Why the USMNT’s disastrous loss to Belgium was even worse than it looked

That 4/1, it wasn't as bad as that. Yeah, it was. Yeah, it was something.

“It was the worst exit from a World Cup. The US has ever had in my opinion.”

I'm Brendan Hunt. And I'm Rebecca Low. And this is all of the whistle from Apple News. The American Dream is over, an illusion shattering 4/1 defeat to Belgium in the round of 16 has sent the US home. Oh, I know. But my beloved England, Brendan, I'll still alive after a heart-spoken win over Mexico. And I was there, both of them all the way from this, Tekken 2 Seattle, and my thoughts will definitely include a dot language. Get ready.

This podcast is brought to you by Verizon, an official sponsor of the FIFA World Cup, 2020-6. No one gets you closer to the FIFA World Cup than Verizon. Rebecca, you made it.

Brendan, can we just tell our listeners slash viewers? Yeah, after the whistle.

After being the operative word that a long time after, the final whistle was what I don't know Brendan five hours ago. And we tried, didn't we? We really tried to do the podcast sooner. But I was like rushed out of the stadium, got to the plane. And there was then a little delay. And we were trying to get somewhere or I could do 20 minutes on the phone with you. They just wasn't anywhere, because I was taking from one place, the next place, the next place.

And then got to the plane, was sitting on the plane, the plane wasn't going. The plane wasn't going. And we were like, oh, we're 10 minutes away. We're 10 minutes away. They kept saying, we're 10 minutes away. We're not 10 minutes away. We seem to be a lot longer. So I message you

“going, guys, I think I might be able to knit into the Lou at the back of the plane. And let's just”

bash out 20 minutes. Sounds weird. But you know what I mean? So at this point, by this point, I was, uh, because we had been waiting around. I was like, all right, it's not going to happen. Everybody circle back at 11 o'clock. I had gone to the hotel jacuz. And was enjoying myself tremendously. Yeah, well, much as I could in the emotional wreckage of my day. And then I just had a, I had a spidey sense. I was like, Shannon, that's my last name.

Who was supposed to my phone to me. Well, you just tapped my phone and see, is anyone calling me? And she's like, do, do, do, do. Oh, just a producer, Ruby three times. Oh, Christ. Okay. No, all right. My favorite, my favorite message from you. And I said, okay, I'm in the plane bath from let's go. And you just wrote, oh, Christ, I'm in the hot tub. Oh, get out. And I just, oh, and I just thought this has with the weirdest thing. I'm in a bath from

a plane. And you're, and waiting for the pilot to bang on the door. Any point to say, we're leaving. And you're in a hot tub in Seattle. Anyway, that didn't work, obviously. And we rushed. Well, I rushed home to keep you from waiting more than the five hours I already have done. Because it's actually horrible of me to make you, um, stay awake and live again. This grimness of that you have been living in in the last five hours. So should we get into the fact that you

were at the game, obviously, I was at the game. Oh, you go first, my friend. I'm sorry. No, it's just,

you know, I'm already getting messages from friends. We're like, oh, boy, can't wait to hear the pod that's going to be the kind of encouragement that we're looking for. There's not going to be any of that. That, that might come later. But there's, that's not, that's not what today is going to be. We're going to have the today feelings and Rebecca, um, tell you something about those five hours. That hasn't made me feel better either. I'm happy. I'm happy. I'm looking for silver linings here and

um, I am failing. I am failing. Okay. Okay. Now this could be this better. Okay. This could be a little therapy for you and I'm here for it. Well, I agree. I mean, you can tell your friends. Thanks for the, um, the messages, but we're absolutely so far away from encouraging. Um, it's not funny. So let's start shall we with the, um, obvious news that Flow Ballad do we, do we want to

“get into the Flow Ballad situation? I think there's one thing we got to get into, yes, uh, at the very”

least, um, and maybe something at the end. For folks who were reacting to our reaction video yesterday that we put out our special, our after the whistle special content, um, there's, uh, like, we put that video out as soon as we got the ballad news and then, like, half hour later, the Trump part of it became part of the story. So, um, that probably would have changed the tenor of our news a little bit and, um, yeah, just know that. Yeah. That we probably would have said something a little bit different.

But yes, of course, ballad news has gotten the right, I've gotten the red card, um, in the Bosnia game, it is widely seen as a horrible call, but, you know, because, um, because in soccer, we are used to just taking injustice and, uh, suck it up. And I'm like, well, that's just what's

magically. These are cool 27. Hardacle 27, um, as a friend of mine wrote in a group chat,

“we'll definitely my favorite article in the FIFA chart, I mean, I'd have to go through it again,”

but probably probably my favorite shout out, Joe Penale. Um, and, um, and it's happy as I was with the, as anyway, Belling got reinstated. And it's happy as I was for Belling and being in the state

it, especially at first, especially because I feel like, you know, that red, that red card was

an incorrect red card. Once Trump got his mits on it, it was like, no, no, don't, don't do that. Don't make it about that. Don't, because like, the US national team has been able to live in its own, like, little bubble. This little, shumpless bubble where, like, people can think of the US as just like this without thinking of that. And then he just puncture that membrane and got his stink on us and then changed it from being the US team, being able to play with the energy

of the aggrieved, which, of course, is an energy coach is trying to get their team to play with all the time. They doubt us, et cetera, et cetera, and gave Belling the ability to play with the anger and fury of the aggrieved. And, um, yeah, yeah, that, that didn't help us. That didn't help us at all.

“You put that beautifully because that's, I think, what lost you the game. I just want, well, I,”

I don't understand. And I know football's mad in that you can have a great game for a

by a rubbish game. I know that. We've seen it all a million times, but this team was different.

How we've seen this team in the first four games was a, was a new team, really. We haven't seen this USA team before this world cup. Look like that. Okay. You don't, in my opinion, then go back to worse than you were way worse than you were before the World Cup, unless something happens. And it's not an excuse, by the way. And obviously, it's not flowbound, flowbound, because it's full and it's not botchino's full. And it's none of those players fall. But I actually

give them a little grace because the disruption caused and the attention and the side show and the distraction caused by the flowbound aggrieved situation. And of course, botchino has to start him, right? Despite the fact that he's been training with Ricardo Peppy or Week, and they've got

“an entire game plan with Ricardo Peppy playing. And then the day before, just over 24 hours before,”

they find out, oh, actually, thanks so much, Ricardo. It's really kind of used to be doing that. But as you we don't need you, because guess what, Balagans coming back? Well, that's just a nightmare, management, management situation, anyway. And then Balagans comes into the game within a ton of pressure, knowing that everyone's looking at him. And he's been the center of everyone's world for more than 24 out. Well, actually, for four days, none of which is his fault, none of which

as I say is the team's fault. But it was a complete and utter energy sapping situation. In a weird way, you're getting back. It's really good player. It should be energy filling and energy raising,

but it just sat the energy from the first minute Brendan, from the first map free save. I thought,

well, well, what's happening here? What's happening here? Well, hang on. I know we're one minute in, but what's happening here? And there was only for me, sorry, the section of time in the second half was it at two one down where you looked like you could have done something. I thought, okay, now we're seeing it and you were just starting to get into your room. Oh, okay. And then the map free Sarah can come to you. Okay, we'll get there. And we, we will spare folks to blow by blow

of this, but speaking in the, in the broadest terms of what the fuck happened here. As you're saying, like this, the whole Krafuffle is not the cause of stuff, especially not the cause of something as disastrous as this performance. And I do think it was disastrous. But yeah, they were out of sorts from the very beginning. The first 10 minutes, you know, up until that first Belgium goal, completely disjointed, couldn't complete passes. And every single loose ball fell

to a Belgian foot. In a way that first you go, like, oh, wow, Belgium's really getting lucky here, but no, I was seeing it just like in, uh, I don't know how much pinball you play. But in pinball, if you, if you're hitting a bumper, allow it with your shot. It's because the shot before was wrong. The shot before wasn't like, you know, up the ramp in the right way. That, you know, and like, and so it's, it's, it was a fucking shambles. Yeah. So then Belgium scores a very soft goal 10 minutes in.

They continue dominating until about the half hour mark when, uh, Tillman, unbelievably scores another free kick, second game in a row. Only the second man ever to get two Dreck Free kicks in a World Cup. Very good for Tillman. They only good thing to happen in the whole day, because then within two minutes, Belgium is allowed to just march on down the field and score again. And the crowd still still with the states, still with the states, but like, woo, half time could not come soon enough.

And then, yeah, as you say, that second half, like, it was better. It was better. It was better. And then, like, I hate to single out Matt Freeze, because of the, you guys give so much,

And they know that, but yeah, Matt Freeze committed a real capital sin.

And you know what's crazy about it is that I feel like everyone has been saying the build-up to this game. Well, actually, I'm not sure anyone has talked that much about Matt Freeze this well, because they haven't had to, right? He hasn't done it wrong. He hasn't particularly done thing right. Then he pulls out a few quite good saves in this game. And I remember I led over to

“one of my guys. I think it was satirian. I said, this is a good thing. Matt Freeze is being tested,”

and he's doing fine. And I know he's letting two goals. But there was a few saves around that. Well, this is this is good. Let's get him some confidence. Let's get him to feel that he's the man. And then you have that moment, which you just can't, but poaches he no can't legislate for that. Brenda, he can't. He can't legislate for that. I'm sorry. And it was just lost all the momentum immediately gone out the game, game was lost. And they didn't let it be believed after that.

Yeah, because at that point, not only are you two goals down to this peer team or you're trying to fight bravely against, but also you're now kind of a laughing stock. You know, like the status loss to commit such a grade school error in the biggest tournament in the world is just such a shock and so deflating. And they did, they did keep fighting. But yeah, yeah, at that point, Rudy García reveals that he's been illegal Montoya in us the whole time. I'm not sure if you've seen Princess

Bride, but there's a character in the Montoya who played by Amanda Batinken, who went to my

high school. I mean, really, I went to his high school. Let's be honest. And they have this incredible

“sword fight against a dreadpired Roberts. And eventually the dreadpired Roberts says, why are you smiling?”

In the Montoya, it's been really enjoying this battle with his peer. It goes, uh, I'm not left handed. And he switches his sword to his right hand and off he goes. Well, Rudy García, because I'm not left handed when he puts on fucking Lukaku Endoku, who's been sitting on the bench the whole time, waiting to see if they were needed. They were not. And then here they come. And at that point, like, hope is truly, truly, truly lost, building all the way to Lukaku putting in the final

dagger to make it four one in the 93rd minute. And sometimes you see a four one score line and you think, well, that was that was flattering. Um, that four one. It wasn't as bad as that. Yeah, it was

it was 100% as bad as that. Yeah, it was the thumb thing. It was the worst exit from a world cup.

The US has ever had in my opinion. And um, it sucks to say that because I was, I was, I've been looking for to this for so long as you know. But like the ones where we don't make a knockout stage, those don't count. Then the ones where we do make a knockout stage, like nothing has come close to this since the ones in the 30s. But in the 30s, we weren't at home. We weren't at home like this. I'm just so shattered by this. You know, the expectations of it, of course, are somewhat

you know, overdriven by by, you know, dumb, dumb emotion speaking fans like me. But still, like if we're going to go down in this way, it wouldn't have been the end of the world. But couldn't we go down like kid there day? Couldn't we go down like Mexico? Like this was,

“this was the disaster. I couldn't agree with you more. Um, and I think the increase starts now.”

And I think I'd like some answers. Let alone you guys. Um, I would love some answers. I'm not sure portraitino has any, but there must be some, someone's got some answers. Someone has to explain what happened today. Of course, it made everything worse. But because we had that seizure mentality from Belgium, all of their celebrations, I mean, did you see we had the air cupping, we had the Trump dance, then as we showed on the show, you know, the Belgium F.A. put out the tweet saying

over to, you know, the whole thing was just, which was very good to eat, very good to eat, very good to do that. Good houseery, but you know, well play, I think for me, what saddens me is how quickly everything evaporates, you know, Brendan, like everything was there this morning when we woke up in the palm of our hands or actually yesterday morning before the ballot that news, which I continue to say has ruined this situation. Everything was there, the momentum, the following wind, the love for this

team. Now, I'm not saying the Americans are going to fall out of love with them and they're not, they're not, but it's a wasted opportunity of what could have been. But here's the positive take, Brendan, here's a positive take. Yeah. Oh, go on. Yeah, I've got a little positive take. Their work this summer is not confined solely to the field. Yes. This team has changed this country and it has changed football in this country. And I don't want to hear about

for a ballot gun, by the way, in that whole situation, ever again. It's got nothing to do with these players. And it has nothing to do with Maria Positina. So let's forget that and let's solely focus on what this team has done for this sport in this country. And that means to me, it has taken the

done one more game, it wouldn't have been seen as a failure. Now, I think it's going to be seen as a

failure mainly because of the way they went out. Do you believe that? It's the way it's as impactful as the round. It is. It is. Because like you say, if had they done a Mexico or a Kverty,

“then I think you look at it differently. But in the cold lot of day, maybe not today, maybe not”

tomorrow. Maybe in a couple of weeks, Brendan, you are going to witness around you what this team has helped. Well, just this team, a lot of the world cup, right? All of the Kverty's and the Mexico's and all of these great teams. But you are going to witness what this team has contributed massively to. And that is moving the sport forward in this country. So I am ready already, of course, I am ready. You're not to look at those positives. But for you, it's going to be a bit of a

grieving process. And I get it. And I just think it's gone. And it's all gone. And that's really hard to go with. It's frustrating because of a couple of things. One, you know, the, and this is a longstanding chorus. But like, we're the only country that aspires to be good at this, uh, fucking sport, this frustrating stupid life-roaning sport, um, where the players also have the burden of not just playing, but promoting the sport. You know, like, they have, like, it's their job to make

the sport big in this country, just this country. And like, they, they don't need that burden. But also, you can't come in to a world cup game and be just off. They were just off for, for 10 straight minutes. And even if they'd write it the ship after 10 minutes, it would have been too late. But the problem that's frustrating to me about that is, if I feel like we were talking about the same thing after the Netherlands game four years ago, like, that's the part that makes it feel

“like very pronounceedly not progress. And like, why do we keep having to remember these sporting lessons?”

Sporting lessons only on here. I'm not culturally, because culturally, sorry, let me agree with your, your larger assessment, which I will agree with more in a couple of days. Um, they created immortal memories, you know, to rival, you know, Donovan versus Algeria in 2010, you know, they sort of culture penetrating moments and huge, huge audience numbers. And however many, you know, kids who's, you know, his parents could fucking afford to be able to take them to games.

And like, be able to see this happen in front of them. Like, those, those are generationally impactful

things. One hopes, but not a horrible way to go out. Just finally on this, there is progress,

because you just mentioned 2022 and the Netherlands exit. I don't really remember much about 2022 USA team. Remember the police, it's called a golga injured. I don't really remember anything about them. Like you just said, they are going to remember the 2016, the way they played in that first game. I'd telling you, Brendan, that was one of the best days of my life. And I'm not even a USA fan.

“And we had the best night that night. And we will remember that. And these memories for the kids”

for our age people, we're all going to remember them forever. And those memories, there was something they have currency. They really do. And that is only going to serve this program, as you guys call it well. And it's only going to push it forward. I know it doesn't feel like it right now. But I promise you, I promise you, it's going to, in the end, even though it's a failure to an extent in a way on the field with the way they went out and the

point in which they went out. I still don't think it's a failure this summer. I still don't think it is. I know. Yeah, again, in the grander cultural, we'll look back a decade from now, since maybe, but in the other sense, like if we weren't going to get to the quarterfinal with this year, when it's going to happen. And I feel, I feel particularly hard for policemen McKenney and Adams, you know, the guys who we've been talking about for four years is

like they're going to be in their prime. Yeah, but they're still going to be fine. And for years, Brendan, they might be fine, but there'll be, there'll be in their 30s and they won't be at home anymore. That's the part that's in the first room. You get that once. Yeah, that's one's only. That is true. I agree with you. There won't be at home anymore, but that doesn't mean you can't get to the quarterfinals. They won't home in 2002. And they got to the quarterfinals.

Yeah. Oh, that's amazing. I know. I know my friend. I know my friend. I know. And I've made

you wait five hours to get it all off that chest. I appreciate that. And I appreciate you. And I'm sorry, you'll still in Seattle where you probably want to be anywhere, but Seattle right now, shall we go to break? We must. Would you like me to, would you want to? No, go ahead. I'm going to continue drinking sugar free red bull as if it's going to do me any fucking good. This is after the whistle. Everybody. From Apple news, and we're going to be back to talk England when we come back.

Brendan the FIFA World Cup is now underway and it's already going too fast. It's too much. It's

to these amazing games and no one gets you closer than Verizon. In fact, Verizon gave away

“tickets to the FIFA World Cup for customers, coast to coast. And some lucky customers are even”

getting pitchside access, meaning they'll watch a portion of the gameplay up close from the field. If you're not a Verizon customer, it's not too late to switch. Bringing your AT&T team mobile, Xfinity, or Spectrum Bill for a better deal. Must provide very recent post-pacons. You may mobile in any of the past, or any of the past, or even medial, additional time, conditions, restrictions, but nice. No one gets you closer to the FIFA World Cup than Verizon.

Welcome back to the whistle of the quarterfinals are shaping up. Belgium is not going to play Spain in LA on Friday. Again, I was very interested in going to and now probably not as much. The winner of that will play France Morocco. Tomorrow, our final two competitors will get sorted. That's either Argentina or Egypt and then either Switzerland or Colombia. And they'll play the winner of Norway versus England. Fuck and now, Norway, knocking out Brazil, maintaining their

undefeated record against Brazil as brought to you in an exclusive scoop here and after the whistle, that Norway has undefeated against Brazil. And they'll be playing England who had a performance

“that I think arguably with the possible exception of the capability, match the tournament,”

winning three to two in Mexico City, Rebecca, how are your arteries? All trees are not good, that constricted are not good. 11 minutes of injury time. It's all I'm saying to you.

Oh my gosh, Brendan, never have I been more envious of you being somewhere in my life.

I was in a studio and all I wanted to do was be there. That was the greatest England performance on foreign soil ever had an argument today with Teary Henri. He said, no, no, the five one against Germany, the Michael oven hat drink. Oh, yeah. And I said, it's a good shout, Teary. But I get to choose this, my friend, not you. Okay. And I choose Azteca, 2026, 10 men, Dan Bern just flipping, heading it a thousand yards, people like throwing their bodies on the line. Two things about that

five one, where it fails compared to this game was as England didn't really struggle that game. It was just a fucking romp. And thing two, and I might be wrong here, but let's play trivia, who scored for Germany? I know this, and funny enough, this came up, not that long ago.

“I might be wrong, I'll tell you what I think it is, and then correct me or I'll get like you”

though. Who do you think it is? No, who do you think it is? Carsten Yunker? Yeah, I think you're right. Woo! Boom! Oh, I've been the thumbs up from producer Colin. Why does that mean that it's not as, it because it's- Oh, that doesn't have to do with it. That was the other part of it. I just like playing trivia games. Okay, go on. Okay, back to the fact that I think- I think your first point there about the not struggling is the story for me,

because yeah, it was great to go to Germany and be our biggest rivals, five one on their patch, for sure. But the build-up to this game, right? If I said the word out to chewed once, I said it a million times. Okay, then we got the weather. We got- and the weather wasn't even that bad, by the way. It was like some rain, sure, but like England loved that,

but then we had the atmosphere in the stadium, all of which I've never experienced and I'm told

was incredible. But this England team came out from the very first minute and looked like they didn't give a rat's ass about any of that. I mean, the way the game went. Jude flipping belling him is a joke, by the way. He's like an actual, not real footballer. There's a lot great guy. Can we talk about that, too? I don't really want- I'm not going to go through as chronically unless you want to, because I'm going to get it wrong, because there's so many things

that happened. But I will say that the right-back issue continues to be an issue. Now that we actually don't have any at all, because they're either suspended, injured, or haven't been called up, hello, train, Alexander Arnold, how's your summer going? I also think that every game continues to be a dream. I also think that when we had Quanta Centoff, I just thought, well, that's it now. Like, we, he was sent off when we were winning to one. And I thought,

right, okay, let's play for extra time. Like, it's going to go to extra time to do what they did with 10 men. Wait, there was 49 crosses for Mexico, 49 in one game. Good Lord. And now bear in my most than we're terrible and half of them were from the halfway line. But even so, John Stones and Dan Burn and they're just heading a marked gauge, just heading and clearing and blocking every step of the way was magnificent to watch. Then they put up 11 minutes about

had they equalized, had Mexico equalized. I don't think we'd have had the energy to get through

“half an hour at a time. There's no way we would have won that game, right? No, because it also”

you'd have been playing a Mexico with a wind up their sales at that point. It would have been impossible. Yeah, exactly. So, you were there. So, I want to know from your perspective, but from my perspective, greatest ever in-in performance on foreign soil, so proud and so lovely to see the country, so proud at three o'clock in the morning and drunk as scumps. I was incredibly excited about this. I and pardon me, those of you who have already heard me say this on Instagram. But I have

wanted to go to as Tech basically since becoming a soccer fan around 2000, like a proper soccer

fan around 2000. I've always hoped it would be for a US World Cup qualifier sidebar. They're

basically not going to have those anymore. So, but the beat here for this was all the bigger. I mean, to be not just a Mexico home game in a World Cup against a team for whom I have a soft spot in England, but also Mexico's final home game of this World Cup, no matter how it went out. Like, the magnitude of the occasion was phenomenal. Like, just walking down the street, you know, to get breakfast outside our hotel, like the street is the thing. We accidentally picked a hotel

that is basically in ground zero of the official city celebrations of where people are going to wash in the game. Like those shots you see of like 200,000 people in the street. Yeah, our hotel was in the middle of that. So, six hours before the game, the streets around us are already filling

up with green jerseys and like then, but still fully knowing like, oh, this is 0.001 percent of

what this is going to be. So, like, you know, gosh, love being in a country that gives us shit about the World Cup when the World Cup is going on and you could feel it. So, to be at Azteca is a privilege. And it was such a moment to stay. I mean, I was clearly rooting for England, but by the end, like, by the end, by the time it started, like, if Mexico had won, I just wouldn't have been mad. I wouldn't have been mad at all, you know, RIP my predictions, but like,

it just would have been incredible. Like, the noise in that place, and I know it's been talked about by other people, like the noise, it's, it's like a beehive inside a slot machine that is caught in the butthole of a farting elephant who has trapped in a larger Ferrari. Like, it, nothing, nothing like it ever. And, you know, the farting, almost undignifies it. What's the opposite of dignified? I don't know. But because it was very focused, like it was all like very insane

and everything everywhere all at once, but also like laser focused on the game. Like, England, but England goes up to no. The crowd only got louder. And I fully believe that the, that late first half goal by Kinyonis, what a tournament Kinyonis had, by the way. Oh, break up, so get in. He needs to get out, so it's how he pro League and signed somewhere. Yeah, he does. I fully believe that that is a, that is a crowd induced goal. You know, that is a home field advantage goal,

because that was the crowd saying, we are not letting this go down this way. We absolutely are not.

“And so to make a two and a half time, that's what propelled that whole second half into being”

really, really fucking interesting. I ran into a, the football writer for the Wall Street Journal Josh Robinson coming, we were, we were both flying from Mexico City to Seattle today. And he said,

I'd never been anything like it. The closest I've been, because I know what the closest I've been,

because I've been was a Chambers League quarter final at the Sun Zero in Milan, that Milan won in the 93rd minute and was, I've never seen energy like it. And his was a Chambers League semi-final at the Bernabelle. Like this, this is, this is what we're talking about. And this is only around a 16 match, you know, like there's just nothing like, just on that real quick, he isn't the only one. I read British football journalists, messages on social media who have covered this game for

more than 30 years. And they too, I mean, names, you know, John Cross, Henry Winter, Jonathan Norcroff, like, proper big football journalists, names in England that I've followed for years, and have been around for decades, no consent to mental gays, right? Uncentimental jaded fellows, just like the best of those football writers, saying it was the best game they'd ever seen. Both often on the field. That is for you, Brendan, to experience that. I am super jelly.

You have had a once in a lifetime experience. It was pretty fucking great. A couple of other

“minor thoughts. One is, does the hydration break among all of its other flaws and powers?”

Does it negate home field advantage? You know, like we've talked about this putting into quarter, we've talked about like changing the energy of a game. Now that we're like, you know, doing 20 minutes, 22 minutes, 20 minutes. But like, by giving a team, you know, at altitude, in a particular a chance to,

worked so hard to build all these decades? Yeah, especially out, especially out. Yeah. Also, like, I was behind the benches, you know, very low to the ground, and you know, get ahead the sensation as I am, as I have one, I miss low to the ground, and like, how do football coaches see fucking anything

“from here? Like, how do you know your players are out of a position and you have to go like,”

like, like, with the fucking tell anything. But also, like, watching, took a run-a-watt, a tattoo. Sorry, I should call them tattoo, so you know what I'm talking about. Watching him run around just circulating, like, I don't think I've ever seen him just regulate this much ever. But with his, like, you know, short sleeve polo, it was like, like, Pinocchio became a real boy. But then he still had to grow up and eventually become an accountant.

And just start running and feeling emotions. Like, he just, he looks like a little wooden boy grown up. He's got those, he's got the thinnest limbs. Yeah, so right. Of literally any football coach of all time, 100%. I stand by this. No, you're absolutely right. He does. Now you've said that he absolutely looks like a grown-up Pinocchio. He does without the lies, because all he does is tell us the truth. Ah, the truth. The great football interview. And a perfectly normal

nose. By the way, he doesn't be clear about that. But yeah, just those, like, you know, dolls.

He's got dolls for limbs. Um, it was, it was such an incredible occasion. And I, everyone in Mexico

was awesome. I was like, I'm going to be respectful to my host. And I'm just going to wear an oasis tracksuit top. I'm not going to run around in my England shirt. Okay, Shannon, you ready? Here, come Shannon and her England shirt. Oh, great. Okay. All right. Well, we'll do that. We were in the lounge. And like, and the, you know, Nixon fans around us were all like, have another shot. And like, my wife, not a big drinker. So, she went into that game three to kill us in already.

And, um, really, you know, England came out. She's like, whoa, my baby, a bit, a bit, a bit. Um, if just, now, if England score, like, you just like, little fist, little fist pound, you know,

“just, you should like, you should look at me like she wanted to kill me in a way that she had never”

has before. Well, let's not true. Yeah, I don't know how to have it some more regularly in that, but it was deeper. It was deeper this time. And she was like, I will not like, babe, babe. She's like, I'm not drunk. I'm not saying your drunk. I'm saying that my personal policy, when I am the guest in, uh, in the, in the, a seating where I'm not rooting for the team is what looks to that? I'll have to keep it simple. Little fist pound, little fist pound. I need to go

to a game with Shannon. Absolutely. Let's go. Oh, don't worry. She didn't listen. She didn't listen at all.

And we all had a great time. But, but here's the thing that's amazing. It's like, where did that come

from? That performance? Like, where, like, you know, you look at England at this world cup. We've had that one good half against Croatia. And that's pretty much it. And then maybe a good 15 minutes against the alcohol go. And then you do that. It's like the opposite of what happened to the US. Where did that come from? Like, where do these things come from? Brendan, does it come from a Thomas Tughal pre match speech arousing? That's what I straightaway think got. Maybe did a

rousing rendition of some speech pre match? Or does it come from something that they all are seeing on social media or does it come from the bus being sprayed? What you laughing at? I'm laughing at Tughal saying, all right, boys, once more answers are breached dear friends, once more. A close world up visual English dead. I'd love to see that. Oh, excuse me, excuse me, excuse me, excuse me,

“exactly. Someone up is a blad. I don't remember that speech from Peter class.”

I mean, here's what it is. It's peeking at the right time. Like, tournament play is all about

peeking at the right time. That's a big jump, though, to go from, like, you don't often go from pretty rubbish to peeking. You normally have something in between? Well, they may not be peeking yet. Well, they're better not a feature. In fact, they're better not a feature. I'm, and I, you know, I'm not worried about, sorry, I know we have to move on. What I'm not worried about, I've decided, because I'm, my half of my brain says I am worried about it. And then I make the other half

overwrite that. Right? The first half says you're worried that they're knackered. They've done 10 men for nearly half a game, which basically was without a time because bloody hell. And they're going to be knackered. And there are altitude, just going to throw the altitude in again. Why not? And the weather, the weather was fine. But we're throwing it all in, right? And they're going to be, and they're going to be knackered. And they're going to go Miami. And they're going to play Norway.

And you've got Ireland. And it's going to be boiling hot. And they're going to be tired. And then I said, no, then I said, no, because if you look at the post match scenes, did you see if you didn't you must google it? The embrace between former England striker Peter Crouch and current England striker Harry Kane was so immense and so intense and so raw. And I looked at it and I just thought

post match interview of time? Of all time, his voice. I love him. I couldn't love him or something. They're familiar to say. But my point is, if you look at those post match scenes, the bonding,

“the adrenaline and the achievement that they have done together as a group, I think will not make”

them tired. I'm no longer worried about them being tired. Go into the game against Norway. Tired? I'm not worried about. Right back. I am. Yeah. When that, when not that energy spent comes out in victory, especially that, you know, absolutely thrilling of victory. And doing it in, you know, we'll call it 90 minutes. Yeah, I think I think they're going to be just fine.

Well, on we go. And I will be at my first England game of this World Cup.

Fuck and finally on Saturday. I also haven't seen my husband and child for by then it'll be five weeks. It's not about them. It's not about them right now. They knew what they signed up for. I mean, Teddy might not have but it's still. He's long for the right now. Oh, can I just tell you very quick side note, Teary and Ree former assistant manager of Belgium at the last two World Cops as we know today. After the game, the only lovely moment was that as we

were going to the cars, he slipped into the Belgian dressing room to say hi to his former players and he came out with Jeremy Doke who's shirt for my little boy. A World Cup shirt for my little boy, Jeremy Doke. I mean, ain't no Christian, but it's Jeremy Doke and I know you're not excited by that as much as I am. But I thought that was the lovely moment to finish off my night. I'm touched by any moment that shows how lovely Terry Henri is. Okay, we'll be back with bits and also Bob's. I'm after

the whistle. This is the World Cup Verizon is turning dreams into reality. They're giving away free tickets and pitchside access. Some lucky fans are getting the chance of a lifetime to watch the action up close on the field during gameplay. All for just being a customer. If you're not with Verizon yet, now's the time to make the switch. This FIFA World Cup 2026, no one gets

“you closer than Verizon. Brendan Brendan Brendan, bits and Bob's time. What have you got?”

You know, it's a thing that I'm surprised to find how pleased I am by is the commentary booth or as he would say commentary booth combination of Ian Dark and Landon Notovan. And I'm not saying necessarily that I think they're the greatest combination of all time. But there's something beautiful about them being paired up because, you know, for those unaware in 2010, Lynn Downman scores the defining World Cup bull of his career, the late Bill against Algeria that pushes the U.S. into the

next, into knockout rounds Ian Dark calls that game. Go go USA! And it is sort of, don't realize till now, it's sort of intertwined them eternally in time. It's still endearing and wonderful. And it, it, I realize yesterday, like this makes me just happy. Hearing them together makes me happy. And you know what's also makes you happy is when you think about them out on the road. Because you have, they're different generations. They're different generations over here. Some of the

selfies are amazing. Not gonna lie. The Landon takes, and you know, he's just had to be like, Ian, would you come here? We're taking a selfie. And they've had some absolute nightmare trips, by the way, especially in the early stages of this World Cup, like, disaster, like Ian filming Landon asleep in the back of a car because they've had to drive like 19 hours because every plane they tried to get on was felt. Anyway, Landon being the ledge that he is managed to get a deal

with an unbelievable private jet company. So good old Ian Dark has been feet up on a beautiful private jet for the last couple of weeks. No, I would agree with you. I love them both. And Landon,

especially, I think is a very underrated co-commentator. Yes, yes, love them together. I've always

looked in, but like now I want to see Landon with other people sometimes, too, just to like, we're, what other mixing it into, but like, but Gali, yeah, like, Dark and Donovan. I'm into it. Dark and Donovan. Okay, my little bit, it's just a little bit, but I know you've noticed this, too. We've, we've slightly touched on this earlier in the World Cup, but now I really want to touch on it. Did we suddenly allow substitutes to run into the middle of the field and jump on

goal scorers at this World Cup? And that that's fine. Don't get me wrong. It's fine. Don't you be go giving no yellow cards out, referee. I think now we need to take this into all football. I would like it to be okay, that when you score a goal on the Premier League, all your subs are allowed to run off the bench or from wherever they do to warm up and they're allowed

to do a pile on, because it happened like maybe that very first game, I think, the Mexico game

with Ralph Hernandez. I think when he scored that goal and he looked at his dad in heaven,

“remember that and then they all piled on him. And it, it was kind of like, okay, oh, they did it.”

Oh, we're doing it. And now it's just the thing that everyone's doing. The Alex Freeman goal, I think. Yeah, Freeman goal, another heighten of it as well.

pinnies in the middle of the pitch. Anyway, I'm totally here for that. Let's bring it into all

forms of football. I'll see your pile on and I'll raise you anthems. I thought it was a little indulgent silly to have the whole bench that's coming out for the anthems. Now, I love it. And then after the anthems, when some of the teams are taking like a full 26 member squad photo instead of just the 11,

“love that too, love it. But just for old cups, I think. I don't need anything I need to anywhere else.”

No, I do too. I do. The one thing I would say just quit on anthems is I do think England should

be allowed to play else twice. It's so slow and so short. And yet, it's actually so slow. Imagine

if it was quicker or be even shorter, we should be allowed to have gold save the king on a loop. Yeah, that's exactly what people want from England. More king. No, you're not, you are not right. What time is it? It's 11, you ain't coming from my king at 11, I am not, I'm not. I'm accepting him once. You're the one trying to shove him twice down our throats. Like,

“hey, and there's been one on for 500 years, we're all tired of this. Come on, come on.”

I have one other bit slash Bob. The night before the match in Mexico, you know, trying to hook

up with a friend of the pop, Christo Fernandez. And while I'm waiting for him, like, I mean, I mean, in San Francisco, I have a drink in the in the hotel bar, the place is empty. Now, but all right, let's just sit in front of the TV here. The TV. Oh, this appears to be it's just a giant screen, and it's on a VIX channel with an X. And I could do, oh wait, this appears to be a, it's just a commercial for a movie that Christo is in. And then in the bottom left is a bug

“that says what is clearly the title of the movie, El Fuego, Herr Minado, and I'm like, oh,”

wow, okay, what's that mean? Like, again, it doesn't look like the jig is up. Like, the jig is up. Okay, I'm trying to want to watch this movie. Like, okay, this appears to be a comedy about, like, a sperm donors and, like, one family gave a sperm and let's go to the other family. Like, they're trying to figure it out. Oh, this title totally makes sense. Oh, the jig is up. The jig is up. Got it. Okay. But then, like, it moves on. It's like another movie. And which is, is this another

episode? Is it a series? Because this is like, it's totally different actors, totally different vibe. But okay, now it's a murder. Okay, but the murder, but murder, the murder, but I get it. The jig is up. Here's the issue. It didn't say the jig is up. It said the game is over because this was the TV that had the game on earlier. And the game had ended. And the movie is not called. Hell, whego. I've turned me now, though. That is a public service announcement, letting you know.

Hell, whego. Hot turned me now, though. Oh, bye. It's pretty, it runs out of my friend. On that note, your game is over, unfortunately. Half of the whistle will be back soon to wrap up these quarterfinals. We're on socials everywhere. Look for at after the whistle Apple on Instagram and TikTok and follow us for Instagram reactions in between episodes, sometimes we can't help ourselves. No, emergency pods everywhere you look.

Thank you for listening. Thank you for watching everybody this South of the whistle from Apple News.