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Totally football show. International break, it's underway. Let's get through this together, eh? Today, we're talking England, Spain, and also England's pain. Do they not have it in them? Netherlands have heavy in them. Catalan, one of the hosts of new managers as these international fixtures roll round, Klopp, Zidane, Pockignoli, among the others. We'll hear about their plans as the nation's league starts up. Remind us of what it is. And look at some further flung fixtures to Brazil in India and USA with their teenage sensation, Kavan Sullivan. It's the totally football show. Thursday, the 24th of September, very exciting lineup for you today. We've got Duncan Alexander, Tom Williams. We've got Philippi Cardenas on the way. And Jayla, as well. Hello. Hi, Jay. Close your eyes. You could almost be back in the Ranchido Avenue having a World Cup, marooned in Mexico. There are worse places to be marooned. But yeah, it was, it was 28 nights in the same hotel was an experience on your own, on your own, largely on my own. Yeah. What would you mean by that? Well, I had big play to some degree. Colleagues dropped in for a couple of games, very fleeting on the edge of my consciousness. Right. Mostly it was me and the hotel staff who I grew to you rather too well, frankly, a World Cup meets Alan Partridge, meets the shining. Yeah. Strong shining vibes. When the lots were drawn and you got Mexico, I think everyone thought, wow, I've had so much going to get the real World Cup down there. But we would see you from time to time from your lonely diary. It was great. It was a great gig. It did mean I skipped out a lot of the US-based doom and gloom. Do you remember any doom and gloom right away? No. To Sunshine 24-7. We're not 24-7, that would be weird. About the two-week event. In Stockholm perhaps. Yeah, maybe. I don't want the listener to feel too sorry for me. I'm not eating. What you got to go to England, Mexico where you were probably eating the turf. Did you eat grass after that? Didn't eat the grass. Didn't get anywhere close to the actual pitch, but something of that game will stay with me, I'm sure. Excellent. I don't like the phrase eat in the grass. I know Thomas Tickle said he wished he had after that game. Do you think that's something from German? Is that a thing in your book, eating the grass? No, although the thing that it brings to mind in a football contest is, no, I was going to say Gerard Huliet. Remember the controversial Bobby Fowler goal celebration when he scored against Everton? Right. He had to be pretending to snort the white line. Well. And Gerard Huliet said, no, no, no, they're just joking around. He was pretending to eat the grass. Well, for me, England played the Netherlands in a friendly at Wembley and Montelar hit the ground and sort of sat up and he had a mouthful of like actual Wembley turf. And it's, I don't know, it's something we quite unpleasant about it. Like in sort of waterboarded with grass. But aren't specifically on the subject of the grass at as the Azteca? Yes. I mean, I think Tickle has been slightly mocked for saying he wished he'd eaten it. But I once, I've only ever been to Mexico City once. And I did the stadium tour of the Azteca. And I did, I hit the whole beach. I grabbed a fistful of turf. So I just put it in my bag. Okay. So I'd have later. So I would, so my, I would be imbued by the spirit of the Azteca. Right. And specifically Maradona's. Hello, Hey, for customs forever. I bet that wasn't as seretic as you thought it was. So you left Mexico with Mexican grass in your bag. Yes. Yes, I did. Live to tell the tale. Wow. Jack, I know there's a lot of other memories. Some musical. That track that you... Yeah. What's the guy called again? Juan Gabriel. Juan Gabriel. He's quite a performer, isn't he? Yeah. I mean, that's my son. Love that song. Yeah. It demands it in the car. Right. Yeah. What song is it, Jack? There's the Kitekonesi. Yeah. Since I met you. Yeah. It's a nine-minute opus. And it starts very slowly with the guitar. But it stays with it. And it, but it gets rowdy at the end with horns. And then when the drum drops off the drums. And I know you were excited by the backing vocals of the horns. Does it for me? The horns. Check that out. Maybe if you're in search of some musical adventures beyond our kind of bubble. Yes. I'll move on. It's, that was all the workout, but it's nation's league. That's what's happening. The real workout for many. The tapping over the next one. Oh, three, four months for that intel. Hands up who knows who the holders of the nation's league are. Portugal. Portugal. Guys. That's how big I miss competition. The other side. The Siberian side. So close. Bain B. Portugal. For the second time, actually. They are the current holders. Yep. And we're going to be seeing loads of teams vying to take their title off from the 54 teams in action. All in all, you probably know the nation's league format. I don't think people did. What? And the good news is that they're changing it. They're changing it. This is the last time. The last time of the year. If you come third in the group, you ought to have to qualify for the 2086 World Cup. Yes. Well, that's important. Yeah. Yeah. So 54 teams, I think we said, and there's promotion and relegation, but if you're in the top league league, then if you win your group, then you get through to the final four. And that's where the real magic happens. There's some good games coming up. You go, what's this evening? Thursday, Netherlands hosting Germany, which is always big, but particularly with two rookie international managers on the respective benches, Janie and Anders for the Netherlands. And of course, you're going to Klopp. You're going to Squads Klopp for Germany. France got a new manager's in it in Sudan. We'll hear about that from Tom. Shortly in their group, which is a tough looking group, you've got Italy, who have Roberto Mancini returning. They face Belgium, who've got a new manager as well. And it's Martin Bommel. Yes. So weird. Scotland, they got a new manager. Sebastian Poppignoli. Yeah. I mean, obviously, fleetingly of Monaco. Yeah. He didn't leave much of an impression. We'll touch on some of that later on. Further afield, the man they call poach in the USA will start the new chapter of USMNT with a very exciting set of squad selections. Lionel Messi will get his send off with Argentina and Brazil, as mentioned, head over to Australia for a bit and then India. Yeah. Yeah. Really racking up the air miles. Yeah. I'm afraid to go home after the World Cup and submit themselves to the anger of the Brazilian people. I think it's still digesting. Okay. Yeah. Sensible. Well, maybe we'll get a check on that. Should we know as ever played Australia then in the own and international break before. It's got to be a new, common world code, isn't it? Yeah. It's the sort of thing that would have happened in the 1930s, I feel. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, oh, we asked what listeners were looking for to in the international break. Lots of people go in touch. Actually, Victor Akadra says, USA Youth Movement, Kavan Sullivan, Adi Mehmeti, Julian Hall, Neil Peir, to name a few. So we'll hear from Felipe Candon. It's about USA later on. Adore Apollo says, I'm looking if you would see whether Greece will be everyone's dark horses for your 2028. Oh, yeah. Is that right? He mentions some of the players. I say he, they mentioned some of the players, Kostalus, Zorlis, Zorlis, brother, and Zorlakis, Constantinus, Carrezus, Adortman. Tom, you're up on Greece here? Yeah. I mean, just, you know, lots of very exciting talented players. Been quite a few Greeks hitting the headlines in the Premier League already this season. So you got your guy at Como, do the casts. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Good shot. Yeah. Okay. Ian Phillips says, can we agree that the most WTF of the new appointments is Sebastian Pocken, newly pitched out for Scotland Boss. Him and big Oleg McBernie is a footballing marriage. I didn't know I needed. Wow. Well, obviously, so much for us to get into. Let's begin, though, with what's going to happen Saturday at Wembley as England faced Spain Saturday evening England Spain at Wembley, and then back to ours for a live stream after Duncan, you're joining for that? Yeah. Woo. All right. That'll be on YouTube live after England's Spain. England taking on the best team in the world. How positive are England supporters in the studio feeling about England's chances with, let's I defer to Thomas, the biggest England fan, England fan up until what 2014 has been over this. There's a fleeting Dalian suit at the age of six. So they met not long ago in the Euro final, and they could have had it not been for reasons. They could have met in the workup final this summer. This time around, what's at stake? Aless I think. Beyond the league cup. Beyond the league, sorry, nation's league, sorry. It's interesting that Sir Anthony Gordon gave very good press conference. I thought you called him Sir Anthony Gordon, then. It's made of that big an impact. Sir Anthony Hopkins. Anthony Gordon said that a lot of his Barcelona teammates have told him in the last few extra England be Spain, that would have been a real world cup final. I think there is. On the head. He said that. Well, there's top of unity. Famously in football history in 1967 Scotland beat England, and they claim that they were now the world champion. So I feel like I feel like this is an unofficial world cup final. Except that the timeline of an unofficial world champions. Yeah, that does will a diver in a long way way. It might be Spain anyway, because they've won so many games. What is it? 38 games now? World record for the eight games. If you discount them, losing the last nation's league final on penalties to Portugal. Yeah. But I mean, I guess what I was hinting at when I say what's at stake? But Tom was too kind of a chance to build bridges. Reset. As such, his call up of the likes of Trent Alexander Arnold and Col Parma, both of whom were notoriously excluded from the World Cup squad. Col Parma has to withdraw. Decker and Rice also withdraw. And Morgan Gibbs White pitching up, because he'd literally run out of other people to call like gas. Yeah, I mean, everyone wanted Gibbs White, probably in the World Cup squad, and definitely in this squad, he's been probably the most consistent player in his position in the Premier League this year. Produced a nice little video of his wife. Have you seen this Tom? Unfortunately, I have, yeah. It's quite sweet. I haven't. So please tell me what I'm into a song. I don't know what the song is. And he sort of, she's, because they only just got on their family holiday. And he had two hours later, he was off. It's quite sweet. I don't know. Well, Gidding, white cynics like Tom. No, I just like, I kind of feel like they've pulled bowed in and done that. You'd have been all over it. Yeah, please don't bring his name up. Yeah, like, I get the sense that perhaps two of them aren't as into it, like as each other, maybe. I don't know. Really? I don't know. Just Wikipedia peculiar. I don't know. I mean, harmless, harmless, harmless fun. So, you know, yeah, fair, fair, fair dues. It's on TikTok. I mean, in the 80s, if a player got caught up late, it'd probably been in, you know, drunk in the street or something. So this is progress, progress. That's good. Tom is speaking out length. In fact, on England's own app about what went wrong against Argentine to deny the nation a place in the final. How convinced were you by his explanation, Jack? Well, I think the most pertinent point was that the retreat began before England actually scored. Right. Is that true? Do you remember? No, I don't think it doesn't try. And with my memory of events, no, I felt that England were attacking a lot in the lead up to that goal and had kind of rested control of the game. And I, yeah, I don't really buy that. Well, he also said that he hadn't rewatched the game. So, fair play, no, I've had almost, and probably never will. Well, our friend Michael Cox wrote a piece the day after the game. And, you know, he pointed out that England had started to retreat even before Argentina equalized. Okay. And even before two clubs started to make the changes that he was subsequently lambasted for. And I think, you know, we touched on this when we were analysing the game. As much as Tuco Bears responsibility for some of the choices he made, there is an inherent tendency in the English national team to get into these advantageous positions. And then panic, England are not good at seeing out games like this. And what happened against Argentina has happened at multiple tournaments over the last 20 years. That's what the Mexico game was so celebrated because it was one of the few times where England actually did a particular 10 met and shut up shop and keep them in the opposition. But yeah, I think, but I do, by doing something similar, by putting on Dan Byrne. Yeah. And like, letting Mexico have a ball, I'm actually going to make the mistake of just, you know, hammering crosses. Mexico made the mistake of not having Leo Messi, who is arguably the biggest factor for one of his mistakes for any, for any thing. Right. Yes. To his point, they were probably a little bit, but he, I think he was convinced by the Mexico performance that they could just do it again. And they couldn't. They could not. But anyway, that's all water under the bridge. Now they face this Spain side, who are almost unstoppable. Are they, Jack? I mean, they look very, very good. There's a, there's a bit of new blood in the Spain side, like token effort. We're going to see in a lot of these squads, there are, there's big changes. Spain, not so much. Not so much. Roberto Fernández is in, after doing well, from Espanol. And Fermín Lopez is probably the only person in that squad who will feel that, I'll, God, I've got some ground to make up, having really unlikely missed the World Cup. But they're just, their squad is just so good. And they are, I think it's really appropriate that England are playing this opponent now, because, because of the whole Argentina thing, because of whether it was mental or tactical or as Anthony Gordon suggested, like, sorry, Anthony Gordon. Technical, Sir Anthony Gordon, pay him his, his juice. Lord Gordon of Catalonia. Exactly. So like, Anthony Gordon was like, yeah, kind of back, took a lot to some degree. Right. It's not in us, which is an amazing thing. Oh, Sam, where that came from. It's not in us. I'm not in our DNA. It's something that can be taught. I'm not sure we can ever get that. Get what? Passing, not panicking, not panicking, but I think specifically possession keeping. It's not in us. It's not in us, which I thought was, this debate just seems like it's someone's going, is it? Certainly. We were talking about this stuff 20, 20 years ago. It's not in us. England can't keep possession. The way that England and New Zealand tried to treat, very much so. I'm amazed by that. Yeah, I think, I think Gordon's been turned in on the training pictures of Spain. Brian, yeah, it's not in you. No, no, I think he needs to spend an entire lot of time to Wembley. No, I passing. To be fair to it, when it speaks very good Spanish and learning Catalan. Well, there we go. It might be one or two Spanish lessons on Saturday at Wembley, Luis de la Fuente, who has just extended his contract to 2032, because he wins everything. Why wouldn't you? Spain on Saturday will do the live part after then England play Chechier on Tuesday and host them again a week later with a match against Croatia in between who are now managed once again by Slavic Village, who's a lovely chap. Well, let's get on some of the other fixtures next. Totally people, you know I've got a certain thing for a certain star of the Czech Republic's Euro 1916, and recently I've been spending a lot of time searching for Patrick Berger collectibles. And on what not, I found three shiny player cards in Mint condition, and I knew I just had to have them. The seller's called Mark Brakes Packs, and pretty much every day he puts on a live stream, and on them you can ask him questions about things you've seen on his page, the corners, the centering, the condition of the cards, and he can show you right then and there. What not has sellers going live around the clock, and you can find cards across the Premier League and beyond, so whether you're hunting for your favourite 90s or naughties icon or building a collection around your club there's loads to discover. And it's not just cards, what not is the largest live shopping marketplace in the United States, with sellers going live with sneakers, video games, comics toys, and much much more. The sellers really know their stuff, and it's so much fun being in a community along with other collectors who are obsessed about the details. I use what not, and if you're a football fan who also happens to love collecting, you're going to love it too. Right now you can get $20 off your first purchase, just search what not, that's WHAT in the app store, download it, sign up, and start finding the things you've been chasing, term supply. Other exciting fixtures, it's Thursdays we record this, which means that this evening is the Netherlands Germany game, still worth having a quick chat about, because how exciting to see Javi and Andes, not Dutch but of the Dutch school via Barcelona, the Kroyf instituted La Mazzia, against Jürgen Klopp, who certainly take your fresh approach to international management. Yeah, I mean, Javi being Netherlands coaches fascinating, we all know about the Dutch influence at Barcelona, and it kind of feels like this is perhaps the first time that they do have it in them. They do have it in them. Yeah, I mean, demonstrably, and now we have Barcelona giving back to Dutch football, what Dutch football, successfully imported to Spanish football, and then kind of forgot how to do, and you look at some of the Netherlands recent coaches, and they have just been cycling through the same four or five. Four people, the last 12 appointments have been the same four people who are on off, and they've all been Dutch coaches, but they don't all play in a particularly Dutch style, Louis Van Hal, one of the greatest Dutch coaches of all time, but in 2014 World Cup, Netherlands play with a back five, and the football was fairly rudimentary. I mean, you know, even this summer, the World Cup, Netherlands go out to Morocco having had 30% of possession or something. So despite the fact you had these relatively storied Dutch coaches at the helm, they weren't doing things that seemed all that identifiably Dutch, and so they've gone for a spaniard, a catalan in Chaville, or be it not their first choice, and we know this because when he was introduced to the media, Nigel Dillon, who was sitting next to him, who was the president of the Dutch affair, or something. Really? Basically, he said, well, our first choice is, you know, was Pep Guardiola, and he said no, and our second choice was Anna Slot, and he said no. Our third choice was Chaville, and I'm very pleased to say he said yes, and he joins us now. That was how he was introduced. That's what I feel like when I come on the pod. Jack, that's so not true. Definitely not true. Normally, I mean, Tom, possibly, but I'm kidding. I'm kidding. Although I think Tom, you did step in for Jack about a week ago when Jack was not able to. Yes, that's very, the Chaville to you or the Chaville to your Anna Slot. It's very dutch to do that. Yeah, to be that friend. Hopefully, Chaville's prepared for what might be a very different experience. And so it would be interesting to see how Chaville goes about trying to read, like, dutchify, you know, the Dutch national team, and the Netherlands have all the issues that they've had for the last few years, which is that they don't have any decent sense of forwards. Oh, Brian Robby. Brian Robby, that is a good show, actually. And he's moved, like, Memphis to Pies, not been called up, but they've caused sadly has not been called up. So, there is a, there is a, a shift going on. But yeah, you're right. I forget, how could I forget about Brian Robby? I forget. I said, cheap about a hat trick hero. Brian Robby. Chaville used his bum well as a footballer. And Brian Robby uses his bum as well as almost anyone and the rest of his physique. So maybe that'll be a common thread. Very possibly. As for Germany, 44 players picked by Jürgen Klopp, because there's nothing in the rules to say you can't. He's Luke Holder. And he's got two squads in the first squad play the first two games. And then they get to go home, but from one of them, a keeper. And then everybody else has to stick around with it. Would you be annoyed if you were that one? No, if you were the keeper who plays in both squads, wouldn't you feel like, well, I bet I probably probably won't play in both in all the games. Brian. But yeah, there were 69 cut players, but a better metric, eight I'd never heard of. Oh, across 44, which is quite a high number for a elite national team. But yeah, it's certainly a punchy way to start. And he's, you know, the way he came in and said, look, let's reclaim national pride. We claim our national pride. And also the whole like, if people don't leave me, me and my family alone, I'm out of here. Yeah, I mean, it's very, it's a very yo-lo start to his, his reign and could be really exciting. Could be, couldn't it? You get this sort of impression, he doesn't really, like if he walked out tomorrow, he'd be like fine, yeah. And which is a, which is a really interesting dynamic for an international team because Germany possibly, well, I suppose Brazil as well, but there's a, you know, in terms of like how much the national team just encapsulates and enrages everyone. So I'm excited to see how it transpires. There we go. Netherlands against Germany could be taking place even as we speak. But anyway, Thursday evening, that kicks off. Also in that group are Serbia and Greece who we spoke about before also on this Thursday evening in Lisbon, you've got Portugal hosting Wales Tom, which you don't want to talk about, like Welsh optimism is a low group A, because they one group B. Bingo, last time. Well, one their group in league B. You haven't got a new manager on account with the fact that Craig Bellamy is moved to Berlin. Yeah, through. I mean, he wa- he wavered clearly. I mean, his head was, was turned. So I've heard from all of his, his close friends. Well, he introduced it by saying, well, my first choice was managing Burnley. I mean, so he, he's, he's an actor in town. He's spoke to Burnley. Yeah. And the explanation that came out was that there'd been fairly detailed negotiations about what would happen where he's become Burnley. Coach and the things broke down because of the composition of his back room staff or something like that. But he was asked about it in a press conference this week and he said, that's not what happened. I decided myself that it wasn't right, still committed to Wales. I said no, and a thing else is, you know, untrue. Right. It's not an ideal context going into this extremely difficult set of fixtures. And, you know, Wales fans have been hugely positive about, about Bellamy ever since he came in, because he made a really positive impact. But he was criticised a little bit for some of his selection decisions in the playoff final against Bosnia when they're able to reach the World Cup. And now that he's, you know, been fluttering his eyelashes in the direction of Turfmore, there's, you know, a bit of... Bellamy wanted Turfmore in the same way you wanted more turf at yesterday. Oh, very good. Very good. Bellamy wanted Turfmore in the way that you wanted more turf. I thought that was a reference to me not having any hair, but it wasn't. So I can enjoy it too. Double meaning. Well, as you say, very difficult set of fixtures, because you've got Norway and Denmark in this group, they're facing each other on Thursday evening. But first of all, you go to Lisbon's take on Portugal where there's tremendous excitement about this septogenarian turning up. No, not Cristiano Ronaldo. His new manager, Jorge Jesus, Jorge Jesus, I should say. Yes. His former manager, Al Nassar, they were on a title there, anyways. So Ronaldo's still there. He's not going to go to any more World Cups and things, but he is going to do this nation's league. And he's obviously closing in on his 1,000th goal, and I can see him like ticking off quite a few of those in this fixture. Against Wales. And to be fair, it will be a proper 1,000. Yeah, he suggested that Pelé's was in some way questionable. I think there was some non-canon efforts in there. Yeah, different times. The RSSF have some thoughts on that. Ronaldo gave a really funny press conference yesterday, in which he did the classic Ronaldo rally against enemies perceived, or he said, they'd need a shotgun to get me. And even then I dodged the bullet. Shotguns, I mean, actually shoot pellets. Yeah, no, but I mean, yeah, because that's the funny bit or he just did. He did. He did. But Joe Ronaldo. Funny for Ronaldo, and I know he was laughing, but it's right. Not funny har har, but funny. I guess we proved earlier that in saying that we thought Spain were the reigning champions, people are out to get him, including us. Yeah, people. Yeah, yeah, people need to put some respect. Recent footage, though, of him playing for Al Nassar does not suggest that he's likely to dodge a shotgun, let alone a very slow-moving Wales team. I mean, yeah, yeah. I mean, he's still, he's still perfectly capable. Who's going to be laughing as well? Well, this is the thing, Wales, on top of the ambient doom and gloom, we've got all these missing, what an album that is. Yeah, yeah, deep breath. Yeah, a lot of missing players, no Joe road on, no Dylan Lawler, that would be the first choice centre-back partnership, no Harry Wilson, no Carl Darlow, first choice goalkeeper, so Wales are really down to the bare bones. Damn. Yeah, and it's 10 years since Portugal. Like a nan-tucket beach. Like a nan-tucket beach? No, I'm just sure. Yeah, I've 10 years since Portugal knocked us out of the Euro 2016 semi-finals. Would be great to avenge that, but it's hard to do. All right, well, that's Thursday night anyway. Ooh, Friday night, you've got Turkey, France, and Italy, Belgium. Woof. Where do you want to start with those two? Because one of those needs watching. Turkey, France is going to be interesting because Zidane, France, for the first time in 14 years with that Didi Adishon. Yeah. Zidane, who has a manage for how long has he been out of here? 2021, he left Madrid, so five years. Five years. Twiggling his thumbs. Waiting for this. Yeah, and yeah, now he's back and we're already getting a sense of how he's going to go about things. It's looking like there's going to be a bit of a tactical tweak. Kinyan Bappé is no longer a centre-forward. He's going to be on the left. Busbandembele is going to play through the middle, rising his parisangerman role. Michael Alisa, who was a number 10, with a fair amount of success at the World Cup, is going to be out on the right where he plays for Bayern Munich. And then he's going to play a midfield three of Manucone of Roma as the number six. Adrian Rabio and Ryan Scherke in like a kind of central midfield role. So I mean, lots of talent on the pitch. I love how Rabio's still there. No, Rabio's still there. Well, someone's got to do the running that Bappé probably won't do. One of the issues with Mbappé playing on the left is that ordinarily your left-winger kind of tracks the opposition fall back and defends a bit, but not really, Mbappé's things. Sorry, that probably explains why Rabio's there. So yeah, some fairly significant changes, and Bappé has been a center forward for France for the last couple of years, also for Real Madrid. And I think the feeling has been that that is his position, that is where he's going to play. And so it's kind of curious that he's being moved out to the left again, but I mean, Zidane, Zidane said in his first press conference of the get-together, he thinks that he's still in Bappé's best position. Must be the first time a golden boot winner has been moved out of a center forward straight after a World Cup. Yeah, yeah. There's a killing and Bappé exclusive right now on the athletic. You can read it, you can hear it. It's almost like he's trying to get his name in people's heads because there's some big... I've never heard of your hair coming out of here. Turkey, who will be taking on France on Friday evening, are still... Dark horses, mate. I think so, yeah. Vincent and Montella, bright young Italian manager, judge this by their rather wafel words. That made Bappé look good at the World Cup, which I will respect them for. It's good. Yeah, yeah, true. Italy, Belgium, meantime, in that group and Roberto Ancini returning, having walked out on the Azuri for Saudi money, has now crept back in after their latest failure to reach a World Cup. Intriguingly, he, of course, won Euro 2020, with Italy a year later. So we see how he gets on intriguingly. He's, he's freshened up there squad, a lot. I'm on the many exciting players to look out for. It's Alessandra Romano, who is on loan from Rome, yes, at Calgary and has the island. There's up in top four right now, so he's, he's one of the revelations of this season. He's going to be anchoring the midfield, but there are a lot of new young faces and there are no less than 10 foreign-based players, which means that actually this weekend we could see more Syrian players turn out for Scotland, than we do for Italy with Scotland, have fully six Italian-based players in their squad. And that's not including, of course, Scott Matomoneys had to take this international break off for some minor heart. And a manager with an Italian name. And, and a manager with an Italian name. All right, so we have this question, Ian Philip, who is excited about seeing what Pocconioli can do with Oli McBernie. Pocconioli, who played in the Premier League, or at a certainly in English football for Brighton and West Brom, which I don't remember, but I've read that it happened. You recall his work at Monaco. Yeah, from that, what can you project for Scottish players? Yeah, I mean, it's difficult context because it was the season where Monaco signed a load of experienced players to try and add a bit of top-level know-how to this very calo-changing room. So the Paul Pogba, Eric Dyer, Lucrestedex, Herodexky, Recruitment Drive, and they all got injured and didn't play very much. Lots of pressing, lots of tactical versatility, different systems. I think ultimately, people felt that it was more the case that he didn't know what his best team was, than that he was just kind of mixing things up to keep things fresh. And they had that dreadful run of results right at the start of the season where they lost seven out of eight league-and-games. Then it looked like he was turning it around and they went on a really good run and then they tailed off again quite disastrously at the end of the season. And he departed. One thing that really struck me about Pogba, Knowledge, was how relentlessly positive he was. So Monaco got stuff six, one, two, one. Very much an air. Well, in the sense that all international managers are a reaction against the guy that went before. Pogba, Knowledge, kind of makes an awful lot of sense. He saw his team ship six girls at the Bernabéu and came into the press conference room. I saw some things that I like for my team tonight. I wouldn't change things. I wouldn't change anything about my approach. So very much the anti-Steve Clark in that respect. So, you know, this will see how that works out for him. Prior to getting the Monaco job we mentioned, he was the fellow, who took Union Sanji Lois to their miracle season in Belgium where they won the title for the first I mean 80 years. And I think probably fair to judge him on that than what happened at Monaco. Monaco is like a peculiar football club to have to manage and yeah, it was a pressure from the support. Well, I mean, just relentless. But it was like a bit of a period of transition. And there were some good things amid the many defeats. Okay, very good. Anything else about European fixtures or shall we follow Victor Akadra's lead and ask a question or two about USA? Tom, it's like a trivia question. Oh, yeah. So, uh, Zinedine Sedan, former Ballon door winner, taking over France national team, who is the only former Ballon door winner to have one a major trophy as the head coach of an international team? Charlie's got his hand up. No, no professionals. Is it, uh, so a Ballon door winner? What the Ballon door as a player? Yes, became an international manager and won a major trophy. I'm just weird feeling that Frista Stoichkov might have done it, but no, no, no, no. If only. If only. Duncan can't get it, can you? No, I'm thinking. I'm running through the list of my head. Charlie's all over it. He's got it. He's got it. He's got it. He's got it. I'll tell you what, we'll get the answer after this. Are you going to give us a hint first or just leave the answer to it on us? What did he do? Did he win the Ballon door? He won the Ballon door in the 1970s. Oh, and he lifted the second back and back. Correct. Oh, back then. Frans back and back. One, the big one. Mm-hmm. There it is. I'll get that, Charlie. Charlie's not in. It's official. Yeah. Well, for me, Charlie, with access to the internet, it's not in a way. Oh, no. USA, what a workup they had, eh? Remember that? The Hedy Days are the opening weeks and why not us to the sad, sad business over Baligan and the Blah, with Belgium. Well, they are back underway on Saturday with a friendly against Peru ahead of some key matches against Mexico and Canada. Of course, their top rivals, the big headline for the US men's national team is the call up for Kavan Sullivan, the Philadelphia Union attacker who's got six goals and eight assists, depending on how you rate assists in the last eight games. As such, he's actually performing better than the pixie-toed Argentine down in my little man. Yeah. Yeah. Earlier, I spoke to our friend Philippe Cardinus about him and about Pochettino's new chapter with the stars and stripes. Philippe, we go again. Yeah, we're back. Yeah, it's back. You know, international windows. It's what I love. Well, you're there at the training ground. And imagine there's a lot of excited folk there because of Maria Pochettino's latest call up on one 16-year-old in particular. Yes, this has been, I think, post-World Cup an important call up because Maria Pochettino not only has he agreed to extend his contract with the Federation through 2030, but this particular squad includes eight teenagers. And yes, Kevin Sullivan is the 16-year-old is the most high profile of the eight. He has a Philadelphia Union attacker. And obviously, as we know, he is already signed to Manchester City. He cannot move to Manchester City until he's 18. He is turning 17 next week, but there's a lot of buzz about this player. And as you know, Jim, in American sports culture or just American entertainment, when a hype train takes off on the rails, it gets real. And so there's a lot of attention being, there's a lot of people pointing at Kevin Sullivan as, you know, can he be the next big American football star? Or even the next global superstar because the kind of things that he's doing right now, even at 16 in MLS, he debuted in the league at 14, breaking Freddie Adouze record, which is a name which I guess has been used a lot in comparison with him in terms of, prospectively, a world-class talent. Freddie Adouze never really came through. How confident are you that Kevin is the real deal or will be? Well, you know, I tend to, personally, I pump the brakes often with teenagers because you have to see how they play at a high level over a consistent period of time. And so, yes, Kevin Sullivan, playing in MLS, playing against professionals over the last eight games, he scored, I think, seven goals and added a few assists. I eat assists. Yeah, yeah. And from a numbers perspective, he's there. He's right alongside Messi, who's very likely to win his third straight MVP in this league that's never happened before. So to just be in the same company with Messi obviously elevates the hype around this player, but he's an interesting player. I think he's a player who's profile. We're not sure yet where he is going to best fit tactically. He can play across the front three. He likes to be on the ball. He's not a number 10. He's not a number nine. He's not necessarily a winger either. The other day, I told a colleague that I think a comparison, and this is not a like for like, but I do see something similar to like a Phil Foden type, you know, that type of player where you just want him around the ball. He can be creative. And he's very aggressive and confident as it for a teenager. And I think that's what right now is standing out. Freddie, do as you mentioned, I think the biggest differences is that football in this country has just moved so, so much more forward than it was before. I think Freddie, do you perhaps won't have the same opportunities, the same infrastructure and even just people around him saying, let's take it, let's, you know, let's, let's be calm about this, you know, Freddie, it was compared to Padley. He was compared to, you know, it just, he was on 60 minutes as a teenager. And I think they're even just here, the national team, they're being guarded with these young players. They're not just throwing them out there to the press to talk. So, I think, you know, we have to wait and see Jim to see what Kevin Solven can do, especially in this window when he starts playing against real true internationals. And we're talking about opponents in Mexico and Canada, two conca-caf rivals that don't have a good relationship with the United States on the pitch. So, that'll add another element when he starts playing. Absolutely. It's Peru on Saturday night, you know, friendly. And then another friendly against Chile on Wednesday. The call up features eight, I think you said, teenagers, there's a bunch of older players who didn't make the squad, including Western McKenny, Follower and Balagan and Christian Pulasik. What are the shot waves about that news been like? I think it was somewhat expected, only because all three players that you mentioned are coming off a, a World Cup. And then when they went back to the respective clubs, McKenny with Juventus, a policy with AC Milan and, and Flo Balagan, obviously he almost made that move to Everton, but he's back with Monaco. They were all nursing injuries. And, you know, you saw this with some other national teams around the world. You've seen England players back out. Colombia decided not to call in Luis Diaz to give him rest, to let him get back into the fold of Bayern Munich. And I think that's a lot of what occurred between Pratino and those players who mentioned, you know, Christian Pulasik just now getting back into good graces with AC Milan and the new manager, Amarine, scored a goal in his first star. So that just opens the door, Jim, to who's going to step up in the positions that those players occupy for the national team? Is there any chance that Trump can make a call and get put into to bring Balagan back into the squad? I don't know. I just just asking. The mood around Puchetino, after that World Cup, which began with a bang and ended very much with a whimper against Belgium. What's the general feeling around him now as he begins this new chapter? Once Pratino agreed to stay on, which was a surprise. Like, I didn't think that he would still be here at the stage. I thought by now he would be back in Europe, probably back in the Premier League. And that didn't happen. And he has been pretty vocal in saying that he's not only back, but he wants a bigger role. So now he's not just a senior, as a national team coach, he's really an architect of what US soccer from the U-17s to the U-20 World Cup, which is coming up the Olympic Games in two years. Like, he wants to be part of that. And so I think the narrative around Puchetino of this, you know, braggadocious Argentine who has come in and tried to just shake up US soccer, now he's part of the program. And this team has to take a next step. Philippe Cardinus. Philippe mentioned Freddie Adou, which led to towards the end of Adou's not great career. He linked with a move to Blackpool. I think it might have been when they were in the Premier League. Oh, yeah. I wanted it to go through purely because you could have had the headline adieu like to be beside the sea. But it didn't happen. Sorry. Yeah. It was much adieu about nothing as it turned out. Oh, Jack, yes. Move us on, please. Brazil. So first of all, you were hinting about the fact that things haven't quite been digested yet, the way that the World Cup went for the Celissar. Well, I think that's, I think that's true of all countries, isn't it? We see it with England like a lot of the, a lot of the post-mortem is only happening now because this is when the managers are speaking against it. To some degree, that's just kind of a quirk of the calendar, I think. But yeah, Brazil, there was, there was a small reckoning after the World Cup. What did that consist of? Questions over team selection, like, I think into some degree, Ancelotti was helped by the fact that Neymar made it all about him. Right. In that exit against Norway, because it obviously shone a very embarrassing light on the selection of Neymar and Ancelotti. That is a black mark against his name, but it also disguised so many of the other things that were wrong in that tournament. So like, to some degree, being able to point that Neymar, I'm like, this guy's gone now. That is beneficial in some ways. The fact Ancelotti signed a new contract before the tournament meant that there was no like, let's get this guy out and start again, it was always going to be a kind of continuity process. He's named a very experimental squad, which Brazil often do in the wake of the tournament exit, kind of rip it up, start again, which hasn't gone down well with everyone. Thiago Silva, still playing, has had a bit of a moan, because he's not in it. Well, he wasn't expecting to be, but I think he was moaning on behalf of his 45 to 42-year-old brethren. You're Kazamiro's, you're Alison's, maybe those are the ones that come to mind, but probably Danilo and Rallink Sandro, these guys have all been left out. Jean Pedro was the big exclusion from the summer, and he's not there this time because of injury. He was, yeah, he pulled out. He would have been called out. He intended to be there, and I think that's the least Ancelotti could do after leaving him out of the World Cup squad. There are some interesting new players, like 11 of them are based in Brazil. This is also something that Brazil always do, like give the local people a bit of what they like. Also, to put them in a shot window. Put them in a shot window, doesn't hurt. The Glau bus special. Very much so. And so you've got like youngsters, Jaya Cornia, who's been playing for Nottingham Forest, has got his first call up, Vito Hayes, who's this young Manchester City centre-back, not big names at all. Probably the most interesting one is like 27-year-old Mauro Junior, who's left back at PSV, who's never been called up until now, but it's been a problem in position, so he's been. But I think the most interesting thing people will be watching in the Australia game. There's a double barely against Australia, Australia twice. Yeah, I mean, once you've gone there. Yeah, I mean, Brazilian Brazilians, Brazilians call Australia, or Brazilians say, the Brazil that worked out, kind of turned out right. Right, right. Do they really? Yeah, because it's seen as like it. Or Brazil is like it. It's seen as a similar climate, similar... Similar kit. Geographic. Similar kit. Rain, so true. Yeah, lovely. But against Australia, in the first game, I'm sure there will be changes. But in the first game, the front forward is going to be Vinicio Junior, Halfinia, Hendrik and Estevan, which is kind of this... Is that Raffinia through the middle? To be honest, I look at it and I've got no idea. I imagine it, end of it, will probably have to play like the main striker, maybe Halfinia just behind Estevan to the right, Vinicio to the left. But that's a great front for. But it also... Good luck, Patrick. It's the thing that Brazil did all the way to... In the run-up to the World Cup. Just playing four forwards and leaving the two in the field, who probably, in this case, will be Brazilians and someone else. That's what went wrong at the World Cup. Yeah. So maybe against, in a friendly against Australia, and maybe against India, that's fine. But I think long-term, he has to be looking it away to find a passing midfielder and making it three in the middle. When do Brazilians get some serious fixtures, though? I think not until next year, really. Really? Okay, so yeah, he can mess around. And even then, so the South American World Cup qualifiers are going to be a bit weird because Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay. Is it Paraguay? Already qualified? Well, have qualified because they're hosting one game. It's not been decided yet, but given how many teams, like six... What's called to play for the game? Let's go on. It's basically going to be South America. Come on in. Yeah, you're all... Right, and there. Yeah. Loved a bit of South America. By the way, we touched on it earlier, Tom. You mentioned the fact that this is the last edition of the European Nations League in this format. The one in four years' time, is it? 2028-29. It's the two years' time. Two years' time. What was the new format? It's going to be in three leagues rather than four. So it leads A, B, and C, six. But isn't it an 18-team team... Yeah, it's divided into teams leagues. But divided into three groups of six. Swiss league staff. Yeah, because I think... Because they divided it up into groups of six. I think the feeling was the Nations League wasn't complicated enough, so let's just change it. Well, we've certainly nailed it. Well, well, we need to change this. Yeah, A, this can't be right. What news do you have for it? Anyway, just out of interest, why India? It's part of a big movement in India at the moment to sort of get top-level sport, I think. They've just been awarded the 2032 World Cycling Road Race Championships. They're trying to get the 2036 Olympics. So there's a really big government push and many sports in India at the moment. I can't imagine this. They've got, basically, they're splashing a lot of cash. And I think that might come into... I think it's going to be an amazing occasion. Like India has fervent support for Brazil. And the only other place I'd love to see them go in future, like Bangladesh. If you're during the World Cup, if you see any footage from Bangladesh, so Bangladesh is essentially split right down the middle between Brazil and Argentina. They have these huge watch parties of like literally thousands of people like all decked out in the shirts. They are crazy for it. And I would love one day to see... Imagine a Brazil Argentina in Bangladesh. Make that happen, world. Where are they going to be playing this time? Calcutta. Fair enough. There you go. Argentina have got three friendies coming up and the one that I guess everyone will pay most attention to is the one in the middle against Benin, which we'll see Leon Amese Don, the Argentina shirt in a competitive match for the final time. It'll be his 208th cap, if selected. He's got 125 goals. Done pretty well. Jack, just to wrap things up, you've written about Ecuadorian Winger Kendri Pies, who don't concern action recently. He was in the Chelsea under 21, and is now known as Cobham Next Gen in certain decisions against Wickham in the EFL trophy. It's just got a new sponsor, which I can't remember, but it's some American food chain. Okay, I've had many sponsors. Good because he's called Pies. Well, yeah. He lost 21, but he did assist Chelsea's goal. Did he? He looks all right. Yeah. Jack, what should we know about Kendri Pies and why? So he was one of the breakout players in South America. Three years ago now, he made his debut at 15. It was irregular for Ecuador National Team at 16. Came through it, independent of Valet, which is where Moses Kaisedo, Pierre and Capierre, William Patjo, it's like a big talent factory. And, yeah, I've written about his situation. This should be up by the end of the week. He, so he was seen as the next big thing, lovely, left footy, kind of like playmaker, dinky little players. A Chelsea paid for, agreed to sign him when he was only 16. He couldn't move when he was 18. Big sensation, Neckler, like they feel like this is the best attacking player they produced in decades. And it just hasn't really happened for him so far. So we had to wait to come to Europe until he was 18, went to Strasbourg, barely played, loan cut short, went to river plate, barely played, loan cut short. And then a couple of weeks ago, Shabby Alonso said, yeah, look, this guy's not part of my plans, hence he's a sub for Chelsea's under 21's at 19. And he has his kind of wonder kid reputations. That's interesting. Yeah, is there any idea why he hasn't been able to? When he was young in Ecuador, there were a couple of instances. He was spotted in a night club and a strip club, age 16 before it could all match. So look, kind of there was this big feeling that this kid maybe was needed better advice, all of this stuff. And there's also, I think he's to some degree, not necessarily cut out for the European, hurly burly of the European games quite good. Physically. Yeah, he's like an old school playmaker. Right. It's just something I love, but maybe isn't cut out for Premier League or Liga. But it's a very talented kid. And what he is, the struggles he's had aren't commensurate with his talent, I don't think. So yeah, I'm just, I've written a piece, and it's just like, yeah, what's up with this guy? What could be next? Because he is a talented player. All right, well, I look forward to finding out more about country pies. They're on the athletic. What's eating the pies? Oh, nice. There's Capri Sutton, right? Yeah. Yeah, I don't know. I think about it, isn't it? Yeah, make sure to think. As mentioned, we're going to be getting together on Saturday night to watch England game Duncan. You. And then we'll do a live pod streaming on YouTube. So do you join us for that if you fancy or check it out afterwards. Splendid to see you, Jack Lang. Are you too, Jack Lang? Look forward to you making it in some other time soon. Thank you very much, Tom. We'll be back Saturday as I mentioned. No Euro show next week. So then I think on the Tuesday we'll be running up other stuff, but enjoy all that international football. Thank you for being with us today. For now, for more of us here. It's goodbye.
