Kane's Lethal Brace, Senegal's 2-0 Collapse & Balogun's Red Card Drama! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇧🇪🇺🇸 | Daily #31

[00:00:00] England trailed DR Congo for 75 minutes, Belgium were 2-0 down with 5 minutes left, and the USA lost their star striker to a red card. All three came through, Day 21 was the day that nearly was not. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another episode of Foot in Review, World Cup Daily, Episode 31, Day 21 done.

[00:00:28] I'm Shaq, joined here today by my good mate, Homer. How are you doing, Homer? Long time. Long time, but I'm good. Thank you for having me. I'm glad to have you back. I'm glad to have you back. And it's good to discuss football today. And three games, three teams that almost didn't make it. England trailed DR Congo. Belgium were 2-0 down with five minutes left and somehow won it in the 125th minute. And USA, what else can we say? Down to 10 men. And they still won. They still won. Comfortably though.

[00:00:57] Let's get into it. Just your quick thoughts on overall the World Cup so far. Are you enjoying it so far? I felt the group stages were a bit of a drag. Too many games, too many groups. Very boring. The knockout stages got a bit more obviously drama because it is knockout now.

[00:01:18] I get why the smaller, lesser nations like Congo and so on, let's sit back and hope to do what they do and try and see it out. But I think it kind of attracts from the game. Yeah. I would prefer that the football was a bit more free flowing and attacking, but then you don't get the dramatics of what happened in England game. Exactly. Exactly. Well, let's break it down. Let's talk about the England game first.

[00:01:47] So England 2, DR Congo 1. DR Congo had never played a World Cup knockout game before. They started like they've been here all their lives. Sipenga fired a low shot at Pickford near post in the seventh minute. It should have been saved to give DR Congo a deserved lead. England were paralyzed for long stretches. And Mepasi made a string of brilliant saves at Deny Bellingham and Kane. Wissar hit the post from six yards. Then Kane came to life. A garden cross on the 75th minute, headed home. A garden pass on the 86th. A fierce drive into the roof of the net.

[00:02:17] Brilliant finish. England threw. Barely. Homer, I just want to ask about England. This is a very tricky, precarious situation because apart from the one half that they played against Croatia, I don't think they're really impressed. But they've brought the victories through. They've brought the wins through. Your thoughts on... I know we can discuss teams sitting back, but what do you think about this England team? Not the best England team that they've had. I think this is the worst in a long time.

[00:02:46] And they're literally laboring through games. I don't know. There's that adage that winners win no matter what. But then there's that thing of the flip side of the coin, which is you could only just keep winning by the skin of your teeth so long before it catches up with you. I think the... Mexico, I don't know. I have two minds. I did say in our group chat that I think Mexico might be a better matchup like Croatia was because Mexico will come at them. There'll be open. There'll be gaps.

[00:03:15] There'll be space to play into. Which is the complete opposite of the lakes of Congo and Ghana where they sat back. They were really compact. The only space was down the wing. So you had to play that horseshoe football of round to the left wing. Left wing gets it so far, has to come back and then you play it round, back to the right winger. And then it back round. And you just... You keep going in that horseshoe until you try and find that space. Which is a hard thing to play against unless somebody is brave enough to take a run or a shot or

[00:03:45] try and break through that gap. So I think Mexico might be a little bit more of a suited game because they'll be able to play. But it's just a weak squad. Like Jed Spence, like how he is an international footballer, I do not know. He was just terrible. Like Pickford is terrible for the goal, but like his position and he's so sucked in the middle. Like there's no need for him to be there. He's not watching behind his shoulder. His stance, everything was terrible.

[00:04:14] But he's the worst of the bad bunch. But a lot of them are like 120 miles in Ireland and Anderson. And he was mid at best. Like he was so enormous. Everything was safe. So if they keep that up, they'll go out very easily. But it just depends. Yeah, I think you hit the nail on the head there. I think this England team really struggles in breaking down teams. And that's fair enough because you don't necessarily have any flair players as such that can actually break down the defense,

[00:04:43] will pass you to death or break you down. They want to pass you to death, but they can't really find a penetrating pass. They don't have a single player in midfield who can actually pass the ball in front. So Declan Rice and Anderson both are really good at what they do, but they're not good at finding the killer pass or a through ball that can go through. Kane can potentially do that. But then who's going to go and score the goal because Kane's doing that? And it's just, I think you're quite right. Mexico will be slightly open, but the difference is

[00:05:09] Mexico and in Azteca is a completely different Mexico to playing Mexico anywhere else. And if you saw the Ecuador game, they come out with such a fierce roar. And that whole crowd is a 12th man. I don't know if England can actually survive against Mexico. I really don't. I will be really regardless of how open Mexico will be. I don't think they have enough and they have enough in the tank to resist that, especially with people like Jed Spence as a right back.

[00:05:36] I just, I'm really intrigued as to how they will cope with the first 20, 25 minutes, maybe 30 minutes against the Mexican squad. That's the part that I'm really intrigued about for that particular Toronto 16 knockout. It will be interesting. Obviously, that Richard plays a huge thing in Azteca as well. The Mexicans are used to it. In England, I think West Brom scrims the highest. So not many will be used to that sort of altitude.

[00:06:02] So it's one of these games where I'm more, I would more be interested in stay from watching because there is all these playing parts, which are moving parts that make it interesting, can they handle the altitude or the way we handle the frost in the first so many minutes. It's going to be a more interesting watch if it's a weight wash for Mexico, if it's a ding dong battle for just back to front like a basketball match. I think it will be one of the games that you want to watch.

[00:06:30] Do you think, because towards the end when Declan Rice moved right back, that's literally when the game kind of opened up for England with some attacking input from the right back as well. And he actually did a lot for the first goal as well. Do you actually think that in against the game in Mexico, Tuchel will go ahead and play Declan Rice as the right back and then probably put Manu in along with Anderson? If he does start the race, I think he brings Ezzie in. I don't know if he will go with Manu just for the thing you said about the lack of a killer pass,

[00:07:00] that ability to go and try and slice through a defence. Because obviously Rashford is not that type of guy. Rashford struggled. Maddu Eke, I don't know how many times he got past the left back, but then he'd done nothing with it. It wasn't until Saka came on, Gordon came on, Ezzie came on that they had that killer punch. But Rice is a centre mid playing at right back, done far better than Jed Spence at right back, who is a fullback.

[00:07:29] The amount of times he just whipped the first-time ball in. Things like that, that pulls the team out because you can't sit back and go, oh, it's all right. They were just going to play it here. Because as soon as Rice whips one in, they're like, ah, he's going to whip that in. We can't allow that. So, I think he'll probably finish it, start it the way he finished it. I think Konzer will maybe play right back. And then somebody like Stones will be at centre-back with Gehe.

[00:07:55] Or maybe Joel Konzer might start right back with Konzer and Gehe. But I can't see Jed Spence starting the game if I'm being honest. But I don't think you can... I think it's okay for the last 10 minutes, throw the dice, putting Rice at right back. But I don't think you can start a game. Yeah, they're clearly run out of options at the right back position. I think we discussed this before the tournament even started about missing out and Trent Alexander-Arnold. I'm not saying Trent's a brilliant fullback.

[00:08:25] He's not a really good defensive fullback. But opening up teams, the killer pass that you're talking about, with trying to be forcing the opposition to come out and block you, to press you, I think Trent would have been a perfect replacement there. And we know, we all know Rhys James' injury concerns. But hey, let's see. I'm really intrigued. It opens up a really good tie for England in the next round. And open up probably a really good tie for neutrals as well. I'm really keen to see how they cope with that game. Well, moving along swiftly, we'll move on to Belgium versus Senegal,

[00:08:54] which ended in 3-2 after extra time. And I just really want to give a quick recap on this game. Senegal were magnificent. They led 2-0 heading into the final five minutes of normal time. De Bruyne and Doku were off the pitch. I must say, I turned the TV off as soon as De Bruyne went off. I thought that's it. Game done. I turned the TV off because I was getting ready for work. I was like, you know what? The game's done. Then Lukaku came off the bench and steered through Belgium's first shot on target on the 86th minute.

[00:09:20] Thielmans headed in from a Troussard cross on the 89th and sent it to extra time. Senegal could not find a winner. In the 117th minute, Thielmans went down under Lamin Kamara's challenge. Seven minutes of VAR penalty. Thielmans converted in the 125th minute. The latest goal in World Cup history. Belgium threw. This game had it all, didn't it? Some beautiful goals as well. A must shout out Saar's goal. The way he chested the ball down, controlled it and hit it so sweetly into the back of the net.

[00:09:50] What a beautiful goal. It's up there for the goal of the tournament at the moment. Just the control, just the flight path of it coming over his left shoulder, getting the connection on it. And then even as he's going down, still gets the sweet contact and the power in it to beat Courtois, which is not an easy task. So it's just a great goal. But Senegal, I thought they were through. They just had so much control.

[00:10:16] And then Belgium did make a lot of good changes. I know a lot of people were questioning the likes of obviously De Bruyne and Doku coming off. Yeah. But similar to the England game, they're like blunt knives. They weren't cutting through. They weren't doing anything. So sometimes even if they are your best players, if they're not effective, why keep it a man that's holding you down on? It's not a great idea. So the changes did really work.

[00:10:44] I mean, you get to be accused of bias here, but Nico Raskin came on. He's a Rangers player. Yes. As a Rangers fan, I'm not one of the Rangers fans that's his biggest fans. I think he's got lots of holes in these games that people like to just gloss over. But the fact that he came on, he gave them a bit more of a calming protection and allowed other players like Tillemans to actually go forward and try and use his experience to dictate the game where De Bruyne wasn't. Like a Bayou came on.

[00:11:14] He wasn't obviously effective. He didn't score or anything, but he's constantly wanting to try and shoot, trying to put a ball in somewhere. Again, just that forcing of things really shook Senegal up. So even when they scored the goal, I said it was too little too late. I just couldn't see it happening. But that's the magic of knockout football. And I think Senegal sort of took the foot off the gas, I think. Yeah. And I think, sorry, go on.

[00:11:42] I just think that it got to about 80th minute and they started the course. I don't know if they're tired because they really ran Belgium awful for 80, 75, 80 minutes. They just kept going and going and going. Yeah, they did do it in the 120th minute, but I think the gas tank was just completely shot. Completely. I think one of the really interesting takes from Rudy Garcia, the manager of Belgium, was that he expected this game to play out that way towards the end.

[00:12:09] And that's a very interesting point because if you look at even DR Congo and Belgium as well, both these African teams, I don't know if this is a makeup or they went so hard. The game management probably didn't hit the mark as much because Rudy Garcia actually came out and said, we know this is how they were going to play. And we knew that they will not be switched on towards the end of the game. I'm paraphrasing here, but essentially he was trying to say that they were not going to be as switched on towards the end of the game. And they knew that they had an opportunity towards the end of the game. And it transpired exactly like that.

[00:12:37] And in hindsight, it seems logical, but I just, I couldn't believe that Senegal literally just handed the game away because they just switched off. Especially for Lukaku's goal, it was understandable for Thielmann's goal. It was just, it shouldn't have, they should have done better. They really should have done better. And yeah, sad for them. It's sad. What's this? It's just a record amount of African nations going through, but it would have been interesting

[00:13:05] if they could have got further, like a lot of more than African nations. It'd be nice to see if an African or an Asian team or an Oceanic team could get at least to the final and if they could win one, just to break up the monotomy of always being a European or a South American. Yeah. Yeah. But like I said, and Rudy Garcia predicted that like, they just, their management at the end, the gas tankers were gone and you can't even say it's like lack of experience because they've got guys like Idrissa Gai in the middle of their pitch.

[00:13:35] They've got Sadio Mane, they've got Nicholas Jack. I know he's obviously a bit of a joke figure to some people, but you don't play in the Premier League or go to Bayern Munich unless you're a good player to standard. I know people say, oh, he's got a good agent, but he has a standard of ability. Like you don't play La Liga in the top 10. You don't play for Bayern. You don't play for Chelsea if you're a bad player. So I just, I was just like Congo.

[00:14:03] I think it's only so long you can hold out, try to like, just see how, again, you've got to do a lot better than both teams did. And I don't know how you improve that. Yeah, I completely agree. I think it's, they were a good team overall. They did play really well. They had some quality upfronts. Mane was, Mane still got it. And Ndiye was his start after the last game was really good. Saab, really good players, really good. I think it's just concentration towards the end, let them down a little bit.

[00:14:31] And yeah, we'll talk about, you know, you spoke about oceanic team or maybe an African team or an American, America's team, but we're going to the final or maybe even winning it. We'll bring that up shortly. We'll just have a quick hydration break before we go on. So two games of pure chaos and one more to go. The USA is still to come and they did it with 10 men. This is your Food & Review hydration break. Grab a drink. We'll be right back. If the show has been getting you through the World Cup every single day, support us at buymeacoffee.com

[00:15:00] slash foodandreview. Alternatively, all you have to do is just give us a five-star rating on your podcast app of choice, or just jump into foodandreview.com and follow us on Instagram at foodandreview and TikTok at foodandreviewpodcast. And all you have to do is just follow us. Back in three, two, one. Right. Game three. USA to Bosnia Herzegovina won. Balogun dominated the first half, scoring his third goal of the tournament just before

[00:15:29] halftime, a team ream turnover and a fortunate deflection. Then in the 64th minute, after a VAR review, Balogun was sent off for coming down on Tariq, Tariq's ankle. A decision Pochettino described as never a red card. USA played with 10 men for 36 minutes. And then in the 82nd minute, Malik Tillman curled in an exquisite free kick over the wall and into the net. USA win 2-0.

[00:15:55] First World Cup knockouts win since 2002, at home even now. And after the final whistle, they sang Country Roads. Is this a magical moment for the USA? You know, you spoke about teams ending up in the final that are not a European team or a South American team. What do you think? Do the USA have it in the tank? What do you think, Homer? Generally don't think they've got it. I'm going to be...

[00:16:22] The way that this tournament's worked out, they've got a favourable game in Bosnia. Yeah, but Bosnia are a good side, but they're not one of the best sides. And to be honest, I think most of the knockout teams probably would have beat Bosnia. But they did do it well. But I don't think there was much of a struggle for them, even with being a man down. So I just, I don't see them getting close. I don't think it's a good national team that they've got at the moment.

[00:16:49] They have some really good players like Tolman. They have obviously Baligan. Reyners went off the boil. He's still decent, but he's not the prospect that he was. Pulisic, I don't think pulls up many trees at the moment either. He's had a decent season at Milan, but wasn't amazing either. So I'd be surprised to get through the next round. But World Cups always have that funny thing of the home nation having that home back

[00:17:17] and that large numbers does something. So I'd prepare to eat my hat on that one. Yeah, I think it'd be interesting to see. I think if Baligan, who apparently is suspended just for one game and just missed the Belgian game in the round of 16, which cannot be appealed. If Baligan was playing, I think the game against Belgium would be almost, I'll be leaning towards the USA is literally just pulling through. But without Baligan, because Baligan's been so integral.

[00:17:45] Even if you saw the goal that he scored that was actually ruled out for offside, the one before he actually scored the goal that was allowed. Brilliant finish. What a brilliant finish. This kid is way better. He's been at Arsenal. He's been around a couple of clubs and he's finally found his level. And he's playing really well at Monaco. But I never expected him to be such a clinical finisher. And he's probably key for America to progress. And if he's not playing against Belgium, I'm not entirely sure they can pull through. But neither.

[00:18:14] Belgium hasn't impressed me either. So it's a tricky, tricky, tricky round. And as you say, I think the home crowd will just pull them through. But if the draw patterns are the way it is, the next round will be Spain or Portugal. Maybe Spain most probably. And I can't see this team getting past the Spain. Do you? No. Baligan's a big loss. But they've got Ricardo Pepe. He's a really good striker as well. He'll be in the Premier League with Fulham this season. So I think he'll surprise a few people.

[00:18:43] But I think with Baligan missing, Tillman will really step up. And he is a really good player. I wouldn't be surprised if he moves on from Leverkusen. So it's one of the games. I don't think it's easy to pick a winner given the level. I don't think USA is great. But I don't know if it's special either. So it's another game where I think it's hard to pick a winner. Because it's so balanced in a way. Both teams are sort of really badly balanced.

[00:19:11] Just sort of their weaknesses and strengths sort of cancel each other out. So we'll be a good watch. Yeah, we'll be a good watch. Well, moving along, ladies and gentlemen, we'll talk about the regular segment, which is the baller, borler and drama of the day. And we'll start with the baller. The baller of the day has no one else apart from Harry Kane. Gordon found Kane in the 75th minute with a cross from the left. Kane nodded it in from inside the box. 11 minutes later, Gordon found him again, this time on the edge of the box.

[00:19:41] And Kane turned and drove a fierce shot into the roof of the net. Brilliant finish. He wasn't even looking at the goal. Two goals in 11 minutes. England were through. Kane is now the all-time leading scorer for England in the World Cups with 11 goals, surpassing the record he already held. He became the first England player to score a brace in the World Cup knockout match since Gary Lineker against Cameroon in the 1990 quarterfinals. What a player. Hey, what a player. Probably the best number nine currently playing, you think?

[00:20:10] Best all-out finisher? Yeah, without a doubt. I think it's a very small bracket. Hermann Bappe and Haaland. Haaland's just your proper poacher. Yeah. And Bappe's more your inside forward. Forward where Kane's just your complete striker. There's nothing that he really can't do.

[00:20:36] He really struggled for quite large parts of the game because there was no surface. He was having to drop deep to find a touch and whatever. But the changes, like Anthony Gordon's changed, really just dramatically changed the game up. Let the ball in. It was like maybe Rice had done it twice for Jude Bellingham and Passe who could have easily been baller if he'd pulled save after save. Obviously just couldn't stop the Kane header. But then that pass from Gordon as well.

[00:21:05] Like the reverse flick pass was just exquisite. Because you need something like that to break a team down. And then Kane takes the touch, looks. And I think people don't really realise that he looks after the first touch and he knows where the space is. He knows if he drives, that's opening up. Takes that next touch to drive it. And then he just smashes it. Like 9 out of 10 times, an ordinary striker would smash that and that would go wide or high. But Kane's quality is just that much where he can hit it that hard.

[00:21:34] And that precise, it will just land at the back of the net. So just the most complete striker, I think. I completely agree. Completely agree. What a player. What a player. Well, we'll move on to the bottler. We've discussed them before. But I think it has to be, unfortunately, as much as it hates me to do it, a bottler for today has to be Senegal. Because they had the round of 16 literally in the palm of their hands and they let it go. We've discussed them in great minor detail. But any final words on Senegal's mishap today?

[00:22:03] Yeah, I'll let you knock it to her. I mean, she can't take a 2-0 lead and give it up. Especially when you're 2-0 up and you get dragged back to two each. And you're in the last minute. One of the things I've taught as a kid is you don't go to ground in the box. And why? Kamara wasn't it? He went to ground. He had no hope of winning that ball. It was just sheer stupidity. So, yeah, bottler was a very fitting title. Yeah. 2-0 up.

[00:22:33] Five minutes left. And they did not go through in a World Cup. That's the definition of bottling. So, unfortunately, Senegal, you're the bottlers of day 21. The drama. I really, this is going to be a controversial topic, but I really have to, we have to address this. The drama for today is the red card for Balagan. Your thoughts, firstly, on whether it's a red card. And then we'll dovetail on from there. What do you think? Is that a red card in your opinion? For me, no. But I've seen them giving. I've seen them giving and seen them being overturned.

[00:23:02] Unfortunately, America Balagan doesn't have that tool. So, he's going to miss the next game. But I personally don't think it's a red card. Yeah. I saw the replay numerous times. And I'm still trying to establish whether that was intentional or whether he was trying to put his foot, land his foot. And, obviously, he studs up into the Achilles of his opponent. I don't know. I think there's a lot of parallels to maybe the Messi. I don't want, I'm not trying to bring parallels and say Messi was forgiven.

[00:23:32] It's not about that. It's more about it can be missed. And it can be a mistake by Balagan as well. So, giving him a red card, I don't know. I think it luckily didn't impact the result for USA today. But I do think this has got an impact on USA going ahead. And that's a bit unfair, I think. And that's literally the way the cookie crumbles in football. So, I don't necessarily know whether it's a good thing or a bad thing.

[00:24:00] But it kind of spoiled America's chances for me. And, I mean, if I was an American right now, I'd be a bit peeved that it happened. Any final thoughts on the drama for today? The parallel of Messi has been drawn up online already. I think the biggest difference was that with the Messi one, there wasn't the stoppage for as long as there was. For his opponent being underground, the game pretty much went on. So, other than people going, well, why is that not a red card?

[00:24:30] During the game online, there was no real anything in the game itself to draw the attention to Messi's stamp on Achilles. Or scrape on Achilles. Where the Boston player, what's his name, Tariq, was it? He actually went down and had to be looked at. So, I think that allowed there to be more scope of window to look over the bones of it all. But like you said, I think it was more of trying to find his grounding than intentionally stamping.

[00:24:59] It's just, like I said, I don't think it was a red at all. Yeah, no, that's not a red. But hey, we can't return back time and it is what it is. It stays. We'll quickly move on to just a quick recap of what games we can expect tomorrow. We have the round of 32. We have Spain versus Austria. Any thoughts on that game, Homer? Spain, Austria. Any chances for Austria? I can't see it. Spain hasn't really impressed though. They haven't impressed, but I just, I can't see it.

[00:25:29] Austria's a good physical team. Technically, they're okay as well, but they don't have any creativity or flair. So, unless they can just be like a siege team and just absolutely batter Spain. Yeah, I agree. I hope the physicality can trump technique. I think Spain will pick them off. It might not be straight out of the gates and blow them away. I think it might be very surgical where they'll just pick and pick and pick away.

[00:25:59] And then they'll get that first goal and then they'll pick away and then the second goal will come. And then maybe three or four will come after the second because they just keep picking away at them. But the skill and the technique that they have that just trumps the basic ability of the Austrians. Yeah, fair enough. The other game that actually will, the winner of Spain and Australia, or Spain and Austria, will face the winner of Croatia versus Portugal. Any thoughts on this one? This is a spicy, spicy game in my opinion.

[00:26:30] It's one of the games that I looked at when it was that the face came out. I thought it could be an interesting game. Croatia's not as good as they have been. That's a lot of experienced heads. So they should build a manager game well, but I just don't think they have the overall quality anymore. Portugal, on the other hand, I thought they would win it. I thought they would have shown a little bit more ability, everything.

[00:26:57] I think Ronaldo sort of hampered them slightly because they seem to play to Ronaldo rather than the France that play for each other. So I think Portugal will win it, but I don't think it'll be a free-flowing blitz. I think it'll just be a very scrappy and efficient game. Yeah, it'll be a turgid game. Yeah. I think I'm with you there. So Spain versus Austria, Spain go through. Croatia versus Portugal, Portugal go through.

[00:27:24] And the final game of tomorrow is Switzerland versus Algeria. Any thoughts on this one? It's a very balanced game, I think. If it was Algeria, I know Maris scored a double, but I don't think he's been great. I think Masser's been better. You generally would hope Masser starts and he has a really good player. He's very young. Switzerland are very similar.

[00:27:52] I don't think there's really an outstanding quality. I think if Xhaka and Bolo could maybe win it for them, but I think it's a coin flip of a game for me. Yeah, it'll be probably out of all the games, that probably will be the closest game that we see tomorrow. Right, listeners, day 21 done. England threw barely. Belgium threw dramatically. USA threw with 10 men. The round of 16 is almost here. We'll see you tomorrow.