Historic Sacking & 40-YO Keeper Slayed Spain! 🇪🇸🇨🇻 | World Cup Daily #15

[00:00:00] A 40-year-old goalkeeper denying the kings of Europe, Lokaku saving Belgium literally 20 seconds after stepping on the pitch, and another tactical Saudi masterclass. Day 5 of the World Cup was an absolute graveyard for the heavyweights, and we are breaking down all the shots, completely unfiltered, and you don't want to miss it. Cue the music.

[00:00:28] Welcome back to yet another episode of FUT IN REVIEW, World Cup Daily. My name is Jon, and I'll be your host today, and in the next 25 minutes or so we'll talk to everything that happened on Day 5. Luckily, I don't have to do that alone. I am joined by my dear friend, James Toland. Welcome back, James. How are you doing? I'm good, thanks Jon. Good morning to the listeners and the watchers. How is your World Cup schedule going? Are you getting used to nighttime watches now?

[00:00:58] No, slightly, yes. For some games, I managed to stay up for the Scotland game, then I managed to stay up for the Australia game, then the next day was just mayhem.

[00:01:09] So I didn't stay up last night for the Iran game, but it was a good set of times for us Europeans, Jon. I think it was 5pm, 8pm and 11pm, and then of course the later game at Iran at 2am. So it was a good schedule. So today it was nice and easy. If there was a level to watch the World Cup, I would say it was an easy level yesterday. So that was good.

[00:01:30] Yes. We also had a historical day with four draws to summarize the results. That was something else. James, shall I just recap them first? We had, of course, Iran versus New Zealand, which honestly, I don't know what you expected, but after seeing the friendly match last week or two weeks ago from New Zealand, I expected Iran to absolutely clap New Zealand there. But that didn't happen.

[00:01:57] I know, definitely. Was it Iran? Did they get a draw with Spain or another team like that? So their form was actually okay going into it. But New Zealand, they always get beat by a lot of goals, even though they've got Chris Wood up front. But I was surprised at that. Very, very good. But the goalscorer, I managed to see who scored. I was not surprised by the goalscorer. And just, he had a great season in the Scottish Premier League for Motherwell. So that was pretty good.

[00:02:25] Yeah, I actually had to check where he's from. Yeah, I actually had to check where he's from, where he plays from. I know where he's from, obviously. Yeah, of course. I was like, oh, that's an interesting player. Two goals on the World Cup in the first match. That's pretty cool. Some player that stood out to me was Ramin from Iran. I think he's 36-year-old. Yeah, he plays for Porto, is it? Or he used to play for Porto.

[00:02:47] Yeah, really cool player. Sort of right mid, right forward. What an assist on the second goal there, though. Well, you tell me. Was it brilliant, John? Yeah. Yeah, it was like, you know, I'm not much of a fan for crossing. But that was one of those crosses which you just had to touch it and it would go in. It was absolutely perfect.

[00:03:11] But that ended two versus two, which I didn't expect. But that sets up the group really cool, I think, right? Yeah, definitely. Anything, anyone or anything you want to highlight except just for this match? From the Iran game? No, I was just, I was just more surprised that Chris Wood didn't score. But just a fantastic season for Motherwell. So, in a way, it was just. Pun intended. Oh, it was just. It was definitely just. Well done, mate.

[00:03:41] That brings us to Saudi Arabia versus Uruguay, which we knew Saudi Arabia would be a very defensive team. They're also called, I think one of the nicknames was the Desert Wall. And the Desert Wall actually resisted the Marco Bielsa Zuruguay. Got completely frustrated by this Saudi Arabia in a gritty 1-1 draw. I have to say a little shout out to Mohamed Oluwai, the goalkeeper.

[00:04:12] Pretty terrific match. This was a far less football fight than I expected. It was really technical, really fast play. And so far, I have to say, I said before the World Cup started, that I'm expecting a lot of slow playing, full defensive matches, low scoring, not many attacking teams. But there's been none. Everyone's just, most of the teams just went all out so far. Is it exceeding your expectations as well, James?

[00:04:40] Yeah, I would say, I would say to say that, yeah, definitely. Of course, we'll move on later to the Spain game. That's a different story. But otherwise, before the matches, yeah, it was pretty good. I believe, correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe it was just two 4-4-2s, just going right at it. Yeah, so like old school, it reminded me of old school. So yeah, definitely. But also, I feel for Verdi. It's a wee bit wasted on the right. I don't know about your opinion, John. I would like to see him more central.

[00:05:09] Yes, but I don't think they have much options in the team. And did you see that shot he left out in like the 94th minute or something? That was one heck of a shot. Although, another terrific save there. It really was a day of the goalkeepers. This was also the first time in World Cup history since 1936 or 8, I think, where there were four draws where everyone drew on a single day. Except by then there were eight teams that they did. But it's been 90 years or something. Fantastic.

[00:05:39] I love stats like that. Belgium versus Egypt. Now, I said this could be a spectacle. Belgium, of course, has a star power of Courtois. They had Mechle. I don't know if you've seen that defender, but I think that's really a standard defender. Of course, the Broune, Thielemans. And basically, they go up against the speed, Fomalmouche and Salah. But this went a little bit different than I expected as well with the 1-1 draw.

[00:06:06] Not only the 1-1 draw, but this was a spectacular match to watch, I think. Yeah, it was good. I was quite surprised again that Belgium didn't really steamroller them, to be honest with you. They've got a lot, a lot of quality in that Belgium team. Of course, Egypt up front as well with Manoush and Salah. But it was actually quite an even game. I expected also to possibly the height difference be an issue, maybe in corners.

[00:06:34] I was expecting maybe Onana to attach the score in that game. But it wasn't to be. It was a draw. And I'm sure Belgium will go away from that very, very frustrated. Yeah, although the group itself isn't really strong, right? So I don't expect it to have any consequence drawing here. Yeah, yeah, true. But still, I did put Belgium on nine points. And I did expect them to beat Egypt. Although Egypt is, of course, a pretty good and steady fight.

[00:07:04] Like, they don't concede many goals either. So it's usually a very strong team. Yeah. But that was an interesting match. I think the most interesting match for me was, of course, the sensation in Atlanta. Tournament debut. Cabo Verde pulled off the ultimate World Cup miracle to start off against the reigning European champion, Spain, to a sort of embarrassing 0-0 draw. But we have to praise the 40-year-old keeper, Fosina,

[00:07:31] who earned instant worldwide cult status and about 10 million Instagram followers with a string of heroic saves. Of course, they went in defensive, James. But did Spain disappoint you? Or is it something that just can happen? Or anything you want to highlight from this match? The way they operated. It was typical Spain, really. You know, the passes. And then, obviously, Cucurella making the windback play.

[00:08:00] And then they're cutting in for it. And Torres should have actually scored that chance. And they hit the bar. So I wasn't really surprised by that. And as a Scotsman, I'm certainly not surprised. You know, we beat Spain. I need to add that in, John. But also, as well, it reminded me of a result years and years ago between Celtic and Barcelona. They didn't really have the cutting edge up front like Celtic that night. But they certainly defended, like, Warriors. And Barcelona, Celtic beat Barcelona 2-1 in that night.

[00:08:31] So it was very similar with the Spanish to last night's game. But I was pleased with the goalkeeper. Absolutely fantastic. Fantastic. Don't quote me on the exact figures, listeners and watchers. But I believe it had X amount of followers before the game. And then all of a sudden it just skyrocketed up to 1.5 million. And then John told me as well it went up to 10. Yeah, 10 just now. So I like stories like that, John. Absolutely fantastic. So he was certainly a baller. Definitely.

[00:09:00] But this is one of those matches that Celtic followed also a lot in the Netherlands. Because many of these Carverian players actually were born in Rotterdam. Or in the Netherlands. Most are from Rotterdam. So Rotterdam has a big population of Carverian. Or Carverian, I should say, of course. And you actually saw that that had some terrific results. I absolutely saw people running on the streets. And I said it yesterday and yesterday's shows.

[00:09:30] This is what football is about. Football is about passion. Football is about celebrating. And I hope that the same thing would happen, of course, with Caruso. But, well, Germany didn't have any sympathy for it. But no matter what happens, no matter how defensive these teams are, there's no good reason why Spain shouldn't beat them, right? Yeah, of course. Oh, definitely. They certainly had the quality, John. Without a shadow of a doubt. Yeah.

[00:10:00] And the chances, like I just highlighted about Farron Torres. And that was just one chance, surely, that they should have actually put away that I just mentioned. There's loads of chances that they should have put away. So, yeah, quite surprised. Nill, nill. Again, the Spaniards will be very, very frustrated. I still see them going out in the group. Yeah, of course. Of course. But it was a really historic point for Cape Verde. And remember, we've done a show on the first, the four debuts. And we're like, no chance, no chance they haven't got with Spain.

[00:10:29] So it's always good to get proved wrong. Yeah, definitely. Yeah, this was, I think it's also a perfect storm. I think Spain, of course, there's some players that have to be rested. But, like, this Spain is good, mate, I think. But I do feel that if they don't have their wingers up front, it is a completely different team, right? And we saw the difference Lukaku made when he came in for Belgium.

[00:10:57] We saw the difference Jamal made when they came in. Yeah, Jamal gave an insane assist. But he also, or he didn't go in, so he did, it's a cross. But also he gave one of those passes with the outside of his foot from the right side behind enemy lines. That showed how much talent this guy has. And I'm all worried about Spain. I don't think this means anything for the tournament. But I think that goalkeeper and the defense had an amazing defensive result, amazing fighting spirit.

[00:11:26] But this one stat in this match, which I've got to highlight, they made one fall doing it. Just one. One fall? That's fantastic, isn't it? So if you can hold off Spain for 19 minutes and you do that by playing purely defensive, but you do that without fouling, does that mean the team has been superb on the defense? Or does it mean that Spain didn't try hard enough? What do you think?

[00:11:55] It's a very, very good question. I would probably say that they got their tactics absolutely spot on. Maybe they actually, they understood what they were going to do with Spain. They understood what they were going to do. And Spain could really catch them off guard. So I would possibly say that they got their tactics absolutely spot on. Flawless, you'd say. Flawless, yeah. Yeah. No, that was, I thought that was an insane performance. An insane stat.

[00:12:23] Like I saw that and I was like, it's not only the fact that they played, they fought well, they did well. And like the atmosphere in the stadium was absolutely terrific. And of course, Fusina being the man of the match. But, and they had no shots on goal, by the way. I looked at the stats and they had 394 passes for Spain and 182 for Cape Verde.

[00:12:48] With four shots on target and 13 attempts versus three attempts and zero shots on target. But it's not like they were killing football doing it, if that makes sense. Yeah, I totally get you. So, compliments for them. Yeah, definitely. Before we dive into the matches that are up next, we always say in this show, who's going to be the baller? Who's going to be the baller?

[00:13:17] And where was the drama? James, for you, who was the baller from yesterday's round? Well, it has to be the Cape Verde goalkeeper. We've got a shadow of it, John. Do you agree? Yeah, Fusina. I think 40 years old. So the nice thing was watching the match with my daughters and I'm 41 years old. Retired goalkeeper, just saying. And they were like, if he could play on the World Championship, why aren't you doing this? Have you seen your father walk these days? There's no way.

[00:13:47] So I double applaud him for that. I think that was an amazing performance. Excellent. A steady 10 out of 10. As a goalkeeper, these are those matches. I don't know, you may replay once in your life, you know? Exactly. Like it's just everything goes your way. But I do think like what really stood out for me, not only the saves, of course, and he was actually, I think his passing was good as well. What really stood out for how calm he was.

[00:14:16] It's easy to lose your head if you keep getting your goals or shots aimed at you constantly. Right? But he was keeping calm. He was boosting his team. Well, crying, of course, after the match helps your getting your followers as well. But yeah. So just go follow him. I think it's amazing. And I agree. This is by far, this was the only baller that could be in.

[00:14:41] If I would give anyone a second, like a shout out would be maybe Lukaku. Because I think Lukaku, he came in. He didn't score. Like, I think it's an on goal. I don't know if he got the goal or not on his name, honestly. I think it was an on goal. But I'm not too sure on that. But he came in. The cross came and like the ball immediately went in.

[00:15:05] So you see how much attention a good number nine can actually draw in a team and how much of a rightling law that can be, right? Yeah, yeah, definitely. Totally agree, John. So who's the butler here? Thanks. The butler, you could probably go through the whole Spain squad, really. If there's anyone you should highlight, I know who I'm going to say, though.

[00:15:31] Specifically, I'll probably say since I brought it up, Ferran Torres with the chances. What would you say, John? I would say Rodri. Rodri? Yeah, because of the interview after the match. Yeah, the man's always moaning about something, isn't he? Yeah, and I mean, it happened. But he says, I'm just going to quote him here. Just don't, I don't want to get him wrong. But I said, we knew it was going to be a game of patience.

[00:15:58] They dropped back very quickly and we couldn't put him in. I mean, that was too expected, but okay. It's tough against such a physical and compact team. The positive thing is that they didn't create anything against us. They play like that in the end and don't even get past the midfield. I mean, I think that was the whole idea of this match, mate. Yeah, exactly. It feels a little bit like sore loser in this sort of drawer.

[00:16:24] If you are going against the opponents, what do you expect from a country that small or team that small where your striker is, your right winger that was on the bench is worth 100 times the total value of your opponent's team? Is there anything you can expect there as well? So I found the common, the whole spade, of course, was the butlers. But I think Rodri's interview afterwards just gave the butler a name in this situation for me.

[00:16:54] Yeah, good point, John. I would agree with that then. Yeah, definitely. And of course, the man's passes were not really up to scratch as well. So he didn't really have his own best performance. Instead of taking accountability, if you will, he just blamed it in other factors. And, you know, it was the exact same after the Scotland game as well. So there's no surprises there. So, yeah, I would agree with that. Definitely Rodri for butler. Trauma then. Who do you want to name the trauma?

[00:17:24] Because I definitely know who's the trauma here from me, though. Yeah, I think we're 100%, no doubt about this one, John. The Tunisia manager, am I correct? Yes, sir. Sabri Lamucci. Yes, yes. It's just crazy. After one game, he's gone. It's just unreal. Unbelievable. He spent five. So Lamucci spent five games.

[00:17:51] He joined in January, put in five games. He lost three of those games, including the friendly. It's not completely new that someone gets sacked during the World Cup. It happened three times in total. And the last time was at the 1998 World Cup. But the weird part was, all right, Harvey Renard has stepped in to fill the voids.

[00:18:19] So he will join. But here's the thing. I know a couple of people that are in the U.S. now because of the work, like a representative there for coaching or managing assisting analysts, et cetera, basically are in the staff. And what they have to do here is they have to go to not, they have to put in the papers, put in the passports, have in the fill-in forms. Then it takes a couple of days before you can even get into the country.

[00:18:48] I heard that Renard was actually already in the country because he already was working there, apparently. Right, okay. But I don't, it feels like they also already had a backup plan in place because you can't switch this easily this year either in this situation, right? Yeah, yeah, totally, John. So they must have had a backup plan. I knew the form wasn't great going into it, but I thought they wouldn't, you know,

[00:19:15] straight away go after one match, even though it was terrible. And since the theme is on the goalkeepers, it looked like that goalkeeper won a raffle to be the goalkeeper of that team, you know. But been saying that with the man that you mentioned, I've got shock in Prince of Nations girls, so I don't want to butcher his name. So if he's already in the country and he's got his papers, then yeah, it needs to be that they've seen a plan being, they've executed it.

[00:19:43] And correct me if I'm wrong, John, but is this said of gentleman that was the manager of Saudi Arabia in the last World Cup or do I get that totally wrong? No, you are completely right. In 2002, he was manager of Saudi Arabia. And before that, I actually managed Morocco, I think, in 2018. Right. So yeah, he's got World Cup experiences. And I think, like for the Dutch, it's like we played Tunisia in one and a half week or something.

[00:20:11] But I saw the match versus Sweden. Everyone was like, okay, Sweden is really good. But oh my gosh, was Tunisia tactically superbly poor this way? Opening up everything, just stepping out when you have to step in. Everything went wrong there defensively. So I sort of get it. This is also, I said it's the third time a coach gets sacked during a World Cup, but it's the first time they get sacked after one round. So there's still records to be broken there. But that's definitely drama, James.

[00:20:41] Yeah, yeah, definitely. And for our listeners and our watchers, I would like you to comment in the comments and tell us who was the last manager to get sacked. John gave you a clue of 1998. So we'll leave it up to the listeners and the watchers and see if they can comment correctly. And come on, guys, don't use Google. Well, I'm afraid I will have to if I'm honest. And to be completely fair, I did my research before doing the show. Else I wouldn't even know it.

[00:21:09] I thought it was, I was like, did we ever experience that? I actually don't know. I have to look it up. And then I saw it happen three times. So there's that. I think we'll see. I don't think the difference will be humongous. But like you can put in a team and be compact with any team. Right. And I think that what against Sweden was just absolutely horrific spot of manager football. And I think.

[00:21:38] I get why it has consequences. It's just never been seen before. And I find it funny that they already have a coach prepared for it because it takes two weeks to get in the country. So I was like, OK. And they're in Mexico, but they have to travel to the US as well. So it's, you know, it's a bit of a, it's a weird, it's a weird spot to be in. But I'm curious how this gets on. I don't, just don't hope it gets too well for them because Nellons are still playing them. So. Yeah, exactly. It's a tough group. It's a tough ask to get any points now.

[00:22:08] It's definitely. Do you want to talk about drama with a certain assistant VAR referee still doing something or? Yeah, if you wish. There was talk of the town on the World Cup news about the Australian VAR. He'd done a sign back in Australia school days and even my school, my own school days. If you'd done a circle with your hand, you know, it was just a prank and you were to give someone a dead arm or a dead leg.

[00:22:38] But that's now, I believe there was, it represents a gang sign or represents a political part. White power apparently. Yeah, or a political party. So if that's the case, John, then, you know, that's, that's terrible. But if we have just jumped the gun and it's just a prank, then, then okay, fair enough. But I believe, and I don't know if his comments are correctly, but he said he didn't mean to do it. It was a twitch.

[00:23:07] So, you know, that sounds alarm bells in your head automatically. If it was just a joke, you would just say it, you know. So don't go wrong, the quotes may be fake, but that's what I've seen as well. So it was big drama about the Australian VAR. It definitely needs some investigation though, because I think FIFA is on it now as well, but that doesn't mean the world, unfortunately, I'd say. But we need to have a statement on that. And I think the fact they put out a referee like this, maybe it wasn't that smart to do anymore.

[00:23:37] Yeah, yeah. Totally. Definitely. But it's, it could be a very big spot on this world championship, a world cup, I say. But I think what I, it needs a quicker response, mate. I think, do you think. Yes. Yeah, definitely. It's been three days now since that happened. And we waited for reporting on it because I thought actually we could have a statement and put it out. But it's still sort of all up in the air. It feels a bit weird. So, yeah.

[00:24:07] Yeah, yeah, definitely. Right. What's not weird, by the way, is following us on socials because I see lots of people on TikTok commenting on our socials. Love you guys for it. It's an at food and review podcast, F-U-T in review podcast. And of course, at food and review, F-U-T in review on Instagram. Give us a five-star review on Spotify and or Apple podcast. It takes about 10 seconds of your time. And it means the world to me.

[00:24:34] Every time you do it, apparently a big bell goes off in Chris's office. But since James is now the last coachman hosting this show, it means the bell will be placed in James's house. So if you want to wake up James early, make sure to drop that five-star review on any platform. Of course, you can check out our blogs and all of our episodes as well and see the crew, et cetera, et cetera, on foodinreview.com. And we'll be back tomorrow. See you then. Bye-bye. Bye-bye.