Croatian Disallowed Goal and Hair Rules

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He cuts past the nonstop group chat trash talk, he clears on goal and he shoots Visit your local Boost mobile store today to get unlimited data with a price that never changes. Boost mobile. After thirty GP, customers may experience lower speeds customers will pay twenty five dollars a month as long as they remain active on the boost twenty five dollars unlimited plan Hello and welcome to the Guardian Fotball Weekly an extraordinary game between Argentina and Cape Berdie. at the end bodies were everywhere and Cape Birdie kept pushing and pushing and pushing Sydney Lopez Cabral with the moment of the tournament up there with the Great World Cup goals arcking a glorious strike into the top right hand corner to equalize for a second time. It was absolute perfection. They were brave, good on the ball, Voisini was great again, Pico Lopez heroic, but in the end it wasn't quite enough Messy with an exquisite touch and finish Martinez banging one in and then Christian Romero in off the defender. And it will be Egypt next for Argentina. afterfter Egypt beat Australia on penalties the Soccerus changed their keeper two centre backacks miss spot kicks, the inquest down under started already. in truth neither side with that good. And then Columbia beat Ghana An early goal was enough in a sea of yellow in Dallas. Ghana once again a hard watch. We'll discuss the England Mexico kickoff time almost but not changing. There's more fallout from Croatia Snicko Gate. We'll answer your questions and that's today's Guardian Football Weekly. He, Argument Tart, welcome. Hello Howy Bar guy Denning? Hello And in Dallas Los, if it's in Hos Howdy everyone? Howdy Doody? For the YouTube viewers, we are broadcasting from our bedrooms again because it is late again But it will make no difference if you are listening, of course. let's start then with let's start with Ghana. No. let's start with Argentina three, Kate Berdie two I mean That was such a brilliant game, Archie. and The Sydney Lopez Cabrll goal. I mean, it's the most that we have all shouted watching a goal, including England games. It was just unbelievable The thing that really caught me with it was A, I don't think I've reached that higher pitch in this tournament yet with the noise I made after that went in I was you get sished. Let's be real only Christine Quinn's dog could hear you. These are all things which are true. And the thing is I was very excited with the first Cape Meray equalizer And that was the whole point of why this second equalizer was so special because I think any football fan watching this game, even if It wasn't the most interesting game of football that we've seen. It was important because of the context of who these two teams were and that's what made it so engaging And we'd all probably, in our minds, apart from the Cape Verde players and staff had written them off After that second goal From Lisandro Martinez, it seemed like things had gone wrong. but Both times, in fact, all three times that they conceded, they kept coming back for more And at the start of the second half, they had an excellent period of play. That first goal that they score from Diroy Duarte is an amazing move. But the Sidney Lopez Cabral one Sure we can talk about the finish. It comes from a move which is of at least thirteen passes where they move it from back to front But then the finish die for the way that you see it arcing into the top corner and there's that moment in your brain where you're thinking This isn't going in. This can't be going in. It is going in. Ohh my God It was glorious and for it to happen to him as well, Sidida brilliant interview with him yesterday where he was talking about how he was freezing in the fifth tier in Germany earning eight hundred and fifty pounds a month, using bin bags for curtains. He had his big day, he had his big moment. It was just such a shame to see him in tears at the end Look I'm sure it was just overwhelming emotions because yeah, sad that Kate Verde lost, but What a performance that they put in here and yeah the surpriseed team at the tournament. Yeah. I mean, the finish Barry was so good. The celebration. like he was desperate to hug. I presume it was misses. She didn't seem that bothered, but like he waited for hours in the stands. Yeah. in his m report, Barony said that she was probably his girlfriend and att least wanted to be his girlf friendriend and it's probably his girlf now H fam It was an incredible goal. It's one of the all time greatreat World Cup goals, it will become as iconic as any, I'd imagine And the thing is, he's a left footer and he hit that with his right foot. It' just astonishing and What an addition Cape Verde have been to this tournament Due to various issues we mentioned but probably don't talk about enough. and d in no small part to FIFA and Giannie and Trump This tournament certain aspects of it are shameful They're embarrassing. Ed they their toalldry and they're tot deaf and It's heartwarming to see that quuite a few that most of the teams involved and most of the players involved are all doing their damnedest to drag be an aberration, a sporting aberration kicking and screaming out of the gutter and this match There's been some super matches in this tournament And this is, I think, in my opinion, the best of them It was tr It's this will be remembered for years. It's on the goal I think we all have of goals that we favor above all others. I know Makes youial you're partial to a shot where the ball stays ball famously. Barry, I would imagine very long range headers have a special place in your heart For me, it's always a case of I love it when you can see someone line up a shot and you have time to think, No, don't do that. That is a very stupid idea And then they do it and it goes in. That is one of my favorite things because I contradary to whatite I think I really like it when I'm wrong about this stuff and I definitely had this goal, you have this moment of like Absolutely not. Your left back should not be doing this. likeike this is what you cut inside there. Uutter foolishness to attempt this. And I think that makes it obviously spectacular, but for me the fact that there was this little pause where you can think, no Don't be doing that. I know you're thinking about it, but you're not doing that. And he did and it was glorious. I was just thought the last hour of this was pretty glorious And it came at, you know, the tournament fatigue max, it hits us at different times. I've been doing radio shows six days a week. go I guess you've been doing every day. And I have to admit I've watched everything by the way. like there's been a couple of games where I've had to watch twenty minutes in my car, but've been I've done every game this tournament And somewhere through Australia, Egypt, I was starting to think, you know what running low on energy now. This is I'm not entirely sure I'm up for You know, if this is a boring sort of Mess he scores a couple of goals and Argenta and Centina passast themselves to the end of the game. I'm not sure I've got ninety minutes of that in me. But then of course, that is the magic of football. Just when you're like sagging a little bit, it serves up an all time banger of a game and the last sixty or so. just the way Kate Verde kept going ust think because you tend to think when you get deeper in the tournament then that's the teams that have depth and you know, the underdogs are supposed to get tired they kept going. and I did actually say, I have witnesses for this. I did say to my broadcasting partners here in Dallas that I'm not sure this game is over in an extra time. I I kind of there was this sort of drive in Cape Verde. I didn't quite expect that to be honest, I didn't expect But yeah, what a game? so much fun. Yeah, you need games to remind you why you love this game. I mean, I presume Asassu's furious that they let in three, but but for the rest of us and actually actually they Like they play good stuff, right? they you know, you can look at games to go right. They'll have the ball. they won't, That'll a low block, et cetera, et ccera. You know,'ll get to Ghara in a bit and you know, Argenta and Egypt both sort of I mean, Australia and Egypt both sort of playid a low block, but They played. they came to play. They didn't And and They're good on the ball They pass the ball through the lines. And as we've all alluded to, they never stopped. like they never ever, ever stopped. And I just think don't I don't think it's patronizing because look how small is Kaate Birdie. how short is their footballing history compared to the reigning World Cup winners and Argentina and Messi and all of that. And to go toe to toe with them, I think is just so brilliant It tells you something that after the quality of goal that Lonel Messi scored for the opener that this is the conversation that we're having that they came back and played so well after that that Vinia once again was a shining light. I think he doubled his tournament save tally during this game as well and also It was the way that Ver seniors sold Lautaro Martinez not one but two dummies in the first half. And there was a moment, I think it was in the second half where Lonol Messi is the one coming up to him and you just see him think, am I going to do it? You know what, I'm not going to push my but here. I think this might be a bad call. And And that's the thing is they were not phased at any moment of this tournament. which is Look, yeah, I was starting to go down the patronizing route and I had to stop myself That's the thing about a World Cup is haaving expectations of a team and thinking, okay, but, What can this team really get up to And it's great when you are proven completely wrong. I'm intrigued to see what happens with Argentina from this because They arent usually the team that can handle things very well when they are not best team. in the game And then they put together a move and boom boom, boom, they score, which is what happened in the first half and Sure, they faced a warning sign in their twenty twenty two World Cup win against Saudi Arabia, against Netherlands as well when they were Tunill up, look the final you could say as well, was not exactly a a clear thing either And I just don't know how much Margin for change there is actually for Leonel Scalloni because they have one style which suits their best player and it's actually quite a low tempo style. Only Qatar made less sprints in the group stages than Argentina. So I he can't really change much he's going to have to tweak things. Maybe it is Julen Alvarez for Lautaro Martinez in the next game, Martinez pressing in moments didn't look Great But yeah they had one hell of a scare in this game. Yeah, there's there is a stat doinguring the routs. I haven't checked it. a CalyFC One of the boys saw it. Voisini has completed more dribbles in the knockout round of twenty twenty six World Cup than Cristiano Ronaldo. so I ha't that if that goes sufficiently viral I owest any amount of money that Cristiana will go out with the strong intention of making a couple of dribbles in the next game. likeike whether that is something he can still do or not That's that cannot stand. It's like how Imbapa has apparently Andmbapa has apparently been given some grief by by friends and stuff about how he doesn't do any work off the ball, which I'm guessing is because of that that updus that went around about how just no one does anything. These things the players pick up on these things sometimes. As to what Ah was saying, I thought the Irish sports writer Gavin Cooney made a very good point during the game, which I want to steal and repurpose she made the point that Argentina are good when Messy is walking, they are not good when everyone else is walking too. think there was think there was a real tendency of that going on. And I guess Part of me thought they were just playing with their food for a lot of this. partart of me thought that they were just, okay, we've got the goal. We're just going to slow the tempo down. It's a long tournament. We don't want to burn off too much steam But it very nearly did cost them. And again, Cpe Verde, they nearly scored at the end again, like Emmy Martinez had to come up with a great save Like it herard his ability to just keep going and never accept that they were beaten. I thought was dare I say inspirational. And they are a team. like they got to the quarterfinals of the twenty twenty three Afcons They finished above Cameron in their qualifying group. They were in a group of Libya and Angola as well there. This is not a total fluke. like there's some football here. And I remember looking it up. Because the island is so small or the Achipelago is so small, you're assuming they're all diaspora guys, but that's not true. There's a bunch of guys in the squad are born in Cverde. So it's just really terrific story and just great stuff. The word Bazon Pico Lopez, who could have been playing was it Sigo away today instead? Yeah, if he hadn't answered that LinkedIn message, he'd have been playing at the Shoregrounds and Sigo todayight instead of in the World Cup against Argentina He's got a Champions League qualifier on Tuesday. I don't know if he'll make it back for that. That's in Malta I. Shammer Crovers trying to qualify for the Champions League He had another massive game at the back for Cap Verde He he had one interception. from across amazing was so good. sensationally good. I thought he put it in his own net and he didn't and it was a remarkable He has had a remarkable worldorld cup And Vazina as well, I thought Vazina was massively over praised for doing quite routine goalkeeper stuff in the game against Spain But tonight he was immense like just A guy' had this massive celebrity thrust upon him and is just determined to enjoy every minute of it and may K while the sun is shining and Op to five goals in this game, four of them were outstanding Yeah, the winner was somewhat fortunate. I think Ramera's header was good, but it did take a big deflection on its way in But I just enjoyed this game so, so much Yeah, absolutely brilliant. And it's a shame that we can't spend the whole podcast talking about this game and we have to talk about the other two. The other two Wh I was going on for a very long time with my answers? Absolutely no comment whatsoever Anyway, take you some timeing the clock Game management A obliged. we will talk about Australia, Egypt in just a second Hi pod fans, Max here, Barry here too. Hello. Weekly is supported by Gradient FC. Now Barry, with the World Cup underway, we know player performance will be under a microscope. fromrom superstars cementing legacies to upstarts vying for big summer transfers. But with forty eight teams and up to six matches a day, it's hard to catch every moment and that is where the Gradient FC app shines. Their player rankings update daily during the World Cup So you know whose performances are trending up or down on the world stage How does it work? Well, grradients rankings use the same grades trusted by clubs across Europe's top leagues for player recruitment. Each match is graded by a team of experts who evaluate over two thousand actions per match, not just by outcome, but by execution. So for example, a completed pass that leads the receiver into danger is graded negatively, while one that puts the receiver in on goal is graded positively Now I know you hate making match predictions, Barry, but maybe all that could change at the World Cup with Gradient FC with head to head player comparison tools that show who's best across more than a hundred grades and metrics. It's easy to build and defend any prediction. And here's something else that will appeal to you, Barry, It's free Fantastic. Explore it for yourself at gradientFc. com or download the grradientFC app from the Apple Store or Google Play. He's dribbing the ball with everything on the line. He's driving down the pitch. He's facing price heies and cuts past him. Carrier contracts drives to block him. Oh, he leaves him in the dust. He's at the edge of the box. He cuts past the nonstop group chat trash talk, he clears on goal and he shoots Visit your local Boost mobile store today to get unlimited data with a price that never changes. Boost mobile. After thirty GP, customers may experience lower speeds customers will pay twenty five dollars a month as long as they remain active on the boost twenty five dollars unlimited plan Welcome to part two of the Guardian Fball Weekly. So Australia one, Egypt one, Egypt going through four two on penalties. before we chat about it, I caught up with our man, Jack Snape at full time Okay, then Jack, how was that for you? Yeah, wasn't quite good enough really. Pretty sad that the soccers couldn't convert this opportunity, right? Chasing this first World Cup knockout victory and they got close, but not close enough in the end. very frustrating that They're going to sit on this for four years now, knowing that look, in the round of thirty two next time up in Spain, Portugal, Morocco I don't think you're going to get a much better opportunity than Egypt to get through the last six dain. So yeah, definitely a missed opportunity today Yeah. I mean, the criticism from Australia, Popovich is getting hammered actually about how defensive they were and how they didn't take the game to Egypt after they equalizeed. it's wise up for the event, I guess. There was concern right halfime. soccer is one mill down The best player Jeordi Boss has gone off with you know what looked like a pretty bad knee injury You're thinking, Gee, how the hell are Australia going to work their way back in their game? They haven't scored since the first game against Turkey. I was pretty much preriting my match report. you know, one little defeat The sockerers where do they turn? They turn to the set piece And sure enough they the big bodies got into the box and there was an ownn goal, but ye under a lot of pressure from the soccerers defenders. So yeah, they they got that opening h and I think it kind of raced the match a little bit Yeah. Tony Popovich and his stocker Rose They're not set out to impose themselves on the other teams, right They're well organized, relying on certain moments. And so was won all as fatiguing legs into extra time. I don't think there was any surprise that Australia didn't take the game on more And look, I think if the penalty shouldo out have gone the other way, we'd all be saying, hey, played it pretty well Ultimately though, that's not what we're saying. From my experience of living in Australia, otball the whole footballing world is in like a permanent existential crisis And and and I guess this will add to that There is going to be a lot of rage unleashed on Saturday brunch, across the breakfast table or across the lunch table as they come to terms with this defeat Tony Popovich will be briefly public enemy number one, particularly that decision to take off Patrick Beach. an informed goalkeeper who has really done nothing wrong during the tournament for this make or break shootout. but also the decision to Start the shootout with Harry Sutar, who I'm not sure has ever taken a penalty Number before Lucas Harrington This guy's eighteen. he certainly hasn't Obviously the players have a choice in whether they take the penalty or not, to put pressure on that that eighteen year old, I think is one that Popovic would like to have back. Certainly when the ball at the crossbar I think it's it's one that he can't disagree with. Yeah. And I guess from the people that I've chat to back home If you look at that squad, there aren't it's not filled with elite players, but it's filled with elite potential, perhaps. You mentioned Harrington you know, I Kunda could push on. Jeordi Boss could push on. There is a there is hopefully the nucleus of a young squad that could get to the next World Cup and play slightly more progressive football. and actually have a chance of unlocking defences Yeah, I think there's a real positive in Christin Volpado, his integration in the Australian team. He was pretty much our key attacking outlet today, particularly operating between the midfield and the Egyptian defense. He felt like he was really important and he's a player that we don't have a lot of in Australia. skkillful can take the game on And so I think he's really important But Tony Bovich, his system is very solid three central defenders. Yeah two protecting defensive midfielders and relying a lot on the physicality and speed of the wiide flares and forwards That is probably good enough to get to the round of thirty two every World Cup, but you're right Let's as the Australian football community dream a little bit and wonder yeah, how we can get the most out of players like Iran Kunda push on and maybe develop a style that can take us a little bit further. Safe trip home If you see Mrs. Rushon and the kids give her an hour off, would you We'll do, we'll do. See you back in Melbourne Max. enjoy the tournament Jack Snape there and thanks to Jack for all his work. He's by back to Melbourne now. Look it's agony for Australia this we have a much bigger Australian audience than an Egyptian audience. so we will get to Egypt And the inquest has started, Baz about The penalty shootout and Popovic changing the keeper bringing on a much shorter keeper who died the wrong way as it turned out and the centre backs taking the penalties and I've I think hindsight, you know, it can be so black and white after the shootout none of it works No. and yeah, I'm very much a Monday morning quarterback here, but There was always a very strong possibility that this game would go to penalties and it did It wasn't a good game. It's not really worth talking about the one hundred and twenty minutes that preceded the shootout And It seemed to me that Popovich and his Australian team weren't even familiar with the concept of a penalty shoesel. so thoroughly ill prepared they seem to be for it. He decided to replace Patrick Beach in the dying moments of extra time despite Beach having had a really good game with Matt Ryine, who has saved twelve out of about seventy penalties is' faced in his career Matt Ryan is shorter than Beach. Beach had been playing well Egypt immediately went to look at some Matt Ryan penalty saves apparently one that Killian andbape took against him and deduced in a few seconds that o he just dives earily you know, before you've even started walking from the halfway line to take your kakeys away And so it came to pass. He didn't get near saving any of the penalties And then Australia's penalty taker, Harry Suter center back and captain he took the first one which is someome say the most important one. That was the first penalty he's ever taken in his life Um, and then when they had one that they had to score to stay in the match. Lucas Harrington, an eighteen year old center back took one His wasn't terrible to be fair, but it did hit the bar and Egypt didn't miss any of theirs and Matt Ryan didn't get near any of theirs. So it seemed and obviously I'm talking with the benefit of twenty twenty hindsight But it seemed very poorly organized by Papavvic and his players Yeah. I mean, I would I would say that he's not guessing, right? He must have known before the game starts that he's doing this. If he is guessing, then it's mad. But he's not guessing. And there is precedent to, you know, Australia doing it. It took Matt Ry on a on Andrew Redmain, I think he's called in a shooter. If he's not guessing, he knows and like sometimes keepepers aren't told. So Patrick Beach didn't know that he was coming off If he is guessing, then it's completely mad. And inzero five, Australia One of their greatest moments. they beat Uruguay in a shootout to get to the World Cup, Aloisi scoring, but in that You know, two centeracks Lucas Neil and Tony Didmas scored. So like I don't know. I sometimes think Lars, when we look at these things, we look in you know, as Baza said, you know, it's all hindsight and those his decisions did not come off And sometimes they don't. And then we decide, well, they were definitely wrong. and If Sutee gets over the penalty then Maybe it's different, I don't know Yeah, listen, I'm assuming they serbed on Matt Ryan because they've been practicing penalties and he has been saving more of them in practice. That would make more sense to me. I'm assuming that young Harrington took one because he's been making them in training. which he said after the game, I believe. I'm looking at quotes here where he said The coaching side of the team had my back. They believed in me. I made my penalties during the week. We practiced it. I was confident, you know I maybe I am guilty sometimes of being too of deferring too much to the expertise of the people involved. I mean, our job is to discuss things and have opinions and whatever, but I tend to think like cooaching staff does generally speaking know this stuff better than we do. U All that being said, yes Putting up an eighteen year old center half to take the fourth one as well, which I think is statistically the one that's the most likely to be important seemems. That is a pretty wild decision. like even if he hased a lot of them during the week. And also like Matt Riers looks so small. I mean, like thatsally. they would they would I guess it's like Jordan picked for his tiny hands that aren't actually that tiny. It's just kind of the shape of his body, you know, I don't think compparing it to the Paraguayan K keeper who's you like twenty five foot tall Yes, Archie Fen, Tony Popovich for Having Harry Sutar go first on the evidence of the game that we'd just watched. If we're talking about Patrick Beach' for in the game and that he should have been allowed to stay on then I think you could actually make a similar argument for Harry Sutar and he was feeling. I think the only problem is if you'd wanted him to take it with any part of his body, it would have been his head becausecause there was no There was no thing came his way that he could not head away. Proucer Joel just kept on going for dom for dom. and it was just this kind of dull thud that you felt every time. He was putting an art into his heading in a way that I was just thinking he's almost making heading look like Federer does when he's hitting a forehand There was one that was down by his knees and he was like, yeah, you know what? I've headed the last three, so that one's going away too. And so with all of that, when he was stepping up, I was thinking, you know, he's going to thump it in. But I think as Barry alludes to, the first penalty has that thing of you are setting the tone for the team And when the guy who's been your best player in the last one hundred and twenty minutes misses, I think that makes you all go Oh no Oh no. and even more so when what happens with Matt Ryan, who I think went the wrong way on three of the four penalties happened so On that decision I'd give Tony Popperich a bite. it's just that There's so many other things which are difficult I also bey the criticism of Povic's is not just that. it is that this is a game Australia could have what. We've talked about how Cate Verdie took the game to Argentina, right? When Australia equalizing this game. kindind of shut up shop and Egypt Sala couldn't run, My moose wasn't playing well The criticism is that Australia even if they don't have like a brilliant set of elite players could have taken the game to Egypt. This was there this was a great chance to win a knockout game. I think there's a brilliant chance I don't I think if Australia made it more of an effort wouldn't have gone to the penalty shootout because As you say, Salad did next to nothing Oar Mouche was virtually anonymous and there Obviously the two players everyone talks about when we discuss Egyptian football, they're the star turns and they didn't show up today for whatever reason I did notice Mos S just waited for Matt Ryan. his penalty was quite good even though it was really bad because he just waited for Matt Ryan to dive and then drove down the middle not even waist high. It wasn't even a peninkca and burst out laughing I don't know whether that was at his own ineptitude and he hadn't hit it the way he wanted to or if it was because He knew Matt Ryan was going to be gone for a hot dog by the time he kicked the ball So Australia will never have a better chance of advancing to the s for finals or they had a great chance here and Even the corners they were takaking, they had a big height advantage. They were taking short corners. whyy? what are you doing I just I was baffled by the reproach to this game. All the more so when it became apparent salad mermmous or not delivering the goods for Egypt Qick one on Egypt, Arch This was a huge deal for Egypt. They had not won a knockout game at a World Cup before And for a team which has had The continental dominance that they have with seven Afghon titles, I think it had always got to them that they've never been able to go further in a World Cup and particularly in the time that they've had M sala And now they finally have a bit more of a support cast who can be there for him sure O Mamouche missed that chance just after halfime where he can put the game out of sight It's something to have somebody with his potential I was listening to African football expert Ali Howth before the tour went and he was picking out Iam Ashure who has really turned up in this tournament so far real flare His celebrations have a lot of main character energy to them. He's a bit of a maverick who struggled to adapt to life in Denmark, so he went back to Egypt. And he's looked promising and I think can also cause Argentina some problems in their next game. but look, this was a huge moment for Egypt and I think That also just needs to be noted. Totally and that'll be for part two, partart three we'll begin with Colbias wheninever gone. Podcast powers the world's best podcast Here's a show that we recommend Hello, hello. It's Brooke Deavvard from Naked Beauty. Join me each week for unfiltered discussion about beauty trends, self care journeys, wellness tips, and the products we absolutely love and cannot get enough of. If you are a skincare obsessive and you spend twenty plus minutes on your skincare routine, this podcast is for you. Or if you're a newbie at the beginning of your skincare journey, you'll love this podcast as well because we go so much deeper than beauty. I talk to incredible and inspiring people from across industries about their relationship with beauty. You'll also hear from skincare experts. We break down lots of myths in the beauty industry. If this sounds like your thing, search for Naked Beauty on your podcast app and listen along. I hope you'll join us Deisions made in Washington can affect your portfolio every day. But what policy changes should investors be watching? Washington Wise is an original podcast from Charles Schwab that unpacks the stories making news in Washington right now, and how they may affect your finances and portfolio. Listen at schchwab dot com slash Washington Wise Welcome to the part through the Guardian Fotball Wekly. So Columia won Garden Nil, John Arius is goal after fourteen minutes for the tape we're recording just after full time And we were delighted that it didn't go to extra time. We are objective, but guys I'd be. I don't think delighted even begins to describe How pleased we were Gara didn't need. As soon as Gana had the ball and let's face it, they didn't attack much. There was a lot of no. if Sameno ever got the ball like no, no, no, thank you. Yeah, you talk about game fatigue, Lars look, Colombia are good. Colombia are fun Gonaob tricky to watch and I think it's not harsh to say unless you're Gharaayian, you're not going to miss them from this tournament Lars. Yeah. a slight sidetk maybe, but I did a piece for for the Guardian on Norway before the Brazil game and caused me to revisit Norway being dumped out by Italy in nineteen ninety eight. And the reason I mentioned that because the quirk of that game was Even that one nill down, we still sat back. like in the nineties during our golden period in the nineties, Eggil Olson, our genius coach. I don't actually mean that ironically, he was a genius in his own way. But it was very much about direct football. His core belief was that you you have the best chance of scoring when the opponent is not in balance as he would say when the defense isn't set. So you need to attack very quickly and you want to tempt them ono you so you can get them. And this is what Keros is doing, right? I get that. But it was still farcical to watch Ghana still be really well positioned and set up in like this sort of stubborn block well into their own half When you're already a goal down And I swear to God there were moments where like Dalinson Sanchez was passing the ball to a teammate looking at like arere they not going to press? Like what's going on here? We're in the lead. Why are they not doing anything And I completely understand like the tactical rationale for this This served them well in the group stage is what got them here. this sort of K Kos suufferball thing that he does But it is nonsense to go out of a tournament like that. Like when you're a goal down, you have to try to do something, I think. And they were very stubbornly refusing to do that Yeah, mean I guess the logic is you do that until the eightieth minute and then you thenen you get it launch but They didn't really do that either, A? Did they? No four shots on target. during this whole tournament Given that they came into it. w a hey, won a game, won a game. you can't block that. Given that they came into this tournament having changed their coach in March and Press the Ks button. I think it's a pretty underwhelming performance. They will not be missed exactly. The thing you said to me during the game was, look at one nill, they're just going to keep the same approach But I think we were expecting, look, okay, but at some point, they will go for it. It just never really came. Yeah. ye. and for Columbia about it. Mark Langlon said, you know, they were an outside shot of reaching the final. It's quite hard to gauge them with this formance They were good. mean Lewis Dz could have had a hat trick and then it is then it's a really comprehensive win. But even at one nill, they did not at no point did it look stressful as a Columbia player. and normally in a one nill at this stage of this tournament, you just go deep and get nervous. There was none of that No, look, teams like Ghana can be hard to play against as we found out swet. Yeah we did. Columbia made very short work of them. I know it was only one mill win, they never looked like. conceding And But for a couple of tremendous saves by the Ghana goalkeeper Lauren Aattty Zigi The scoreline would have been considerably higher. There were also a few narrow wides and whatnot. Gana had one shot at early doors that phizzed wide But I I don't think any of the four shots and targget came in this game. It was a pretty dismal effort, but more or less what we've come to expect from tireless Cious sites No doubt he'll rock up into the next World Cup with another team and we'll all be going Cryke here we go again. I think the scoreline here very much flattered Ghana in a way that they weren't flattered by the scoreline of their match against England. So tomorrow's Games then Canada, Morocco, Paraguay France, you wanted a quick mention of the Paraguay manager Yes, Gustavo Alfaro. Argentine and somebody who is renowned for being veryery poetic in his quest to describe the beautiful game even if as One Argentinian friend of mine put it to me, he is not looking to play the beautiful game. If he could play tenefenders, he would. But I just li the ton of phrase that he used before this France game where he was talking about, I'm a country boy. in Rafaela, when a thunderstorm was coming, we didn't have to take cover because there were no lightning rods. France is like a thunderstorm and the lightning strikes the center of the goal, so you know a thunderstorm is coming So yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing what he will do exactly because look, They were excellent against Germany. whether they can weather this particular storm? notot too sure. You mentioned thunderstorms. It was Yeah the weather. Yeah It was thought that England Mexico was going to be moved from six PM to midday in Mexico. So it's from one AM in the UK to what seven PM The best reaction was a guy called Chris going G to record the Englland game and watch it at one AM regardless. I haven't b Monday off for nothing. Turn that it wasn't to do with thunderstorms. It was to do with safety for fans because of what happened after Mexico win over Ecuador and four people who lost their lives in those sort of extraordinary celebrations that we saw. But the English FA was stunned that the move was under consideration so close to the game as with the Mexico FA, managers and players were like, well, okay will'll deal with this if it has to happen. And it all transpires that it's gone back barry to one o'clock in the morning in the UK. So for a small moment People who worked at ramp pubs and the police were absolutely delighted it got to seven PM and now they are to work until in the middle of the night. It was all very strange because FFA never really actually made a statement. I'm not sure if they have even yet. they were Sorry briefing journalists on the side on offfficially but There was no actual FIFA announcement that game has been moved, this game has been moved back, this game. We're thinking about moving this game It was all being drip no seem't quite sure what was going on That was certainly the vibe I got watching the BBC News earlier The cynic in me thought if it was been move back, it was because it would be better for FIFA if And it was shown on prime time in Europe rather than in the early hours of the morning. That's entirely down to me being a very cynical man, I'm sure, and not due to any real reason why it might have be moved. That's the first time I've known