Sunset SC Ep.19/The US Beats Senegal, World Cup Preview: Part 2 – Groups E, F, G, H

Speaker 1: Welcome. Welcome. Welcome back to another episode of the Sunset Soccer Club. I'm Tyler Kern alongside Arman Kafai. We are bringing you in this episode the preview for groups e, f, g, and h. We did a, b, c, and d on a previous episode. So if you missed that, make sure to go back in the feed and check out that episode and check out those previews of those groups. And while you're there, if you're not already subscribed, subscribe to the podcast wherever you get your podcast, wherever you're listening to this today, just reach over and hit the subscribe button. It would be lovely, whether that's YouTube or Spotify or Apple Podcasts or wherever the hell else you might be. Thank you for tuning in. We are, I mean, just on the doorstep of the World Cup. The World Cup starts next week, which is wild ass. Arman, how are doing, man?

Speaker 2: I'm doing good. We're nine days away. June 11. Well, as recorded, we're nine days away. I don't know when, Yvonne is gonna pump this out. But, yeah, we are we're right on the you're took the words out my mouth. We're right on the doorstep. It's exciting time to be a soccer fan across, you know, especially in The US with all the games coming up and all the action about to go on. So super exciting, but it's also kind of a toxic time too with The US Men's National Team as a whole. I mean, I know we're about to jump in and, I think, touch upon their friendly against Senegal. But, you know, the reports that Poch Tino had contact with AC Milan, I know that was a big talk, but I don't think we had a chance to talk about because it happened in between our episodes.

Speaker 1: Yeah. Does that bother you at all?

Speaker 2: No. I don't care.

Speaker 1: It Yeah. Some people some people were a little up in arms about this. The report is that the current head coach of the US men's national team, Mauricio Pochettino, met with representatives from AC Milan who has a coach head coaching opening, a managerial opening, post World Cup, Milan Historic Club in Italy. It's no surprise, I don't think, to anybody that Pochettino's not gonna stay in this job after the World Cup. I thought everybody kinda knew he was a mercenary. I've tried to make myself care about this story because

Speaker 2: It makes for better content?

Speaker 1: I guess so. And I saw other people outraged about it, and I was like, should I be outraged about it? You start to question your own emotions about it, and the more I thought about it, the more I was like, no, I don't care. It doesn't matter. Like, we already knew this.

Speaker 2: Yeah. Right? It's like and that's the thing, like, with with, like, like, soccer as a whole. Right? Like, these things happen. I I was talking about someone. Why do you think Jesse Marsh got extension to through twenty thirty World Cup? You think it was out of goodwill? He was doing a good job? No. He had interest, and Canada wanted to keep him within Canada, like, with national team. So, I mean, that fact that Puccino has some sort of interest, I think it's it's a part of the game. It's fine. You know? Like, if I was if I had my agent and I was out of a job, I'd be like, yo. Talk to people. Let's see what's going on after World Cup. Does it deviate my focus in the World Cup, though? No. PostNL's a really like, we can get we can shit on PostNL all you want on other things, on the tactical things, on his experimentation, all that stuff. But he's a prideful guy, and he cares about these things. What And I think a lot of people don't understand is a lot of, you know, former players, you know, coaches that come from South America, which is a very prideful Mhmm. Continent. There's country and and the soccer is a very powerful thing for them there. They are not gonna half ass the World Cup, and they're not gonna go through and be like, oh, well, I don't have a job. I don't care. That's not how this works. I think people for some reason think that this isn't like you or I if we have a job and, oh we have a new job, we're gonna check out of our job or whatever. No, this is like the world stage in arguably something that probably Pusheen has wanted to coach in in some capacity in some point just to try it out, to do something different. So I I don't care about it, man. People wanna make it a big deal about it, and people love crying about Pochettino. Honestly, it's a little ridiculous because, again, cry about his on the field stuff, cry about his roster, cry about how he sets up his team. Don't cry about stuff that every coach will every coach does. He just made him just, like, hide it in a way that other coaches may do a better job of doing.

Speaker 1: Yeah. No. That's that's absolutely right. And to me, think the fact that it didn't come as a surprise is also part of this. Right? Like, I didn't I wouldn't want to start a second cycle, a second World Cup cycle with the same manager anyways, no matter how good we do in this World Cup. So it's it's fine. It's fine. It's to me, it's it's not a major deal. I think you're absolutely right. He's he's coaching one of the host nations in a home World Cup. Like, his his focus is gonna be there when it's when it's time to be there, and I'm I'm not worried about it at all. Speaking of the US men's national team, they played a played a friendly we're recording this on Tuesday. They played a friendly on Sunday, a tune up match against Senegal that they won three to two. Overall, I came away really impressed by the way The US played in this match. And there's varying degrees of, of opinion in terms of whether or not these tune up games, like, actually matter? Like, should this make you feel better or worse about the US men's national team, or does it matter at all? Like, if they go out and lose four nothing to Germany, does it matter to the world to to their chances whatsoever in the World Cup? And did the fact that they looked good against Senegal matter whatsoever? What do you think about that, Arman? And where do you kind of land on how much, like, a match like this actually, like, means in the grand scheme of things?

Speaker 2: I don't think the result matters as much. I think the ideas that you see from the match matter. It's like preseason. Right? I know it's really funny. Like, a lot of people, like, will see I mean, I'll give an example. Like, back in 2018 when I was covering FC Dallas, I saw this kid in preseason, and I was like, man, this guy is a killer. He's amazing. He's an awesome I remember his name was like, Amir Sesadovid or something. He's a second round pick, the draft, like, all

Speaker 1: this stuff. The kid from SMU. Right?

Speaker 2: Something like Grand Canyon University. I remember all of it then.

Speaker 1: Oh, okay.

Speaker 2: Because this is when I realized I don't care about these things anymore, and I'm only gonna watch her patterns. The guy played two professional games. Yeah. And it wasn't was in the USL. The this is, like, preseason. I think Bob Bradley said it on a podcast really well where he talks about where you're not gonna show all your cards during these tune up games. You're gonna keep tinkering, trying ideas, trying this, trying that, trying out players fit, and seeing if the ideas make sense on the field and how you can implement that as a whole. I think, TK, for me, like, I just don't like, again, the result doesn't really matter for me. Like, do you remember who The US played leading up to a twenty twenty two World Cup? I don't.

Speaker 1: No. I remember the matches for whatever reason, I remember the matches leading up to the twenty fourteen World Cup really, really well. I don't

Speaker 2: I don't remember anything about 2022. I hope I don't remember 2014. And, like, for me, it's all about do again, do the ideas that you're playing on the field make sense? And Yeah. Me, when we what we saw from on Sunday was a guy like Ricardo Pepe making the most of his opportunity at forward starting over flow ball with who who I think I think you're gonna touch upon that quite a bit. Him pairing with Pulisic really well. We saw Sergio Dez play really well. We saw a lot of pieces, like, play really well together, and I think that's the encouraging thing to take from this against a good arguably, one of the best teams in Africa, if not the best team in Africa made behind Morocco in the semi

Speaker 1: I enjoyed the performance a lot. I think there were a lot of things to take away from it in terms of, like, what The US what you can hope for The US to do in the matches in the World Cup. And one of the biggest ones was Pulisic just being, like, a cog in the offense rather than being, like, the thing that everything has to flow through. And so I thought that was phenomenal to see. He was, the guy finishing off moves, but not being the guy that was, like, demanding the ball at all times because sometimes he does that, drops way too far into the midfield, clogs it all up, takes up too much space, ends up trying to take on, like, six guys off the dribble. And instead, he just needs to be a guy that, like, allows the play to happen around him and then, like, is a finishing piece or a final piece to, like, a really good attacking move. And in this case, like, he and Ricardo Pepe did combine really, really well, in this game. I thought the way that Pepe, like, kind of moves in the channels is different than what you get from Flo Balogun. And in this case, I thought Pulisic, like, running off of some of, like, Pepe's moves and the way that Pepe, like, drew defenders away and then was able to, like, play Pulisic in in different points, thought was really encouraging and something that I don't think we really saw too much of Vakarno Pepe Pepe doing in his FC Dallas days, and so it shows some growth on his part, and I think that's exciting. So I thought there were some patterns of play there that you could certainly see replicated once we get to the World Cup. So I loved what I saw from Pepe. I thought it was just important to see Pulisic, like, put the ball in the back of the net at a certain point. Like

Speaker 2: Hey. Don't worry. I I thought it was a made up narrative that he was bad. It's alright. I'm I'm sorry. I saw I saw that kind of revisionist stuff, and it's like, fuck. Like, okay. Regardless of what he's safe for AC Milan and stuff like that, his u in in the US men's national team, like, uniform, he was he struggled in those two friendlies, whether we like it or whether we like it or not, and we need to see a goal. And I thought his performance was really good, and it felt like a weight was lifted off his shoulders when he scored. Yeah. His celebration, it was a lot more than I just scored a goal. It was, okay. This is off my back. I finally see the ball go in the back of the net.

Speaker 1: Yeah. I I think it was important to have just something go in the back of the net for him before the World Cup came around because you're right. Like, total kind of monkey off your back kind of situation. And we know he's a really streaky player who will go in and out of form. And, like, there was that summer I I guess it was summer twenty twenty because it was COVID, when he was at Chelsea where he was just, like, unreal, in the Premier League against, like, the best defenders in the world. And then first half of this season for AC Milan, just, like, absolutely unplayable, like, one of the better attackers in all of Italy. And then since then, just completely dried up. And so I think, like, showing any sort of form or anything along those lines heading into the World Cup for Pulisic to me is an encouraging thing. The only negative I'll point out, like, there was like, after halftime, I mean, 10 out of 11 players were changed out at halftime. The only player that stuck around for the second half was Seb Burhalter, and he came off after, like, ten or fifteen minutes. And so it's hard to take too much away when you're you're, like, making wholesale changes like that and, like, basically swapping out the entire team. But Miles Robinson looked, I thought, really bad and had just, a really bad sequence on one of Senegal's goals. And, for a guy that, like, I didn't think should really be included in the roster to begin with, that, like, certainly stuck out like a

Speaker 2: That goal was really really horrible, man. Horrible. I don't know what he was trying to do there. Just a weird back pass, got deflected, and then after that, Chris Brady was kind of, like, screwed at that point. I thought there was just a couple of many defensive breakdowns that I was worried I was a little worried about. But, again, liked the way the US played in the second half. I liked the way Balogain played. Really liked

Speaker 1: I actually thought Malik Tillman was better than maybe I gave him credit for in the past.

Speaker 2: I thought Wale was great too in moments. Again, Dest is such an interesting player, TK. Yeah. And, like, like, he is I wanna be very careful I'm about to say. He changes his team in a way that I don't think any player does. Like, just the dynamic that he brings going forward and the creativity and kind of the Mhmm. The kind of goal he has to make these runs inside the box. Like, was it the first goal? It was the first goal. It was through Dest. That's your right wing back making that run centrally and finishing that ball from Pulisic. Your right wing back. How many of those do you see often do that? Not many. So for me, I was really impressed by Dest and what he could bring. And, again, this, I think, allows for pushing to have a couple more options. Right? Like

Speaker 1: Yeah.

Speaker 2: You now have Pepe, and can you play Pepe and Balogain together? Is there a moment where you if you're chasing a game, could you play both of them together up top? I think we saw that that could be a possibility without Pepe who's kinda dropping in and being able to connect with other guys up top. Okay. Who's gonna be your wingback? How does Ouya fit in? How do all these players fit? And I think the more decisions Mauricio Pochino has to make, I think the better. Because I think competition that makes things more fun and makes things more exciting. But, again, I'm just looking for ideas. If they get killed by Germany seven o, I won't care. As bad as that sounds, that's just my mentality through preseason and stuff like that where you just like, again, this is a preseason going into the World Cup. You're not gonna show your cards. You're not gonna show Paraguay how you're gonna set up, and you're not gonna show Australia how you're gonna set up, and you're for sure not gonna show Turkey how you're gonna set up. So

Speaker 1: Well, I think I think it's important to, like, say something like that on a podcast like this where I don't always assume that everybody that's gonna be listening or watching this this episode has a deep level of, like, soccer knowledge going into this or, like, even just how to set up, like, for a tournament like this. Like, I think it would be really natural if you aren't following soccer day in, day out, or been through a number of these World Cup cycles in the past. I think it would be natural to if The US were to get absolutely smashed by Germany to just say, like, oh, well, okay. Like, this is pretty typical. We suck. This World Cup's gonna be a failure sort of situation. So I think it's important to say, like, you're looking for, like, themes. You're looking for ideas and, like you said, patterns and things like that that you can take away from these matches. And it's not so much the score line as much as it is, like, how are pieces fitting together and how can you see this, like, building once, like, it is an actual competitive match. So I think those are important.

Speaker 2: Like, that's one thing I'd caution everyone. Just don't get too high and don't get too low on these because this is quite literally a preseason run until you hit the World Cup. And, you could see teams beating some teams five, six o, and then go into World Cup and struggle. Doesn't like, it doesn't matter. Right? Like, you just need to make sure that the ideas and concepts they're putting into place are being executed, whether that's in the formation that you want or in alternate settings as well too. Maybe you're setting up, okay. Hey. We know this team is gonna for example, against Germany, the US will not have the ball. The US will probably they'll have less possession more than likely against Germany. Okay. How do you set up against a team? You can take this knowledge into maybe a knockout stage game that, hey. They wanna dictate the ball. Do we sit back? Do we try to challenge them to be the protagonist of the match? How do we set up in that situation? These are all situational things that I think are great tests. I think these two friends are great tests from US soccer to put out and say, hey, how do we set up against these guys? What can we do? You know, is there situational things to be to be aware of? And I think that's the most important thing people take should take away of, not the fact that US beat Senegal two. Sure. Great result. It was awesome, but I think the more encouraging thing was we were consistency patterns of dangerous play going forward, you know, in the first and the second half.

Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. That's right. Even with different personnel. So, yeah, the US plays Germany. You know what? I don't have the schedule for that pulled up. Do you happen to know when that came from

Speaker 2: 01:30 central in Chicago.

Speaker 1: 01:30 central in Chicago on Saturday, June 6. Be the last time to see the US men's national team before the World Cup gets started. Also, before we get to our World Cup previews, PSG won the Champions League on Saturday over Arsenal in penalties. It was a one one, match. Went through extra time, went all the way to penalties, and PSG came out on top. Back to back champions league winners, feel slightly bummed for arsenal, but not terribly bummed. I thought PSG was

Speaker 2: great. Man.

Speaker 1: Yeah. It's

Speaker 2: I get it. I understand why they set up, and I get the way that they do. But at least try to be the protagonist in the match. I think there's a stat at one point in the game where it was like, you have the like, PSG had 250 passes. Like Arsenal's 40. I get it. It's stylistic. I I I worked in saga. Right? Like like, I think we both understand saga too. Like, to a point to where it's like, we know why teams step the way that they do. Yeah. But at the same time, it's just like, please. And, also, I hate extra time. Do we like, like, I wish and and in a perfect world and a good friend of the show, John Arnold, sold me on this idea. There shouldn't be extra like, okay. In the setting of the Champions League, makes total sense. The final makes total sense.

Speaker 1: Yeah.

Speaker 2: But I think any extra time before the semifinal and final of a tournament should be abolished. And

Speaker 1: it should agree. Just go straight to penalties.

Speaker 2: Exactly. So you incentivize both teams to go for it in those ninety minutes, and then you have, I think, great action, like, during those games versus this slog that we had to go through. I mean, again, it wouldn't change much in this year's championship example, but just overall, I just I dislike extra time.

Speaker 1: Yeah. No. I'm I'm I'm with you. It is, quite often a slog. It was in this game also. It got to penalties. PSG ends up coming out on top after Gabrielle skies the final penalty for arsenal. Yeah. Just well well over. Too much too much messing about by some of these penalty kickers. Also, what a

Speaker 2: mistake they made having their Premier League, what's it called, celebration the day after a Champions League celebration or the, I guess, Champions League game because all those guys were bummed as that bus is just driving through London. All those guys were bummed. Kind of an own goal right there. I don't know.

Speaker 1: Yeah. You can do better. You can do better, Arsenal. Alright. That kinda does it for news and things like that. There's obviously a lot of stuff we're not covering here, but we gotta get to our World Cup previews. So without further ado, this is groups e, f, g, and h. We'll finish this up next week. Let's dive in to group e. Arman, you ready?

Speaker 2: I'm always ready.

Speaker 1: Let's do this. Group e consists of Germany, Curacao, Ivory Coast, and Ecuador. Germany is one of the, like, historic teams in, in world soccer. They've won this thing four times. Obviously, they were, separate between, East Germany and West Germany for three of those four, World Cup titles, but they played the most matches Germany has out of ever any nation, in World Cup history. They come into this World Cup ranked tenth in the FIFA rankings. Now the FIFA rankings are largely bullshit. Like, how how they're figured out, who the hell knows. But it is kinda surprising that they are that one.

Speaker 2: Dropped a few games, though, that was kinda, like, in qualification and stuff like that.

Speaker 1: Yeah. But still, it's just surprising. Like, it's Germany. Like, if Yeah.

Speaker 2: Exactly. Like

Speaker 1: yeah. Like, top five team always. Some notable players, Florian Wirtz, who many of you might know from Liverpool this past season did not have a great season with Liverpool. But at Bayer Leverkusen, he was incredible, and I'm excited to see him playing for Germany. Jamal Musiala as well plays, also an attacking midfield kind of role, for Bayern Munich. Manuel Neuer came out of retirement, 40 year old Manuel Neuer. He's two years older than the man coaching, the German national team, Julian Nagelsmann. And I think that's the the interesting thing about this German team is being managed by Julian Nagelsmann, who's been a wonderkid and then coached in a lot of different places now in his career, but for a long time has just been thought of as, like, a tactical thinker. And I'm curious to see what he's able to do with this collection of German players. Did you wanna hop in on that, Arman, or we keep rolling?

Speaker 2: Player to definitely watch out for is Dennis Undov. He plays for Stuttgart, my friend with Stuttgart, and he's been excellent as a forward for them. So, I mean, Germany is a favorite, like, coming into this group. I know we have Curacao Yeah. Ivory Coast, and Ecuador. But, I mean, Germany has to be the favorite going into this game. Right? Or going to the Super Cup.

Speaker 1: They they absolutely do. Anything less than winning this group, think, would be a huge disappointment for Germany, for sure. Curacao, on the other hand, first time playing in their World Cup. They're the smallest nation to ever compete in terms of population. Smallest nation to ever make a World Cup with a 150,000 people. They are ranked 82 in the FIFA rankings. I think that's the lowest of any team that we've seen so far. Notable players, I I picked out one to Heath Chong, and that is primarily because he played in the Dallas Cup, and I called one of the matches, when he was playing for the Manchester United U19s. He now plays for Sheffield United, I believe, in the championship, to Heath Chong, but I I don't you can go down the list. I know Curacao maybe, like, grab some players, that that maybe have some Dutch nationality and some some different things along those lines. But, yeah, this doesn't this is not a roster stacked with names that you're gonna you're gonna recognize. Plus, this is a really, really tough group. So gonna be uphill sledding for Curacao.

Speaker 2: But they have the coolest jerseys.

Speaker 1: They do have incredible jerseys.

Speaker 2: The the yellow jersey with the beautiful stripes and everything. They actually aren't wearing it, TK. They aren't wearing that away jersey. So Japan in that rainbow jersey and Curacao in that yellow jersey, they're both not wearing them for whatever reason in the uniform matches that came out.

Speaker 1: That's a crime. That's a that's an absolute crime. That would have been the best thing about Curacao in this tournament for sure. And look, I suppose it's actually worth, like, pausing here and and just taking a second to say that, like, one of the things that has really stood out as Arman and I have started kind of going through these groups and looking at the teams and doing these breakdowns is that the expanded World Cup I love the fact that, like, we're bringing in some new countries that have never been in the World Cup before and kind of expanding the game quite a bit. It really makes the group stage feel like this is gonna be quite watered down, I think. The quality in terms of, like, looking at a group and saying, like, oh, this is the group of death. Like, all four teams all four of those teams could and should compete to try to get out of this group and that sort of thing. I don't know that we've come across a group yet where you can reasonably say that all four teams should have the goal of getting out of the group.

Speaker 2: It's crazy because I think half of them we're going through in our Google doc right now on story lines, and half of them are, can they get a win or, like, a result?

Speaker 1: Yeah.

Speaker 2: Or, like, can they get out the or, it's not it's barely about, like, hey. Can they get, like, out of the group or anything like that? It's just, like, can Curacao get a result? Right? And I think the thing that's really disheartening about Curacao is ever since they qualified for the World Cup with their nil nil draw in Jamaica against Jamaica, they've lost to China two zero. They've lost to Australia five one, and they've lost to Scotland four one. These are not encouraging results at all for Curacao, and I'm definitely worried to see how they're gonna end up in the rest of this group. But, yeah, it does feel a little diluted, TK. It does. And the fact that three teams can get out six out of the eight six, I think, out of the eight third place teams actually get out. I I I think I

Speaker 1: think Eight eight out of the 12.

Speaker 2: Right? There's 12 teams.

Speaker 1: 12 groups. So eight. So I I mean, yeah, the majority of the teams going into this tournament are gonna move on to the to the knockout rounds. Exactly. So it's a lot of teams get through. There are a lot of teams in this that, like, would not have previously qualified for World Cups that probably don't belong at the bottom of these groups. And look. Like, you do this for the exposure and the hope, and we saw this in the women's game a couple of World Cups ago as well. You do this for the exposure and for, like, the hope that these countries are able to invest more and they come back and they've got stronger programs in the future and that sort of thing. I get it. I I get what the argument is. We're going through the

Speaker 2: graining period of it right right now where it's just like, this is gonna be brutal to watch. I mean, there I would not be surprised if Curacao loses, like, six o in their first game against Germany. And then all and that that's not even based on, like, me being, like, a Curacao hater, I guess. I'm not not even close to that. Just go look at their results and go look at what they've done for for me recently. And I know I said don't look at results, but also, like, when you're looking bad while also still not getting consistent results and everything, and also you're one of the weaker teams, it's a little bit different than what The US's situation is as

Speaker 1: a whole.

Speaker 2: So, yeah, I don't know, man.

Speaker 1: Yeah. And look. Like, Curacao qualifies out of CONCACAF, right, which is the same region as The US, Mexico, and Canada. US, Mexico, and Canada automatically qualified, but still got the same number of, like, spots that they normally would in a World Cup, excluding them. Right? And so these countries like Curacao, like, would not have qualified under normal circumstances. And so I think it's reasonable to say, like, okay. They're low in the FIFA rankings for a reason. They're in this particular World Cup for a reason. You hope that this, like, does good things for their program moving forward, but, like, it's it's Yeah. Going up against Germany is gonna be

Speaker 2: I mean, like, the China Two Zero is bad.

Speaker 1: Yeah.

Speaker 2: Like, okay. Like like like, let me caveat what I was saying earlier. If The US lost to a team that did not qualify for the World Cup, then I would be saying a lot raise the alarm bells. Raise the alarm bells. But to lose to China two zero is a bad result.

Speaker 1: A Yeah.

Speaker 2: Horrible result.

Speaker 1: It's a bad it's a bad result. So that's just a little caveat. Just one of the things that we noticed as we were going through this is, like, oh, so these groups do feel a little bit watered down. And if it feels that way to you, like, you're not crazy. Like, the Expanded World Cup has kind of done this to a certain extent. And look. We get an extra round of knockout rounds. So, like, we get an extra round of high stakes games. So I suppose that's also the trade off for maybe a less compelling drama filled group stage, but I I I'm kind of bracing myself for that now. Next up in this group is Ivory Coast. This is their fourth time to make the World Cup. They've never met it out of the group, which is actually somewhat surprising given, some of the talent that they had back in the day. They made it in 06/2010, and 2014, and those were Didier Drogba led teams, a lot of other talent on those teams as well. There's some pretty notable players on this particular version of the Ivory Coast, though. Jan Diamande, as a winger for RB Leipzig who looks like he's probably gonna end at PSG, although Liverpool and, a couple of other teams. I think Bayern Munich also have been particularly interested in his services. He played for RB Leipzig, which is a team that just always churns out talent like this. Ahmad Diallo is a winger for Manchester United as well as, Frank Kessier, who used to play for for Milan in Italy, now plays in Saudi Arabia. This is a team that has some talent, and for me, Ivory Coast is probably one of those teams who should be eyeing, if not a second place spot, a third place spot in getting out of the group stage for the first time. If not now, then Then when? Like we just said, it's watered down. If not now, when?

Speaker 2: Exactly. When it's, like, 70 teams in, like, 2030?

Speaker 1: Yeah. Exactly.

Speaker 2: Wherever where whatever their next plan is. No. Ivory Coast should make it out of the group.

Speaker 1: Think should.

Speaker 2: Again, these teams are gonna be eyeing the Curacao matchup to kinda build up goal difference and try to do that and get a result right there. If they can build big enough goal difference, then potentially, I think there's I think it's actually a pretty sneaky like, I wouldn't say like, I think all three of these teams will advance. Yes. Ivory Coast, Germany. I'm gonna see the order.

Speaker 1: I am too because let's talk about Ecuador real fast because I think Ecuador is fascinating. They finished second in South American Combinable qualifying. Second only to Argentina. This is their fifth World Cup appearance. They're ranked 24 in in their FIFA rankings. They have a they have some notable players. Like, let's see. Piero Hincapier who plays for Arsenal, Moises Caicedo who plays for Chelsea, William Pacho who plays for PSG, Intervalencia is still kicking around, playing for Pacino. He's on the

Speaker 2: And, like, what back in October when they played them.

Speaker 1: He did. He absolutely did. Here's the thing about Ecuador that's just absolutely fascinating. Throughout all of Conva Bowl qualifying, they only allowed five goals across 18 matches. The flip side of that is they only scored 14. So 19 goals total across all 18 of their qualifying matches. Just like goals don't get scored against, Ecuador. Like, it's fascinating. As I was going down the roster, like, all of their defenders are worth noting. Like, a lot of their midfielders are worth noting. There's a reason I only mentioned Enervalencia when it came to, like, their attacking players because, like, boy, it is a it is a little bit dire from that perspective. But I think they're a fascinating team in this group because do they just grind out nil nils and one nils, you know, and and that kind of thing? And how do they scrape by? And, like, are they able to draw Germany just on the back of the fact that they're, like, a really strong defensive team? They're fascinating to me.

Speaker 2: The fact that they're relying on Intervalencia to continue scoring goals, I think, is absolutely hilarious. But, like, that's the magic of the World Cup. Right? You always have these guys who may not be doing it. Like, actually, Intervalencia has been pretty good in Petcuka, so I'm not gonna say they haven't been doing it. But guys like Hamez Rodriguez, right, in on Colombia and stuff where maybe they won't do it in their domestic league, but when it comes to the World Cup, they're gonna freaking kill it.

Speaker 1: They're gonna ball.

Speaker 2: I think Ecuador could win the group as well. I would not be shocked if that happened. I have Germany winning. I think we both have Germany winning the group. Yeah. That Germany Ecuador game on June 25 is gonna be the game of the group. I mean so I think it's pretty clear. But those three, yeah, it's gonna be interesting, I think, where it was land. I can see Ecuador. I can easily see Ecuador win the group. I would not be shocked if that happened.

Speaker 1: No. Not not at all, especially because the last couple of World Cups, like, Germany's been disappointing. And, like, even just looking up and down that that Germany roster, like, there are there are there's some star power, and there's some really, really good players there. But it's certainly not the squad that it was when it just looked like an absolute unit and, you know, won the World Cup. Which one did they win? 2018? No. 2014.

Speaker 2: Yes. 2014.

Speaker 1: Questioning myself. 2014. Yep. Yeah. Those teams were just, like, absolutely stacked all the way up and down. You know, Thomas Muller, Bastien Feinsteiger, Philip Lamm, like, Miroslav Klose. You know, all all of these guys that

Speaker 2: just, like say.

Speaker 1: Oh, yeah. Mario Gotze. Like, yeah, just players all up and down that roster. It's not quite that same Germany. So I also picked Germany to win, but if Ecuador were to win this group, it would not shock me at all. And if you're a betting person and, like, you get some good odds on Ecuador winning the group, I don't know. I might splash on that a little bit. So that's that's some fun banter for group e. I think we both gonna have it laid out like Germany, Ecuador, Ivory Coast, Curacao, some in that order just about for group e. Any final thoughts before we move on to group f?

Speaker 2: I think outside of Curacao, it's actually a very fascinating group.

Speaker 1: I think so too.

Speaker 2: I think any of those three could be any of those positions. I I think Germany would be in the top two, but, again, don't don't let your European bias cloud you. I think South America and Africa have great teams, and I think those are gonna be really competitive matches. But I think Curacao might get like, I'd be shocked if they leave with a point in this World Cup.

Speaker 1: Yeah.

Speaker 2: I figured I'd have zero points. Like, zero dot zero.

Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean, I I think them I I honestly think, like, them scoring a goal is an accomplishment. Like, that's that should be the that should be, like, their their target is

Speaker 2: Just scoring goal.

Speaker 1: Yeah. Just score a goal. Score a goal. Group f, Netherlands, Japan, Sweden, and Tunisia in this group. The Netherlands, man, I think they're the best nation to have not

Speaker 2: won World believe it. I could've sworn they won the World Cup at some point. No. And when I saw that thing, I was like, woah. I did not realize that.

Speaker 1: Yeah. Finalists in '74, '78, and 2010. That '74 team with Johann Kruyff, like, revolutionized soccer, then Johann Kruyff went on to further revolutionize the game of soccer. I mean, this is a nation that consistently produces top end talent, the best thinkers, when it comes to soccer in the world, and, has given the game so so much. They're ranked seventh in the FIFA rankings, and I actually think that they have solid players all the way up and down this roster kind of at every level, whether it's Virgil van Dijk or Jurrien Timber in defense, Frankie DeYoung, Ryan Gravenbach, in the midfield, Cody Gakpo, Danielle Mollin, kind of up top. Memphis Depay is still kicking around playing for Corinthians, also on this roster. I figured you would I figured you would appreciate that more than most, Arman. Memphis still remaining on this roster.

Speaker 2: Band playing for Corinthians is the funniest thing. The highlights are hilarious, I think. I'm like, oh

Speaker 1: my god. He prayed moves

Speaker 2: to Pye Place for Corinthians.

Speaker 1: Yeah. Look. I I think this is a really good Netherlands team, and they should easily get out of the group. And this is a team that I actually the more I looked at the roster, the more I was like, there's no reason why this team can't compete to get pretty deep. I mean, I I would be targeting, like, quarters or semifinals if I

Speaker 2: was The group f kinda get screwed in the drug. Correct me if I'm wrong, TK, but I think the the group f gets paired with group c, which is that Brazil Morocco group. And I think so, like, for the listeners or viewers or however you consume this podcast, The US, Mexico, and Canada, I think, actually are slots by third place teams in in the groups in the knockout round. Group f and group c are slot to play each other in the one twos. The winner of group f will play the second place of group c, and the winner of group c will am am I right? Like, am or is that is that, like is is that correct? Because I'm pretty sure I saw that on the thing, and that was the one reason why I was hesitant once I was looking back on an episode about Morocco and going far about Morocco and stuff. Because Morocco finished second, your matchup is Netherlands?

Speaker 1: Yeah. That's rough. Let's see. What group is this again? This is group f. This is obviously kind of a mess. Let's see. Yeah. Placed second place in group c. Yeah. You're right. Yep. Boy.

Speaker 2: Yeah. So that's the only thing I'm worried about with that. It's a really some teams and if you, like, start looking through the bracket, you're like, oh my god. Some of these teams have horribly tough draws. Like, even, like, England like, know we're not talking about England right now, but, like, even England has a tough spot where they have to travel a lot. So that's one thing I'm a little worried about when it comes to Netherlands is do we get a Brazil Netherlands matchup because one of them falls to the two? Right? Like, I remember on our on the preview part, I said I think Morocco could win the group. Morocco wins the group, Brazil falls. You have bris you have Brazil in your first knockout stage around the 32 game. Boy, my boy, that's tough. That's the only thing I'm worried about with these groups is how they're set up. I think it's something that we're gonna have to keep a closer eye on when we're kind of analyzing how far teams will go is that is how these matchups have been so weird toward a US, Mexico, and Canada play a third place team, but team like Netherlands, their luck of the draw is Brazil or Morocco.

Speaker 1: Yeah. That's man, that's tough. That's tough. I hadn't looked that deep into the into the bracket, but that is that's really, really rough for a team that I I think is incredibly talented and worth kind of looking at for a deeper run, but sometimes it just doesn't shake out that way. Yep.

Speaker 2: And I think they're one of the only few people that are only few peoples. One of the only few team that would actually have to play like a another like not third place team because it's yeah. As a as a winner, group h winner will play the group j runner-up, and then the winner of group c, which is, like, we'll play the the runner-up of group f, I actually think outside of a group j yeah. The winner of group j will play the runner-up of group h. Those two are the only groups that are, like, kinda stuck in those situations. So I think that that part of the draw is kinda where it gets a little murky for The Netherlands.

Speaker 1: Yeah. The no. That's a that's a that's great to point out just, like, as you, like, prognosticate or, like, look ahead and and set expectations that, like, things can happen in these in these tournaments that, like, make it weird. And it's hard to say, like, oh, okay. We're quarterfinals or semifinals or bust because you never know, like, how it's gonna fall and if you're gonna end up, like, playing Brazil in the second round randomly, you know, in your first knockout match. So that's a that's a really good, really, really good point. In this group along with The Netherlands is Japan. This is their eighth straight World Cup to qualify for. They're ranked eighteenth in, the FIFA rankings. Notable players that you might know, Wataru Endo plays, defensive midfield for Liverpool, injured for most of the season. Tamiyasu, who also used to play for Arsenal, plays for Ajax now, kind of outside defender. And then, I think a big loss for them is Matoma, the winger, forward that plays for Brighton in the Premier League. He's actually injured and gonna be out for the World Cup, which I think is gonna be a big bummer and a huge blow to the attack for Japan in this particular tournament because I think he's awesome.

Speaker 2: I think he's great too. I think Japan always is really good, well drilled team. So I think that they're gonna be fine. Think they're gonna give Netherlands a run for their money, in in in in the group to to top the group, potentially. But I I that game is gonna be fun, TK. In Dallas Yeah. June 14, we have Netherlands, Japan, first group stage game of this group. How fun is that?

Speaker 1: It's gonna be awesome. That's I mean, that's sick. I love that it's starting off, like, first game of the Like, that's gonna be amazing. Absolute absolute banger. Sweden is also in this group. This is their thirteenth World Cup. That's way more than I thought Sweden would have, by the way.

Speaker 2: I I certain First off, they got lucky to qualify for his World Cup because of the whole Yeah. Nations League placing that allowed them go to the, qualification round after missing out, blah blah blah. It's like I don't know, man. But the fact that they were coached by Graham Potter also threw me off because I knew this a few months ago when I was watching them while I was watching the Euro the Euro World Cup qualification. And I was like, Graham Potter's a coach of Sweden? That's not the only

Speaker 1: That caught me off guard also. Just random. Just random. Graham Potter, formerly of Brighton and then Chelsea, now coaching the Swedish national team. Crazy how things like that pop up as you're doing this research. But, yeah, thirteenth World Cup totally totally caught me off guard. They're ranked thirty eighth in the FIFA rankings, coached by Graham Potter. Victor Lindelof, former Manchester United defender. Alexander Ezak plays striker for them as well as Shokiris who's the striker for Arsenal.

Speaker 2: So Get out of one more name, TK, for our Dallas audience. Herman Johansson, FC Dallas Yeah. Wingback, he got the he was an alternate because Sweden is based in Mansfield, Texas. He was an alternate, and he actually just got called into the World Cup squad as a result. So another player from your local your local teammate, if you're in Dallas, Effie Dallas called up to the World Cup roster. So that'll be interesting.

Speaker 1: That's awesome.

Speaker 2: He's like a six four wingback. So it's, like, hilariously fun watching this guy just be torn to everyone else in the field.

Speaker 1: But, I mean, we're I don't know

Speaker 2: what to expect from Sweden. I think they could be colossally bad or, like, competing for that second spot.

Speaker 1: Yeah. I I I mean, spoiler alert. I actually think that I have Sweden in third in second place in this world. I I went Netherlands, Sweden, Japan.

Speaker 2: Yeah. Wow.

Speaker 1: There you go. I I think Japan is really gonna miss Motoma quite a bit. I think their attack is gonna struggle. I think they're gonna have a hard time scoring goals.

Speaker 2: That's a crazy turnaround for Sweden, though, where it's like you couldn't qualify for a World Cup through the qualifications. You get lucky because of this whole Nations League thing where if you win your group with whatever group you're in, you get actually put into another qualification pot, for the World Cup. To qualify that way, to finish second in your group, I mean, how amazing would that be?

Speaker 1: We see it in in tournaments like like March Madness all the time where a team that has to play in the play in game ends up making a run. You know? Like We should it happening.

Speaker 2: Year, I put a lot of my eggs in the basket of Miami, Ohio, and they let me down. So

Speaker 1: that's a bummer. That was a bummer. I was pulling from from Miami Of Ohio. But we digress. Tunisia rounds out this group. This is their seventh qualification. They've never made it out of the group. They're ranked forty fifth in the FIFA rankings. I didn't see too many players on their roster that really, like, stood out or grabbed me. One last name did. Ronnie Kadira. He's the brother of former German midfielder, Sammy Kadira. He just switched allegiances. He played, for German youth teams all the way up through now he's 32 years old and just switched to play in the World Cup for Tunisia. So, yeah. So that's worth, just pointing out

Speaker 2: his car as concern. I

Speaker 1: I You think so?

Speaker 2: I think their domestic league isn't, like, the greatest I remember, but I know that they played their domestic league. They played LAFC in the Club World Cup. It was, like, something Tunis, I think, and they gave LAFC hell. Like, LAFC was not was struggling in a match. I think Tunisia and I think Africa as a whole is underrated. I think people

Speaker 1: just Probably so.

Speaker 2: I like like, I'm not saying you're doing this at all, by the way, but I think people, like, see, like, Sweden, and it's like, oh, a little bit of Sweden, Japan, Tunisia because of these two European teams. I think Tunisia can cause some problems. I think they're gonna sit in a a lower block and try to frustrate teams, and I wonder if that will work against a team like Sweden who maybe doesn't maybe doesn't have necessarily the the total pieces to break down maybe a lower block in in in that regard. So I'm in this group, the more I was looking at it and kinda analyzing it, the more I think there's a chance that might be even though I kinda have it going chalk, I think it could be pretty competitive, which I Yeah. Like like, I wouldn't top to bottom is not the strongest group, but it's not the weakest group either.

Speaker 1: Yeah. I think there's quality all throughout it for sure. Yeah. Like you mentioned, that Netherlands, Japan game is gonna be awesome and set the tone for this group, but I have it going Netherlands, Sweden, Japan, Tunisia, so I am being somewhat stereotypical there. But you're right. I I I think that there's a lot of quality in this group, and this might be one of the only groups that doesn't have, like, an obvious like, I think this team's gonna get blasted in every game. Yeah. Yeah. I'm with you. I need to take a quick break. So let's step aside, and when we come back, we're gonna run through this group run through groups g and h right after this. Welcome back. We are on to group g, and then we will do group h to round out this episode. Arman's gonna take us through group g.

Speaker 2: I have to take us through group g. Right? You're making the Iranian go through the Iranian go through group g?

Speaker 1: That's exactly right. I mean, that's exactly

Speaker 2: what I till I get that. So Group g is led by Belgium. We saw Belgium play the US. We know that they're a team that's always kind of been a dark horse. They got third place in Russia, but they didn't make another group in Qatar, which that was a brutal thing. Look. They're ninth in the FIFA rankings ahead of Germany. You know, things like got players like Kevin DeBroy and Jeremy Doku. Lukaku is always timeless for some reason. Just always

Speaker 1: Lukaku is timeless.

Speaker 2: They actually beat Croatian a friendly two zero today.

Speaker 1: They look And Lukaku scored?

Speaker 2: Yep. He's timeless, man. But the the key question for Belgium is, like, with Rudy Garcia, right, that Roberto Martinez as their coach, like, can they bounce back after not making out of the group and make another deep run? That's the that's the big thing that I'm really interested to see if they can actually do something along those lines. Because this group, they are the clear favorite in this group. And, like, we're gonna go through the rest of the names real quick. But Belgium is always dangerous, and we saw how dangerous they were against The US through a guy like Jeremy Doku who was actually tearing up The US. Oh, and you also have Kevin DeBroin there too. Oh, and you also have Luke Occhio. Oh, and you also have a guy like Axel Witzel coming off your bench, a savvy vet. This team is loaded.

Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely loaded. I mean, yeah, talent all the way up and down it, and we saw the way that they tore apart The US back in that friendly. Jeremy Doku, I think, is a dark horse just to be, like, one of the better players of this tournament. I think most people should know about him because he plays for Manchester City, but I think because there are so many good players on City and so many good players on Belgium that, like, he might still slide under the radar for some people. But if you don't already know Jeremy Doku's name, like, you should. I think that guy is phenomenal and gonna be awesome for Belgium. And, yeah, I think clear cut favorites in this group. Some groups have, you know, like, a team that looks like they're a step above. Some groups have two teams, and it's like, oh, those two teams are gonna battle it out, like Morocco and Brazil. In group c, like we were mentioning. This group to me feels like it should be Belgium at the top of it. And, like, yeah, like like, maybe maybe you look at Egypt as, like, oh, if they get it all together and that sort of thing, but, like, it would take Belgium kind of, like, slipping in, like

Speaker 2: It would take affair from Belgium, I think.

Speaker 1: Yes. I agree with that.

Speaker 2: And the next group we have is Egypt, who in the World Cup history, I wrote, qualified for a round of 60 in 1934. Do we count that? Isn't The US, like, third in that World Cup or something like that?

Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, like, there couldn't have been more than, like, too many more than 16 teams in the house. Yeah.

Speaker 2: I guess maybe you directly qualified around the 16. I don't know. But they last qualified in 2018. They finished thirty first if you actually go look at all the, like, numbers, goal difference after losing every game. They're ranked twenty eighth in the world. You might know some players like Mohamed Salah, who just announced he's leaving Liverpool, and Omar Mahmoosh, who plays for Manchester City. Question for Egypt is this, can they advance out of the group, I guess, technically for the first time? And I think this sets them up really nicely because, again, that whole third place thing, if you're you have New Zealand, you have a difficult game against Iran in Seattle, then and you have that key matchup against, Belgium. I think you should be aiming to beat New Zealand. You should be aiming to beat Iran. I think you're setting up for a matchup with Belgium to top the group. But the thing is Egypt has really talented players. Right? Like, Al Ali, is perennially one of the better teams across the world, and they're based they're Egypt's best team. I mean, that that Yeah. That's up to debate if Egyptians wanna fight me in the comments. Fight me. But I think they're the best team in, like, Africa, if not, if Egypt, if not Africa. So they have a good domestic base. The question is, can they put all these pieces together and actually be a good, like, a good team? And they should, but I can see a world where they just finished third in this group as well too.

Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean, because our like, Iran is also, like, a a sneaky good team. Right? And so, like, it's gonna be up to Egypt and, like, Salat to play better than he did for Liverpool and actually, like, be a star. Right? Like, Omar Mamouche is gonna have to, I think, like, show out at this World Cup and show why Manchester City spent a bunch of money on him. You know? And so, like, I don't think it's a given that they finish second place in this group and actually, like, get out of the group in, like, stylish fashion by any means. So I think they're in for, like, an an actually, like, tough fight to come in second and to make it out of this group comfortably.

Speaker 2: I'm with you a 100% on that. And the third third team in this group we have is Iran. Iran has qualified four straight World Cups, but has never made it out of the group stage. They got close actually last year. They beat Wales in that game where they after losing to England six, I think, two was the result. They beat Wales two o, and they actually only lost to US one o. Greg Burhalter set them set The US up in a way where they could just barely squeak out a result. Christian Paul, six quarter goal, beat Iran in that game but Iran actually did look threatening in in moments. I will say, as someone that follows a team, probably a little bit more close than other people, I think the team is worse than what it was in 2022. Interesting. Mehdi Toremi is a player you'll know. He's played for Inter Milan. Now he plays for Olympiacos. Ali Jahanbach, she plays in, I wanna say, The Netherlands or Netherlands or Belgium right now. I can't remember which one exactly. Mhmm. Because he's kinda bounced around. He hasn't really played much. He's only played around 700 club minutes. If you remember Ali Reza Jahanbach, he actually was Brighton's big signing a few years ago after he came from, I think it was a fire in order AZ Aklamore in Netherlands, but he just never has panned out since then. And he is a player for a lot of these smaller nations, TK, I think it's important to let people understand that, like, there are some nations that just don't have enough good players that you have to keep calling up guys that maybe don't play in as much. You know? But they're gonna keep you playing for a national team. And recently, Dennis Eckert as well too. He's actually a was a German international, a youth international, recently flipped to Iran. And the question is, can Iran advance out of the group? They are betting favorites to advance out of group at minus one fifty. I would be they should, I think, advance out of the group. However, again, I don't think the team is as good. You might notice one notable player missing from the twenty first ranked team in according to FIFA ranking, Sardar Osmon, who's non inclusion for a lot of people, in Iran speculate is due to political, is due to Interesting. Him, taking a picture with some, once someone like government of the UAE. And as I think many people know, I think the biggest storyline is how is Iran gonna deal with all the distractions leading into the World Cup. Their domestic league was suspended from from February and distractions meaning the the war that's going on right now but with Iran involved in the heart of it against the country that's hosting the World Cup in The United States. It is crazy. It is absolutely crazy. But can they deal can they deal with it, and can they put together a run? They've had to move quite a bit. Their FIFA base was supposed to be in Tucson. It's now in Tijuana. You can probably argue that Tijuana is probably a better site for them than Tucson was. But Probably. But, again, that seems like it was very political as well too. So the question I think becomes, can Iran go past these politics? Now there's a player, his his last name is Saeed Mesh. He's actually a really good winger. He plays with Brian Reynolds, for those who remember, former FC Dallas County player at Westerloo. Really good player. Didn't get called up. We do not think it's political. We the action just was for reasons because he still wanna call him up, and it's gonna be interesting to see how they set up. They don't have as talented as a coach as Carlos Kiedrosh, who really knew how to kind of unlock the best out of Iran. Mhmm. That's why I'm a little bit worried, TK. I don't think their coach is good enough. I think his name is Amir Gulnabi Gulnami. I should be able to say his name way better than I do right now as a Iranian, but it is not is Amir will know no. Like, he is not, like, a good coach, I don't think, in my opinion. Even though Iran didn't qualify, I just don't think he's a good coach compared to Karas Kiroz. And he I think he's gonna play a little bit naively, and I'm a little worried. If you're naive against Egypt and Belgium, how is that gonna set up? I don't think Iran's progressed to a point to where they can play as freestyle ish, outlandish, not structured style play. So it's gonna be interesting to see how they end up in this group where, in theory, they should be competing for second. And if they do finish second in the group and The US finishes second in the group, they would play each other in Arlington on July 3, which would be just I mean, it it has to happen. Right? Like

Speaker 1: All the story lies.

Speaker 2: Well, it has to happen. Right? But Yes. Again, I just don't know if his team is that talented as previous iterations of Iran, whereas Iran was making really big progress. I just don't think they're as talented as they were in those previous iterations. So

Speaker 1: Yeah.

Speaker 2: What what do you what do you make of them? I know they're like maybe I'm a little bit more biased, but what do you

Speaker 1: I I think I think what you said about the style of play is I think maybe, like, the most interesting thing and and about the coaching because remembering just, like, how surprising, I think, at times, like, they were in that World Cup in o two or sorry, 2022 in in Qatar, I think that there was, like, a certain level of discipline that they played with against the United States. And, like, the England game was England, but, like, they got the result they needed against Wales. And the match against the US was, like, actually, like, a really, really competitive and compelling match, and it took that that goal by Christian Pulisic where he sacrificed his nuts to to score that goal, if you remember. I remember that being like a really disciplined performance and so you saying that like the coaching doesn't appear to be like what it was back in 2022, I think is a really interesting point because you're right. You always think an interesting aspect of coaching at the international level is acknowledging, like, where you are in the global food chain in terms of the talent that you have at your disposal and setting up your team appropriately and coming out naively in a group where Egypt has attacking talent and some good players. Belgium is obviously insanely talented. And so, like, having an idea of how you want to play against those teams, I think, is really important.

Speaker 2: Yeah. I think that's the only thing I'm little worried about because Karas Kyoto just knew how to kinda set up their team in a certain way.

Speaker 1: Yeah.

Speaker 2: So and without Sadar Osmond as well too as their forward, I just I don't know, man. I just I'm not necessarily I'm not looking at his team. It just seems weaker than what they had in 2022. Even though in theory, they should probably be one of the teams to advance out of the group, with the group with our last team, we're talking about New Zealand, who is their third World Cup. They've never made out of group stage, never won a game. They're ranked eighty fifth in FIFA. Some players you might know is like Michael Box who plays for Minnesota United and Chris Wood who I feel like he's been around forever like as a a forward. And I was like, can they even get a result? Can they get a win? And I think they're the clear lowest ranked team. They're the clear team that I think Yes. No one really anticipates on making that much noise, but then it goes back to, okay, how do these teams set up against a team like New Zealand? Can New Zealand frustrate these teams enough to pick off a point here, pick off a point against Iran, maybe pick off a point against Egypt, or vice versa. Maybe pick off a point against Egypt and maybe beat Iran to may put themselves in a position. I think that's gonna be really interesting, TK. I don't see New Zealand getting out of the group. I I've been finishing dead last. But I think that but it makes for a really interesting, I think, affair just because you have this Iran team where I think they have been look, man. I the we cannot discount the plights that these players have had to go through where it's like where it's like they they they're domestically will suspend it again in February. Like, they they've been playing games against each other in training camps and stuff like that. There there obviously is the war. There's obviously this whole visa situation going on, etcetera, where I think that might light a little bit of fire beneath their asses a little where it's like, we feel disrespected in this situation. Whether you agree with the political situation or not, like, again, like, I think that's gonna cause something to where you might get maybe a little bit more of an inspired performance. But I I think we both have Belgium as as favorites. I think we both have Yeah. Kinda dark horse. I think we're both circling that June 15 game against Seattle. And I have beat Belgium, Egypt, Iran, New Zealand as it as and I have and I would say this. I think Iran advances out of the group. I think they beat I think they beat New Zealand, and I think they're able to advance out of the group. It won't be the Iran US game that we were talking about, but it will be a different sort of affair.

Speaker 1: Yeah. I think I think I'm with you. I think I think Belgium and Egypt end up one, two, and then Iran three advancing into the knockout rounds with New Zealand last. I think, yeah, I just I just don't see New Zealand, like, winning a match in this, especially in this group. I think, yeah, I think, again, you've got three good teams and then New Zealand who's just not

Speaker 2: Yeah.

Speaker 1: Not really at that same level. But, yeah, that June 15 matchup, Belgium versus Egypt in Seattle, I think, is gonna be a really, really good one. Yeah. And I do think you're right to point out just like the all of the external conflicts going on around Iran, and I I think that that's also worth mentioning. And if there's a world where, like, either the players are extra motivated, I think that's one thing. I think if there's a world where the players are distracted and, like, it's hard to focus on soccer. Like, I could see that too.

Speaker 2: Sorry sorry to interrupt you, TK. But I

Speaker 1: think Yeah.

Speaker 2: A perspective I think is gonna be important for our listeners is Iran plays two of their games in LA. LA has a very big dysphoria of Iranians, except I think the biggest in The US. However, a lot of those in Iran or a lot of those in LA, excuse me, are anti regime. And a lot of people believe that the government, the regime, that this is the government's team, the regime's team, which I don't necessarily agree with that standpoint. I think just because you root for a nation doesn't mean you root for all of their political backings and stuff like that. I think you're just rooting for people as a whole. But it's gonna be interesting because in that first game against England, you could clearly hear the Iranian fans chanting Bisharov, which in Farsi means shame on you. Shame. Shame. And it was so loud. You could we I my friends were like, are you really saying this? I said, yes. What is the atmosphere gonna be like in in LA with, you know, people who are really this this for a lot of people, this is more in a game. They think that this Iranian team's extension of the government that currently exists. So, again, in an area where, again, LA with the biggest biggest Iran who more than likely my kind of gut feeling is more likely they're anti government rather than pro. I think it's gonna be really interesting to see what kind of reactions we see leading into the game at the game. Will there be anything that, like, is is distracting that maybe cut, like, during matches and stuff like that? Or prior to

Speaker 1: that Yeah.

Speaker 2: I think those are big storylines. And, it's not like people it's not like The US is doing this. This is Iranians who fly to Iran who are doing this as a result. So that is gonna be so fascinating to me, TK. That kind of political dynamic and that atmosphere that we're gonna see in LA potentially as a result, and I think it's gonna make for again, Iran has two of their games there. Should be a home field advantage, but I don't think so, man.

Speaker 1: Mhmm. Might not be. Hey. That's that's really, really good insight. Let's wrap up here with group h. We've got Spain, Cape Verde, Saudi Arabia, and Uruguay in this group. I think this is one of the groups where there's two teams that I think

Speaker 2: are Oh, you're anti Cape Verde.

Speaker 1: I as it turns out, I am. Spain, this is their seventeenth World Cup. They won in 2010. They're the most recent nation to win their first World Cup. They're ranked second in the FIFA rankings right now, and it's obvious when you look at their roster. I mean, is an incredible team with talented players. Limin Yamal, who you might know is the 18 year old sensation for Barcelona.

Speaker 2: See, let me ask you this. Are they load managing Limin Yamal with his injury? Do we think he's gonna play in the first couple of games?

Speaker 1: I wouldn't if I was them. Hamstring injury for Barcelona put his World Cup kind of in doubt, he said, but he's on the roster. I I mean, to me, I would I would play it safe with him. They're so loaded.

Speaker 2: Same. You don't need him. I don't think you need him for at least what? Like, the first couple of games? I don't think you need him.

Speaker 1: Yeah. I'm I'm with you. And, like, even still, even if he finishes runners up in this group, like, that shouldn't change, like, your outlook on this tournament if you're if you're Spain, in my opinion. Yeah. They're just absolutely loaded, from top to bottom. There's there's not too much that you can really say about a team that is as good as Spain.

Speaker 2: You the entire roster. That's straight from our notes, guys. Straight from our notes. And, I mean, they are. I mean, they're absolutely loaded, TK. You're a 100% right. Like, whatever their matchup is, like, doesn't matter.

Speaker 1: Yeah. They're one of those teams that like, them and France Matchup. Should really go in and and say, yeah, matchup proof. Like, we, you know, we will put our best up against your best and, you know, and go from there. So that's Spain. I think it would be shocking if if they didn't win the group, but, like, if something were to happen, if they were to load manage, you know, Lamine, Yamal, and and maybe another player or two or something like that in Uruguay somehow came out on top, wouldn't be the most, like, detrimental thing of all time. I just I just think Spain's so good. Cape Verde, this is their first time qualifying for a World Cup. They're ranked sixty eighth in the world. They have a couple of notable players that, that Arman put on the doc that I neglected to do when I was filling this out earlier. CJ Dos Santos, Jamiro Montero, and Steven Moreira.

Speaker 2: They both one former MLS guy, Jamiro Montero, who's played for Philadelphia Union. CJ Dos Santos, if you remember, was actually the keeper for or I think still is the keeper for San Diego FC there. San Diego. And Steven Moreira is is on a Columbus crew. So they actually have a pretty interesting base, and it's like, they actually just beat Serbia three zero. They actually, I think, beat Iran on penalties. Like, I don't think this team is as bad as people are making it out to be. One thing is for sure, any game with Cape Verde, if you look at ticket prices, are really cheap. If you wanna go to games and, like, may support a team and maybe go to all their games, support Cape Verde. Why not? But

Speaker 1: I love that.

Speaker 2: I don't know if they're gonna make that much noise in the World Cup. I think they could maybe sneak out as a third spot, but I don't see it, man. I don't see it. I just you're right. There's two just bottom feeders in this group.

Speaker 1: Yeah. The other one being Saudi Arabia. This is their seventh World Cup, but they're ranked 61 in the world. Let's see. Saud, Abdulhamid is a midfielder for Lance in France, but he's on loan from Roma. The vast majority of their players, though, are on their preliminary roster. They haven't announced their full World Cup roster yet. They're all domestic based playing in that Saudi pro league that, you know, Cristiano Ronaldo and some other former European stars play in, but then the rest of the league is largely made up of Saudi players. And so if you look at Saudi Arabia, like and you're looking at this group, you say, like, can we beat Cape Verde? And is three points beating Cape Verde and keeping it close in the other two matches, is that enough to get you one of the third place spots? I don't know if it will be, but I kinda think if you're Saudi Arabia, that's what you have to be looking at. Right?

Speaker 2: I mean, you have to. Mean, getting us Cape Verde is everything. It's also the cheapest game of the World Cup if you want if it makes you feel better. It's in Houston. It would actually it's a final game that they have. So it's like, okay. Maybe remember, Saudi Arabia, they stunned Argentina. Stunned Argentina in the twenty twenty two World Cup. I I wouldn't be surprised if they were able to stun maybe one more team. I don't think it'll be Spain. I don't think it'll be Uruguay. But if they can pick off a point against one of these guys, and then, again, go for a win against Cape Verde, that's a strategy for all these smaller teams. Can we pick up a point against one of these two teams? And then can we beat the other bad team or bad team the other team that isn't those top two teams? I

Speaker 1: don't Right.

Speaker 2: I haven't finishing last. I think we I think we I think we have maybe our third and fourth flipped, but, like, I don't think it's really like, I don't I don't know if either of them will qualify out of the group.

Speaker 1: Yeah. I I I don't know that I see it happening because, I think their goal difference from playing Spain and Uruguay is just gonna be, like, way too bad. And speaking of Uruguay, they're one of the original soccer powerhouses. They won the inaugural World Cup in 1930. They also won again in 1950 and won gold medals leading up to that nineteen thirty World Cup, kind of before the World Cup existed. The Olympics was all that existed, and, they won in, 1924 and 1928. And so they've won some major tournaments in their, in their nation's history. They're ranked seventeenth coming into this World Cup. They obviously lost that friendly to The US back in the fall, but, notable players on the roster first and foremost, they're coached by Marcella Bielso, who is one of

Speaker 2: mad genius, man.

Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely mad genius kind of manager. He's your favorite manager's favorite manager. Pep Guardiola, all of these guys cite Marcelo Bielsa as, like, prime influence on their coaching careers because, yeah, he's a mad scientist. He hasn't had necessarily the level of club success to go along with maybe his fame and notoriety in the game, but people love him because of his ideas and some of the crazy things that he's done. And so that is gonna be a fascinating layer to this Uruguayan team. No Luis Suarez on their roster.

Speaker 2: You can't run, man.

Speaker 1: Barcelona Liverpool into Miami.

Speaker 2: If watch this guy trying to run with into Miami, it's the funniest thing. Because it's like, brother, just just hang it up, man.

Speaker 1: We've had we've had these these conversations in the past. Like, is there are there professional athletes that you could outrun? And sometimes I see Luis Suarez running, and I think maybe.

Speaker 2: Yes. You can. Maybe. It looks like he's running with a bunch of pain meds.

Speaker 1: He is. Darwin Nunez is on this roster from a Liverpool striker. Fede Valverde plays for, Real Madrid, and then Ronald Arajo who, or Arao. I can never say

Speaker 2: his name.

Speaker 1: Ronald Araujo, plays for Barcelona, defender for Barcelona. So this is a good team, regardless of what happened to The US, when they played The US back in the, in the fall with The US kinda trials game with that in that match.

Speaker 2: Valverde. Right? I think it was a big

Speaker 1: It was without Valverde. I don't know that that warrants losing the way they did to The US, but

Speaker 2: one of those games where you're like, okay. That happened.

Speaker 1: It's a friendly, and, Beelzig just kinda chalked it up to that. Look. This Uruguayan side is good enough to make it out of the group. I think they're comfortably the second best team in this group. I think it would be a shock if it didn't go Spain and then Uruguay, one two. And then stunning for

Speaker 2: Stunning, I think, is the right word. If it does not go to Spain, Uruguay, head should roll because that, like, that would be embarrassing if one of Cape Verde or Saudi took their took their spots in the in the in the in that second spot. I mean, Saudi is getting crushed by Egypt four o and some other games, etcetera. Cape Verde is squeaking by some teams. Like, I that Spain Uruguay game in in Guadalajara. Oof. I don't know that's be game too.

Speaker 1: It's gonna be beautiful. I'm ready for that. June 26, Spain versus Uruguay in, Guadalajara. That's gonna be incredible.

Speaker 2: But but, listeners, this what we're talking about. Right? Like, this group, you probably wouldn't see this group Mhmm. In a 32 team World Cup.

Speaker 1: Yeah. In the past, like, you'd have, like, Spain, Uruguay, and then, like, Japan in that group sort of thing. Right? Like, those are the kind of groups that, like, we're used to seeing for World Cup. So seeing a group that is so obvious, like, a clear one, two, and then three, and four that are nowhere near those top two teams, I think this is a new and unique experience, and I think we're gonna have to hang our hats on some of these great matchups that are gonna be early on in the group stage and then the fact that we're gonna get an extra round of knockout rounds. Because some of these groups are just yeah. It's it's it's a little watered down from a competitive standpoint, but we're gonna get some incredible matchups, and we need to soak those up.

Speaker 2: No. I'm excited. I mean, definitely excited to see Spain play. I'm excited to watch the affordable games between Cape Verde and Saudi Arabia. It's the first game, TK. I don't know if you knew this. That has dropped below a $100.

Speaker 1: Oh, heck.

Speaker 2: Yeah. So if you are looking for a game to go to in Houston, Texas, that is the game you should go to.

Speaker 1: You might just have to road trip it.

Speaker 2: It's a it's a Friday night too. And then the next round of games on that Saturday will start till 4PM. So you can make it back with plenty of time. So definitely a game that's gonna be interesting, I think, for people made to attend and stuff like that. But no, TK, it's just one of those things where it's like, okay, man. Like, you have two teams ranked 68, 61. Like, how frequent do we get that? I just I don't know, man. Yeah. There's there again, we're working through this project, and I'm like, who's gonna advance out of this? Like, it's don't know.

Speaker 1: It's a it's a it's a foregone conclusion. Spain and Uruguay coming out of that group. It would be shocking if it was anything other than that. But that is gonna do it for our four group preview for this episode of the show. Boy, that's a beast. I'm glad we only have one more of these to go before we actually have some games to talk about.

Speaker 2: No. A 100%. No, man. It's it's great, man. I'm so excited for the World Cup and everything. And as we're learning more about these teams, we're learning about these teams. Yeah. So it's gonna be super fun to see what what transpires, but we have four more groups down.

Speaker 1: Four more groups down, four to go. We will see you next week to cover all of those, but until then, enjoy some soccer. Enjoy the US game this weekend. We'll be back, and we'll talk about that next episode as well. But until then, have a good week. See you later.