What’s Wright - USMNT UNRAVELS vs. Belgium, Pulisic DISAPPEARS, Haaland BOUNCES Brazil | Nick Wright World Cup

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Nick Wright breaks down the USMNT’s 4-1 loss to Belgium and being knocked out of the World Cup. Then, Nick weighs in on the impact this World Cup has had on soccer in America. Later, Nick dives into Brazil being upset by Haaland and Norway, England surviving in The Azteca against Mexico, and Cristiano Ronaldo’s final World Cup appearance. Finally, Nick and Damonza answer your questions. #Volume

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome in What's Driving Nick Rat Episode four seventy five,
Wow Getting Closed Episode five hundred. This episode of What
Right with Nick Wright is presented to you by boost Mobile.
Good afternoon, Demanse. Busy week for you moving into a
new spot. Busy month for everybody that's been dialed into
the World Cup as just wall to wall NonStop action

(00:27):
up to an including games like this afternoon. Like we
have had three games, Demanse in the last five days
that would have been the game of the tournament in
half of the World Cups of my lifetime. Argentina Cape
Verday Friday night was an all time classic. Mexico England

(00:49):
Sunday Evening was as hyped as any round of sixteen
game I've ever seen, exceeded the hype and then kept
exceeding it, and in a sneaky one just a couple
hours ago, Argentina Egypt just an epic. Egypt up to nothing,

(01:12):
Argentina comes back to steal it. We'll get more into
that game later. However, one of the last lasting legacies
demand of this World Cup might be the entire world
coming around to my side. That instant where you play
makes sports worse. Egypt having a goal stolen for a
penalty that happened fifteen minutes prior in the lead up

(01:36):
to the to the goal. Was just unreal, and so
all of that. Uh yeah, Egypt did then didn't writing
another they scored right after the same guy. Yeah, you're
right about that, So all of that. But the big
story is, of course, one of the few games of

(01:57):
this tournament that has not been a classic, not been
that well played, not actually that interesting unless you were
rooting for one of the two teams involved. That was
Belgium in the US. We'll get to that in a second,
but first straight to voicemail, brought to you by our
friends at boost Mobile. Donovan Mitchell signs a four year,

(02:19):
smooth two hundred and seventy million dollar extension. As we
inch closer and closer to the first NBA player that
will in fact average one million dollars a game. For
someone to do that, we need someone to sign a
four year to what would the no, that's wrong on that.

(02:39):
He's almost seventy million a game, So we need someone
to sign a three year two forty six or a
four year three twenty eight for someone to average a
million a game. We'll get there. Soon enough. Caleb Williams
signed a jersey for the pope evidently, and the Royals
do something that's more rare than a perfect game, score

(03:00):
a run in every inning, but nobody cares because the
Royals are that they actually aren't very good, but there's
still a cool little accomplishment. Also a couple reminders subscribe
to the pod. It helps us out tremendously, particularly if
you subscribe on YouTube, iTunes or Spotify. On iTunes or YouTube,
if you want to throw us a five star rating,
that would be great. And we are going to have

(03:23):
this week a mail bag episode coming out at the
end of the week for the first time in a while.
If you want to send a long form question, what's
right mailbag at gmail dot com is how you do that.
Also another reason to subscribe Thursday to Monday. I am
going I actually might miss the last like ten minutes

(03:45):
of the TV show because I there is a four
pm kickoff between France and Morocco in Boston that I
need to get to. TV show ends that moon. It's
usually about a third three and a half hour drive,
so I want to give myself a little extra wiggle room.

Speaker 2 (04:06):
And so if you want it quick one.

Speaker 1 (04:10):
I'm not sure if a flight would actually be faster
like it's far as yeah, like the show, yeah and so,
and there's more likely for a catastrophic delay and a
flight delayed then you're just out of there. And so
I mean I hired, I'm not driving. I hired a
car to basically for the day, but kick off at four.

(04:35):
So maybe I leave the studio in Manhattan around I
don't know, eleven forty and hopefully get there. The other
piece of that is there's a building collapsing in Manhattan
right now as we speak. They've had to evacuate a
few blocks of Midtown, So I don't know what that's
gonna do to traffic. I'm not sure. I know. I

(04:57):
hope to get there on time. We will see. Because
of that, Thursday's Pod is now Wednesday's pod, so we're
doing a pod tomorrow again. If you subscribe to the pod,
you don't have to worry about any of that. All
right to mom's a, let's get right to it. The
letdown of the tournament Belgium in the US.

Speaker 3 (05:15):
So historic World Cup run by the USA ended like
so many of them have for US before, in a
loss in the round of sixteen.

Speaker 2 (05:22):
What do you think happened out there? We were getting bullied.
That was a rough output.

Speaker 1 (05:27):
Yeah, listen, Brew and I we didn't really argue. We
don't really argue that much, but disagreed about what happened
in this game. On the TV show this morning, Brew
was pretty adamant that Belgium was just that much better
than the United States and that's what happened. I disagree

(05:49):
with that. I do think pretty clearly Belgium was better,
that's obvious, and that I had maybe overrated in my
I had the level at which the US men's national
team was playing, and I may be underrated Belgium, but
Belgium hadn't played very well in this tournament. Belgium had

(06:09):
to draw against Egypt. Belgium had to draw against Iran.
Belgium played awful for eighty plus minutes of a knockout
round game against Senegal, and then got one late goal
due to Lakaku being awesome, another late goal due to
a disastrous play by the Senegalese goalkeeper, and then they

(06:29):
stole it seconds before it went to penalties in extra time.
The one game all tournament Belgium had looked dominant was
against New Zealand, and it was just an older Belgium
team eight years removed from its golden generation, being in
their primes, and it seemed there was a reason the

(06:51):
United States was slim but favorites in the game, and
so I don't think it was as clear cut simply
as well that you know, we played finally played a
top ten team in the world, and we got what
was coming to us. Because that's not to me what

(07:17):
happened in yesterday's game. What happened in Monday night's game
was the moment was too big for our guys and
our back line, which has been this whole tournament the
shakiest part of the team. We went into the tournament
the first team in World Cup history to have our

(07:38):
starting goalkeeper be a goalkeeper from MLS. Our defenders are,
you know, either older players or some of our less
frontline guys, you know, compared to some of our attackers
in our midfield, and they got exposed and they seemed

(08:01):
shook from the opening kick a minute into the game.
Belgium could have scored eight minutes into the game. When
they did score, it was simply because it was the
soccer version of a group of infielders letting a foul
ball drop. Nobody wanted to head the ball out of play,
and then what was so devastating was they had an

(08:28):
opportunity to steady themselves when one of the absolute revelations
of the tournament, Malik Tillman, hits another awesome free kick
twice in two games, the very end of the Bosnia
game and midway through the first half of the Round

(08:50):
of sixteen game. We had a moment that reminds you
of the best clubs are the best countries in the world.
Where you have a three kick specialist take a direct
kick at the top of the box and doesn't need
someone to put a head on the back end of it,
doesn't need some fancy action. Nope, right over the wall

(09:13):
into a spot the keeper can't get it. I know
this one took a deflection, but it was just so
awesome and in that moment, the US could have taken
a deep breath said Okay, we're here, the crowds into it,
we see the level Belgium's gonna play at. We are
up to it, we're prepared for it, and now we

(09:36):
just have to be the better side for sixty minutes
of soccer. And instead, within one minute we allowed them
to take the lead again. We trailed in this game
for eighty of the ninety minutes. The only moments we
didn't trail were minutes zero to nine and I guess

(09:59):
thirty one to two. That's it. We trailed for multiple
goals for the final thirty minutes of the game thanks
to a yackety Sacks style cartoonish mistake by our goalkeeper.
And we never once seemed to threaten Belgium the way

(10:20):
we had been threatening teams all tournament. And listen, I
understand Belgium was a step up in class, a big
step up in class, but that is not the full
story of what happened yesterday. We got shook by what
was in front of us, and by what was in

(10:41):
front of us, I don't just mean the opposition, I
mean the opportunity. And that's the really really disappointing part.
The really really disappointing part is for months leading up
to this I discussed how this tournament, the the pivot

(11:10):
point of this tournament was going to be whether or
not we could break through the glass ceiling of the
Round of sixteen. And we're gonna get more deep into
that later in the show like about whether or not
this was a success or a failure, But it feels

(11:30):
like everyone on the team also felt like that was
the pivot point, and they crumbled under that pressure, and
it denied that unbelievable Seattle crowd an opportunity to really
get into the game, which is as disappointing a part

(11:54):
of it as anything else. The fact that that crowd
was dying to be a twelfth man like Stadio aas
Teca was for the Mexican side, even in defeat on
Sunday night, and the crowd got nervous a minute into

(12:15):
the game because Belgium almost scored. The crowd was then
extra nervous when the US was trailing for the first
thirty minutes of the game essentially, and then for one
minute after the Tillman goal, they were there, and then
Belgium went right back and took it. And Demonsey, You're
just not going to have another opportunity like this the

(12:39):
next time the Earth. Like this is gonna sound funny,
but it's true. The next time, the earliest possible chance
the US is gonna have for another home World Cup,
you will be my age. Yeah, so and so like no,

(13:06):
they definitely won't be there. I mean, the World Cup
in four years is in Spain, Portugal, Morocco. Now I
will say FIFA is doing something a little tricky because
they're supposed to kind of rotate continents, right, So next
year's World Cup, instead of just being in Spain or

(13:28):
being in Spain and Portugal, it's Spain, Portugal and Morocco
the way this one was the US, Canada and Mexico. Okay,
so that checks off Europe and Africa because Morocco's in Africa.
But then they are also doing one hundred anniversary one

(13:48):
off matches I believe in Uruguay, Brazil, and Argentina one
match in each country. Well, that checks off South America
the next World So so just the next World Cup
gives you Europe, Africa, and South America as done. They

(14:08):
did it, yep. The next World Cup is already on
the books in Saudi Arabia, so that checks off Asia.
So in theory they could as early as twenty thirty
eight give another one to the United States. And the
United States has done a brilliant job hosting the Games,

(14:29):
and we do have the best stadiums in the world,
so maybe we'll get it again sooner than we probably should,
but that's still twelve years out. And so all these
you know what I mean, almost all these guys, Yeah,
we'll be gone. All right, let's do some follow ups
here before we get to the other stuff.

Speaker 3 (14:49):
So after the Games, Latin said that that was a
reality check for the for Team USA. So what do
you think that our reality is?

Speaker 1 (15:00):
Our reality right now is that the quarterfinals is our
absolute ceiling and the round of sixteen is playing to
our seed. Our reality check right now is there is
you We are nowhere close to being a firmly entrenched

(15:25):
top ten nations right like we are the We are
closer to the teams that are ranked in the twenties
like Iran, Norway, Senegal, Uruguay, Austria, Egypt, then the teams

(15:50):
that are ranked in the low teens, like well in Mexico,
I think we're right in line with. But in Mexico
right now is technically ten, but they've moved up quite
a bit during this tournament. Colombia, Germany, Croatia, Italy which
plays great except for when it comes to making the
World Cup. And we do feel like we are leaps

(16:13):
and bounds away from teams firmly in the top ten
like Spain and England. And even though they didn't have
a good showing of this World Cup, and they haven't
had a great showing in the World Cup in years, Brazil,
Brazil's been disappointed by Brazil standards prior to this year.
They make the quarters every single year of the World Cup.

(16:35):
That's been you know, our dream is to make the
quarters repeatedly. So I do think that is uh, that
is the reality of it. But that doesn't mean we
couldn't have won Monday Night. Belgium again has not been

(16:56):
They have been far from unbeatable in the tournament. They
are past what was you know, they're an aging team
that has passed their version of the Golden Generation. And
so I think it's laton, you know, Bruce said on
the TV show we all got drunk on sports patriotism,

(17:20):
yes and no. Like I understand that the Vegas odds
are tilted, you know, colored a bit by the fact
that so many Americans wanted to bet on the US,
but the international sportsbooks also had this game as a
coin flip slightly leaning to the United States. It was

(17:42):
not blind. It might have been drunken you know, patriotic
optimism that was fueling the thirty to one US to
win the tournament.

Speaker 2 (17:51):
Bets.

Speaker 1 (17:51):
It was not drunken US optimism that installed the US
as slight, but favorites yesterday. And here's the other piece
of it, like there have not been many once we
have gotten to the knockout rounds, there just haven't been

(18:12):
many walkovers. Like I'm just gonna go backwards through the games.
Today's Egypt Argentina game a freaking classic that our Egypt
was as Argentina in the rankings is two, Egypt in
the rankings is twenty four, so you know we are

(18:34):
sixteen Norway or Belgium, pardon me, is eight, so we
are far closer to Belgium than Egypt is to Argentina.
Egypt was up to nothing in that game at the
seventy eight minute mark and that game ended up being
a classic. Sunday Night Brazil Norway. It's zero Sunday afternoon.

(18:54):
Norway is again about as far in the rankings from
Brazil as the US is from Belgium. Norway one. Mexico
England was a classic that England won three to two.
France played Paraguay. That game was won nothing on a

(19:17):
France penalty kick. Now again, Paraguay played a particular style
to make that happen, but it was close. Morocco played Canada. Yes,
that ended three to nothing, but that game was zero
zero at halftime and one nothing in the seventy eighth minute. Again,

(19:38):
Argentina Cape Verde three to two in extra time. Colombia
Gana was a one nothing game. Australia Egypt went to
penalty kicks. The last actual walkover and maybe the only
walkover of the knockout round was Spain and night elating Austria.

(20:01):
And again, Spain went into this tournament the number one
team in the world and Austria is outside of the
top twenty. There just haven't been these dominating, embarrassing blowouts
in the knockout round. And England against Dr Congo was

(20:24):
a game England had to pull out of the fire.
Belgium against Senegal was a game Belgium had to pull
out of the fire. Shoot Bosnia Ertzkovina was us. What
we did to them was one of the bigger blowouts. Yes,
France killed Sweden, Spain killed Austria, but those are the
two best teams in the tournament. Probably just so disappointing.

(20:49):
All right, let's go to the poch, this one about
the coach.

Speaker 3 (20:54):
Yeah, so Pochatino has been a little bit of a
rejuvenation for the squad.

Speaker 2 (20:58):
He's also up for a new contract. Do you believe
that he's the guy for the job?

Speaker 1 (21:04):
Listen, we had Darren Fletcher, uh, who's right now actually
calling the game that's on right now is Switzerland, Columbia
and Vancouver. We had him on and he was adamant
that the US should do everything they can to keep Poachatino.
And I agree. I understand that ultimately this tournament was

(21:27):
not a rousing success, and we'll get more into that layer.
But I really like the guy. I think he has
the right mentality and I think it You want to
see what a full cycle because they hired him late,
what him being able to put his hands on this
team for a full cycle would really mean. I think

(21:47):
they're paying him six million bucks a year. And like
the soccer jobs, demons are crazy and the coaching no,
that's what I mean, the the turnover in them as

(22:09):
far as if you coach a Premier league team like
you can coach for two years and be five like
they just there is not a lot of job security,
is what I'm trying to say. Yeah, So for him
the ability to play or to coach and know he's
gonna have this job through the next World Cup, I

(22:29):
think I would think would be really attractive to him.
So I really hope that we're able to hold on
to him. All right. Before we get to flow ball again,
let me remind you guys. Today's show is brought to
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Speaker 1 (24:42):
All right, Demante, let's talk flow Balligan.

Speaker 3 (24:45):
So do you think all the controversies controversies surrounding Balagin
in the Red Car was worth it? And do you
think that this was more of a hindrance for the
USA or motivation for Belgium?

Speaker 1 (24:59):
Yeah? I think I don't think it will. I certainly
it ended up being motivation for Belgium. There's no denying that, Okay,
But the idea I don't. I simply do not buy
that if only the US didn't have its most effective

(25:20):
offensive player out there, yesterday would have been better. Like
everyone's I and this idea that well, we had all
these vibes working for us, and then it all shifted.
I anyone that listens to this show or watches me

(25:42):
has a very good idea or an exact idea of
what I think about our current president. Okay, not a fan,
I think it's fair to say, and it is an
easy like, well, you know, the Knicks couldn't lose, showed

(26:04):
up to a game, they lost. The US men's national
teams on this great run. He steps in, then they lose.
Here's the thing about that line of reasoning about that
the president stepping in threw off the vibes. It ignores
the fact that a lot of guys on our men's

(26:28):
national soccer team love the guy that a lot of
the fans who are part I would imagine part of
the vibes, love the guy like this, it is a
very kind of siloed mindset of well, I, you know,
theoretical soccer fan don't like the president. Therefore I didn't

(26:53):
like the fact that he got involved with the team,
and that hurt the vibes. While not acknowledging that for
folks out there that love him and maybe they before
didn't care as much about the team, they're like, oh
now now Trump's invested in it, I'm invested in it too.
So I'm gonna say those vibes canceled each other out. Okay,

(27:15):
So the only question is this was Belgium. Whatever added
motivation they got from feeling like we're getting screwed here,
was that offset by the fact by the added benefit
the US got from having one of, if not its
very best player on the pitch. And I'm gonna say

(27:38):
we came out ahead in that one if we were
if anybody related to US soccer thought we'd like to
have our best player. But what about those vibes, what
about the bulletin board material. They could have simply released
a statement out of respect. They could have on the

(28:00):
demons the kid in the old fair Play commercial. Sorry,
they could have just announced Flow is not playing. Don't
you worry your pretty little hearts, Flow is not gonna
play now. Also demant, I will say, go ahead you.

Speaker 3 (28:19):
These guys are soccer players, Like they also realized that
Baligan got screwed over, right, Like, I feel like it
shouldn't motivate them, and the fact that that was the
wrong call. He shouldn't be suspended.

Speaker 2 (28:30):
But but yeah, that's just.

Speaker 1 (28:31):
That's that's kind of how I I mean, I think
that's a good point. I don't think anybody watched the
ballot play and was like any of the other people
in the World Cup. It was like, oh my god,
he better be banned for multi games. Like and the
fact that I think Flow handled it really well, shook
the ref's hands, didn't lose his mind to all that.
I just and nobody is thinking about the the other

(28:58):
the road not travel, which is it's totally in play
that if ballot is suspended, Belgium starts off just as hot.
And in that scenario, instead of being down one goal
and then two goal most goals most of the game,
maybe we just lose that thing five to nothing. Maybe

(29:19):
it's a tournament we have led early every single game,
Belgium has the same start because Belgium didn't get that
start because our attackers made mistakes. Belgium got the start
because our defense lost its head. And Belgium scores eight
minutes in just like they did and utter in total.

(29:39):
Panic sets in like, oh my god, we haven't been
trailing at all and we're doing it now without our guy,
what are we gonna do? And they lose even worse.
So No, I do not think that the red card
being overturned or the suspension being suspended, whatever hurt the
United States. I think that is what the kids would
call cope rather than dealing with the fact that we

(30:02):
just got beat Man, and we got beat in part
because we got tight. We every the entire commentary leading
up to it is it's the biggest game in all
of their lives. Every single person on the US men's
national team, it's the biggest game they've ever played. And
guess what they fucking look like it like, not everybody

(30:26):
is you know, built for biggest game of my life.
Watch me cook. Like a lot of people and I
understand these aren't usually you know, pro athletes, but a
lot of people are in the office just going Kobe

(30:48):
into the waste paper basket and then somebody's like, hey,
ten bucks, you can't do that again, and all of
a sudden, they're in the cubicle over Like the pressure
is a real thing. And the amount of pressure because
of how much the country was invested, because everybody they

(31:11):
were starting to you know, dream a big dream and
believe and all of it. It really seemed to me
that it got to them. And I'm not saying they
would have yes, And I want to be clear, I'm
not saying they would have won the game absent of that.

(31:34):
I'm not saying like that that if it were a
friendly with no pressure at all, they would have won.
I am saying they would have put on a better,
a more quality showing. And and and Belgium on the
other hand, Listen, Belgium made the semifinals two World Cups ago,

(31:57):
but it's just really Lacacu and de Briyana and to
Briano didn't even play that were a part of that squad.
That's part of this squad. Last year's Belgium team got
grouped and it was a catastrophe. This year it looked
like it was going to be equally as embarrassing as
getting grouped, where you barely find a way to win

(32:18):
your to come out of your group the way they
did with the win over New Zealand, and then they're
gonna lose the round of thirty two game to Senegal.
Them coming they were down to nothing demons against Senegal
in the eighty second minute. They they scored I think
in the eighty fourth and eighty eighth minute, and then

(32:39):
one minute before we go to penalty kicks, they scored again.
I do wonder if that was a little pressure release
from for them, like oh all right, we avoided catastrophe.
We got out of the group. We won a game
in the expanded tournament where actually the underdogs. Everyone kind
of thinks, now this is where the alegant stuff applies

(33:01):
for them, that we're kind of getting screwed here. We
can play free and easy. And they they did, and
and so they did. Now the other sad part is
go ahead.

Speaker 3 (33:14):
No, I was just gonna Do you think the story
goes away now that we're eliminated or do.

Speaker 2 (33:18):
You think this is the type of thing that sticks
with us?

Speaker 1 (33:20):
Well, listen, I think no. I think the story mostly
goes away. I think Trump will bring it up as
best as he can. But they've got bigger there's bigger
stuff going on. Uh, they've got phone calls right now,
evidently with Mitch McConnell, which I didn't know was possible,
but I read about that right before we got on
the air. But this is the this is the bigger story.

(33:43):
The final question here, demanse the bigger things about me.
If we're being honest here.

Speaker 3 (33:48):
Does your win is the sports media on Budsman feel
feel hollow after how this game went?

Speaker 1 (33:55):
I mean yeah, little, I mean I you gotta ask theman,
say your mom and your sister. We were on our way.
It was such a turn of mood for me over
the from Sunday morning until last night. Sunday morning, here's
our after Sunday morning.

Speaker 2 (34:15):
Yep.

Speaker 1 (34:16):
I'm I'm resigned to the fact that I am going
to spend an obscene amount of money on four tickets
to Brazil Norway, Okay, Like I'm just gonna take the
whole family. And then all of a sudden there's rain
in the forecast. And then all of a sudden, Diora

(34:37):
is talking about maybe wanting to go to a Yankee game,
and Deanna is talking about how it's three weeks man,
and I and I and I and I'm looking and
I'm like, these tickets are I mean, I don't I
normally wouldn't say, but it's all public, Like it's upper

(34:58):
deck was two thousand dollars a ticket, So I'm like,
I'm gonna buy four bad seats. I don't even know
that they really want to go, Like what, like what
am I doing? And then all of a sudden, people
start opening the door, and I'm like, wait, does everybody
think is everybody only going because they think I want

(35:18):
them to go? So then I pulled. I pull your
mom aside and I'm like, hey, what if I go
by myself? And she's like that would be great. I'm
like really, I'm like fantastic. So now I've already anchored
and how much this is going to cost? And now

(35:41):
it's flipped and I'm like.

Speaker 5 (35:42):
All right.

Speaker 1 (35:43):
Instead of instead of looking for four bad seats, demanse,
I'm looking for one awesome seat and I ended up sitting.
I'll send you the pictures. I was dead middle, lower level,

(36:04):
second to last row, so row twenty nine, dead middle.
And when I say dead middle, the luxury box behind
me is you know when you watch these games and
you see the row of all the guys wearing the
exact same blue blazers that say FIFA on them. All
those guys are right behind me. I'm sitting right in

(36:25):
front of the FIFA box, and with the FIFA guys
are all the Brazilian legends. I am two rows in
front of Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, CAFU, like some of the just
so all these guys, they're all right there. I took
pictures of all these guys. I was such a fan
in this I'm not even taking pictures of these guys.
But regardless. So but I'm not in the story. I'm

(36:48):
not at the game yet. So I'm now I'm like,
all right, so I'm saving fifty five hundred bucks. I'm
not buying four tickets. I'm just buying one awesome ticket.
Brazil's gonna win, so we're going. I was like, we
gotta go down one hundred and twenty fifth Street in Harlem.
I know one of these, like African stands is selling

(37:11):
World Cup merch and I want an absurd Brazil hat,
which I bought, and it is the picture that I took.
So I get that Brazil hat. We go to breakfast
or brunch before I leave for pinstation. On the way there,
I get the text from either Matt Ford or Daniel
or whomever saying, ballots suspension's been overturned.

Speaker 2 (37:35):
Yep.

Speaker 1 (37:36):
And in that moment, I'm like, I said to your
mom and your sister, I was like, you guys don't
get it. It's like in the entirety of sports media,
I was the only person with the take of I
don't care what the rules say. I think we can
get this overturned just leaning on the history of like, oh,

(37:57):
I don't know, like check just check the last one
hundred years of FIFA in the World Cup and who
gets the tournament and what happened with you know, Italy
back in the thirties and forties, and like, I like,
it feels like week and exactly what I said should
happen is what happened. And I was like, I get

(38:17):
to be the only person, the only person that had
this take and it happened. Yeah, And now everybody's like, actually, Nick,
that was bad. Actually maybe you cost us the game.
It's just devastating. And by the way, Brazila lost and
by the way, that game cost me way more than
the tickets. Just a real, just cascading event of disaster.

(38:39):
But we move on, we move on. We're okay, unlike
Captain America. So let's and I didn't know. Colin told
me that the internet got mad at me for these takes.
I truly did not know this. Let's talk Christian polistic h.

Speaker 3 (38:58):
So you took to you took to Twitter after the
game to greet arrow some grievances towards a guy, Christian Polissik,
who was hurt throughout the tournament. What frustrated you the
most with your boy, Christian.

Speaker 1 (39:12):
Okay, this is not a hot take. This is not
being unfair. I said after the first game, when they
were talking about him missing a World Cup game because
he got kicked in the calf, that I was not

(39:34):
comfortable with it. And everybody tried to Kevin Durant shame me.
That's what every everybody was trying to indirectly be like, oh, yeah, well,
all right, if he goes out there and plays and
pops his achilles, blood's on your hand. When I knew,
I knew this was not a Kevin Durant style, and

(39:57):
I shouldn't say I knew. I had a feeling then
I have a feeling now that if he reaggravated what
was this is what we knew. Okay, I'm gonna back
up even further. All right, here's my frustration. Christian Polisic,
who in the last World Cup scored a goal in
a must win game against Iran. In the first half

(40:19):
on the goal got banged into I think by the keeper,
played the rest of the first half limping around out there,
and then at halftime can't play anymore, I'm out, and
the team listened. To his credit, he scored the game
winning goal to the team's credit. They held on without it,
but then we got bounced in the next round, and
he was still like, you know, ailing the next few years.

(40:41):
We are ramping up to this home World Cup, Gold
Cup important for the US international not just warm up.
You get to a trophy. It's not a great trophy.
You get a trophy. Nope, I'm not playing, says Christian Polisic.
How did Landon Donovan, the former greatest American player ever
feel about that? How does Clint Dempsey feel about it?

(41:02):
Hates it? How does his coach feel about it? Poo
Chattino hates it? Doesn't matter. I've had this grueling AC
Milan schedule. I played in the Premier League and because
I'm on AC Milan, we were in Champions League. I
played fifty games. I played thirty five hundred minutes. Okay,
that puts you roughly, I don't know, two hundredth in

(41:23):
international soccer in minutes, more than most, but a lot
like all the Imbape and Holland and all the best
players in the world are playing a shit ton of games.
But you need to rest, no problem, get your rest.
The rest was so I'm peaking in twenty twenty six,
getting ready for the World Cup. Funny thing happened about

(41:45):
peaking in twenty twenty six. He stopped scoring entirely. He
went from January one until a week before the tournament
started for club or country zero goals. Finally got one
against Senegal, broke the drought. No problem, rearing, ready to go,
comes into the first game of the home World Cup,

(42:06):
gets kicked in the calf. We're up three to nothing.
They sit him out the second half. All right, no problem,
we're up three to nothing. He played an awesome first half.
Be careful about it. After the game, all of his
teammates they're laughing at the idea that he's actually gonna
miss time. They are dismissing it out of hand. And

(42:30):
then first day of training, second day of training, third
day of training is off to the side. We didn't
find out. Oh, he got kicked in the calf in practice,
and they got kicked in the calf again again, calf
strain where you're worried about the Achilles not typically how
you you get that from being kicked in the calf.
But we gotta be careful, so careful. And what was

(42:54):
up to that point the biggest game of his career
an opportunity to pretend actually clinched the group. He can't
even give it a go, and even though all his
teammates thought initially it was nothing, he's now missing the
second game of the World Cup. Well, I don't love that,
but they won, so it's fine, all right. Game three

(43:17):
against Turkey a actually a kind of meaningless game because
Turkey a lost. We've clinched the group. I would like
to get you back up to form, He's asked. Going
into that game. He's like, well, obviously, you know I'm
not going to be able to play the full ninety
after missing a game. Well that that's not really a thing.
Guys in international football get rotated out all the time

(43:41):
and then the next game play the full ninety. But
it's a meaningless game, no problem, We'll deal with it.
Play thirty minutes against Turkey A look kind of good
for parts of it. Okay, now we're onto the knockout round.
Knockout round against boz a game that if we lose,

(44:02):
an utter catastrophe and Christian polistics not one of our
seven best guys on the field and one of our
guys gets a red card. And despite that, when we
are figuring out how we're gonna hold on with just
ten men and we have limited subs. One of the
guys that has to come out of the game is

(44:23):
Polisic because he still can't go the full ninety. Again,
we won the game anyway. It not ideal, but so
what he's back, He's in full form and now we
have our moment, biggest game of this guy's career for
the US the moment. He is the only guy on

(44:45):
our team that can look eye to eye with Dobryna
Dokulakaku and say I play in the same leagues as you.
I played for Chelsea, I play it for AC Milan,
I played in Champions League. We have other guys that
played in the same leagues, but he is looked at
as you know, you know, star ish, and he's arguably

(45:09):
our single worst attacking player in the first half of
that game. It's not just that he's not good, it's
that here's a fun stat. In the first forty five
minutes of the game. In the first half, he lost
possession eleven times, the most of anyone on either team.

(45:32):
So not great, but luckily we're only down a goal.
It's now the second half. Steal a goal get to
extra time, become a legend. And seven minutes and eight
minutes into the half, he tries to shoot and he
kicks a guy and by his own words, he twisted

(45:58):
his ankle or sprained his ankle, his words, and because
of that, he limps around on the field for four minutes.
The other team scores, and then he asks out, And
then after the game he says how disappointed he is,
but at least now he has a lot of time
to rest. He had no shit, man, for you, you

(46:24):
got four years to rest.

Speaker 5 (46:25):
Bro, Come on, come on, bro, come on.

Speaker 1 (46:38):
This is not the guy. You're not the guy. You
might be the most talented, but you're not the guy.
And I'm not gonna patronize soccer fans or his teammates
or the sport by treating this any differently than we

(46:58):
would treat it. If I don't even know what the
context is. Here's the thing about Ad. Ad gets killed
for being injury prone, gets killed for it. Ad also
like eighty stuff. You know, he had the injury where

(47:21):
it's like, oh, nothing happened, and it's like, oh no,
he broke his thumb. Yeah, it looked like nothing, But
then it turned out he broke like something. If it
comes out tomorrow Polistic's got a broken ankle, then take it.
But from what I know what it appears, I know,
and again people are gonna get mad about this. But

(47:41):
this is one of those takes that I know people
are gonna get mad about. But I also know two
things about it. One, a lot of the people who
are mad are pretending to be mad because they agree
with me. And the other one is I'm right. If
it turns out Polistic broke a bone in his ankle,
then I'm gonna have a lot of egg on my face.

(48:02):
But the reason I'm pretty confident Christian Ballistic didn't break
a bone in his ankle is because from what I
know about how he deals with Payne suffered on the bitch.
Had he broke a bone in his ankle. We just
saw the little gurney guys he'd we'd just seen the wed,
just seen him carried off. Yes, so I just I don't.

(48:24):
The US men's national team played four hundred and fifty
minutes in this tournament. He played two hundred and forty
four of them. According to I think it's pronounced foot mob,
but f otmob dot com, which is like the Basketball
Reference for Soccer. In this tournament, he was our eighth

(48:48):
best guy. To catastrophe. It's a total catastrophe, and I'm
not going to pretend it's not. And the nonchalance of
I now get time to rest, Bro, you skip the
Gold Cup to rest the next World Cups in four

(49:11):
years in Europe, like you'll be thirty one. So I
do wonder if his feeling is I work for ac Milan.
I do this for you guys out of the kindness

(49:33):
of my heart, like I don't. My job is to
be awesome for the team that pays me, not for
the US men's national team, and that is what it is.
I also think it is fair, and this is the

(49:57):
like point I was trying to make. Many guys on
the team yesterday would have had to be taken out
with the injury Polistic had to be taken out with
how many guys on the team would have missed a
game and missed half of Game one and the entirety
of game two with what happened to him in the

(50:18):
Paraguay game. You finish this World Cup with one assists,
no goals, a couple shots, a few nice passes. So
it's to be the greatest player in the history of
the country. Like what are we talking about? People mad
at me? Like oh, and also I just want to

(50:40):
say this. We don't need to clip this, but I
want to be on the record about this. And one
of those clipper folks out there that gets all this,
you know, Elon Bucks from clipping stuff from our pod
doesn't even tag us in it. It's as I scroll
through Twitter, I see my face given my takes and
then some clutch seasons, you know whatever. Twenty eight is like,
you know, getting all the views. Clip this please, I'm

(51:04):
gonna need folks to stop acting like I don't watch
a shit ton of soccer outside of the World Cup.
It kind of irritates me. I don't pretend you guys
ever see me get passionate month long hockey takes No,
you know why, because I don't watch. It's gonna take

(51:24):
a huge seed change if you all of a sudden
hear me arguing, staring across the table and be like,
here's why Ovechkins in the Gretzky combo. No, I'm full
of shit, or I had a career change. Okay, I
don't really get super I don't spend a ton of

(51:47):
time doing American professional baseball stuff outside of the playoffs.
You know why, because I'm not super dialed. I don't
pretend to be dialed into stuff I'm not dialed into.
I happen to really like international soccer. Now, I'm as

(52:08):
I am, I as locked in as I am to
the NBA or the NFL. No, But do I, I
don't know, follow it more than probably ninety six percent
of the country. Yes, am I equipped to have these conversations,

(52:29):
of course, like they're a little a little too much
of the nose in the air soccer elitist is talking
about what I can or can't give a take on,
like pump your brakes, folks. Uh. But here's the other thing.

(52:51):
You don't have to be super dialed in international soccer
to know Polistic wasn't good enough and appears to be,
to put it, kind of fragile. And I I, I
don't know, I don't know what more to say about it.

Speaker 3 (53:11):
The America somewhere as Polician No, and.

Speaker 1 (53:18):
Our two best players in this tournament didn't grow up here,
which is probably a problem. Tillman grew up in Germany.
Ballot Ballot grew up in England. I think that's probably
not ideal. And I just now again, like Clinton, Dempsey

(53:39):
and Landon grew up in the States and they were awesome.
But I just I this is there's no Christian Ballistic
maybe can turn his international career around, because that's the

(53:59):
other thing. Christian Ballistics international career has not really gone
as well as I think his biggest supporters thought it would.
Like as a kid, he's, you know, star adjacent in

(54:22):
for Dortmund. Chelsea gives him a nice contract for a
nineteen year old American and he and he wasn't quite
good enough. He then goes to Milan and he's really
really good with Milan, really good. But and again Milan's

(54:43):
a big club, don't get me wrong, and Syria A
is obviously you can make the argument it's the second
best league in the world, maybe third. I know some
people might even argue, whatever, it's not the EPL, but LAL, Bundesliga,
Seria A. You know, pick your flavor. And Milan's one

(55:05):
of the very best clubs. And he won a Champions League.
Like I'm not trying to act as if he's he didn't.
He hasn't played well with Milan, but This past year
with Milan was his worst year, and now he's coming
off a disastrous World Cup. He can still become a
really good European professional footballer. As they would say, I

(55:30):
don't think he can be an American soccer legend anymore.
Gonna take a hell of a World Cup in twenty
thirty one or twenty thirty one when he's thirty one
in twenty thirty All right, demonse, let's talk success or failure.
But first, actually, before we do that, Oh my goodness, gracious,
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I was worried I might misspell it. I was like, well,
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I was like, I might screw that up. All right,
let's do failure.

Speaker 3 (59:25):
So you talked all tournament about how making the quarterfinals
will be a huge success for the US. We fell
short of that mark again, So how would you rate
our output of the tournament?

Speaker 1 (59:40):
Wholly and entirely unfulfilling. It is in that I that
was that was gonna be I all right, I can
only it's too good of a joke not to make it.

(01:00:01):
But you have to know how much I love you
and how proud of you I am every single day.
And now it's been now it's been ten years, it's
been ten years. But it's right in it's right in
that mediarrea where it is not success or failure. It
is so much of like your high school classes, like

(01:00:23):
you didn't fail. I'm not gonna say you succeeded, but
we can't. It's objectively wrong to call it a failure.
But I'm also not gonna be like writing home about it,
like we're not putting a lot of stuff on the
fridge commemorating it. But there's no failure there. I mean,

(01:00:43):
that's what it was. Anything short of getting to the yes,
absolutely no, you're right, you didn't. You didn't fold like
they did it the final moment. That part's definitely true. Sorry,
I was just sitting right there. Yeah, not getting to

(01:01:06):
the round of sixteen would have been of utter failure.
Not getting out of the group. You would have to
consider just outlawing, like just getting rid of the team,
just being like, you know what, in America, soccer stops
at the club level, like we're not fielding a team.
Losing to Bosnia in the round of thirty two, as

(01:01:30):
Tierrian's laton reminded us a lot of yesterday that round
didn't used to exist, would have been mortifying, and winning
yesterday would have made this the greatest team in American history.
It's a very it's very like so, and losing in

(01:01:53):
a different fashion would have made it a stomach punch,
but still, wow, really good run. Instead, we lost worse
than we've lost in the knockout round since the thirties. Guys.
Because here's the thing about the US World Cup history.

(01:02:15):
First ever World Cup and invitational in nineteen thirty We
win our first two games, oddly enough, one of them
against Belgium, and then we're one of four teams to
make the knockout round. Argentina clocks US six to one.
Nineteen thirty four World Cup in Italy we play again.

(01:02:40):
You ask you want to ask FIFA about how Italy
got the World Cup in nineteenth In the nineteen thirties,
don't we play Italy. In the first game, we get
clocked by Mussolini's guys seven to one. All right, not great.
We then don't make a knockout round until the nineties.
And here's how we do ninety four. Play the team

(01:03:03):
that ends up winning the tournament, Brazil. We lose one nothing,
no shame. In that two thousand and two our one
knockout round victory. We play Mexico, a team we had
just beaten a year prior, a team we're familiar with.
We win. We then play Germany, the team that goes
on to come in second in that tournament. We lose

(01:03:28):
one nothing. Twenty ten we play Gone, a team kind
of on our level. It's one, it goes into extra time.
We lose two to one. Twenty fourteen, we play Belgium,
it goes into extra time, we lose two to one.
Last World Cup, we play Netherlands. We lose three to one.

(01:03:53):
It's not ideal, but it's you know, it's two to
one in the eightieth minute, with a chance to steal it.
Netherlands scores, they beat us. It's a respectable performance. This
one we just got clocked and it's just another hard

(01:04:15):
ceiling of this round where we can't even be a
game away from being a game away, and it's it's
a reminder of how far we have to go. And

(01:04:38):
so I don't this tournament was not a failure, and
the tournament for soccer in America has been a rousing success,
Like I think there are I do think this how

(01:04:58):
great these games have been has created more soccer fans.
I do think there will be more people that either
check out their local MLS team or start on you know,
early Saturday Sunday mornings watching European soccer. I do think
that's going to happen, and I do think in calling

(01:05:20):
a company guy if you want, I think Fox has
absolutely killed the execution of this tournament and made all
these games feel so big and so important. But the
US men's national team did not succeed. The objective was
always make the quarters, see what happens, and as a fan,

(01:05:42):
I'm bummed that we just don't get the five day
lead up to holy shit, US Spain with a chance
to go to the Semis La min Ya malt that
team that by some people's eyes is the number one
team in the world, the pre tournament favorites to win

(01:06:04):
the thing. Let's go see what happens. We don't get it,
and it wasn't because we ran into a juggernaut. And
that's the other piece of it that makes this so
tough to stomach.

Speaker 2 (01:06:19):
If Belgium, you know what, if Belgium, men's.

Speaker 1 (01:06:26):
Listen, you're right. If Belgium beats Spain and it's that
Belgium's peaking, maybe we feel a little bit better. But man,
oh man, we got fortunate with our draw. First of all,
demon's the way it works. The top twelve teams in
the world all gets separated into different groups. There's twelve groups.

(01:06:46):
The top twelve all get their own group, except if
you're a host nation, then you get one of those groups.
So this year, Canada, Mexico and the US, which were
not top twelve teams, you had to be a top
nine team to get your own group. Because Canada, Mexico
and the US were ten, eleven, twelve. We're not gonna
get that next time around, so we're gonna have a

(01:07:08):
harder group stage. Of all the teams that made the
round of thirty two, our first round opponent, Bosnia was
the third worst as far as world rankings, so we
had an awesome draw there. Of the sixteen teams that
made the round of sixteen, Belgium was exactly middle of

(01:07:33):
the pack, so we had an average draw there. So
it's just and we're at home. So the you know,
it's entirely possible that Poachtino coaches this team up, you know,
gets us all the way up before next World Cup
to twelve thirteen in the world and we get a
tough group draw. We're in the group of death, we

(01:07:55):
end up surviving the group, coming in second or third,
and we play our round one game is against a
retooled Germany team and we're just out. We're better, and
we're out. Not gonna have this path again, and we're
not gonna be back home. And that's why you can't
call this a success. I do have one path though,

(01:08:15):
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boost mobile dot com. All right, demonse, let's talk a
little bit about Uh, soccer move in this country moving forward?

Speaker 2 (01:09:10):
Oh going there?

Speaker 3 (01:09:12):
So yeah, with the with the combination of us hosting
the tournament and having a fun run, there's been a
lot more eyes on soccer. Do you think that it
will be it'll hold in our country and we'll be
interested in it moving forward?

Speaker 1 (01:09:25):
So I yeah, I mean I do think this helps
a lot because this tournament's been so great. I also
think that Messi and Argentina pulling it out of the
fire today, you know, helps the more the longer Messi's
in this tournament, He's just, you know, the biggest star
in the world. I think that helps a ton. What

(01:09:46):
I actually ask me the follow up here because I
have an idea here.

Speaker 3 (01:09:53):
Yeah, while the outcome in the World Cup was disappointing,
the combo of an exciting run host Uh, there's no
free agency.

Speaker 1 (01:09:59):
In world the free agency thing.

Speaker 3 (01:10:02):
Yeah, there's there's no free agency in World Cup soccer.

Speaker 2 (01:10:04):
How do we get better?

Speaker 1 (01:10:07):
So here's the deal. We are no time soon going
to all of a sudden become an academy like France
or Spain where we just have like just twenty awesome guys.
I don't think that's the path. I think that we

(01:10:31):
don't try to follow that model. I think we try
to follow the model of how has you know, how
did Egypt almost beat Argentina today? Why did Norway beat Brazil?
Why did Croatia make back to back semifinals? Why did

(01:10:56):
Morocco make the semifinal last year? And this year we'll
see how if they can upset France on Thursday in
a game, albeit a super duper star leading the way.
Egypt's got most Sala, Norway's got Holland Croatia had Luka

(01:11:17):
Modric and uh, who's the other team I mentioned? Oh,
Morocco's got a Kimi. I I think it is possible
that we can develop one of the best players in
the world and see how far we can ride that

(01:11:37):
guy and listen nobody the I do think that one
of the there are a lot of things I would do.
One of the things I would do if I were
running American soccer is and I know this is kind
of a cliche idea to a degree, but I don't

(01:12:00):
think it's a bad one. I would have guys in
different parts of the country whose job it is to
follow because rivals or whatever rivals is turned into or
whatever still does like, you know, the best seventh and
eighth graders in football, Like they have those lists. And

(01:12:23):
I would go talk to the best running backs, the
best twelve year old running backs or even younger in
the country and their parents and be like, hey, just
so you know, you believe your kid can make the NFL,
just you know, just throwing it out there. Here's for

(01:12:46):
an all pro running back career earnings. And here is
the career earnings for the one hundredth best soccer player
in the world. Just food for thought.

Speaker 2 (01:12:59):
Just twelve.

Speaker 1 (01:13:02):
The shout.

Speaker 2 (01:13:06):
The who's that old twelve year old running back? His dog?
He never made it in the NFL though.

Speaker 5 (01:13:11):
Oh.

Speaker 1 (01:13:13):
Okay, but uh is that serious? I don't know what.

Speaker 3 (01:13:17):
I swear to God, I used to watch I used
to watch all the YouTube videos.

Speaker 1 (01:13:22):
Okay, no, but uh maybe that is maybe that is
uh a little old. Okay, Sure. My point is this,
I do think I I and I get it. It's like, oh, guys,
you know, MESSI is not some I'm not saying you
need the biggest, strongest. I do think there is something

(01:13:43):
you know. Im Bape is a sick athlete. Holland is
a sick athlete, and so many of our best athletes.
It's like, hey, how are you And they're like, oh, yeah,
I you know, I hit five point fifty in baseball.
I was you know, I averaged twenty eight and twelve
in basketball, and now I'm a defensive end. You know,
Like it's they are just naturally gifted, awesome athletes. I

(01:14:07):
do think it would help us greatly if we had
a few lottery tickets on those kids, if they really
went into soccer, because I don't think we're ever going.
I don't think we can compete on the full team
level of the best teams in the world. But it
doesn't mean we can't stumble upon our earling Holland he's

(01:14:33):
the kid of a pro athlete who filed in his
dad's footsteps. Like That's the other thing. The NBA is
becoming so much more kids of pros, and I just
do wonder if there is so much more money in
international soccer than there is in the NFL, except for
for the quarterbacks, that I just wonder if we can't

(01:14:55):
convince maybe again, maybe it's maybe the conversation is with
retired nflers with young young kids like hey, instead of
steering your kid towards the NFL. What about steering your
five year old towards soccer, because there is a level

(01:15:17):
of speed, strength, athleticism that we're leaving on the table.
And even if that means because these kids go to
you know, the best players in the world, they go
to academies when they're like ten years old, like the
that well, and again I don't know. I mean, he's

(01:15:39):
just like, there's just a lot of guys. I mean, so,
I guess I didn't even think about this. This kind
of literally is happening, right. It's Alex Freeman who's on
the team. His dad's Antonio Freeman. And so I just
think our path is not how do we become Spain,
it's how do we become Croatia? Like we're with Luca Madrich,

(01:16:01):
like with a spectacular all time singular great player and
a few other great ones. But man, oh man, last
thing on this, and then I do want to watch
the final half hour of Switzerland Columbia. This tournament's been
one of the greatest months of sports in my life.

(01:16:22):
It's just and I am very after When Switzerland Columbia ends,
there's eight games left and only seven that I really like,
I don't care so much about the third place game,
but there's seven of the best games of your life
left and all tomorrow for the first day in forever,

(01:16:47):
there's no games on and then Thursday we get France
Morocco from Boston at four. Friday we get Spain Belgium
at six pm Eastern. I'm gonna be you eastern times
from LA I should have been in the US or

(01:17:07):
could have been the US. Saturday we get Norway England
at five o'clock from Miami, and then Saturday night we
get Argentina against Oh wait, hold on, did I give
you the wrong time? Spain Belgium's on at three eastern,

(01:17:28):
not six eastern. Wow, I didn't realize that. Oh they're
not putting it on at night. Okay, wow, I didn't
realize that at all. But we have game. We have
amazing games Thursday, Friday, at doubleheader Saturday, and then then
the real sadness kind of kicks in where there's no
games for a number of days, and then Semifinal one

(01:17:50):
is Tuesday. Oh, Semifinal two is Wednesday. So I just realized, guys, Sorry, Tuesday,
we were gonna do a sh show at four o'clock.
We are not doing a show that is up against
the World Cup semifinal, So we're gonna we might push
that toill later in the show to day. I'm not
sure how we're gonna do that, or maybe I'll just

(01:18:11):
do an emergency episode by myself. I'm not sure. But
so there's another reason subscribe to the pod. We're not
gonna counterprogram the World Cup semifinal. It show's popular, not
that popular, We're not We're gonna go ahead and not
do that. Uh, but we just did an hour and
twenty minutes on the US. We'll do We'll be back

(01:18:31):
here tomorrow where we will do I'm sure a ton
more on the World Cup and where's Lebron going, NBA
free agency, all of that. A huge thank you too,
Hard Rock, Bet, Boost Mobile and our newest sponsor, Square.
How about that huge thank you to Blue Duck, and
a volume to Demon's and everybody. Everyone. Enjoy the games.

(01:18:55):
Talk to you guys soon, see you guys tomorrow. Subscribe
to the pod so you know when we're live. What's
right