England's Chaotic 4-2 Comeback & Ronaldo Drops Points! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇵🇹 | World Cup Daily #17

[00:00:00] Portugal, the deepest squad in the tournament, drew with the Arcongo. England, shaky defence, two goals down at half-time but won 4-2. In the other games, one team did everything right and lost the game. Another team just eased off and had to switch it back on. And won. Day 7 was chaotic, but that's why we love it. Welcome back to FUTIN REVIEW, ladies and gentlemen.

[00:00:30] World Cup Daily Episode 17. Day 7 is done. I'm joined by my very good friend, James Tolando. How are you doing, James? I'm very well, thanks. Good afternoon to the listeners. Good evening to the listeners and watchers. Finally, we get to do a pod check, so I'm looking forward to it. Absolutely. I think James and I have been trying to tee up a time for us to record a World Cup Daily Podcast for the past week or so. We're excited that we're getting into it and I think we can talk some really good football on display. So we'll just break it down. So four games yesterday.

[00:01:00] England won a chaotic game. Portugal dropped points. Ghana stole it in the 95th minute. And Colombia survived a debut nation scare. Day 7 had a lot. Just a quick reminder, listeners. If you want to support us with other subscriptions, just buy us a coffee at buymeacoffee.com slash foot and review. Link will be in the show notes. Right, James. Let's get going. First up, we had Portugal versus DR Congo. And I think after yesterday's round of football, we had Haaland scoring a couple of goals.

[00:01:29] We had Mbappe scoring a couple of goals. And it was also, and obviously Messi scoring a hat-trick. So it was almost like the pressure was on for Cristiano. And I think as soon as the game, as soon as the games finished yesterday, you could just start, everyone could feel the collective pressure on Cristiano to do something today. And it's one of those things where it's too much. It's too much for one person to take on. But did he live up to it? What are your thoughts on the game? It ended in 1-1. What are your thoughts? Well, straight away frustration.

[00:01:56] I was the person that backed Portugal from the start. So I know it's still early days, but it's against DR Congo. I was expecting 2-3 now. So it was frustration on my part, but also the Portuguese as well. I felt they were going too wide and then they were crossing too quickly. They were always determined to pass to Ronaldo instead of like maybe one or two times using him as a decoy. And maybe passing to a person behind them, like maybe like Bruno Fernandes. So they kept trying to deliver to Ronaldo.

[00:02:24] So I feel that was a lot of pressure on them straight away by their own doing. They could have just maybe been a wee bit more patient. And actually done what DR Congo done, I felt when they attacked, they attacked with precision, but also with patience. So I thought they were very, very good. And they got the result of the rewards. I think it was just before half-time that the Newcastle man was a squad. So half-time you're thinking, right, okay, can Portugal do a second gear? And it just wasn't to be. And also as well, Martinez.

[00:02:52] You know, I know that Nathan spoke previously on the pod about Martinez and his tactics. I felt he got it wrong in the second half. Apart from he did make a good substitution with the boy from Juventus instead of Bernardo Silva. That was good. But in my opinion, you know, you've got the best midfield in the tournament. That's in my opinion. So why not, you know, maybe play a diamond formation? Because Bernardo Silva is fantastic. You're taking him off at half-time. It didn't work out for him on the right wing. So I understand what happened.

[00:03:21] But maybe try a 4-1-2-1-2. Maybe get someone to support Ronaldo. So overall, it was frustration. But hopefully they can do the business. And out of all the five major goal scorers in the world right now, Ronaldo did not live up to the hype. Definitely not. Definitely not. I think talking about Ronaldo, he played 90 minutes, 16 touches in the first half, zero shots on target all game. Sixth time he's finished a World Cup game without a shot on target. That's a bit of a damning stat. Yeah.

[00:03:51] The other thing I just want to point out with Martinez, he pointed out in his post-match comments, he had a really interesting take. His take was Argentina lost to Saudi Arabia in 2022, and Spain lost to Switzerland in 2010, and won the World Cup. So this is the first game is what he had to say. So it's the problem with this situation, exactly as you pointed out, they have arguably the best midfield. And it almost felt like at times Ronaldo was taking up all the good spaces. And there was one event, especially, Constantin Sao came in, brilliant pass,

[00:04:20] and then a pass came through. And all Ronaldo had to do was just leave the ball for Bruno, who was right behind him. And he just scuffed the shot. And I think Andre in one of his, this is one of the snippets that's going around the social media rounds right now, is the fact that Andre said, Ronaldo is there to score. I mean, this is just based on today's game. Ronaldo was there to score a goal for Ronaldo, whereas he should be scoring, he should be expecting Portugal to score a goal, not just him. And it felt a certain time, he was taking up the spaces incorrectly, I think.

[00:04:50] And I think you're quite right in the fact that I don't think this is a Ronaldo problem. I think it's more of a Martinez problem, where he hasn't really got the best out of the squad to make the best out of the, to get the best results. And that needs to be looked at and argued about, rather than focusing on what Ronaldo hasn't done. I think with this squad, it should be a pretty no-brainer, especially against DR Congo, to go ahead and just be able to at least pull through a win, not necessarily a sexy win or a great win, just a win should have been possible.

[00:05:18] So that's a bit disappointing overall. Do you think they bounce back from here? I think so. With the group that they're in, Shaq, I think so. I think hopefully quality will prevail in the end. And it's a good point that Martinez made. Fair enough, it's factual. So yeah, we'll see. Time will tell. The other thing that I was really thinking of, especially when I take it back to the time when Nathan actually on the podcast, when we did pre-recording and we spoke about Portugal,

[00:05:46] because like you, John and I, the gaffer himself and me and you, we all said, we all had high hopes in Portugal. And Nathan really clearly said, this is why he's a scout. He clearly said, Portugal will have an issue with Ronaldo. So do you think there might be any chance that Ronaldo might be benched for the next game or maybe as a really effective person to finish the game? Well, it's looking like Nathan was correct. So fair play, fair play to the gentleman, definitely.

[00:06:15] I don't think Roberto Martinez has got the, how to say this in a polite way, you know, got... I don't feel he's got... Gajones. Yes, yes. I do not feel that he's got that to bench one of the major stars in the world, not just football, you know? So I don't see that happening. But I hope he could maybe support him a wee bit more and do a diamond. But again, Martinez is set on a formation. You've seen it back with Belgium.

[00:06:43] He didn't really change tactical with Belgium. So, and he didn't really get the best out of Kevin De Bruyne. Some people could argue he could, but in my opinion, I don't really know. So to answer the question, no, I don't see him dropping on Aldo on for him. I don't see it. Yeah, it's a bit disappointing. I think if there was another player who could actually, another striker, another finisher that could do the things that you want. I think one of the biggest things that they were missing is someone to stretch the game. Someone who could run in behind all these amazing midfielders.

[00:07:11] One person running in behind would get free up that space. Everyone literally was clogging up each other's space and it just didn't seem right. And that's down to Martinez. That's really down to Martinez. But also as we discussed, there's no one else to take as good as. And Goncalo Ramos is probably the only other one that I can think of that can possibly start. But would you be starting him over Ronaldo? I don't think Ronaldo is going to be happy. So yeah, fingers crossed. I really hope that Portugal come back because they do have a lot in the tank. They did get a bit unlucky.

[00:07:39] They had an offside goal that was disallowed in the end as well. Okay, with Kinsella, that was a pretty good goal. But hopefully they just bounce back because it would be a shame to see them going out. Especially because this could be Ronaldo's last World Cup as well. So it would be a shame. Yeah, certainly would be a shame, definitely. Also Ramos or Felix. I would like to say Felix to be actually teamed up with Ronaldo. He had a great season in the Saudi Pro League. So hopefully... That's a great shot. That's a great shot. So fingers crossed they do something different because we can't have another game like this because this is just not it.

[00:08:09] And I think your parallels with Belgium are quite right because that was another wonder team that Roberto Martinez was in charge of and they didn't really do much at all. So let's see what happens from here. Right, moving on swiftly. The other game that happened straight after this was England-Croatia. And watching this game live, one of the things I felt straight away after watching the first half was same old England. Same old England. The second half is completely different. I don't know what your affiliation is with England.

[00:08:38] I don't know whether you're an England normalist or you don't really have nothing for or against England. What are your thoughts on the English football team? Especially in this game? I've got no opinion of England, good or bad. You know I've got no hate towards them whatsoever. But I felt they've done pretty well because they came to this World Cup, Jack, under a fantastic record. They qualified. Of course they qualified, sorry. But they won all their games.

[00:09:05] I don't think they conceded a goal in qualifying. And then they leaked a few goals and friendlies before it. But overall they really had excellent form. And he went with the same back four, I believe, he went for in one of the qualifiers back in September or October. And also the same back four he went against Costa Rica, I believe, in a friendly. So it was expected in my front that when they do come up against a good side, England is going to concede. So that was the case against Croatia.

[00:09:36] I always expected Kane to get them out of trouble. Without a shard of a doubt, he's a fantastic striker. He's elite. He's amongst the top five goalscorers that I mentioned. You know, we had Messi yesterday and Mbappe. We had also, just for the life of me, it escapes me. Mbappe yesterday, Messi. And who else did we have? Haaland. Haaland, exactly, against the two goals for Norway. So I expected Kane to do the business and he did.

[00:10:03] Second half though, I felt, you know, we're talking about Martinez. I think England's got a fantastic coach. And Thomas Tuchel, absolutely brilliant. And his substitutions were good as well at the right times. I thought England really showed their quality against Croatia. It was a great marker for them. Great marker in the tournament. And you could arguably say that they've already beat the strongest team in their group. Now they're against Ghana and Panama. So I do feel it will be a walk in the park until the knockout stages.

[00:10:32] Even quarter finals, really, I see them before they get their biggest test. Yeah. I shouldn't have any affiliation with England, but because historically they've always had a lot of Man United players and I've always supported them for that reason. But we only have like Rashford and Cobby May right now. But I still have some sort of a soft spot for those lads and also for the team. One of the biggest differences this time around was the fact that Thomas Tuchel at halftime apparently said so, which Kane confirmed that he said his speech at halftime

[00:11:01] was really, was really pumped them up in the fact that he said, it doesn't matter if we lose, we lose playing the way we've planned. And I think it literally broke all the shackles because I think the English team was playing their typical tentative football where they necessarily didn't know whether they had to attack or press for the ball or hold off. It was very like both the goals that came through. They had, I think in one of the goals, they had six or seven people in defense and a goal still went through. So they just weren't getting everything right. And I think that was just a whole momentum shift,

[00:11:31] the way they came out in the second half and the way they applied the pressure. And they were first ball, they were getting to the second ball straight away. They were trying to get all, they were trying to push everyone out of the way, get there, go attacking, do whatever they had to do. So look, I think if they stay this way, they can be a scary, scary proposition. However, the defense, James, the defense seems a bit shaky, don't you think? Yeah, definitely. Without a shadow of a doubt. I was, even though, you know, I just mentioned that he started with the same back four

[00:11:58] against, you know, you know, the matches that I gave examples of, but I was very surprised that Mark Gehe didn't get in. I really do rate him highly. He had a fantastic season last season with Crystal Palace, won the FA Cup, brilliant, got his caps for England. Again, he went to Man City in January. He won the FA Cup again. So really outstanding. And he had a great, great season to the end of it. So I was surprised that he didn't actually start. Were you?

[00:12:24] Yeah, I think so. I think there has been some discussion for John Stones being dropped in the next game for Gehe. So that makes complete sense. And I think Nick O'Reilly played a decent game. I think at the end, Jets Spence had a pretty good game as well. So I think they've got a lot of options. And I think the people on the bench came on and actually, for example, when you had the start, you had the guy, the Gordon lad from Barcelona. It's weird to say Gordon's in Barcelona, but yeah, he just didn't know. He had an ineffective performance, but then you had Rashford who came off the bench

[00:12:52] and looked brilliant. He actually could have scored another goal where I think he just ran out of steam. But they do have a lot of options on the bench that can just come on and literally replace what they have in the first team. So look, I think if they keep it up this way and if they can shore up the defense a little bit, I think they have a really top class manager who can actually make the difference at this level. So happy for them. Let's see what they actually produce from here on in. And as you said, they've finished it hardest test. The next two games should be easy enough, but then we'll see what happens after that.

[00:13:20] And that will be the interesting thing that we'll have to gather. Right. Moving right along. We had another game, which is a really interesting but weird game between Ghana and Panama. I don't know if you saw much of the game, James, but from my take, it looked like a one way street for Panama the whole game. And then just right at the death, right at the death, 95th minute, Ghana scored and went ahead and won the game. They didn't really do much all game. Your thoughts on this game?

[00:13:49] Well, that was quite late for me. So unfortunately I missed that game and the other game. I had to be up for the podcast shot. If you know, you know. Yeah. So, so yeah, Panama though, they were, I think they played in the gold cup. Correct? I'm sure that's the competition that they play with. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Correct. And they do, they actually give USA a good game and I believe they've won a few times against the USA. So they've actually done quite good in the gold cup. The friendlies that they played wasn't that great, I suppose.

[00:14:17] Maybe they won or maybe they lost their form. But I rate Panama, to be brutally honest with you. Ghana isn't the Ghana that we've seen from years and years ago. Remember, Ghana and Uruguay in that World Cup when Suarez got the handball. The striker was Guyan, I believe his name was. Correct. That's about Guyan. Fantastic striker, yes. So they don't really have players of yesteryears. So I'm not surprised to hear that Panama really was a one way street with them. And then unfortunately in the end, Ghana score.

[00:14:46] But like you said in the introduction, you know, that's football. That's why we love it. You know, it can be a very, very cruel game. Extremely cruel. But also on the other side of the coin, it can be absolutely fantastic. So it just depends on the day who actually gets the luck, which side does. That's right. I think I just want to point out as well, Ghana were missing Kourouz and Salisu, who they were not on the pitch. And Semenya had a weird game where he, I think he was trying too hard for long periods of the game and the rest of the team just weren't catching up.

[00:15:14] And he was all over the place, sometimes on the wing, sometimes in the middle. It just wasn't, I don't think it was his best games. And I think there's a lot more to come from Ghana. And I think England versus Ghana, watch this space. I just have a feeling there'll be some spicy events in that game. Let's keep that aside for another time. Right. Moving along swiftly, listeners. We have the final game of today, which was Colombia versus Uzbekistan. The first half of this game, James, I saw this first half and I was like wondering, why has Uzbekistan showed up?

[00:15:43] It just felt like that for the first few minutes. And then Colombia was just cruising. It was, I completely forget that Colombia has some really quality talent on the pitch. They had Luis Diaz, who was purring. It was just amazing today. And then the rest of the team actually played really well. And they had times where they had up there, right back, who actually scored the first goal. And literally they were just finding spots. They were finding space. And it looked like this was going to be a heavy defeat for Uzbekistan. But then, queue up the second half.

[00:16:12] Well, even towards the end of the first half, Uzbekistan came back equalized. And they had a great game after that, when Colombia literally had to shake off and come back and try and do something. I don't know if you watched much of the game, but it was a tight game for a little while, till Colombia's quality just came out. I'm not surprised that you mentioned the right back scoring. He actually plays for Crystal Palace, doesn't he? And he always, he's got a goal in him, definitely. So he is a very, very good player.

[00:16:39] Also as well, I can't remember exactly where Colombia finished, but I do know they finished ahead of Brazil. Brazil was fifth. I believe Ecuador was second. Of course, Argentina was top. So they have a really, really good side, definitely. A very strong and balanced side. And Luis Diaz, fantastic left winger. Absolutely brilliant. I'm delighted he scored. So that's good for me, you know, from outrights. But that's good that he scored. But yeah, Colombia's a very, very solid team.

[00:17:08] I do see them going far, you know, in the knockouts. Definitely. They will get out of the group. There's no question about that. So I'm not surprised that Colombia won 3-1 last night. Yeah, there was, I think they have a lot in the tank. They have a lot of quality on the pitch. And it's just a matter of applying themselves. Because as soon as they got into the lead, it almost felt like they just realized they were too good for Uzbekistan. And that really, I think Uzbekistan scoring a pretty good goal really shocked them.

[00:17:35] And they didn't really know how to come back from a slumber. But they finally somehow came back and they got the win. On top of the group, they could even qualify as winners. And yeah, do you think Colombia could qualify as winners over Portugal in this group? Well, my heart says Portugal, without a doubt, Shaq. But I wouldn't put it past them. And Colombia will certainly give them a game. There's no doubt about that. So it'll be interesting to say the least. That'll be a spicy game. Spicy game.

[00:18:05] Right, listener. We'll move on to our next section, which is the baller, the bottler and the drama. So I'll start with the baller. And I've got a very interesting take on the baller. It was Jude Bellingham. There was a lot of controversy about Jude Bellingham this time around in the sense that, will he play? Will he not start? Would he start? Should he start? And there was a lot of conjecture whether he would even start this game. But Kane scored twice and got the headlines. But the real story of England's win was Jude Bellingham.

[00:18:35] England were 2-2 at halftime. Tuchel was furious. The defense had fallen apart. Croatia had scored a screamer and a clever combination through Parisic and Musa. Both brilliant goals. England needed something. 85 seconds into the second half. Kobe Mainu plays it to Bellingham. He takes one touch, drives at Pasalic, holds him off, and his low shot goes in off the inside of the fire post. 3-2. England never looked back. Rashford sealed it on the bench.

[00:19:03] But I think that third goal from Bellingham literally calmed everyone's nerves. And it's almost like England just suddenly thought they just had this belief back in. And he's a pivotal, pivotal player. And I think there was some corners of the media that were wondering whether he would start this game. And what are your thoughts on Bellingham? Do you think he's a golfer today? Well, he's a Rolls Royce in midfield. And arguably you would say he's probably the superstar in that England team. You know, the most famous player.

[00:19:31] He plays for, you know, the Real Madrid. I always thought Tuchel would go with Bellingham. And Rodgers has been very, very good. But I felt he was starting Rodgers a wee bit more to try and get a look at Rodgers a lot more. I felt that he already knew what Bellingham was going to give him, to be honest. So he just wanted to see Rodgers. But overall decision, I do agree. Bellingham was absolutely fantastic without a shadow of a doubt. I would always say the baller though, of that match was Harry Kane.

[00:19:59] But for you Shaq, I do, you made some good points regarding Bellingham. And yeah, definitely his goal was just, he really just steamrolled that defence. Just kept running. And they thought he was going to actually pass it. A cutback. So that actually gave him more space to actually just run, keep running. And then the angle of the shot was just, it was a sweet, sweet, sweet finish. Yeah, very good finish. Really, really good finish. And I think he just, he literally felt like he took the game by the scruff of the neck and got them the result that they needed.

[00:20:28] And I think that just galvanized the whole team. I mean, Kane was Kane. But Kane's second goal that Kane got was like a gimme. Giving a quality, a player of Kane's quality, a free header like that is just a complete gimme. And the other one was a penalty kick. So I mean, not taking anything away from Kane. He's exceptional. But I just felt like for me, Jude Bellingham literally brought England back to life this today. And for me, he's a baller. Right, we'll move on to the segment that I don't necessarily like, but we have to discuss it. It's the bottler. And today's bottler are Portugal.

[00:20:58] Portugal arrived at the tournament as one of the deepest squads in the competition. Four PSG players, three from Man City, Sporting, Bruno Fernandes, Bernardo Silva, Cancelo, Netro. It's extraordinary collection of talent. And they drew 1-1. And we've discussed it in nauseam about all the issues that Portugal have. But for me today, Portugal were the bottlers, especially, I think all they had to do was just come up with a win. A scrappy win would have been fine.

[00:21:24] Just drawing, I just felt like this could be another depressing tournament for Portugal. Your thoughts? We've discussed this, but anything you want to add? Yeah, I just echo really your thoughts. Definitely a frustrating day all around for the Portuguese. And I just hope they can redeem themselves in the next match. But it's still early days. So we can't count our chickens yet. But just to echo what you said, yeah, I totally agree that that was the bottlers of today, of that day. Yeah, completely agree.

[00:21:53] I think the only one stat that started to me was Dia Congo finished the game with more shots, more shots on targets and more expected goals in Portugal. That's a bit of a damning stat for them. Well, like I said to you, you know, when they did attack, the attack was so much precision check and patience. So I was quite surprised how well they actually attacked. Yeah. They had some really quality players like Wieser from Newcastle and also Bakambu from those FC flares.

[00:22:22] Bakambu, like he played a great game. Valeriao, he plays for Valeriao, I'm sure. Yeah, that's right. Or that played for Valeriao. Yeah. Yeah. I think he's in the Turkish League now, if I'm not mistaken, or Saudi. Great. Yeah. Great game. We'll move on to the drama. The drama for today was Ghana 1, Panama 0. Ghana versus Panama in Toronto on paper, straightforward. Ghana are the higher ranked side back at the first World Cup since 2014. Panama making their second ever World Cup appearance, but nothing about this game was straightforward.

[00:22:52] Ghana's two best players, Kudos and Silesu, were both absent through injury before even the game started. Then the starting goalkeeper, Lawrence, went off injured at halftime. Backup goalkeeper came on, having never started a meaningful game at this level. Panama sensed blood. They pressed, they created, they were better for 90 minutes. Panama deserved at least a point. Then the 90th minute came, then it became the 91st, the 92nd, the 93rd.

[00:23:19] And Panama's goalkeeper, Orlando Mosquera, pushed forward in the closing minutes, everyone up, and then Ghana broke. Brendan Thomas' Sante made a brilliant run down the left, evaded two challenges, and squareded across the Bronx. Jarenki arrived to tap it into the empty net. Game over. Panama, who had pushed their goalkeeper into attack, who had been the better team for long stretches, who were seconds away from the first ever World Cup point, went home with nothing. Very disappointing for them.

[00:23:48] Yeah, definitely. Sometimes that's the way the cookie crumbles. And the three points now in this tournament could be vital. You could actually qualify through third place, you know, being one of the best third places. So three points is very, very valuable. Of course it's valuable. Of course it is, listeners, but especially for this tournament. Absolutely. Absolutely. Right, James. One of the key things that's happened right now is the first round of games are all done. All teams have played one round of games and the next round starts tomorrow.

[00:24:17] And we thought, listeners, what we will do is we'll quickly go through the top eight ranks, the top eight teams, the traditionally top eight before the tournament began, before even a ball was kicked off. We'll break it down. We'll just give our honest rankings of where, out of 10 for Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Spain, France, England, Portugal, and Netherlands. Right. James, if you wouldn't mind, let's start with an easy one. Let's start with Germany. What would you rank? What would you rate Germany out of 10? I would probably say eight. Eight, I would say.

[00:24:46] Seven-one, of course, is great, but they're playing against a very low nation that's a carousel that's a debut nation. So, yeah, so I'll go for eight. Perfect. I'm with you there. Exactly, I'm with you. Eight. Next up, we have Brazil. Not a great game against Morocco. They still have a lot in the bank, but also there's a lot of confusion with the midfield. What are your rating on 10? I'll probably say four. Ooh, that's a rough one. Do you think, yeah, that's fair. That's fair.

[00:25:14] I had 6.5 because I think there's a lot in the tank. I think starting with Iga Thiago and maybe starting with Cunha would be slightly different. So, but yeah, I think you say four. I say 6.5. We'll see what happens from here. Moving on. Argentina. For me, it has to be a 10. That's a messy hat trick. So, of course, you know, for the romantics. So go for a 10. Nice one. Nice one. I thought I was, I was high at 8.5.

[00:25:42] But look, the only reason I gave him an 8.5 is because this is so dependent on Messi showing up and the rest of the team was good. But we all need, they all need Messi to show up. And that's, it's good when it works. But my concern is what if you have four people literally cornered around Messi? But then again, Jago Fergon? I do agree. I do agree because a player that they actually do miss in my opinion is De Maria. I think he was a great ball carrier for them. That's right. If he's struggling. Yeah. So I do understand your point.

[00:26:11] But we'll see. I think if they can keep up the same momentum because Messi looks like a different class of player. Like I think one of the key things that I don't know if he was conscious or not is the fact that he's actually traveled across all of America playing all the games with the MLS. He's, he's acclimatized himself over the past couple of years. He knows whether the place has got high altitude, whether he has to do this, whether he has to prepare a different way. He's already ahead of the game.

[00:26:35] So maybe this is why people like me are completely surprised seeing him play so effortlessly at the World Cup at 38. But hey, let's see what happens from here. Next one I have, James, is Spain. Spain with the 1-8 against Cape Verde. I would probably have to say a four, you know, especially with the moaning after the game, you know, just, just be a good, not a loser. They didn't lose the game, but, you know, be a good sport.

[00:27:03] They want 90 minutes and John, foot John, or gaffer made a fantastic point about all the full 90 minutes only made one foul. And a defensive display like that is fantastic, you know, so fair play them. So four for me for Spain. That's fair. And I have six because I do believe there's a lot in the tank for them. It's just a display that they probably were caught off guard. Like, you know, the time they won the World Cup where they lost to Switzerland in the first game, it felt like one of those games where nothing was clicking.

[00:27:32] It's the same old problem. It's not having a strike and not having an outlet. And none of their players did as they normally would. So a different day could be a different outcome. But yeah, four is fair on the performance of that particular day. Four is fair. Next up, we have France. What do you have for France? Well, France. I can't be too harsh on France, can I? First half was a wee bit disappointing. Don't get me wrong. I was very impressed how Senegal actually counter-attacked them. I thought that was excellent. The manager getting his tactics spot on.

[00:28:00] But then the France quality just was fantastic second half. So probably a nine. Yeah, I'm with you on the complete nine. First half, Shambles. I thought this is going to be another like La Cluster performance World Cup for them. But the second half, Olisse. I think Olisse is the one who's probably, correct me if I'm wrong, the best player on the planet right now in form. The way he plays for Bayern, what he does, the effortless passing that he does, he's just exceptional. So I think France at nine.

[00:28:31] Moving along, England. What do you have for England, James? I'd probably say eight. Shaq, to be honest, they've done what was expected from them. But the second half was really, really good. They're basically a Premier League team. And they've been dying for that in England, for that just replicate what the best league in the world does. So I felt they'd done that second half. I thought they played well. So eight. But just because they conceded, it's not a full 10. So eight.

[00:29:00] Yeah, I'll give it a 7.5 just because of the way of the defence. Otherwise, attack. Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. And I'll quickly go through the last two, which is Portugal. We've discussed it in Nauseam. I'm going to give Portugal a 4 because I don't think if they're at this level, they shouldn't be at the tournament. What are your thoughts? Yeah, totally agree. And lastly, Agafa John is not going to be happy with this. With Netherlands, I've given it a 4 because I wasn't happy with their performance at all.

[00:29:29] What are your thoughts? Well, first of all, listeners and watchers, if you don't see me in Shaq again, that's the reason that we've rated the Netherlands so low. But Jordan, I said, yeah, I would agree with 4. It was disappointing. John, I'm sure, would agree with us. It was disappointing. Japan, many people have it as the dark horse. But even so, you know, I expected the Netherlands to steamroll and I expected a better performance from Yakpo as well. So I'll go for 4. Yeah, same.

[00:30:00] Let's hope our ratings are true for the good ones and the other ones pull themselves up in the second round and we'll see how that goes. Right, listener, day seven is done. The tournament favorites are wobbling a little bit. We have some new emerging talent. We have some amazing, the Stalwells, Mbappes, the Haarlands, they're all kicking into gear. Let's hope Cristiano can do the same. Messi is having a fabulous tournament. Let's see where this goes from here. Just follow us on Instagram at Foot and Review on TikTok at Foot and Review Podcast.

[00:30:27] A five-star review on a podcasting app will go a long way with us. So share this episode with someone who wants to hear the Ronaldo debate, who wants to discuss something for the World Cup, just share this along with them. And if you want to support without a subscription, just buy us a coffee at buymeacoffee.com slash Foot and Review. Every coffee keeps us going. Link in the show notes. Right, listener, we'll be back tomorrow to break down the other games that we have on hand. The second round. I can't believe a week is done, James. Looking forward to that. Anyway, listener, talk to you tomorrow.

[00:30:57] Bye.