron and Kyrie Irving both returning to the Cleveland Cavaliers? Are the Philadelphia 76ers suddenly in play for LeBron? Later, Nick reacts to the USMNT's loss to Belgium in the Round of 16 of the World Cup. Is this just the ceiling of USA soccer? Then, Nick reacts to Lionel Messi and Argentina's dramatic Round of 16 comeback vs. Egypt and discusses whether VAR has gone too far in soccer. #VolumeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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It just came out. Jeremy, what did you just do? You just sit yourself up for failure. I've never heard you tell this story. I've never told this story. This must have been tucked deep, deep in the Jeremy Lynn file. My name is MC Jen. I'm excited to tell you about laugh but not least.

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Yeah, so last week, Rich Paul unveiled the potential teams that LeBron could be pulling up to her that is interested in. We have the picture for you guys. The top contenders were 76ers, the heat, the Timberwolves, Nuggets, and of course the calves. Outliers, the Warriors, Mavs, Celtics, Spurs, and the Knicks. And Bob Myers is pitching the 76ers. The Shams is reporting Philly and Cleveland, Miami are the top three. So a lot of teams. What do you think about it?

Well, first, leave this whiteboard up and let's just really dive into it for a moment. And let's kind of go from the outside end. All right. So top left of the whiteboard, it just says Stefan Dre. So a couple things there. You know, if I'm Steve Kerr, my feelings are hurt a little bit. I'm like, damn, man, coach you in the Olympics. Like, I don't even get a name written on.

the whiteboard. And it, that to me is a signal to the Warriors. If you want to be in this, you got to do a lot more. You've got to, you know, I'm almost, I feel very confident in saying that if the Warriors had acquired or were able to acquire Anthony Davis, they would be more prominently featured on the whiteboard. So that's them. The Dallas one is hilarious.

Dallas's little section says Dallas and Maasai. So that's Masai Ujiri, their new team president. Underneath it, it does not say Cooper Flagg. It does not say Kyrie Irving. And even though I think Kyrie could be a major part of LeBron's ultimate decision, more on that in a second, it says oil, golf, Macaugh. and Africa. So Macau is the Vegas of Asia.

It's like a little territory that's kind of China, but kind of isn't. And the people that own the Mavs have casinos there. So Dallas and oil is obviously oil money in Dallas. What that says is Dallas would purely

be like a long-term wealth play, not a basketball play at all. Then it says Brad and Tatum that's the Celtics whole draw. Again, Derek White's like, come on, man, I'm a pretty good two-way player. Now,

um, if we again, just go to the teams that don't have really a blowout on here, Spurs just say Spurs and Knicks just say Knicks or NYK. So those teams are not real options. And if the spurs were a real option, oddly,

they kind of took themselves out of it by signing to buy his Harris. What? What do you mean? Just the team and there being no like dots or bullets on it. Well, just like the Spurs and Nix are just set. I don't even know if you have to, like they're just good teams. Spurs, Knicks. Right.

Well, oh, you're saying he doesn't have to explain it. No, I just think, did we? Yeah, we didn't talk about this part about how Rich Paul said he was going to go to the Nix if they didn't win the championship, which. So, I mean, Nick's. fans, be honest, you kind of wish you didn't win the champion. I'm kidding. I know Nick's fans. That's not how you feel. Um, you hear about that late. Uh, it is kind of, had I known that LeBron was going to spend the final couple years of his career in the city where I live and I

could go to all those games. I don't think I would have been rooting so hard for the Knicks in the finals. I got to be totally honest with you. Um, but the spurs and nicks are not realistic options. And I don't think the Warriors are the only team we listed there. that is a realistic option, but probably not as presently constituted. So let's go back to the whiteboard if we could. So there is the Sixers piece of it. Maxie, Edgecombe, Jalen Brown, Embed, with Maxie with a nice little star next to his name. That is, I think what a lot of people believe,

the best basketball fit. Now, that team would not have a lot of depth, and that team, you know, the only other centers on the roster are Hock Pordy, Adam Bona, and Embed obviously is the biggest injury risk, you know, of anybody on this board. Now, they did sign Anford,

Simons for like no money. They did sign Dean Wade. And so I think those are, those are nice signings. And you would feel with LeBron, that's seven solid guys. The eighth man would be Hawk Porthy. So maybe you do have enough depth. I'm very interested in how any of that, not that this should be Demonsay, the defining decision or the defining, you know, peace.

But I'm very curious how any of that would land with Jalen Brown. If Jalen Brown did not like being 1B to Jason Tatum's 1A, he all of a sudden would be, find him, say it again? One C? Maybe even D. Oh, I don't think it's 1C. I think he's just certain nights just flatly number four. The nights where Embed is out there and healthy,

it's like that's Maxie's team plus Embed's there. Oh yeah, the greatest player of all times on the team. And hey, we have the greatest fourth option in the NBA. His name's Jalen Brown. Like that, that is, that's a, that's just a very interesting. new reality, potentially for Jalen Brown. Do you, if there was no emotion attached to it, if there was no nostalgia, nothing about, you know, how LeBron should finish his career, if it were purely and solely about basketball,

do you like Philly the most? Yeah, I would, I would say, they're pretty stacked. I don't see how any other team, I definitely don't like the Warriors. And all the other teams, I guess, are improbable. But, yeah, I'd say that's the best fit. So I think Philly is, I agree with folks, why would he what? Go ahead. Why would he not be the best with the Celtics?

Why does that not work? Well, I don't think right now the Celtics have, first of all, I don't think right now the Celtics have a better, both of them without LeBron, right? I don't think right now the Celtics have a better roster. necessarily than Philly. That's first of all. Second of all, I don't think he's really considering the Celtics.

I think that there is too much history of a real rivalry and like I now, again, I get it. Same thing with the Warriors. Yeah, but no, the Warriors,

well, the Warriors was a real, real rivalry. That's a great point. I, but I don't think there is no one on the Celtics that is anywhere close to Draymond and Steph for, you know what I mean? The relationships he has with Draymond and even the relationship he has with Steph.

There's no one on the Celtics like that. That's fair. But so, okay, so Philly, I think, does make a ton of basketball sense. It's just hard to imagine him finishing his career with, I don't want to call it a random team. but a team that he was never connected to you. Now with that said, back in 2018, Philly is where I was saying, I was encouraging him to go.

Philly is where, when he picked the Lakers where I wanted him to go and I thought he should go. But speaking of random team to finish his career, we'll skip over the heat for now on the whiteboard and go to the Timberwolves, where it just says, Aunt Mello McDaniel Gobert.

That would be just an unbelievable social experiment, pretty stunning to see, and a really weird team. Like just flatly an odd team that needs a forward, and he could add maturity and leadership and, you know, all of, all of that stuff. But I don't think they're a real option. They also, you know, again, they're in a similar spot of Philly of, you'd love their starting five, and then DeSumu, Terence Shannon Jr.,

and then waiting on Dante DiVincenzo, you know, to get back from injury, but it would still feel like they are very thin at Biggs, much like Philly. Now, Gobert is a hell of a lot. lot more durable than Embeded obviously, very, very different players. I don't think Minnesota is a real option. I don't really want to spend a ton of time on Minnesota.

I don't think they are, it would be absolutely gobsmacking if LeBron finishes his career with the Timberwolves. On top of that, keep in mind what Rich Paul has said is that this, at no point as Rich Paul said, this decision is 100% going to be about the best place to win a championship. He wants to win a championship. He wants to compete for a championship. But what he has said is this is going to be about happiness. And he's also mentioned a lot about golf.

So I just don't think Minnesota is where we're going to see LeBron finish his career. Now, the nuggets are a different story in that I do wonder how happy. B. LeB. LeB. LeB. LeB. LeB. LeB. LeBron would be playing with Joker in a very positive way. Like just, in my opinion, the two best passers, arguably since Magic Johnson, the two of the highest basketball IQs ever, and a team that could desperately use LeBron, flip side being, man, oh man, they are really trying to make the entire plane. out of Aaron Gordon on the defensive end of the ball. And so I, now, Josh Tronkey, who's his buddy, owns the team, and Jared Dudley,

who's his buddies on the coaching staff. That probably helps, but I also don't see Denver as all that plausible, which brings us down to a couple teams, along with Philly. The heat and the calves. the heat on the whiteboard simply say Mitchell Wiggins, Janus, Bam. I don't, I think the heat would be fun. I think they would be interesting. Again, it's a team that's like, okay, that starting lineup makes sense,

and then it gets very shaky, you know, the moment after that. Yovic is a, you know, has regressed a bit. Bobby Portis has passed his prime. Tim Hardaway Jr. has been kind of, you know, Pat is bounced around the league for, you know, on minimums or near minimums. And that's really the team. Now, you would have Spoh. You would have Janus. But Janus is at this point not the most durable guy in the world.

And you would wonder if that team would have enough shooting, right? I was just going to say their offense would be pretty crazy. It's just. Correct. It would just be a bunch of guys. attacking the rim and not a lot of spacing yeah and then you have the calves which the calves thing is the most interesting can we go full i i forget can you guys remind me what does i see i can't see because of the graphic and i forgot what it is um the top right what that says hold

let me see if i can the i apologize i had this we did this on tv And I forgot it as well then. What it... Oh, it says Kobe says Dan plus something in Kobe. Let me see if I can... Regardless, if you guys can decipher that and put that in the doc, it would help me out. It's... It also...

Say it again? Okay, don't worry about it. I forget who it says. It's guys connected to the team and guys in the front office as reasons he would want to be there. Weems, who is his high school teammate, who now works with the Cavs. That's a positive. And it says Mitchell Harden, Mobley Allen. And then I think this is interesting.

And this might be more. Oh, Chris Grant and Kobe Altman. Got it. Okay, those are the people that says top right. And then it says no Garland with a minus sign. Because Garland's a clutch guy. Garland's a guy. LeBron Likes and Garland's a guy they traded away.

So here has been, you know, it's been a 15-minute lead-up to this point that I wanted to make, going through the entire whiteboard, DeMonse. I think he is going to go with the caps. I think that another team could swoop in and find a way to sweeten the pot from what the team, going to look like to make him change his mind and I think the way the hang up right now I would imagine for LeBron is thinking long and hard about the fit alongside James Harden and about whether or not he is potentially finding himself in a spot very similar to what he accepted but didn't love with the Lakers, which was, okay, so the face of the franchise number one option,

Luca slash Donovan Mitchell. Fine, so be it. I'll take a backseat to them. But the number two option is a player that I'm better than, but because they can only play one way, I have to take a secondary role to them as well, and that's Austin Reeves slash James Harden. And then all of a sudden I find myself again in this Swiss Army knife role.

I'm not really dictating the offense. How fun is that? Plus, again, Austin, I believe in Austin Reeves long term and a, you know, very different player than James Hardin doesn't have the accolades of Hardin, but also doesn't have the playoff baggage of Hardin. But much like Hardin is, you know, hasn't played his best ball in the playoffs for, you know, for Austin's much smaller sample size. So I think Hardin is the hang up there, which is why, if I were the Cleveland Cavaliers, as I am hoping that some, the warriors don't find a way to trade for Anthony Davis or the Sixers don't find a way to convince LeBron, this is your best fit,

I would be on the phone daily with the Dallas Mavericks and saying, listen, we're going to sign James Hardin. He opted out. We're going to sign James Hardin to some type of deal. You have two years, $82 million left on a contract with Kyrie Irving. That doesn't really fit your timeline. you want to give the car keys to Cooper Flag anyway. What is the type of draft compensation you would like us to attach to James Harden? Plus, probably at a contract a little bit cheaper than the one you're going to be paying Kyrie Irving

to give you a little financial relief, a little future draft equity, maybe way down the road when you know LeBron's not going to be on the team anymore. We can attach it for the year. Donovan Mitchell is going to be making sense. $76 million on his new deal. Maybe you won't think we're going to be good. But how can we turn James Harden into Kyrie? That's what the Cleveland Cavalier should be trying to do.

And now listen. People would love that. It would be kind of a perfect ending. And it would give LeBron and Kyrie the finish they never got that Kyrie has since said he regretted. Now, that team, you would really be. be asking Evan Mowgli and Jared Allen to do a lot of defending. And LeBron, because as bad of a defensive back court as Donovan and Hardin are, at least Hardin is strong and big.

Like Donovan and Kyrie backcourt is tiny and bad defensively. But they would be such a dynamic offense, particularly with LeBron, you know, making a lot of the decisions. That team obviously can win the Eastern Conference, obviously. And then you roll your dice on who comes out of the absolute war zone in the West. And I keep saying this, and I will say it one more time. I do not believe LeBron is making this decision, assuming that next year, this coming year is his final year in the NBA.

I think he is making this decision acknowledging this next year might be his final year in the NBA, but there is a very good chance he's playing two more seasons. I'm going to play a smooth 25 years in the league. And I think looking at Cleveland and saying, give me two bites at the playoffs with this group of guys and see what we can do I think is interesting

and I think that if Cleveland were able to pull off a trade for Kyrie Irving I think that makes it far more doable and go ahead if they didn't get Kyrie Irving don't you think it would be like somewhat of an

understanding if LeBron James ended back up on the Cavs. Like, I don't think it would be him being on the Lakers and being the third option to Luca and AR. Do you think they would naturally, like, kind of, it's Braun, back in Cleveland? Yes. If that move didn't get made. I do think that. No, no, no, no.

I do think that, but I'm just talking about, but then all of a sudden, James Hardin really has very little utility. Like Hardin just doesn't, is not, for all of his playoff issues, Hardin is a pretty reliable, very good regular season player, but the ball's got to be in his hands. And so if all of a sudden the ball's out of Hardin's hands, it's just, you know, it's a big salary spot and a big ego and all of that for a guy that can't do the chameleon role like LeBron did. So it's just not getting the most out of that player's value. it's possible that LeBron signs with the Cavs and they move hard and during the year. But again, hard to have a team be jelling and ready to take off in the postseason if you make a

massive mid-season trade. So right now, I think the Cavs are the favorite. I think the Warriors would have to find a way to trade for Anthony Davis to really get back in the mix. and I am not dismissing the Sixers. I think the Sixers would be weird, but if he was going to go to the Knicks, because it's big market championship drought, the Sixers, whose championship drought is only 10 years shorter than the Knicks was,

I guess is kind of like the JV version of going, for the similar reasons, going to the Knicks. So I'm not going to dismiss the Sixers. All right, I want to get back to the world, Cup. But first, let me remind you guys, today's show is brought to you by our presenting sponsor, Hard Rock Bet, Florida's Sportsbook. The world's biggest soccer tournament is here. Everyone is watching. National Pride is on the line. Superstars are chasing immortality, and for the next month, every match feels like a final. If you haven't tried Hard Rock Bet yet, there's no better time to

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I'm sports journalist Ari Chambers. Hey, what's up, y'all? It's your girl, Sam J. And we're the host of everyone watches women's sports, a new podcast from Together and IHart Women's Sports. Because let's be real. Women's sports is giving us way too much to talk about these days. The highlights, the rivalries, the breakout stars,

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Look, never I've ever been able to talk to nobody. Except with my kids, my kids, I'm my amante.

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with Lele Pons as part of my Cultura Podcast Network on the IHartRadio app,

Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. So historic World Cup run by the USA ended like so many of them have for us before in a loss in the round of 16. What do you think happened out there? We were getting bullied. That was a roughed output.

Yeah. Listen, Brew and I, we didn't really argue. We don't really argue that much. But disagreed about what happened in this game on the TV show this morning. Brew was pretty adamant that Belgium was just that much better than that. the United States and that's what happened. I disagree with that. I do think pretty clearly Belgium was better.

That's obvious. And that I had maybe overrated in my head the level at which the U.S. international team was playing and I may be underrated Belgium. But Belgium hadn't played very well in this tournament. Belgium had a draw against Egypt. Belgium had a draw against Iran. Belgium played awful for 80 plus minutes of a knockout round game against Senegal and then got one late goal due to Lakaku being awesome.

Another late goal due to a disastrous play by the Senegalese goalkeeper. And then they stole it seconds before it went to penalties in extra time. The one game all tournament Belgium had looked dominant was against New Zealand. And it was just an older Belgium team, eight years removed from its golden generation being in their primes. And it seemed there was a reason the United States was slim, but favorites in the game. And so I don't think it was as clear cut simply as, well, we played, finally played a top 10 team in the world. and we got what was coming to us. Because that's not, to me, what happened in yesterday's game.

What happened in Monday night's game was, the moment was too big for our guys. And our back line, which has been this whole tournament, the shakiest part of the team. We went into the tournament, the first team in World Cup history, to have our starting goalkeeper be a goalkeeper from MLS. Our defenders are, you know, either older players or some of our less frontline guys,

you know, compared to some of our attackers on our midfield. And they got exposed and they seemed shook from the opening kick. A minute into the game, Belgium could have scored. eight minutes into the game when they did score, it was simply because it was the soccer version of a group of infielders letting a foul ball drop. Nobody wanted to head the ball out of play. And then what was so devastating was they had an opportunity to steady themselves when one of the absolute revelations of the tournament, Malik Tillman, hits another awesome free kick. It's twice in two games, the very end of the Bosnia game,

and midway through the first half of the round of 16 game, we had a moment that reminds you of the best clubs or the best countries in the world, where you have a free kick specialist, take a direct kick at the top of the box, and doesn't need someone to put a head on the back end of it, Doesn't need some fancy action. Nope. Right over the wall into a spot the keeper can't get it.

I know this one took a deflection, but it was just so awesome. And in that moment, the U.S. could have taken a deep breath. Said, okay, we're here. The crowd's into it. We see the level Belgium's going to play at. We are up to it. We're prepared for it. And now we just have to be the better side for 60 minutes.

of soccer. And instead, within one minute, we allowed them to take the lead again. We trailed in this game for 80 of the 90 minutes. The only moments we didn't trail were minutes zero to nine and I guess 31 to 32. That's it. We trailed for multiple goals for the final 30 minutes of the game. thanks to a yakety sack style cartoonish mistake by our goalkeeper. And we never once seemed to threaten Belgium the way we had been threatening teams all

tournament. And listen, I understand Belgium was a step up in class, a big step up in class. But that is not the full story of what happened yesterday. We got shook by what was in front of us. and by what was in front of us, I don't just mean the opposition. I mean the opportunity. And that's the really, really disappointing part. The really, really disappointing part is for months leading up to this,

I discussed how this tournament, the pivot point of this tournament, of this tournament was going to be whether or not we could break through the glass ceiling of the round of 16. And we're going to get more deep into that later in the show about whether or not this was a success or a failure. But it feels like everyone on the team also felt like that was the pivot point. And they crumbled under that pressure. And it denied that unbelievable Seattle crowd an opportunity to really get into the game, which is as disappointing a part of it as anything else. The fact that that crowd was dying to be a 12th man like Estadio Azteca was for the Mexican side,

even in defeat. on Sunday night and the crowd got nervous a minute into the game because Belgium almost scored the crowd was then extra nervous when the U.S. was

trailing for the first 30 minutes of the game essentially and then for one minute after the Tillman goal they were there and then Belgium went right back and took it and Demandze you're just not going to have another opportunity opportunity like this the next time the earth like this is going to sound funny but it's true

the next time the earliest possible chance the u.s is going to have for another home world cup you will be my age so and so like you're just i won't be there no they definitely won't be there. I mean, the World Cup in four years is in Spain, Portugal, Morocco. Now, I will say FIFA just doing something a little tricky because they're supposed to kind of rotate continents, right? So next year's World Cup, instead of just being in Spain or being in Spain and Portugal, it's Spain, Portugal, and Morocco the way this one was the U.S. Canada and Mexico, okay? So that checks off Europe and Africa, because Morocco's in Africa. But then they are also doing 100 anniversary one-off matches, I believe in Uruguay, Brazil, and Argentina.

One match in each country. Well, that checks off South America. The next world, so just the next World Cup gives you Europe, Africa, and South America as done. They did it. The next World Cup is already on the books in Saudi Arabia. So that checks off Asia. So in theory, they could as early as 2038 give another one to the United States. And the United States has done a brilliant job hosting the games.

And we do have the best stadiums in the world. So maybe we'll get it again sooner than we probably should. But that's still 12 years out. and so all these, you know what I mean? Almost all these guys, yeah, we'll be gone. All right, let's do some follow-ups here before we get to the other stuff. So after the games, Lottin said that that was a reality check for Team USA. So what do you think that our reality is?

Our reality right now is that the quarterfinals is our absolute ceiling. and the round of 16 is playing to our seat. Our reality check right now is there is, we are nowhere close to being a firmly entrenched top 10 nation, right? Like, we are closer to the teams that are ranked in the 20, like Iran, Norway, Senegal, Uruguay, Austria, Egypt, then the teams that are ranked in the low teams, like, well, in Mexico I think we're right in line with,

but in Mexico right now is technically 10, but they've moved up quite a bit during this tournament. Columbia, Germany, Croatia, Italy, which plays great except for when it comes to making the World Cup. And we do feel like we are leaps and bounds away from teams firmly in the top 10, like Spain and England. And even though they didn't have a good showing of this World Cup and they haven't had a great showing of the World Cup in years, Brazil. Brazil's been disappointing by Brazil's standards. Prior to this year, they make the quarters every single year of the World Cup.

That's been, you know, our dream is to make the quarters repeatedly. So I do think that is That is the reality of it But that doesn't mean We couldn't have won Monday night Belgium Again has not been They have been far from unbeatable

In this tournament They are past what was You know they're an aging team that has passed Their version of the Golden Generation And so I think Zlatan, you know, Bruce said on the TV show, we all got drunk on sports patriotism. Yes and no. Like, I understand that the Vegas odds are tilted, you know, colored a bit by the fact that so many Americans wanted to bet on the U.S. but the international sports books also had this game as a coin flip slightly leaning to the United States.

It was not blind. It might have been drunk in, you know, patriotic optimism that was fueling the 30 to 1 U.S. to win the tournament vets. It was not drunk in U.S. optimism that installed the U.S. as slight, but favorites yesterday. and and here's the other piece of it. Like, there have not been many. Once we have gotten to the knockout rounds, there just haven't been many walkovers. Like, I'm just going to go backwards through the games. Today's Egypt-Argentina game, a freaking classic.

That Egypt was as Argentina in the rankings is two. Egypt in the rankings is 24. So, you know, we are 16, Norway or Belgium, pardon me, is 8. So we are far closer to Belgium than Egypt is to Argentina. Egypt was up to nothing in that game at the 78 minute mark. And that game ended up being a classic. Sunday night, Brazil, Norway. It's zero Sunday afternoon.

Norway is, again, a bell. as far in the rankings from Brazil as the U.S. is from Belgium. Norway won. Mexico, England, was a classic. That England won three to two. France played Paraguay. That game was one-nothing on a France penalty kick. Now again, Paraguay played a particular style to make that happen, but it was close. Morocco played Canada. Yes, that ended three-nobes. But that game was zero-zero at halftime and won nothing in the 78th minute. Again, Argentina, Cape Verde, 3-2 in extra time. Columbia, Ghana was a one-nothing game.

Australia, Egypt, went to penalty kicks. The last actual walkover and maybe the only walkover of the knockout, round was Spain annihilating Austria. And again, Spain went into this tournament, the number one team in the world, and Austria is outside of the top 20. There just haven't been these dominating, embarrassing blowouts in the knockout round. England against D.R. Congo was a game England had to pull out of the fire. Belgium against Senegal was a game Belgium had to pull out of the fire.

Shoot, Bosnia, Ertskavinia was us. What we did to them was one of the bigger blowouts. Yes, France killed Sweden, Spain killed Austria. But those are the two best teams in the tournament probably. Just so disappointing. All right, let's go to the other folks. This one about the coach. Yeah, so Portchitino has been a little bit of a, of a jury.

for the squad. He's also up for a new contract. Do you believe that he's the guy for the job? Listen, we had Darren Fletcher, who's right now actually calling the game that's on right now. It was Switzerland, Columbia, in Vancouver. We had him on, and he was adamant that the U.S. should do everything they can to keep Petitino, and I agree. I understand that ultimately this tournament was not a rousing success.

and we'll get more into that layer. But I really like the guy. I think he has the right mentality. And I think you want to see what a full cycle, because they hired him late, what him being able to put his hands on this team for a full cycle would really mean. I think they're paying him $6 million a year. And like the soccer jobs de Monsei are crazy.

And like, like the, Six million years. Like the coaching. No, that's not what I mean. The turnover in them as far as if you coach a Premier League team, like you can coach for two years and be fired. Like they just, there is not a lot of job security is what I'm trying to say. So for him, the ability to play or to coach and know he's going to have this job

through the next World Cup, I think I would think would be really attractive to them. So I really hope that we're able to hold on to them. Boost Mobile, proving you don't have to overpay for great wireless, unlocked the savings with $25 a month forever, unlimited plan, permanent price with no contracts and no price hikes. You can keep your phone and your number, but you save up to $600 a year compared to the major carrier.

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In 2026, FIFA World Cup. The knockout stage. Every match, every moment. Listen on TSN Radio. Join the globe. On the road to the July 19th final. 2026 FIFA World Cup. Stream it all live on TSN Radio.

Available on IHeart Radio. What's up, fam? I'm sports journalist Ari Chambers. Hey, what's up y'all? It's your girl, Sam J. And we're the host of everyone watches women's sports, a new podcast from Together and IHeart Women's Sports. Because let's be real.

Women's sports is giving us way too much to talk about these days. The highlights, the rivalries, the breakout stars, the moments to take over your entire timeline. And the conversations that start during the game and somehow keep going all week. Every week we're breaking down the biggest stories across women's sports. We'll give you our takes, our debates, and probably a few disagreements. We'll talk to athletes, celebrate big moments and get into what's happening on and off the field, court, track, and beyond. Because we're not just interested in what happened. We're interested in why everyone's talking about it. Because everyone Watches Women's Sports.

So if you're already a fan, you're just getting into the game, there's a seat for you right here. Listen to everyone watches women's sports. On the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. My first guest is Harris Houghton, Shakira, Luke and Yerrin,

Samira and Gracie. I'm so excited. On the bouncy bed. You have surprises, many surprises. Welcome to Sweet 305, where the group chat comes to life. What up? It's like a way to say like,

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Listen to Sweet 305 with Lelepons as part of my Coulthura podcast network on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. After a sneak-in-win from Cape Verde, Argentina escapes with another win by Egypt by scoring three goals and 13 minutes to go up three-two. So you had Argentina with the largest slice of World Cup title pie. What are you feeling about that now? Oh, I actually, here's the reason for Arkansas. Argentina having the biggest slice, and I still would have them with the biggest slice,

is not because necessarily I think they're the best team, but it's because they have the clearest path. And Spain and the three best teams in the tournament are Argentina, France, and Spain. And you can argue that of those three teams, Argentina's played the worst. I'm not as concerned about that. Because Spain and France are on the same side of the bracket. And just to get there, by the way, Spain has to get through a Belgium team that just played the best game it's played all tournament. France has to get through a Moroccan team that the only team that's beaten Morocco in

the World Cup the last two years of. consequence is France. Morocco has beaten everyone else they have played that matters, or at least drawn with them, and Morocco's a legitimate top eight team in the nation, in the world. So it's just the path is so much clearer for Argentina. Has Argentina looked unbeatable? Far from it. Flipside, though, is this. They were down two at the 75th minute. And yeah, you didn't feel great about it, but you did not think they were dead. And that's because they, and I have been hesitant to say this because I am maybe sometimes when it comes to historical rankings, I go, I almost go counter to the mainstream in, I think people are too dismissive of the historical legends. and maybe I pay a little too much reverence to the historical legends that I didn't see play.

But I have been pretty firm that the Messi-Rinaldo debate while fun, it's figure out who you think's the best of those two guys over the years, and then they can start competing with Pele for greatest ever. I no longer feel that way. I think Messi's pretty clearly the greatest soccer player ever, and somehow he is still the best player in the tournament and the scariest player in the tournament and amongst his teammates

maybe the most beloved player in the tournament and so you have this perfect storm of any time you're playing Argentina and you have a lead or you are in the game I think for the opponent, there is a in the back of their head, oh man, is Messi going to do it to us? Messi's probably going to do it to us.

What's Messi going to do? And for the Argentina teammates, I think a lack of getting rattled because they're like, we've got Messi plus an extra gear they can get to of, we can't let this be Messi's last game. game. We don't, we can't let him go out like this. And it's just all and then on top of all that De Manzay, then you also have messy doing unbelievable shit. Just just doing truly like God level stuff.

And and so I just think they're going to be such a hard team to be and their path they have had of the eight teams left. The easiest path here. They do have of the. the eight teams left, the easiest quarterfinal matchup. And then in the semis, they either play England and England team that for 60 years, in the Euros, which is, if you're not a huge soccer fan, the Euros is the World Cup for just Europe. It's the biggest, it's a every four-year international soccer tournament just amongst the European nation. So it's the biggest trophy a European nation can win is the World Cup. The second biggest trophy by far is the Euros.

England's never won the Euros. Last two euros, though, with this, a very similar group of guys in 2020 and 2024, they went to the final. They lost in 2020 NPKs. I think they lost, I'm going to check real quick, in 2024 NPKs as well. Um, no, they just lost two one to Spain. Pardon me. They didn't, the, that game, when were the goals scored in that game? I was talking about this this morning and now I forgot.

Oh, yeah, no, it wasn't in BKs, but they gave up the game winning goal in the 86th minute. So England, which went to the semis of the World Cup, a couple World Cups ago, um, hasn't won a World Cup in 60 years, has never won a Euros. that team so everyone on the English team if that's your game in the semis it's the biggest game in all of their lives meanwhile if you're messy in Argentina you're like yeah I mean we played in a shootout in the world cup final we were down to nothing in the 78th minute a few days ago like we're they are not going to be nervous and I have no idea who's going to come out out of the left side of the bracket.

Spain hasn't allowed a goal yet this tournament. That seems pretty good. Spain hasn't lost a match in 90 minutes in like 36 games. France seemingly, except for Rians Paraguay, can score three or four goals anytime they want. That seems pretty good. France, in the last three World Cups to Monza, France, they have played 19 games in the last three World Cup.

Cups. Two of them were meaningless final group stage games when they've already clenched the group. So I'm going to throw those games out. You know what? I like the U.S. is game against Turkey, A, where you've clenched the group, you don't need it, throw it out. Those other 17 games for France in the last three World Cups, they have 16 wins and one draw, which turned into a loss. And that was the World Cup final against Argentina, a three, three loss in four. penalties. France won the tournament in 2018. I, yeah, won the tournament in 2018, lost in the final in 2022, and then this year they've been on absolutely unbelievable.

And so I, I'm not arguing that Argentina is better than France. I'm simply arguing that France has a brutal game tomorrow that I'm going to in Boston. France, Morocco. Morocco, on the other hand, in the last two World Cups, the only game they've lost is, of consequence, is to France in the semis last year. And Spain has a Belgian team. We already talked about that. So I just think Argentina's path is pretty,

open and I what messy's doing is incomprehensible to score a goal in six straight knockout round games to now have like I I don't have the not like I think he now has you know what I'm just going to I'm just going to look it up real quick hold on one second I want to get this right because Messi now has the record for most goals in World Cup history by a lot. But that is a record that he has set almost out of nowhere. He was not some like all-time great World Cup performer. He had won a golden ball, but he was criticized by people in Argentina, even when he won the golden ball, the year they lost in the final.

and this was the one thing that, like, wasn't on his resume. He hadn't raised a trophy for the national team. And now over the last five years, they just, they win COPA every time and they've won the World Cup. But you, at the start of, so he scored one, two, three, four, five, six. He scored six goals. Oh, no, hold on. Let me count this again. Sorry, this is bad podcasting, but I got to do it.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven goals in last year's World Cup. In this year's World Cup, he scored three in the first game, we're at 10, two in the second game, we're at 12, and then one in each. So he has scored 15 goals in the last two World Cups, which is a total of... 12 games. He has 15 goals in the last 12 World Cup games. Prior to this World Cup starting, the record for most goals in World Cup history was 16 by Miroslav Gloucelsam.

Messi has 15 in his last 12 World Cup games. Which means because he has 21 now for his career. He only had six total goals. It is four World Cup games prior to this one. He, it's just in his last 12 World Cup games, he has scored in, this is right, right? Yeah. He has scored in every game except for the group stage game against Poland in 2022. He has scored in six consecutive knockout round games.

just what he's doing at 39 is impossible but we're watching it and it's it's why it's why i think they can win the tournament um have more goals if he had those all right let's do some do you think that somebody else should kick them so that's an interesting one no because here's the deal you you very well might have one of one of these next few games come down to actual penalty kicks like end of game penalty kicks yeah messy's got to be one of your five there and if you i don't think you can screw with his head by having him removed is your go-to penalty kick guy i also think it is absurd pressure to ask anyone else on the team like hey we're replacing messy with you go knock in these penalty kicks

But he has missed two in a row badly. And both in big spots early in games. All right. So you want to talk VAR for a second? Yeah. So VR took off an Egyptian goal. Have we lost the plot with the replay here? So you guys know how I feel about this.

Replay is a good idea in sports that is never a... Every one starts with good intentions with replay. we are going to use it only to correct clear and obvious errors and then people can't help themselves they want to use it for anything and everything and it makes officials on the field worse it makes the viewing experience worse it does not it can cause as many problems as it solves and I have been consistent on this for my entirety of my broadcast career, just get rid of it entirely. For every one, oh my God, that was such an obvious, clear mistake by the reps.

It would be so easy to fix with replay. For every one of those, we have three. What the hell are they? What? They're going back 20 seconds. They're saying where replay is robbing us of these great moments, I'm not convinced they are actually getting it right. It is making referees feel like they have a safety blanket, so they're not quite as good.

Referees across all sports have the ability to set the tone on what they're going to call and what they're not going to call early in a game and then keep that standard throughout the game. replay has no, no regard for that. It is, it slows, it not only slows the game down literally, but it also takes frame by frame pieces of evidence to determine what did or didn't happen in a full speed sport, a full speed sports. it doesn't make the product better and it is it doesn't actually make more things right and this is the example i have used forever i will use it again and again and again but for all of oh i'll

switch it to basketball for a moment for every basketball game that was played for a hundred years and for every basketball game that is played currently that is not televised if i am holding the ball or if i go up for a shot and you block it and it goes out of bounds for all of history and in every Park or high school in America that is out on you in 99.9% of basketball games played in human history I go up for a shot you come over and block it it's out on you due to the advent of replay we have learned that actually technically if you slow it down enough a lot of those shots while you blocked it, the last thing it touched was the tip of my finger,

which makes it out on me. And my contention is switching that to out on me is not getting it right. It is using replay to get it wrong. Like, oh, well, now we can see it. And this, if everywhere the game is played, it is, everyone agrees.

It's not like it's a subject of argument. that this is my ball and then the technology changes it to your ball that is not getting it right for every baseball game ever played for a hundred years and every baseball game that is played that is not televised if i try to steal second and you catcher throws the second basement and I beat the tag, I'm safe. If because of replay, we see that after being safe, a half second after the tag was applied, for a tenth of a second,

my body was not touching the bag, even though I was over the bag the whole time, but I literally was hovering over for a tenth of a second, calling me out does not make it right. It makes it wrong. And in every soccer game that's been played for a hundred years, and every soccer game that is played that is not on television, if I steal the ball from you on near my own goal line,

and the referee does not call a foul, and then I drive the length of the field and score a goal. That goal stands and realizing that 16 seconds prior when I stole the ball and the refs saw it and let it go, turning that into a foul is not getting it right. Just like if you're a Croatian fan, if there is a cross into the box and I am on sides, And I run for the cross and in route to the ball getting to me, it doesn't change course, it doesn't veer, it doesn't bounce,

it grazes off a teammate of mine's hair while I'm making my run for the ball. For every soccer game in history and every soccer match that has played that isn't on TV, that's a good goal. And using technology to realize it, It actually grazed somebody's hair, which technically makes you off sides, is not getting it right. So in a quest to get things right, we have made the officiating less consistent. We have slowed the games down. We have stopped rewarding as much the better condition teams because there is more stoppages and more times to get rest.

There are all these negatives, and you are not getting more things right. So I just hate it. and I hate it across sports, and I have been very, very consistent on that, and maybe this World Cup will get people on my side. I just really, really can't stand it. And I feel, listen, I feel for Egypt. They did get another goal right after that,

and so I'm not certainly would have gotten that third goal they got if the second goal hadn't been called off. I don't know. but I feel for Egypt. What's up, fam, it's sports journalist Ari Chambers. Hey, what's up, y'all? It's your girl, Sam J. And we're the hosts of Everyone Watches Women's Sports,

a new podcast from Together. We're breaking down the biggest headlines, the viral moments, and the stories everyone's talking about across women's sports. From game-changing performances to culture-shifting conversations, we'll give you our takes,

our debates, and a few laughs along the way. Because everyone watches women's sports. Listen to everyone watches women's sports. On the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. My first guest is Terrence Hilton, Shakira, Luke, and Yerrin. You have surprises? Many surprises.

Welcome to the Sweet 305 podcast where the group check comes to life. What a! You're the only person I know that loves a yellow starburst. It's lemonade. This is Sweet 305. Here, oversharing is encouraged. Listen to Sweet 305 with Lele Pons on the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcast. or wherever you get your podcasts.

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