USA World Cup/Brett Blakemore - Bumper to Bumper 7/1/26 Hour One

Dan Barreiro opens the show discussing the major opportunity for USA soccer tonight and why the final grade of what up until now has been a great tournament hinges on tonight! Our World Cup correspondent Brett Blakemore joins to give his insight on the soccer as well as the Wild news of the day.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is ya. There's no turning back now.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
Leader Fan Fan Radio Network, excuse me and k fa
N dot com. One minute and fifty three seconds past
the hour of three o'clock Central daylight time. It is
a midweek edition of The Afternoon ardvark on Ah oh No,
looks like maybe a few more clouds has gotten muggy

(00:31):
again here, uneven and choppy weather conditions throughout the day,
moist early rain cleared out, felt cooler now I think
the due point is rising yet again. Guards he produces
the show, my name is Dan Barrero. We will be
with you here as usual until six point thirty this

(00:52):
very evening. We have two outstanding guests. Will both of
them be in studio or just one?

Speaker 3 (00:59):
Our World Up Soccer correspondent Brett blakemore, as I understand,
is going to be in studios standing.

Speaker 1 (01:05):
Yes, okay, that's sure. But because he didn't he did
he work earlier today? He did?

Speaker 3 (01:10):
He was on worst case scenario, the nine, the noon version. Oh,
I see, they were filling in for the project. They were,
so he was on with that and I think he
went to hit a bucket of balls. He's got a
finished fan on demand and then he's planning to be here. Okay,
that's a three thirty Kessler.

Speaker 2 (01:22):
We know he is coming in, and we know it'll
be a basically start to finish strut about his most
recent journey to New York, New York, where he will
tell us about every detail that makes him look special.

Speaker 1 (01:37):
Yes, and uh, privileged.

Speaker 2 (01:40):
I don't doubt because he's he's already sort of I
think tipped his hand on that with some of the
notes that.

Speaker 1 (01:45):
He saw that. Yes, I saw that.

Speaker 2 (01:47):
Bradshawn Brian Kafan text line is open at six four
six eight six.

Speaker 3 (01:54):
It is amazing how unrelatable he's choosing to become Pat Kessler.

Speaker 2 (02:00):
Well, here's the thing he I think will tell you.
It's a bit oh no, but it's not. No, it's
not that's I mean, that's the problem with you. Can
you can try to get out of it by saying, oh,
playing around, but we both know better. Yeah, and uh,
we'll give him a chance to defend himself as he
often has to do on this show any Wednesday.

Speaker 1 (02:23):
That's sure. I wonder why they come on sometimes.

Speaker 2 (02:25):
Hey, Davy, I mentioned the bratch on Bryan Inbox. Stuff's
already coming in at six four six, eight six today.
There is no turning back now, Guardsy, as far as
I'm concerned. If you get to the place US World
Cup Men's soccer has gotten to.

Speaker 1 (02:47):
With a very promising start, and.

Speaker 2 (02:50):
You have a not horrible opponent, but a beatable opponent,
and you're playing them in the United States of America
or is it to see it? Where are we playing
this game today? Santa Clara, Santa Claire. That's right, the
game going on right now. We're about to start at Seattle, correct,
I believe, And then you're right, we are in Santa Clara.

Speaker 1 (03:13):
You have to win tonight.

Speaker 2 (03:15):
This is.

Speaker 1 (03:18):
I know we've talked.

Speaker 2 (03:19):
About pressure and that puts more pressure on, but that's
what you if you're ever going to graduate, that's what
you have to accept, and that's what you have to
sort of stare down. If indeed you feel like there's
now pressure, because this is a game we're supposed to win,
you have to win it. We had Jamie Watson on

(03:39):
was it Thursday or Friday? And he flat out said
there's no bigger soccer fan that we talked to than
he is. Maybe Blake Moore's close. And Jamie flat out
said it if the US does not beat Bosnia Herzegovina,
this will be a failed run twenty twenty six World
Cup and the you know, the f ward can be

(04:01):
overused and it can be hot take ye the whole bit.
But I think he's right. I think you have to
win this game going forward. Who's to say, In fact,
I think we play, We're likely to play the winner
of the match. It's Belgium, ye in Senegal and Senegal.
A lot of people in the soccer community think that

(04:23):
game's winnable. Sure, so let's just take this thing one
game at a time. It is, like they often say
in the soccer business. I think that's where they invented
the cliche. You can't turn back now. You can't say, well,
you know.

Speaker 1 (04:39):
It's not going to all come together in one season.

Speaker 2 (04:41):
Well, getting to Sweet sixteen is not coming together completely
in one season. We of course, have not had a
lot of success there. If you need an added if
you're a casual soccer fan, or you're bored with the
whole thing but you hate Wisconsin, I'll give you a
little added nugget that might peak your interest tonight, because

(05:03):
what who did the who's the former Jerry Kill assistant
who gave us the I hate Wisconsin.

Speaker 3 (05:08):
That was Matt Limegrover. See if you can find lime Grover.
I forgot, Yes, who's back? Where at the University of Minnesota?

Speaker 4 (05:15):
He is?

Speaker 1 (05:15):
He's like an assistant offensive line for PJ. How did
that happen? He bounced around. He had some gigs worked
at Penn State. I had not.

Speaker 3 (05:24):
I miss that has some kids that are still around,
and it's great he's back. Yeah, it's good to see him.

Speaker 1 (05:27):
I's standing.

Speaker 2 (05:28):
I'll find it here and say, yeah, if you can
play it pretty much anytime, because apparently one of the
star players for Bosnia Herzegovina is and I I'm not
going to try to pronounce the last name because I'll
destroy it. First name Zmir b A j R A

(05:49):
K T A R E V I C do I
dare try it? Basra Karovich nailed it, baj Kerevich? And
where was he born?

Speaker 1 (06:03):
Guardsy. I'm gonna tell you two. Thanks. I love you,
and I hate Wisconsin.

Speaker 2 (06:09):
Appleton, Wisconsin, near the Dells, Appleton, Wisconsin to Bosnian parents.

Speaker 1 (06:16):
I tell it all the way to Wisconsin. Do you
happen to know his nickname? She said? Close?

Speaker 2 (06:24):
Not it the Milwaukee Messy. Oh I like that, the
Milwaukee It's it's presumptuous, Yeah it is, but it's good alliteration.
You got to back that up.

Speaker 1 (06:33):
How many other cities could you pick? Minneapolis?

Speaker 2 (06:36):
Well, no, but yeah in Wisconsin, Wisconsin, I mean yeah,
Milwaukee Messy and allegedly he's for real. He's the real deal.
So if you're if you're one of those Minnesota fans
that you know likes to mock and ridicule and hate
everything about Wisconsin, now you have another angle right here

(06:58):
that you can you can play with as well. I'm
sure we'll get more details on this kid from Blakemore
at the bottom of the hour.

Speaker 1 (07:04):
I sure hope, so for sure.

Speaker 3 (07:07):
And he's a Wisconsin guy even though he's not from Wisconsin, Blakemore,
that's true.

Speaker 1 (07:12):
You're right.

Speaker 3 (07:12):
He loves the Packers, he loves the Badgers, even though
he grew up in Iowa. He's named after Brett Farve
hasn't aged well about that, but I certainly get the
tribute at the time, so I'm sure he will have
a lot to do with the Milwaukee Messy.

Speaker 1 (07:26):
That's brilliant. I didn't know that the Milwaukee messy.

Speaker 2 (07:30):
You can doubt him all you want, but I like
the I like the local angle, the local rivalry angle
that that that folks can perhaps grab onto as well.
I watched almost all of England versus Congo arousing. Yeah,

(07:56):
it was good theater. It was good stuff. Congo up
one nil at the half, England looks frustrated, frazzled, concerned,
and then your guy Harry Kane arrived. You know what

(08:16):
they say in England two words Harry, can they have tattoos?

Speaker 1 (08:24):
Exactly?

Speaker 2 (08:26):
That's unbelievable. He was brilliant. The first one was a header, yep.
And the second goal again, I'm a casual soccer mind,
but I thought it looked awfully impressive because he's he's
coming across and then it has to sort of kick
across his body to properly aim to get the ball,

(08:49):
give the ball the best chance of getting the net.
Awkward positioning. In fact, he goes down after the shot
was a killer shot and that was the ball game.

Speaker 1 (09:00):
That was the difference in the game.

Speaker 2 (09:02):
And I again, I don't know how many different broadcast
crews Fox is using. If this is if it's the
same crew on every match, that's probably part impractical, because yeah,
they get around to get around a little bit, but
they have some good ones. The two they had today,
I lost myself in there, I guess, not their eyes,

(09:23):
but in their words, so I didn't really see them.
I thought, for I mean, a combo platter of again
bringing drama to it, urgency to it, a sense of
excitement to it, and insight about it, about the soccer

(09:43):
that's being played. I thought it was about as good
as I've ever heard. I really did. I thought it
was outstanding, and I tweeted that out earlier and it
got a lot of responses. I think there were a
lot of There were a number of people who who agreed.
Let me see, let me get to a couple of
those those comments.

Speaker 3 (10:04):
This would have been John Strong and Stu Holden, I believe. No, really,
I don't think so.

Speaker 1 (10:10):
I thought.

Speaker 2 (10:12):
In fact, I texted the names the first names to myself.
I thought it was Darren and Owen Darren Fletcher and
Owen Hargreaves.

Speaker 1 (10:21):
Yeah, okay, I'm pretty sure that was the duo.

Speaker 2 (10:24):
Now I was walking and listening, but I still thought
it was the Fox TV feed.

Speaker 1 (10:28):
I don't think they have two different feeds. Maybe they do.
I don't know. So the lead team is John Strong
and too Hold and they're not. They didn't do that.

Speaker 3 (10:35):
Well, okay, so now it says that's where I got confused.
Darren Fletcher and Owen Hargreaves masterful, nice.

Speaker 2 (10:42):
Absolutely masterful. Here's some of the responses I got. Brutally
honest and savaging England. He doesn't score many goals goals
observing that strike, it's easy to understand why as an
ample of the savagery.

Speaker 1 (11:02):
Maybe that's what But.

Speaker 2 (11:03):
It's not just the savagery I enjoyed.

Speaker 1 (11:05):
I thought it was.

Speaker 2 (11:07):
They brought me into the game, into the into the building,
into the stadium, politely unfiltered, and every moment feels huge
without over the top. Joe Testator, Joe tessitur ye w
W E style history onics. Even Dan Wasnesoda goat, and
I loved how he told the flopper to get up

(11:28):
because this was a big boy game. This was a
big boy Doris Perk would never no, that's very very true.
Davey more generally, uh oh. And then Joel Joel Hoover,
who I think is he's he's a sportscaster of his own.
Fletch and Owen have been a special team. They make

(11:49):
the games feel as big as they are, but they
do it in an entertaining way without getting in the
way perfectly said, that's the dream.

Speaker 1 (11:56):
That's the dream it was. I mean, I hope.

Speaker 3 (11:59):
So they're not the number one team, not according to
this AI roundup.

Speaker 2 (12:03):
I'd promote them no offense to the number one team,
because I'm sure I've heard them too. I think more generally,
somebody else said this tweeter Tom Fox's coverage all around
has been some of the best sports coverage we've ever seen.

Speaker 1 (12:15):
I think that's true. I think it's been very good.

Speaker 2 (12:16):
I think it's been outstanding. I think the studio stuff's
been damn good. Who are the two guys? It's it's allawless,
And I can't remember the name of the other guy
who apparently there's all this talk about how the name
of the other individual will get it all tar is
that I don't basically like, he stares daggers at Alexi

(12:38):
through the entire broadcast. They which apparently there's not yet,
which again can be can create a certain measure of tension.

Speaker 1 (12:47):
But if it, if it's pulled off, it's entertaining as hell.
And it adds another.

Speaker 2 (12:51):
Element that because on most of these broadcasts, other than
I guess Charles in the Gang, everybody's going to agree
with everybody, or if they disagree, it's going to be
very carefully you.

Speaker 1 (13:01):
Know that kind of thing.

Speaker 2 (13:03):
So I think the studio stuff's been good, the backgrounders
just to give you some sense of the teams and individuals,
but outstanding in that sense. And as I just mentioned,
the broadcast day was great.

Speaker 1 (13:14):
So now this is.

Speaker 2 (13:16):
Going to be delicious because I know, I think it's Saturday.
I think it's over the weekend. We have Leavell on
Friday's right, Yeah, we'll have them tomorrow though. That's best stuff,
so even better tomorrow. At what point is he going
to apologize for savaging and mocking and ridiculing Mexico.

Speaker 1 (13:38):
They dominated last night again, So now.

Speaker 2 (13:41):
It's Mexico, Mexico and England and that's going to be
at the Azteca Stadium. I think, can you imagine the
feel and there, the pageantry, the drama inside there. But
you know, Lavelle can sell us all he wants me.
It doesn't like the way they play well Toronto with
winning they haven't lost yet, right and they dominated again.

(14:03):
No surprise that they dominated Ecuador. So the big strategy
pregame from the Mexico fans to go to the Ecuador
team hotel and make so much noise that none of
the players.

Speaker 1 (14:15):
Slept work the serenade.

Speaker 2 (14:17):
Ecuador looked like it was sleepwalking through much of that game.
And they were supposed to be more of a threat
I believe to Mexico than they were, and they really weren't.

Speaker 1 (14:26):
Sunday night, seven o'clock Mexico and England. Sunday night.

Speaker 3 (14:30):
I got this text at one o eight. I've been
watching the other big story in England. I've been watching
Wimbledon pretty much start to finish. I got this text,
what a game. Sir Harry put the team on his
back and said follow me. That from our English on
location correspondent Ian Leonard.

Speaker 1 (14:47):
Oh that's brilliant. He was locked in. Wanted to let
me know repeat that quote one more. What a game.
Sir Harry put the team on his back and said,
follow me. He did. It's it's undeniable. Can't exactly right
what he did. Did you see they're the goals that?

Speaker 2 (15:03):
Yeah, just on the highlight And I thought the second
one again I just the power two words, Harry Kane.

Speaker 1 (15:10):
That's it, That's what it comes out. Said.

Speaker 2 (15:12):
All right, let's get our first break in. I don't
want to get too far behind. I got some good
texts coming in early plenty more with Blake Moore at
the bottom of this hour. We've got some Wolves Lebron
James steam to get to.

Speaker 1 (15:25):
No, don't get too excited. We got it done. As
that I never got to yesterday.

Speaker 2 (15:29):
A bunch of stuff between now and six thirty, including
Kessler at five thirty. Question for you, Uh, there are

(16:01):
a bunch of free agency free agent signings in the
NBA right the day after yesterday had opened at five o'clock,
and really not a lot happened today since this morning.
It's been a flurry. The Lakers I think, made eight
moves in like eight minutes. Yeah, Walker Kessler to hooting
Walker Kessler, and that's what I want to get to.
None of these moves, by the way, involved the Wolves, right,
and two observations there. One we've had, for example, Collins

(16:29):
has signed elsewhere the power forward.

Speaker 1 (16:31):
I think, with God, who did I see him sign with?
John Collins? Collins? Who did he sign with? Because yes,
that was earlier today.

Speaker 2 (16:40):
That was earlier today, and now the team has escaped me.

Speaker 1 (16:43):
I've got Sham's pulled up here.

Speaker 2 (16:44):
So the wolves there were people are saying, well, you know,
that's that's too bad, because that would have been a
nice they were.

Speaker 1 (16:53):
You got to be realistic. They were never.

Speaker 2 (16:55):
In the was was there some notion that well, maybe
I'll fall through the crack and suddenly yeah the Pistons,
that no money will be left? Come on, you got
to be at least practical about what might even be possible.
That was never even among the remote possibilities there was.

Speaker 1 (17:13):
In fact, there was zero chance they were going to
be able to pull that out.

Speaker 3 (17:17):
Three years, fifty one million dollars is what he got
to go to Detroit.

Speaker 2 (17:20):
But you mentioned Walker Kessler to who I think was
a restricted free agent.

Speaker 1 (17:26):
They end up working out of trade with Utah, right, yeah,
assigning trade.

Speaker 2 (17:29):
So I want to read you one of the some
of the comments to make a point here. So Brian Gelsiler,
w or NBA guy from Sirius great Hall of draft
capital for the Jazz, and a number of other people

(17:50):
were like just raving, like it's unbelievable. Here's my question,
haven't we been raving about all the draft capital that
Danny Ainge has obtained the last show years, and have
you checked their records now the last three they've been
very poor.

Speaker 1 (18:05):
They've been meaningless. Yep. So at what point do you
stop praising what in? You know?

Speaker 2 (18:11):
In if distilled to that one move seems like, ah,
that's pretty good value because Walker Kessler didn't even stay
healthy last year. But unless you turn those draft picks
into meaningful players at some point, if I'm a fan,
I don't care yet. Media wise, I think folks get
so into the actual value of the one deal that

(18:34):
they they don't see the forest for the trees. At
some point you have to compete, like OKC paid off, right,
I mean for years the joke was all they're doing
is they just keep adding draft capital. Why are they
gonna turn it? Well, then they did, right, took a while.
But I don't care how many great draft choices that

(18:55):
you have, how many unprotected number ones, how many you know,
uh number one you might get. If I'm not relevant
and Utah Jazz has not been relevant for about five years,
what do you care?

Speaker 1 (19:08):
Right? You know, it's where it's got to go, somewhere
at something.

Speaker 3 (19:11):
Yeah, there's some belief that some of the young guys
that they have with George and Bailey. Yes, and before
this Kessler, but it's got to happen. Yeah, there's some
belief that they're ready to take a jump. But no,
it has not yet happened. It has not yet happened.
In Utah, everybody loves their new owner. He's hip now
with it. And while Ryan Smith they're building that new arena.

(19:31):
Everybody likes him. So, but you're right, you're right because
they've been They're part of the reason I think that
the lottery got changed because they kept so bad.

Speaker 1 (19:40):
That's right.

Speaker 2 (19:41):
Yeah, what's the what do we have any lebron clues today?
What's the number one lebron clue that's been revealed today?
The one that people like here is that is agent
Rich Paul, who I think does a podcast with Max
Kellerman on Simmons Network, talked about it it and basically said,

(20:01):
as long as they cities don't matter, as long as
they have indoor and outdoor golf.

Speaker 1 (20:08):
Yeah, to see that quote. Yes, and so that one
in Timberwools like we're getting where that's like, hey, we
have indoor golf. We've got plenty of those for a
couple of weeks.

Speaker 3 (20:16):
We have great outdoor golf as well, so he could
come and play, So that I think is kind of
the main That's the one people have had the most
fun with, I think today on Lebron. Then there is
there is a theory in some NBA circles that he
wouldn't want to play with LaMelo, that he doesn't mind
giving up the ball. But what you've got two guys

(20:37):
who have the ball a lot. Anthony has to and
LaMelo certainly has to to a certain degree. So where
does that leave Lebron?

Speaker 2 (20:44):
You know, everybody says the best place for him to
go is Golden State.

Speaker 1 (20:49):
I'm not sure.

Speaker 2 (20:49):
I mean in terms of the greatest impact in making
a run, right, I'm not sure I buy that because,
ay all so far lately the steam of Golden State
also picking up from Washington Street clothes picking him up.

Speaker 1 (21:06):
Is that that story's drying up right now. So I
don't know that they that they're that that trade is
going to be made.

Speaker 2 (21:13):
So if if and Butler's not coming back for a while,
I don't think Jimmy Butler's close now, he would have
been in the trade there but I don't think he's
on the verge. I think he's saying he wants to
play this year. So what do you have there? You've
got Steph, it's nice, and you've got dream On.

Speaker 1 (21:29):
That's what you have.

Speaker 2 (21:30):
Yes, I think the better place for him to go
for a team that could really make has a better
chance to make a run is Miami. If you bring
him back to Miami, and they, by the way, they
added hard Away. They brought back hard Away, which is
a nice little pickup. That's a guy the Wolves coveted,
by the way, once upon a time as depth. But

(21:52):
I mean, in all seriousness, you got because you've got
good defensive players behind him in Miami's case, and Bam
Lebron can handle the ball where he can be a
guy who can facilitate. But you know you're not asking
to do it all of the time, right I I
know everybody wants to root for Steph's team and understandably,

(22:14):
and you know, Draymond, I guess because of the history.

Speaker 1 (22:18):
But I don't know. I just don't know.

Speaker 2 (22:21):
I actually think Miami might be a better fit if
you're really if you're you're in the East, so they
could stay with the East is getting deeper.

Speaker 3 (22:27):
Yeah, but that's that's the point exactly right. Chris Hein
brought that up today, and he's not the only one, obviously,
but it's a good point that if you really want
to make a run, you.

Speaker 1 (22:38):
Go to the East.

Speaker 3 (22:40):
Not that you can get out of the conference maybe
any easier once you get to the finals if you're
playing the Celtics or the Knicks or whoever it is.
But those first couple of rounds we saw it this year,
how paper thin those were, even the Pistons being the
number one seed.

Speaker 1 (22:53):
It's allo.

Speaker 2 (22:54):
So you're saying, you're saying, so you're you're actually saying
the opposite, or I was saying. What I was saying
is there are people who think the East elsewhere is
about to get stronger than its reputation. It is strong, yes, However,
I still don't think it's the West. It's about to
get stronger, but I don't think it's I don't think
it's anywhere near the gauntlet that the West has been
and will continue to be.

Speaker 1 (23:17):
Real quick.

Speaker 2 (23:17):
Utah Jazz last winning season they had it was twenty
twenty one, twenty two. Since then, thirty seven and forty
five thirty one and fifty one, seventeen and sixty five,
twenty two and sixty So you're right. I mean, maybe
this is this is the year, but there were reports
that they thought last.

Speaker 1 (23:36):
Year was going to be the year. So draft Joe.

Speaker 2 (23:38):
It's actually why I still like I tend to favor
the calmly approach. Now again, eventually you'll run out of
options and the whole thing could go, hey, why are
on you? It could blow up in your face, right
that part we all know. Anthony Davis obviously was the
street close.

Speaker 1 (23:55):
That's the nickname.

Speaker 2 (23:56):
Charles Barkley gave him that nickname, correct, and he is
now is Washington posturing because in some ways it doesn't
make much sense for them. They'll want to keep them,
they can get good value, but they just spend a
bunch of money on the guard from the Hawks, Trey
Young Trey Young, which would indicate they think they actually
are trying to be at least competitive this year.

Speaker 1 (24:14):
So I don't know.

Speaker 2 (24:16):
On the walls, I think it's just gonna look thinner
and thinner, because you've seen every every name that was
brought up as a big win up front is either
already gone or about to go. And so unless you
make you're not going to do it via free agency.
It's going to have to be I think a trade

(24:37):
or it's just going to be minimum. Guys you know
that are are that you where you hope you get
a bargain in the basement, right, that's I think what
you're what you're down to here.

Speaker 3 (24:47):
Well, when Johnny's tweeting we don't have money, but what
we have is opportunity, that kind of says it all.

Speaker 1 (24:53):
It does, right.

Speaker 3 (24:54):
I mean I've had those conversations with people here, my
bosses for twenty years. Yeah, we don't have a lot
of money, or what we do have is opportunity, and
you got to be good with that.

Speaker 2 (25:03):
Yeah, that's it. And the reality is though people are
want people want to get paid in this business, right,
And so it sounds good to say, hey, here, you
got a chance, and no one's gonna ask a lot
of you, right, But if you have zero to other
opportunities financially, then maybe or one maybe that's what you do.

(25:27):
But I think it's a naive to think that somebody
is gonna say screw the money, other than maybe Lebron.

Speaker 1 (25:34):
That would be what Lebron would be doing yes.

Speaker 2 (25:35):
Otherwise they're not going to say screw the money if
you get three or four years, even if it's like,
you know, forty five million bucks or whatever, they're gonna
do it.

Speaker 1 (25:42):
So we'll see. Let's come back and chat with Brett
Blake Moore.

Speaker 2 (25:46):
He will help us preview USA tonight World Cup action
to advance to the so called Sweet sixteen.

Speaker 1 (25:54):
I call it that.

Speaker 2 (25:55):
I don't think that's a World Cup term because that's
from another sport. However, big opportunity for the United States tonight.
Blake Bohr will break it down if you have questions
for him. Bratchawn Bryan. Cafe in text line is open
at six four six eighty six one text I want
to address quickly six point two guy. Do you guys
really like all this football or his?

Speaker 1 (26:14):
The World Cup?

Speaker 2 (26:15):
Invested hammily in iHeart. I'll say it again, I can't
say that the rest of the year, I'm gonna be
immersed in soccer. I've gotten into this event. I think
that's more of it for you too, right, absolutely, But
I've gotten into it a lot more than I ever
had before, and I've gotten into it at a much

(26:36):
higher level than I ever expected. And I do like
some of the stories, and hopefully we'll get into some
of those stories with Blake Moore when we return.

Speaker 1 (26:44):
You're listening to Barrera on the fan.

Speaker 5 (26:47):
Some people say soccer culture doesn't exist in the US,
but it is.

Speaker 1 (26:51):
An American game.

Speaker 3 (26:52):
So the biggest games in concerts in town from Santana,
the Doobie Brothers, three to eleven Snoop Dogg, and more.

Speaker 1 (26:58):
Your chance to win is waiting. You can enter at
kfan dot com.

Speaker 4 (27:02):
Your contests, your soccer questions hit the branch on Bryan
inbox K I should say six four, six eighty six.

Speaker 1 (27:13):
Is the number we are kf an. But before we do.

Speaker 2 (27:16):
That with Brett Blakemore, it's stretching it to call it
breaking news. It was breaking news to me. I missed
this via Russo Radio. Blakemore says this broke just towards
the end of worst case scenario filling in for the
project this morning. The Zucarello dream has died. And what's
interesting he has signed with the La Kings. What's interesting

(27:39):
about this is this is where Louis always knows more
than he really wants to directly say.

Speaker 1 (27:45):
But he expressed.

Speaker 2 (27:47):
Great concern that the ship had kind of sailed on
Zucarello already, and he obviously knew something or knew there
was a good chance it was going to go this way.
Now it is official what Rush had from Zucarello that
he was told pretty early that the Wild We're not

(28:09):
going to bring him back. Says at first he was
sad and not angry, just disappointed. Talk to Bill Garon, No,
there's no hard feelings, and it's super excited to get
to Los Angeles.

Speaker 1 (28:21):
So that's true, no question. So how big a loss?

Speaker 2 (28:27):
Because Louis's point was you can get excited about adding
another star player all you want, but you can't lose
sight of roster spots and production until you have a
better option that you know you can count on. And
I think he puts Zucarello in that camp.

Speaker 1 (28:45):
I don't think he.

Speaker 2 (28:46):
Thinks is a star, but that he's been an important
part of this thing.

Speaker 1 (28:50):
So how big a loss is this to me?

Speaker 5 (28:52):
It depends on what the finished product is at the
end of Phrazy, because if they if they don't land
a they don't land in anders Lee and a Patrick
Kane or whoever. You know, if Bobby Brink can step
up and be that second line winger and being a chop.

Speaker 1 (29:10):
I think he can.

Speaker 5 (29:11):
Bobby, I think I think he'd be a second line
depth scoring guy.

Speaker 1 (29:17):
So to me, it's it's similar to.

Speaker 5 (29:18):
The Wolves where you know, oh great, we got a
point guard now, but who's our four? You know, So
it's it's you lose one, you're looking to fill that hole.
So I do think it was not to you know,
fill out your being of cards now. But it's a
very similar situation what you see across the border where
Green Bay will get rid of someone a year or

(29:39):
two before they think they're going to fall off the cliff. Uh,
they don't wait around for them to complete so late.

Speaker 2 (29:46):
Correct, except that you got to fill it, like you said,
you got to have somebody who fills that role that
he certainly played for this for this team.

Speaker 5 (29:54):
So I feel like that's what It's a situation where
you're gonna have to learn to play without an event. Yeah,
may as well be now, and I may as well
start this whole retool. And the stuff about the East West,
you know, I heard that from Russo, and I believe
heines mentioned as well that you know, he plays Zucarello.
It's all east west, all flashy, let's just go north
south and try to be direct as possible.

Speaker 1 (30:16):
I do agree with that to an extent.

Speaker 5 (30:19):
Yeah, I mean, in a microcosm, at the very end,
when the Wild were just about to get eliminated. I
can't remember who's on the other side of the past,
but Carrill has a lane. Admittedly it's a weird angles.
It's not a great shooting angle, but from what I remember,
he passes it, Missus goes the other way, and it's
in the back of Ournett and the Wild. They're limited

(30:40):
from the playoffs, so, you know, microcosm, I think that
is an illustration that maybe we do just go north
south and play more direct than that kind of fancy
passing stuff.

Speaker 2 (30:49):
But are we blaming all of that on Zukarrell Again,
it's like, oh God, is there any of the responsibility
on that on Carill?

Speaker 5 (30:57):
I think so should be and we'll find out, you know,
when what that first top line looks like. It's insert
center here, insert right wing here. To try to figure
out who Kapriesov's gonna play with. It's a lot of
it's on him, but he's gonna have to learn. Zucarello
is not the ageless wonder. He will retire probably in
the next year, maybe two, so may as well learn now.

Speaker 2 (31:19):
Senegal Belgium in front of us right now, approaching the
forty two minute mark, Senegal up one nil. If Senegal
would be able to hold on to this lead, how
is this a mini upset a massive upset? How would
you characterize it?

Speaker 5 (31:36):
I call it a mini upset. I would expect Belgium
to win. But Belgium's not what they used to be.
They have world class players, but on the back nine
of their careers, their strike a little taku is got
to be pushing forty at this point like it. So
they're they're good, but I expect them to win. I'd
rather play Senegal because the winner of this game plays
the US.

Speaker 1 (31:57):
If if we are to win.

Speaker 5 (31:58):
Tonight, you would rather play Sanagal rather play Senegal.

Speaker 1 (32:00):
To Harvey, we just crushed them.

Speaker 5 (32:03):
I know it was only a one goal game because
the backups came in in the second half, but that
first half against them, we dominated them. And that was
three weeks ago and the warm ups to the World Cup.
So give me Senegal if this result holds, I'll take that.

Speaker 2 (32:17):
How much of England's victory, come from behind victory over Congo.

Speaker 1 (32:21):
Were you able to watch most of it?

Speaker 5 (32:24):
I could not believe, could not believe how close to
a game that was. It just goes to show that
no one is too big to lose in this thing.
No one can be You can't overlook anyone. I hope
the US players were watching that game and go, oh no,
we can't overlook just because Bosnia and Herzisgovina. I still
don't know how to pronounce that has a funny name

(32:45):
that we can just we're going to roll right over
them because of the US. I don't think they're thinking that,
but so many teams have had trouble in this knockout
round and they were on the brink of having a
full on collapse.

Speaker 1 (32:55):
What time is your apology to Harry Kane. I don't
need to apologize.

Speaker 2 (33:00):
Oh I thought you were minimizing his Oh no, you're
all in on him.

Speaker 1 (33:05):
Want to be sure.

Speaker 5 (33:06):
He's the all time goal scoring leader at my club,
Tottenham that I support. So I we sold him for
one hundred million pounds, should have sold him for two
hundred He's so good and that just goes to show
so I miss him dearly.

Speaker 1 (33:20):
I loved his second.

Speaker 2 (33:21):
I mean both were obviously they needed both goals, but
the second goal I thought was terrific.

Speaker 1 (33:25):
Yeah, that was that was nice.

Speaker 5 (33:27):
He's just so big he can fight guys off, he
can kind of box him out in still a possession
and then he just for whatever reason, he just got
a rocket of you know, he said he wants to
be an NFL kicker after it's all said and done.

Speaker 1 (33:39):
Wouldn't put a pass? Why not with a leg like
that hell of a leg?

Speaker 2 (33:43):
And can you you know, is there any I know,
there's any chance he scores once, let alone twice today
if the Ghani and witch doctor hadn't removed the curse.
Remember he announced okay, it was just for that one game,
no offense. And by the way, Harry didn't score in
that game, but he I think if that curse was

(34:04):
still in place, who knows it might be over for her.

Speaker 1 (34:07):
Is he acknowledged the curse? Does he had any fun
with that? I don't know if he's acknowledged.

Speaker 5 (34:11):
Lots of cursing going on, and not the fun kind,
because the as you know, the Knicks, they were cursed
by that WWE wrestler and then they were uncursed and
they went undefeated. I don't think they went to feed
the whole way, but the point is, and then Gnayan
doctor as well.

Speaker 1 (34:25):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (34:28):
It just England always finds a way to blow it
in spectacular fashion. They're known for that in the World Cup.
So it just felt like you're past seventy minutes and
it's one no and you go here we go. This
is the massive It would have been the biggest collapse
they've ever had if they lost to the Congo.

Speaker 1 (34:47):
Did I say did? I see also that he moves above.

Speaker 2 (34:55):
Pele on the total World Cup goals in the in
the on the list in the anthy and I thought
he just passed him.

Speaker 1 (35:02):
I don't want to take your work for it. I
don't know where Pele is.

Speaker 2 (35:06):
So yet his first goal he equaled Pele's World Cup
goal tally of twelve, and then he obviously passed him
with number thirteen. A name you've disparaged in the past,
Savace World. I remember Pele would say, we'll give him
his due. I'm not saying he's the greatest ever, yeah,
but I mean had a pretty good run, pretty historic
now a.

Speaker 1 (35:27):
Really good run there.

Speaker 5 (35:28):
He's got the one thing that hurricane doesn't, which is
World Cup trophies, you go, so that counts. I would
counter that and say he never played in Europe at
and he point didn't play, you know, in England's top
league or Spain's time. He played in Brazil and he
stayed in Brazil, had a run in the US for
a little bit.

Speaker 1 (35:44):
Once, you know, on the back nine of his career.

Speaker 5 (35:46):
But so club success, yeah, but international success.

Speaker 1 (35:51):
Tons of it.

Speaker 2 (35:52):
All right, US tonight a little after seven o'clock Central time,
prime time.

Speaker 1 (35:56):
I have to.

Speaker 2 (35:57):
Believe the numbers will be enormous. We talked a little
bit about this the other day, but let's try to
break it down a little more about the style that Bosnia,
as far as you know, represents. What are the key
challenges for the US tonight.

Speaker 5 (36:16):
I think it'll be pretty similar to the Australia game,
where you don't you definitely don't want to get down.

Speaker 1 (36:22):
You're you're seeing a trend.

Speaker 5 (36:23):
I mean, even in this England game, they get down early,
they give up a goal, they don't mark the guy
on the backside, all of a sudden you're down and
the door slam shut.

Speaker 1 (36:32):
And even in Cago, goaltender was pretty speak as.

Speaker 5 (36:35):
Well, it's when you are just you're not even worried
about attacking, You're just all eleven players are behind the ball,
just defending. It's hard for even an all star team
to break through for and they barely did so, especially
a team like Bosnia or Big they're a huge team,
especially at the back end. You don't want to get

(36:56):
down and all of a sudden have to chase goals
against them, and you're not going to be able to
win header very many heads against them. You're going to
have to be quicker and more creative than usual. So
but I do think they'll they'll pull through and win this.

Speaker 2 (37:10):
The You know, there's rankings going into the World Cup,
and I don't know if these are analytic rank rankings
or there's actually like official World Cup rankings. Right for example,
I think Congo was forty second at least coming into
the tournament, which is why early when they get the lead,
people are saying pretty big upset if they were able
to sustain it, which they obviously were not. Where is

(37:32):
where is Bosnia in that Bosnia Herzegovina in that regards?

Speaker 1 (37:36):
Great, it's a great question.

Speaker 5 (37:38):
They do have these so they're sixty fourth okay, but
these FIFA rankings misleading sometimes well they don't really mean
a whole much. There was at one point in like
twenty ten, some textual fact check me on this. There's
some point in when I was growing up that the
US got up to like fourth, and it was because
they had like a great run in this tournament that

(38:00):
and then it gave them enough points. There's some system
behind that. I think we're sitting at I think fourteen
to seventeen right now, so and we're a much better
team than we ever were at any point in history,
So they're still So what I say, was it sixty four? Yeah,
it's I just don't take much of that into actually.

Speaker 2 (38:21):
So it's it would be irrational and dangerous to call
tonight's match loser proof.

Speaker 1 (38:30):
Or not.

Speaker 5 (38:32):
Well, I think I certainly think it's a must win.
I think they have to win or else this isn't
a success. As much as much fun as that opening
game was against a team who, by the way, just
beating Germany in the knockout, so they're very good. As
fun as that was, you have to win this game
and at least get to the round of sixteen and
play a much better side in either Senegal or Belgium.

Speaker 1 (38:54):
Who looks like as a quality chance right now.

Speaker 5 (38:56):
So I think it's a must win, but it's not loser.
I think they should win. The US are a better
team and a more talented team, but it's not loser
proof that Bosnia is not a rollover side.

Speaker 1 (39:07):
They're they're a good team.

Speaker 2 (39:10):
So yeah, we're coming up on the close to fifty
minute mark. So actually this is still the extra time
for the first half, right, we're maybe just about wrapping
up Senegal leading Belgium one nil. Mexico advances last night easily,

(39:31):
I felt. I don't know if it was supposed to
be that easier or not, but it was. So now
it's Mexico England correct next round, and that's at.

Speaker 1 (39:38):
Asteca, right. We were talking about that earlier.

Speaker 2 (39:42):
Again, if you're looking for atmosphere, popping, pomping, circumstance, the
whole bit, that's gonna be tough to top.

Speaker 1 (39:49):
Right.

Speaker 5 (39:49):
So, so I tweeted this out earlier from a from
US perspective, Mexico's our biggest rival.

Speaker 1 (39:54):
We don't like each other.

Speaker 5 (39:56):
There's almost always fights and scrumbs every time the US
and Mexico.

Speaker 2 (40:00):
So is that why Lavelle disparages them. He thinks they're
dirty and he doesn't he's like into the rivalry. From
a soccer perspective, they are dirty.

Speaker 1 (40:08):
I agree with them.

Speaker 2 (40:08):
Are they still dirty? Somebody said they think this year
they're not as dirty.

Speaker 5 (40:12):
They're not as but I mean you get trash thrown guys, wow,
regardless and the players aren't. You know, they're they are
dirty fit times. But thing about this, we hate We
don't like England and soccer. We love when they collapse,
but we also hate Mexico. So one of two things

(40:32):
is going to happen from a US perspective. Either a
Mexico loses in their fame coliseum and they get knocked
out of the World Cup extending their Round of sixteen
losing streak to England and which would be delicious. Or
b England loses in dramatic fashion and they figure out

(40:54):
how hard it is to go to the Steca because
the US never wins there.

Speaker 1 (40:58):
So it's either way.

Speaker 5 (41:00):
Hey, there's a deliciousness factor from a US perspective from
that camp.

Speaker 2 (41:04):
Uh the mantra apparently in Mexico and it's there, everybody's
talking about it. I guess it's in the front page
of the newspapers. Allegedly, it's in the cafes you're walking
down the street, and it's become kind of the theme
mantra for uh the Mexican run so far ECC, which

(41:24):
apparently is and what if we did?

Speaker 1 (41:27):
Okay? And if what if we did? What if we did?
You're doubting us? But in what if we did? What
if we did? What you don't think we're capable of doing? Oh,
it's gonna like it.

Speaker 5 (41:35):
Yeah, it's similar to the what the US is doing?

Speaker 1 (41:38):
Why not us? Why? Yeah? Exactly why why not us?
Why not us?

Speaker 5 (41:43):
So?

Speaker 1 (41:43):
Yeah, I liked that. I love the little models.

Speaker 5 (41:45):
They've got that I saw cameras was the last US
game where someone had the ted lasso, believe as like
almost like a Naseeri towel rest in pes so similar things.

Speaker 2 (41:55):
I love those little chans. Let's let's go ahead and
jump ahead what you're not supposed to do. Let's say
the US. Okay, let's say Belgium comes back. All right,
let's say it is US, say Belgium. Belgium is considered better? Right?
You called this? This would be a mild upset victory
for Senegal.

Speaker 1 (42:11):
Yeah, but let's say Belgium wins in that game. Are
we a dramatic underdog?

Speaker 2 (42:17):
Are we? Hell no, that's even I don't know what
the odds makers would say officially, but that's we're all wondering.
You know, how far can this go? So how would
you view that matchup?

Speaker 1 (42:27):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (42:27):
So for the record, Belgium is nine in those mythical
FIFA rankings, Senegal fifteen, so it's not huge. It's not
a huge upset, but it would be an up I mean,
Belgium should be the better team.

Speaker 1 (42:40):
I will answer that question.

Speaker 5 (42:42):
Assuming that we look somewhat like the first two games,
maybe not for to one dominant victory, like the first game,
somewhere in between Australia and Paraguay, we look good.

Speaker 1 (42:53):
And we win.

Speaker 5 (42:54):
If that's the case, I think we can beat either
one of these teams. Belgium again, we're seeing it now
is not what they used to be. They haven't looked
convincing in really any one of their games. Even the
ones that they've won have been scrappy. Just grit your
teeth and try to get a result. They haven't dominated
a single game, and Senegal we beat them three weeks okay. So,

(43:16):
so I like our chances assuming that we look like
a professional outfit tonight and we win, which is at
times could be saying a lot. But this starting eleven
has looked that way for the past little while. I
think we could be doing to one of these teams
the round after that. Yeah, that's where the dream could
potentially die.

Speaker 1 (43:36):
What was your favorite tro check to the Wild? Yeah?
I did see that. Where you see that.

Speaker 2 (43:41):
He went, I think to the to the wooly mammoth
o utah utah.

Speaker 1 (43:46):
It was never worth what they were trying to get.

Speaker 5 (43:49):
He's he's a good role player, penalty killer, he would
have been. He would have played a huge role for
the Wild. But the need that we're missing is that
number one guy, and he's not that. We've got Eric Sinek.
We've got guys that can kill penalties. Mcaren can kill penalties.
We've got the bottom six center figured out. We don't
have a top six center or a top line center.

Speaker 1 (44:10):
Where are you on.

Speaker 2 (44:13):
The willingness to dangle if necessary? Falstet because Louis It
originally said no, I'm not going to do that for
Lark and I like him, but it's not enough yesterday
he wavered and said, well, I wouldn't.

Speaker 1 (44:29):
I wouldn't completely.

Speaker 2 (44:30):
Rule it out if it really reaches a point where
Garin is convinced that's the only way to get him.

Speaker 1 (44:34):
And I said, what about your goalie situation?

Speaker 2 (44:36):
I you pick up one for the first month, who's
going to be okay, be meant as your backup for
the long term, which they did exactly, and then.

Speaker 1 (44:44):
You go back to Gus bus. So where are you
on that debate?

Speaker 5 (44:48):
I've kind of been I don't want to lose Valstet,
but like the reporting today that Eiserman wants Boldie in return,
which I think the entire state of Hockey collectively laughed at,
and I hope Bill Garrion laughed at and hung up
the phone, because that's Larkin is good, and he would
answer our problems that boldly.

Speaker 1 (45:06):
He's Matt Boldie as worth to Peter to pay Paul.

Speaker 5 (45:10):
Correct, And that's then you're losing, all right, Well now
we need another superstar winger.

Speaker 1 (45:13):
It's just a year back to square one.

Speaker 2 (45:15):
Well supposedly, because what Louis said is I'm not convinced
Detroit wants a goalie anyway, correct, So then that would
be okay, maybe get a third team involved.

Speaker 1 (45:23):
That would be interested in that part of the trade.

Speaker 5 (45:26):
It's looking like you have to get a third team
involved or dyl Larkin has to tell Steve Weiserman, I'm
only going to wild and that's it. And even then
he still might just say, well, too bad. So sad
you're you're gonna stay here and not get paid, or
you're gonna play for us and you're gonna like it.

Speaker 1 (45:43):
So I don't know.

Speaker 5 (45:44):
It looks that report earlier today really threw me for
a loop. But as far as answering your question for Valstead,
if it were to get it done, I would do
it personally. I don't want to lose Valstead. I'm not,
you know, campaigning for him to get out of town.
I've been you know, in his camp for a whileile
But to me at top center is takes precedent over
a top goaltender. Gus Boss is fine, he'll be back in.

(46:07):
I think they said November, you're gonna miss one month.
You're gonna have pick hell.

Speaker 1 (46:11):
We can signed flowerd to a short term deal with
thanks he's around.

Speaker 2 (46:16):
Is there a possibility here that everybody's overrating what the
US is accomplished so far. Example six five one guy
USC wins two games against Mets sides, and yet people
think they're good.

Speaker 5 (46:28):
Did you watch Paraguay beat Germany and eliminate them from
the World Cup that I mean they're I mean I
didn't look up their ranking. I bet their top five.
I mean they're a powerhouse in this sport. And Paraguay
just beat them and shut the door. They beat them,
shutting the door defensively and getting into penalty kicks and
beating them there so to me, and we put up

(46:49):
three goals in the first half against them. So I
get when you're talking about World Cup success and you
beat Paraguay in Australia, they're not the sexy names that
you want to beat. Their not Spain in Brazil. But
we're finding out if you're watching all these games, not
a single win has really come in. There are few, yeah,
but most of the games are hard foughten.

Speaker 1 (47:11):
The gap is not as far as we think it is.

Speaker 2 (47:13):
So I think that is we continue to kind of
bounce back and forth between World Cup and puck three
to two. Oh guy wild have nobody to win face offs. Also,
the whole group of forwards is third and fourth liners
besides Capriso, besides capriceof Wild are short five top six
guys to even be considered a Cup contender. But like

(47:33):
I said, they have no chance at all to legitimately
compete for Cup before twenty forty and capriceof is long gone.

Speaker 1 (47:39):
Wow? Is that is that one of the.

Speaker 2 (47:40):
Falling us burner accounts? We're deep down this is how
he feels about his team.

Speaker 5 (47:44):
Man, I mean, that's that's pretty I ripped the club.

Speaker 1 (47:47):
That's pretty aggressive, isn't it.

Speaker 5 (47:48):
The one thing I'll say is, and I'm trying to
find it. They're between the bottom six. There's something like
twenty one the bottom few pairs twenty one million dollars
between all of them on names that like here it
is so Bill Garon is paying a combined twenty one
point two million two mcaren Hartman, Felino, Trenyon, Sturm, Middleton.

(48:12):
That's twenty one million dollars. I'm telling they could lose
half of those guys, and I don't disagree with that.

Speaker 1 (48:19):
Also, I just got an alert.

Speaker 5 (48:21):
I have Russo tweets I find now because of the
I'm told this is Russo. I'm told by sources that
Anders Lee is not signing with the wild sow that
dream died tract ye so much being one of us,
you know, local angle.

Speaker 1 (48:36):
Doesn't even matter.

Speaker 2 (48:37):
Hey, By the way, on Bosnia Herzegovina, what do we
What can you tell me about the Milwaukee MESSI on
their team?

Speaker 1 (48:48):
He was I guess born in Appleton.

Speaker 2 (48:50):
Yeah, so I can't pronounce the last name, and he's got.

Speaker 5 (48:53):
No chance on that. I don't think he's a starter
with them. I think he's he's more of a death player.
But I could be on that first name. Correct, twenty
years old. Yes, he was born in.

Speaker 1 (49:03):
Appleton, Wisconsin.

Speaker 5 (49:05):
He did play some use national team games for the US.
I think both his parents were Bosnian and he had
the similar thing with Balligan. He had the choice between
the US and Bosian he chose to represent Bosnia. So yes, stinks,
But I don't think you know, I'll have to wait
and see when the lineups come out. But I don't
think he's a starter off the top of.

Speaker 2 (49:24):
Mine, I've I've watched a decent amount of this. You've
probably watched even more of it, and you also watch
a lot more soccer outside of the World Cup, correct,
So I'll defer to you on your own reaction to this,
because some of these broadcast teams are new for me
that they might be old for you. The pair that

(49:44):
did the England conggo game today I thought were spectacular.
I thought they brought so much what's the word I'm
looking for, urgency, juice, and analysis and honesty to the
broadcast that I thought it was as good as is
any broadcast I've heard in a long time.

Speaker 1 (50:04):
I don't care what the sport is. Yeah, I'm full disclosure.

Speaker 5 (50:07):
Didn't have the audio on when I was watching, okay,
but I know it was the it was the.

Speaker 1 (50:12):
Second Na Guardie.

Speaker 5 (50:13):
Yeah, the British ye, yeah, So it was not the
two Americans, right, John Strong and someone else. My cameras too,
hold and maybe so. Yes, I I love I saw
the highlights of the goals. I mean, you could tell
when the first equalizer went in. I mean, you're not
supposed to be You're supposed to be objective on a
national broadcast. It's not the England fan line. You could

(50:33):
tell it. It was huge deal for them, and it
was electric hearing. I agree with you.

Speaker 1 (50:39):
I I love the They don't.

Speaker 5 (50:41):
Come at it from like an elitist, you know, with
all the jargon that you're supposed to know. But like
there is analysis, and there is if you pull the
thread and they'll let you.

Speaker 1 (50:51):
I agree with you. I thought it was electric. I
thought did a great job.

Speaker 2 (50:54):
Yeah, And to their credit, they were also very willing
to savage England England's performance.

Speaker 1 (51:01):
So it wasn't like, well, we're.

Speaker 2 (51:02):
Gonna pull our punches because of our own allegiances. They
were blunt about when when England, in fact, they were
talking constantly about what you're gonna have to make some
lineup changes here.

Speaker 1 (51:12):
This's just this thing just isn't isn't exactly working?

Speaker 5 (51:16):
Speaking of England too, because you know I've seen producing
the last couple, you know, basically this whole World Cup.
You know, there are some people are all, well, US
as a foreign coach, what's the shouldn't we have an
American coach?

Speaker 1 (51:27):
Is America?

Speaker 5 (51:28):
Yeah, England has a German coach. Talk about you know
that would be like the US having a Russian coach or.

Speaker 1 (51:36):
A Chinese cast right, Yeah, So I mean.

Speaker 5 (51:38):
That's far removed from US having an Argentinian who just
wants to help out a little bit and a German
coach coaching English and I.

Speaker 2 (51:45):
Don't know, I'm bored with all of that too. I
just think it's so overrated. I don't know why.

Speaker 1 (51:50):
Well I know why.

Speaker 2 (51:50):
I mean, because we we all like to get mad
at everything. I'm as good at that as anybody, But
I I just don't think that's uh, it's that big
of a big, big of a deal at all. So tonight,
do we start right at seven or is it like
the usual stuff where the actual game match opens at
like seven to twenty?

Speaker 1 (52:06):
Thank god?

Speaker 5 (52:07):
One of the things about soccer and about they're serious
about time here at seven mean seven? So close walkout? Yeah,
closer to Dan Minnesota. Because yesterday there was a delay
in the night match from Mexico and he and me, oh,
I already told.

Speaker 1 (52:21):
Me on soccer tright on time.

Speaker 2 (52:23):
Well, they had they had a weather, a lightning warning
that they had they had to wait. It wasn't like
World Cups suddenly saying, ah, we'll start whenever we want to.
It was they were I think, forced to postpone the
start of the game.

Speaker 5 (52:36):
Right, yeah, hold off, Yeah, there's lightning in the area.
I love that that that idea of Well, I don't
know if there could be a tornado on the way,
but we set seven o'clock, so we got played seven o'clock.
That's just brilliant. But yes, that they're going to walk
out at probably six fifty five and they'll do the
national anthems and kick off will be right at seven.
I love that they do that because I hate the

(52:56):
seven to twenty three.

Speaker 2 (52:57):
Yeah, we used to try to get frustrating, yea, Darren
Fletcher and Owen Hart Hargreaves. Is that's the team that
I was watching and listening to. I mean I was
actually walking and I listening to a lot of the
This is how ridiculous this has become for me. Somebody
who you know again used to mock and ridicule the sport.
As I said before I got over that stage, we'll

(53:18):
move on with the rest of your life. But I
still wasn't. I wouldn't say I was committed to the bit.
Now I'm while I'm walking, rather than listening to music
or the Paul Allen Project, No Offense or anything else,
I'm listening to England us the versus Congo in.

Speaker 1 (53:34):
The World Cup. The odds of that, I don't know.
Twenty years ago beyond astronomical. There is something like like
I have a good friend who.

Speaker 5 (53:44):
For years I would just try to say, hey, you know,
let's watch this, you know, watch the Premier League, pick
a team, we'll have some fun. And he'd always go
socks to fold, paint to dry, I've got a.

Speaker 1 (53:56):
Asphalt on the way.

Speaker 5 (53:57):
Yeah, and for years, and then eventually you start, once
you open up. I mean, it's it sounds like a
gateway drug or something.

Speaker 1 (54:07):
But eventually if you give it a shot. Now he
texts me off the hook about what his.

Speaker 5 (54:11):
Team Chelsea is doing and how they're not making any
transfers in the transfer market.

Speaker 1 (54:16):
And this is a guy that four years ago I
was begging for him to watch.

Speaker 5 (54:20):
So it's it is addicting and it's a different world
which you can still watch along with the sports.

Speaker 2 (54:26):
Leguardy Well, I still I think need the pageantry of
a World Cup. I will admit, I'm still not sure
the rest of the time I'm gonna be stay devoted
to it. But I've completely gotten into this. I mean,
we get text every day from people who know if
this is a bit, and it's not a bit. At
this point, I'm not clever enough for this to turn
into a bit.

Speaker 1 (54:43):
We're very late. Thanks, my boy. I appreciate you, of.

Speaker 2 (54:45):
Course, and we'll continue to chat as the World Cup
goes on, regardless of whether the US continues to advance
as well. Guards we got, I've put it off as
long as I can. When we come back, we have
to discuss and lament the end of at least one
part of a bumper to bumper.

Speaker 1 (55:04):
Era will explain next. You are listening to Errero on
the fan