The Half Century Milestone: Definitive 2026 World Cup Final Review! 🏆🌍 | World Cup Daily #50

[00:00:00] Hi and welcome to FUT IN REVIEW, World Cup Daily, Episode 50! We have made the half century, can you believe it? The dust has settled, the confetti has been swept away, and after a month of drama, shocks and unforgettable moments, the 2026 World Cup has crowned a new champion. Records have been broken, reputations have been made, and a few football giants have been left wondering what went wrong. From stunning upsets to tactical masterclasses, this tournament gave us everything we could have asked for.

[00:00:34] So guys, strap yourself in because this is your definitive World Cup 26 review. Let's get into it. But don't worry, it's not just me. I've got Argentina's number one fans joining us, the deadly duo. First of all, let's say hello to my good friend Nate. How are you doing my friend Nate? I was doing well into that intro, Chris, so thanks for that buddy. Yeah, yeah. The man who's loved in Buenos Aires, he's up there on the billboards with a big massive love heart. It's hello to my good friend John.

[00:01:03] Hello, matey. Hello, matey. How are you guys? You've recovered from the kicking that you gave Argentina this morning. Well, yeah, for those of you that listened, that was thoroughly enjoyable to kind of get our points over and dissect bits of that absolute disaster class. Yeah, it was actually a two-footed tackle with you guys. Honestly, you took that centre back and you spun him around, definitely. Well, let's hope you have the same referee that the Argies have had most of the tournament and it wouldn't even be a foul.

[00:01:33] I can see John writing to bite back here. Yeah, there were a lot of comments on today's show as well, to be fair. Yeah, I know I'm not very much Argentina-like, but like I said, I understand why and I applaud them for trying it. But it's off the referees to say something about it. Apparently, you know, if there's ever a World Cup in Argentina, I think I'm better off not going. Let's put it like that.

[00:02:03] Well, the next one will be there, John, so I'm sure you're going to get an invite. You will be VIP. You and Nathan will be the VIP front and centre there. I'm sure the Argentinian fans will love to see you there. Look guys, if you haven't heard yet this morning's show, please catch up. It's well worth a listen. I enjoyed listening to it and it made me chuckle a good few times. But let's get into this World Cup. That's it gone guys. I mean, sadly, I know we all want a little bit of a rest.

[00:02:28] We've done 50 shows. The team are looking tired. But John, from your point of view, how's it been for you? And generally, or the tournament itself or in what sense? Just the tournament. How's the tournament been for you? Just a week too long, I think. It's the summary I'd given.

[00:02:48] I started off having much energy doing this every single day as well. I almost watched everything live and a few matches I didn't. I watched back completely as well. I've never seen so much football in my life in six weeks or five weeks actually. Generally, a good tournament, but there's some dark sides on it, which I think... Bester my mood a little bit. Nathan, pop it for yourself.

[00:03:18] Yeah, it's weird because much like John, I thought it was a week too long. I mean, we were chatting before the show this morning and for those sort of foot players, I've likened it to TOTS, where it kind of just keeps going a week or so too long. I thought it had good bits. I thought it had less good bits. It probably in my head isn't the tournament that would stand out as being like the best tournament of all time. I think there was lots of things to it and a lot of it non-football related as well, which we'll probably touch on. But it was fine. It was fine. It's always good to have lots of football on.

[00:03:47] I preferred it to be not having to wake up at 2, 3 o'clock in the morning and watch some of these games. Five of the England games, mate. Yeah, those ones weren't happening for me, I have to say. It was the Scotland and the England games that were, I think they were 2 o'clock once. So, I mean, yeah, that's part of the draw of the World Cup, isn't it? Going around and seeing all these different areas and how fans and the spots reflected over there.

[00:04:10] So, yeah, it wasn't my favourite tournament of all time, but I'm partially happy after the result last night that at least Spain beat Argentina. What about yourself, Chris? For me, it's been the best World Cup since 2002. I've really, really enjoyed it. We had a conversation already today. I think the important thing for me is there's been no stadiums built that will end up falling into a rack and ruin.

[00:04:34] You know, if anybody ever wants to check, go and look for articles that tell you about stadiums that have been built in previous World Cups that have basically fallen to nothing and never get used anymore. At least this way, I think the stadiums, to be honest with you, I think the stadiums have been absolutely brilliant. The fans have made it special. I think, you know, I'm no worry. Any fan who didn't turn up without his team's colours on, that was great. You know, the colour was absolutely brilliant. Yeah, I've really, really enjoyed it. I'll be honest with you.

[00:05:02] And Scotland being there, I know Nathan's an adopted Scot, but Scotland being there made it a little bit special, didn't it, Nathan? Yeah, absolutely. It was amazing to see. I've got, obviously through my actual sort of real life football connections, I've got lots and lots of friends that made the journey over there. We applied for a couple of tickets and didn't get them. But yeah, it looked amazing. The reports back are incredible. The scenes. Just when you're saying about the football tops, I don't know if anyone's seen the video that went viral.

[00:05:27] But there was a guy in the crowd last night, right across the barrier from the Argentinian supporters, wearing a Mexico shirt. The Argentinians were giving him a lot of abuse. So he pulled out a red card, started waving these red cards at the Argentinians. And then he took his shirt off and he had a big Spain shirt right underneath that. It was one of these videos that I just watched on repeat. Like, it was amazing. And to be fair, I know there's been some issues with, like, you know, supporters in the crowds, but the Argentinians took that really well. I just thought it was hilarious.

[00:05:53] It sums it up that it was a wee bit of banter going across without being anything too nasty. No, you know, I think potentially this has been really the first World Cup that social media seems to have played such a massive part in it. You know, I find myself watching, you know, Dutch fans and John can tell us all about the song, you know, you know, going to the stadium, thousands and thousands dressed in the orange and the Norwegian fans with a row and Cape Verde.

[00:06:20] And, you know, that for me has made this World Cup, you know, end of the day, the football might be poor on the pitch sometimes, but the fans in the stand and the passion they bring have made this something a bit special for me. John, what about yourself? Well, it's hard to say this as well. It's there's also two sides. I think fans are. Let's get back to your stadium point at first. My biggest happy part of this tournament has been the stadiums.

[00:06:47] These are all high tier, superbly thought out, maybe not football. Build stadiums, but they definitely are very much able to host them because it's NFL stadiums. Most of them are actually close to the pitch as well. Love the shapes of it. I love the fact they got 100 meters, screens running around the stadium.

[00:07:13] And you see people, you see the players, what looking up at the stage is, oh, what's happened or absolutely. That's the way you should do it. I've heard about press or like reporters sitting behind the goal for the change to give them a little bit more perspective and a little bit more atmosphere. I quite like that change as well. So stadiums were perfect, but I think there's just too many things that weren't on par with organizations to be fair.

[00:07:40] And talking about fans, I think he's got my critical part. Of course, not all fans were allowed. Well, that's one, but two, it was absolutely hard to get a ticket because not only for the prices, but for example, I know a lot of people with disabilities and most disability seats got priced out. Like just taken out of the stadium, replaced with regular tickets, right? Not really nice.

[00:08:06] But also logistics around stadiums. These stadiums may host a lot of people, but they're usually in the middle of nowhere. So if you're traveling into the country, it's hard to get actually into the stadium in time. And we've seen several examples where stadiums started with, hey, where's everyone? This look, doesn't look full and halfway through. It got filled up because it's just, it took people hours and hours and hours to actually get into stadiums.

[00:08:32] And not only because of security, but also there's plenty of parking space, but there's just one road going into the stadium. There's buses, but not so many. Plus they don't bring you to the stadium. There aren't any trains going to stadiums. And so all the infrastructure we are used to, to go into big events with, most of them aren't there because everything goes with car and they take the whole, like they take the time to come there. So it was chaotic to say the least from all I've seen and all I've heard.

[00:09:03] But fans, once they were there, Chris, Norwegian, the Netherlands, Brazil, I can't admit Argentina, they brought a lot of fans. Absolutely amazing. Curacao, Haiti. I think the fans are always the biggest spectacle in the World Cup.

[00:09:23] And I don't like the Americanization of some of these crowd shots where they just zoom in on the famous people where I just want to see happy fans. Because come on, that kid that was screaming when France scored or the kid was in tears when England got knocked out. And that's what we're here. Those are the images for me. And sure, it's nice to see the back of Paris Hilton in somewhere in the crowd. Nah, not for me, right? You want to see young guys crying over football, John.

[00:09:53] That's a bit harsh, isn't it? No, but it does show emotions plus accessibility for these fans to get there, right? Well, you're on above stadiums as well. Like one of the things that they certainly my pals have been over and they weren't just at Scotland games, so they kind of went over and just got random tickets. But they couldn't get over the prices of like food and drink in the stadiums. Apparently, it was really cheap once you're in there for the majority of them. You know, we're used to paying what, six, seven pounds just for a pie over here. Yeah. Over there, they were saying that you can get buckets of stuff.

[00:10:21] And actually, I think the way they do it over there is not that the stadium decides it themselves. So there's a few of them that price it really low. And I know it's weird when you come on to talk about football and you talk about like the price of, you know, you have refreshments, but I think that's amazing because the rest of it, they said like it was thousands and thousands of pounds from the UK to go over, let alone your tickets and stuff. So things like that's a nice touch. And you said about the cameraman, you know, getting the famous people, but the images that we got relayed on the UK TV,

[00:10:49] there was some very good cameraman work, which made a lot of UK men very happy over here. So got to give them a bit of a high five for that. Yeah, I think John gets all those Argentinian photos sent to him still. That is also true. And to be fair, not quite sure if I mind that much. So let's move on guys. I mean, that's our thoughts on the thing, but let's, what we'll do is we're going to give our foot review awards. So I'm going to ask the guys, I'm going to not make it a competition between the two. I'm going to ask them to pick one. So John, we'll go with you first.

[00:11:17] Who for you was the biggest shock of the whole tournament? Who? Right. Mbappé in a positive way, or is that, is it supposed to be negative? No, let's be positive, John. Let's take the positivity. All right. So I think Mbappé was for me, the player of the tournament. If this tournament gets remembered for someone, I think it's going to be Mbappé.

[00:11:44] Sure. I mean, Rodri Messi, Kane, absolutely Jude Bellingham, absolutely fantastic tournaments. But Mbappé really captained this France squad, never gave up against Paraguay, could have cried, could have dropped off, could have smacked someone in the face, but didn't like 10 goals in one World Cup. Absolutely fantastic team spirit, fantastic thing.

[00:12:07] And after all the hate he's got this year at this club, I still want to say that he won the golden boot in the World Cup. I think he got the golden boot in the Champions League and he got the golden boot in Spain in one year as well. So, and we saw people saying he can't dribble, he could dribble. So people his hand got, he can only shoot with one foot. He scored screamers with two foots, right? With both feet, right?

[00:12:33] And I think this is the tournament where I think Mbappé showed that there aren't much limits on him. And he is probably the player to watch in the next couple of tournaments. This is an amazing performance, right? No, definitely. Perfect. So, I'll come to you then, Nath. Your cult hero. Who's been the cult hero of this World Cup for you? Fasina.

[00:12:58] Fasina's one. I mean, we spoke about him a lot this morning, but he's kind of a surprise because he's a name that we've kind of known. He's a young player. But I can't say I realised just how fantastic he is. And it's Pauca Barsi, the centre-back from Barcelona at Spain. I think they only let in 10 shots in the entire tournament and conceded one goal. But when you watch him, this guy, if he develops like he's showing, he could be like insane. He could be one of the best that you've seen if he carries that trajectory. And obviously, it's a long time to go, but he's got everything.

[00:13:28] He's got like the pace. He's got the agility. He's very good in the tackle. He reads well. He's got the stature already. I think they said he was, what, 19 or something like that? Yeah, he's 19 now. He plays years ahead of himself. It's funny you mentioned that. Because this morning I said he's the baller. He said, nah, nah, not going to give him the baller. And someone commented, someone called Cisur. And he says, John, stick to your instincts. Pauca Barsi was the baller by far. Played every single minute, actually threw it all, took hits and falls with no problem.

[00:13:55] And he gifted Torres the goal with a thunder strike. Yeah, I think he looks like he could be special. And it's, you know, you have to not get so excited by these guys so young because, you know, we've seen people have very good tournaments and then not quite make it. But if he carries on like he's showing and, you know, I first heard about him a couple of years ago. I think United tried to get a deal with him when he was younger and he wanted to stay at Barcelona. But I think I was shocked at how unreal he is. And then there's a clearance last night from, you know,

[00:14:24] a couple of yards out of his own goal, which most people would have put in the back of their own net and he still managed to get it wide. I just thought that sums up what you've seen for him this whole tournament. So he's got to be my surprise sort of best player. Okay, John, over to you now. So let's see if you're biased then. Okay, who has been, who has been the biggest villain of this World Cup? I'm probably biased though.

[00:14:53] Can I be political? Do I need to stick to the field? You're sealing my one, John. Yeah. Let's stick to the field. We'll leave the politics for this, sure. I'd say Paredes, but he didn't play everything. I'm just going to say Paredes because I think he's just... I'm just going to mention that I don't care about the matches, but I think he should be banned from football after this behaviour he put in. And not only one match, right? Last match as well.

[00:15:21] It's just disgraceful to put that on a pitch, even though I understand it can be part of it. If we are doing a half time show, Chris, where there's hundreds of kids doing dances, this isn't a great example. And it's an example that we should not highlight too much. This is something we should condone, I think. And especially his behaviour after the match is just absolutely insane. He was also the guy four years ago that shot the ball into the dugout, remember, with Nellans? Mm-hmm.

[00:15:51] He's just... I think it's absolutely scummy. He plays as Boca. Probably that's where these things you play against teams that do the same. It's some sort and you get applauded for it. But I think he absolutely... he must have been rewired or something. I think he's broken. Yeah. I was going to just... I wasn't your guy's show today, and I felt the referee got quite an easy ride. And I think the referees in this whole tournament have had quite an easy ride. I'm just going to prefix it a little bit and talk about what I did on Saturday night.

[00:16:19] I watched Argentina play England in the rugby. Now, Argentina are a great rugby team as well. You know, England are a good rugby team as well. I happened to watch the game just before the France-England game came on. The Argentinian rugby players are uber-humans. They are massive. Absolutely massive. They are guys you do not want to meet in a dark alley. They're like Nate. Yeah, exactly. You wouldn't want to meet them and they'd be upset with you. But actually, the respect that those guys show, the referee is unbelievable.

[00:16:48] The captain can only speak to the referee. That's one of the things that you would have liked to have seen happen in this one. And they call him sir. And these guys, you know, they are physical and they are hard-working. And people talk about the South American and Latin mentality of being, you know, of being fiery. These guys are fiery, but they treat it with respect. And you know why they do that? Because the referee doesn't allow it. Yeah. I want to comment on that one sec. Because... Sorry I interrupted you. You're so spot on, Chris.

[00:17:18] Because I was talking this afternoon, like just... Yeah, I was working in front of a lot. People were like, oh, what do you think about the matches? The podcast live. Talking about it. And there's like... I was like, what do you think? Like as someone that doesn't do this for a living, right? Yeah. What do you feel about this? And everyone was like, I don't get why they can interfere with the referee so much. Why can't they swarm their referee? I thought there was a rule if you talk to the referee and on the captain you would get a yellow card. Has that been abandoned?

[00:17:45] Because I think that is what you were saying is actually the biggest issue. If the referee just doesn't allow anyone to talk against, except the captains, which I think in at least the area division, it's the standard, it's the norm, then no one of this would actually escalate right away because... Exactly. So my point is, John, it's really simple. The referees are mic'd up for rugby. So for people who don't watch rugby, you can hear exactly everything that's said on the TV. And the situation is where the guy will come and say to the referee,

[00:18:14] and the referee goes, I'm not interested, go away. And the guy goes away. He doesn't argue because he knows that as soon as you argue a referee in rugby, they give a penalty away and it's easy three points or something like that, or you will be sent to the yellow card and sent them for 10 minutes. And my problem last night was, and I heard you guys talking about it, was the referee did never get a grip of the game early on. And I don't want to give an early yellow card, but he didn't get the two captains together and say, look, guys, I'm going to book someone here.

[00:18:44] If this continues like this, this game continues in this manner, I'm going to book someone. And I think that's, for me, the villains have been... I applauded the fact that the referees have allowed the games to flow, but I just feel in a lot of games they've never got to grips with them. I don't know if you feel the same, Nathan? Yeah, no, I fully get that. And, you know, I said earlier on the pod, I'm a bit better about the England game, but in the first half of England-Argentina, Argentina realistically could have been down to nine men, eight men even. Some of the tackles were pretty shocking and not just in isolation,

[00:19:13] they would repeat for offenders because the referee didn't get on top of it. And it was the same in the final last night. McAlsa could have had an orange card. It was one of those in the Premier League. It could have, yeah, exactly. In the Premier League, it could have potentially gone to a red card because it was like, you know, that scissor tackle period. This could have got a couple of yellows at least. You know, there was lots of tackles like that. My issue with the referees is the consistency as well. I actually enjoy, I love a good, you know, firm challenge, but I don't like it when we use Argentina because they seem to get away with it all tournament.

[00:19:44] Get away with it with, you know, potential leg breakers, with really nasty tackles. But other teams get yellow cards, red cards, fouls given all the time. Don't forget Baraguay, you've got zero yellow cards against France. Just boxing match. Yeah, exactly. So if that's the directive and like I said, I actually really enjoy it, that's fine. But make it fair for all. Don't just have it like, you know, favourites on one side. And I think that's, I don't know what it's like over in Holland, John, but in the UK there's been a lot about FIFA want Argentina to win.

[00:20:14] When you see some of the games and some of the stuff they get away with, there's been this massive narrative through pretty much the whole tournament about how there's a clear way. And at one point we kind of thought it was going to be Portugal against Argentina because that was the way that the decisions seemed to be going at one point. So they don't help themselves because from the outside, it does look like that's kind of a thing. So I agree with both views in terms of your villains, like the referees and Peridus as well. Like I think both of them are fantastic goals because you know, they've both got massive flaws and things that they've done this World Cup.

[00:20:43] Yeah. But it's like consistency is key. Like we have some new rules that are introduced. And I think many of these new changes I absolutely love. I haven't seen a single player all tournament laying on the floor and faking an injury for still in time, not a single one. Oh, to Mendy for the first goal that got disallowed. Yeah. Okay. Fair enough. And then still complain by the way, but that's a different story. But not a single one was rolling around and faking an injury. Not one. So that rule is absolutely golden.

[00:21:12] Should always be implemented from now on. Not a single time wasting going on with substitution. Perfect. Right? I do think we need to be faster with goal kicks and we need to be faster with throw-ins. They start counting after 10 seconds and then it's like, I still have five seconds to go. Okay. Then he suddenly starts throwing in. Right. And we saw it with the match with Argentina yesterday as well. But most of these changes have been pretty good. But what happened with the rule that you can't talk to the referee unless you're a captain anymore?

[00:21:41] When did that get abandoned? They just lost control and they realized, I think, they'd be dishing out cards after cards. And like you're saying, even things with the throw-ins again. Would that matter? Because you do the one match, you finish with eight men. And we'll never talk about this again. You think so. But then you talk and talk and talk and talk and talk about it. And it'll slip back. Like, it'd be interesting to see. I don't know whether these are rules that were just implemented just for the World Cup or if these are going to be like IFAB across the whole footballing world from going forward. Because it's made a difference.

[00:22:11] Like the goal kicks, the corners, the throw-ins, fair enough. I can't remember the first country to do it, but it was in Scotland, I think, actually. They were very clever because the count only starts when it's a throwing guy going to take the throw. So they just didn't pick the ball up for a long time so they could organize themselves. I'm sure it was Sandy Robertson that kind of sussed that first. So there are things that need tweaked. But the law changes themselves. And in theory, they're not speaking to the referee if it was applied. I think these are all things that on a high level have been very successful or at least very promising.

[00:22:40] I can save the referee association here though. You talk to a referee, you're out for a minute. Yeah. I mean, that makes sense. No card, just out for a minute. Just as if you were faking an injury. Bye-bye. One minute out. No, it needs to come. But the problem is I think referees, they don't want to influence a game. I think they're quite... It's an impossible job, isn't it? One half, they say them loves you, the other half hates you. Or sometimes both half hates you.

[00:23:07] And I just think referees do their best not to influence matches sometimes. And they take a light touch and that light touch, when a game like Argentina needed a heavy touch at the very start. You know, an early bookend would have maybe settled it down, you know. Yeah, but then you get from the start though. There's plenty of referees that can handle a match like this. I think some of the semis as well. We had the... I shouldn't be. The Finnish-Vilain referee as well. Right? At France versus England, I think.

[00:23:37] Where did he came from? Why not give it to the... Well, for example, the Dutch or the German referees that were still there. They got sent home. Who are used to play refereeing half of semifinals in Champions League. At tough matches, right? There have been some weird appointments on referees as well. Not saying it's... Like we've seen an Argentina referee at the France match and the France referee, Torpen at the Argentina match as well. It was a little bit over the place with how they got appointed as well.

[00:24:04] So, but it all starts with not only setting out rules, Chris, but with applying those rules. And I think that's where some are more lenient than others. And I think that should just be... A line is a line because everyone knows you can't cross it, I think. So, a good rule shouldn't be debatable. And I think it starts with that. No, I get that. So guys, have you come near to the end of the show? And I know, John, you want to say a few words at the end, but I just want to quickly ask you. It will soon be a bonus and it sounds weird to talk about it,

[00:24:34] but 2030 is not... It's only four years away. And it would be wrong for me if I've got two football experts on here not to ask you a little bit, about 2030. So, from your point of view, Nath, do you see any team be able to take Spain on at the next World Cup? This is like a golden question or a poison sword, depends which way you look at it. Yes and no. So, like, the average age of Spain is ridiculously young. There's still flaws in the game.

[00:25:03] I still think, as good as they are, you know, they need a goal scored. Like, they didn't score many goals. Teams may get kind of wise to it. But I think, you know, you look at some of the bigger nations, Argentina are an Asian team. I don't see them. Germany, I don't really see them. The Dutch are just horrific for the last however long. So, thankfully, they're out of the picture. But no, it depends as well, because obviously, like, the climate has an impact on it. I'd like to see England. And I think, actually, if England found a 30 goal a year striker

[00:25:31] who was under the age of whatever hurricane, he'll be 39 by then who will not... You know, he's not a Ronaldo or a Messi that can prolong his career. England aren't actually, in my opinion, a million miles off because they've got quite a decent nucleus. Brazil, you can imagine, will be there or thereabouts because they've always got wonder kids coming through. It's the sort of mentality of them. So I don't think it's cut and dry to say it's Baines to lose in four years' time just yet. But the other half is they're so young, but they're so experienced already. But then there was a comparison between Messi and Jamal last night

[00:26:00] on the BBC about minutes played at the same stage. I think Messi had something like 500 minutes or something really low and Jamal was 20,000 minutes or something ridiculous. So the other end of that is this young, phenomenal Spanish team could also burn up very quickly or, you know, injuries, etc. So it's going to be interesting to see how it develops. Obviously, we've got the good market for the Euros in two years' time. And I think in two years' time, we'll have a really good idea of if any teams are going to be able to challenge them. You know, France always... They're another team that's always there,

[00:26:29] and a lot of their players are still fairly young and they've got at least another one or two World Cups in them too. So I can see them being challenged. If you ask me right now, you'd have to say Spain because they're so young and so good already. But it's not so easy saying yes or no type thing. John, do you have a view? Is there any hope for anybody else? World Cup is always a little bit different, right? And every tournament can be different.

[00:26:56] But I think Spain has the tremendous potential to keep this momentum going. And to be fair, it's been a while since we had such a deserving world champion as well. One goal conceded and just owning every single match. And even the first one which they drew, they still had like 11 shots on the target or something. So just also an amazing match from the goalkeeper, obviously. Oudervit also got himself a new career. So that just sometimes happens.

[00:27:24] And if it happens in the group stage, nothing to worry about. Fran's always going to be there, I think. Seriously doubt Argentina can. And since I'm on the A train anyways, but I don't know many talents that are coming through there either. And I think Messi carries a lot of. I mean, Nico Paz, I think is one that's mentioned as the Roma striker as well. Sure, but he's playing in Roma with all due respect.

[00:27:48] And I don't think you need big opposition to make sure you get stronger and faster and better, right? To be fair, Serie A isn't that good of a competition because the other striker at AS Roma is Daniel Mahler, who has had a terrific season so far, even better than Paz. But he was nowhere on this World Cup either. So, you know, scoring leagues in Serie A or in the Eredivisie isn't exactly the same as scoring goals in the Premier League either.

[00:28:18] So I think there's something to be said there. I think the... Yeah, well, it could go either way. I do think England has definitely got potential. I think the Dutch have definitely potential if they just stick to their ways, right? I think there's definitely that. And I was very disappointed by Germany. But I think the difference was a very unexperienced manager versus going to see Klopp there. I wouldn't rule out Germany, to be fair, because if you look at the names they got on the list and the ages they are, there's definitely potential there as well. No, definitely.

[00:28:48] Well, guys, thank you so much. John, I'm going to hand over the hosting duties to you. I know you like to say a few words just on the podcast at the end. Definitely. Well, I didn't prepare anything, so I didn't even know you were hosting until 25 minutes ago. And now I just wanted to say it has been an absolute pleasure to do 50 days of podcasting in a row. And we're doing 50 days in a row. Comes a lot of challenges and I want to applaud the team. The whole team.

[00:29:15] Shaq has been stepping up tremendously, hosting solo shows, doing lots of the background work with making scripts. Nathan has been watching matches like a madman showing up over the most ridiculously times. Chris, with everything going on in your life, you still managed to hop on at least maybe eight or 10 shows, something about that. But the community we have has been supporting us.

[00:29:39] But I do think it's not like, I know it sounds like we're just talking to a microphone and having a camera pointing at us and that's about it. And we can talk half an hour day about football, but getting schedules aligned throughout different time zones while matches are played on even far more different time zones. While actually living a life in, well, hectic times. I think I'm very proud on our own podcast team for making sure we can manage, we managed 50 episodes.

[00:30:09] I'm very much proud on the people that stepped up. Like Shaq, for example, who did, like I said, doing solo shows ain't easy. And I've done a fair few of them, but I've been doing this for the last 10 years now. So it's not easy just saying, here's a microphone, here's a screen. Good luck, mate. And you got to fill 25 minutes and make it sound interesting as well. I mean, that's the skill you got to develop. And he's definitely got a talent for that. So all I'm saying is, I want to thank everyone commentating on the Spotify, the website, everywhere, sharing on socials and commentating on socials.

[00:30:37] And no, I know a lot of people were commentating that whenever we get something wrong, because we definitely have something wrong, not predictions. But we also said, for example, England were behind when they weren't behind. Yeah, I mean, we are sleep-depriven and we still want to get a show out at times and we make mistakes. But no worries. We own those. And I'm very happy that people care so much that they want to correct us. They send us a message to say, Hey, this was wrong. All by all, I think I'm extremely proud.

[00:31:05] You guys call me the gaffer, but let's say as a gaffer, I'm extremely proud that we made 50 shows in a row. To be fair, this is our, I think 835th episode in total, something like that. But these shows aren't even numbered. So we're not stopping. We're going back to food content. So FIFA Ultimate Team, our Football Ultimate Team as it's called these days. And that will be a show once a week. And of course we will make bonus content of that. After my quick holiday, we'll be back fully with that.

[00:31:33] But you can expect like a weekly show from us still, maybe not football related, but if you have any football questions, we'll gladly answer those as well. Perfect. Absolutely amazing, John. It's been great to have you on all those shows, Nath. It's been great to do another show with you as well. And yeah, a special shout out to Shaq. He's been amazing. He's been the backbone of these episodes and the scripts have been absolutely amazing. So guys, that's it. And we can't forget James though, because I just want to shout out to James, right?

[00:32:02] Uh, cause James has been, uh, the most flexible part of the team in these last 50 days. Uh, if you want to record at 2am, James is there. If you want to record at 8am, he'll make sure he's still awake. Or we want to record at 2pm in the afternoon. Doesn't make a difference. Uh, and James will be here. I felt a little bit sorry this morning, Nate. What? Where we accidentally scheduled. Well, that went wrong. We accidentally scheduled four person instead of two person.

[00:32:32] So we didn't, he didn't get too much speaking time, but he definitely deserves all the credits in the world for his contribution to this as well. No, definitely. A hundred percent. So guys, it's been amazing. The world cup is over. Who knows? We may do a daily show when it comes to euros. I'm not trying to steal the gaffers thunder, but we will be back talking FC content very soon. And to all of those who's listened, if you can, please leave a five star review. We'd absolutely love you to do that. It makes a massive, massive difference to us.

[00:33:02] But thanks again, guys. Take care everyone. Thank you.