Pod Insights The Rest Is Football Electric Mbappe cements France's place as favourites About this episode Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer, Micah Richards and Joe Cole reflect on the first quarter-final as France beat Morocco 2-0 thanks to another impressive showing from Kylian Mbappe. Can any of the other contenders stop Didier Deschamps' side?
There's also a look at the surprising decision by FIFA to extend the suspension of England's Jarell Quansah to two matches following his red card against Mexico
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0:39 Speaker 01 Hello and welcome to The Rest Is Football. On today's show, we're discussing France's march towards the semi-finals. Kylian Mbappe and all of those French superstars. We'll be with Joe Cole, Micah Richards, Alan Shearer and me, Gary Lineker. The core four. And don't forget, if you'd like to watch the show, it's available on Netflix every single day. France, so impressive. Kylian Mbappe, a game, Joe, I mean, wow.
1:10 Speaker 02 He's superb. He's almost unplayable. I think we're seeing his peak years at the moment because he's got that explosive speed, but he's got this maturity about him now. He's just like, he's a scorer, he's a scorer, he's a goal scorer, but he's a scorer of great goals. The way he took that one, where he whipped it around, beautiful.
1:29 Speaker 03 Got to work on his penalties a bit, though.
1:31 Speaker 02 What is that with these great strikers, just like, missing penalties?
1:34 Speaker 01 Stop, stop, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not. He did score, I think he did score 15 in a row. But I don't, I'm not a fan of him. I think what it is, we've seen a lot of penalties, haven't we, missed at this World Cup? But I think the stuttery thing, I think the goalkeeper's have worked it out. They wait, they wait. It's the first, you know, as I said, it's the first he's missed in 15. But, and when you do that kind of penalty, it just looks worse.
1:56 Speaker 02 Where the goalie's hands, it's a really bad penalty. It was, he was on the floor in the middle of the goal.
2:01 Speaker 03 You know what the brilliant thing is, though? Is that you have that setback. We said the other day about Messi, you have that setback. But the very, very, very best, it doesn't affect him. They just go, and his goal was brilliant.
2:14 Speaker 02 So you two are both goal scorers. Did you have that? If you'd missed a chance, how did you get your mind set on it? Like, because... I think it would affect, it would affect, as a midfielder, it affected me a bit, missing a big moment.
2:25 Speaker 03 You're absolutely desperate for another one to come along, straight away. Give me another chance, give me something to go at. Yeah, it hurts, but that's, I mean, those two, I said Messi and Mbappe. That's the very, very best, the elite mentality is, give me the ball again, let me make amends, let me do something different to try and get the team back to whatever. And that's, I think, the difference.
2:48 Speaker 01 He's just missing a chance. As a striker, you know you will miss chances, therefore, the more chances you get, eventually the more goals you score. So, you know you're also gonna miss, so you've just, you've just got, that's just part and parcel of being a striker. There's interesting stats here, there's only been four occasions in the last 60 years that a player has scored, assisted and missed a penalty in a World Cup match. Two have been in the last three days. And there was Messi against Egypt, obviously, and Mbappe against Morocco. Can you get the other two, anyone? If any of you get one of these, I'll be so impressed.
3:27 Speaker 03 Really?
3:27 Speaker 02 Benzema?
3:29 Speaker 01 Joe Cole, Joe Cole, Karim Benzema versus Switzerland.
3:33 Speaker 02 I can read it, I can read it.
3:35 Speaker 01 You read it from there?
3:36 Speaker 02 Yeah, yeah, yeah.
3:36 Speaker 01 He's got better eyes than us.
3:38 Speaker 02 I play midfield, I can read that.
3:39 Speaker 01 Can you see the other one?
3:40 Speaker 02 No, I can't.
3:41 Speaker 01 Assemogian.
3:42 Speaker 02 Okay.
3:42 Speaker 01 Yeah, remember him?
3:44 Speaker 04 Just on the penalties, while he was talking about them. You know the stop-start that you mentioned, but did you actually see, correct me if I'm wrong, when he actually was taking the penalty, he didn't, he wasn't looking at the goalkeeper? So what is the point of the stutter of the run-up there? Is he just doing a stutter and then picking his place? But I thought the whole point of the stutter, the run-up and slow down is to watch where the keeper's gonna go.
4:08 Speaker 01 I don't think it is.
4:09 Speaker 04 The keeper only dived to one side and he went there.
4:11 Speaker 01 Yeah, do you know what I think it is, Mike? I don't think that is necessarily the case. Some, some players, one or two, obviously we've seen, do genuinely wait and watch the goalkeeper. But I think what the stutter does and the reasoning behind it is that a goalkeeper is on the line. When you're stuttering, they don't know exactly when you're gonna kick it. They can't afford to go early. So, they have to wait until you kick it. So what it does, I think it just gives you a little bit more space. Because you know the keeper can't get to the corner, so I think it gives you an extra yard to score in, but Mbappe obviously still didn't put it wide enough.
4:48 Speaker 03 Just before we go any further on that point by the way, he had nearly three and a half minutes to wait. It was an absolute shambles for the referee, he put him on this spot, he walked back, he had to go again, he had to walk back again, all while they were checking whatever they were checking, I mean I thought it was a complete nonsense.
5:07 Speaker 01 Argentinean refs? Yeah but it was also the Argentine ref that gave the penalty immediately.
5:12 Speaker 03 I'm not saying that's an excuse for missing the penalty but when you're under huge pressure in that situation, in the World Cup quarter final, the last thing you need is a referee to go, "Yep, go" and then "Stop it, stop, stop", I thought it was ridiculous.
5:28 Speaker 01 It took them a while, didn't it, France, to break down that low block, they had the chances, they had way more shots than Morocco, but when it does open up a little bit, as it inevitably does in football matches, Mike, can anyone cope with them?
5:43 Speaker 04 It's gonna be tough, I mean Al called them, didn't he, as his favourites, I said Spain before a ball was kicked, but they, they're electric, they, when there's no space, I think they find it a little bit difficult, but as soon as the space opens up, it's a nightmare, because they can run in behind, they've got individual brilliance, they've got Alves who's always looking for the ball to Fred to Mbappe, if that's not Mbappe, then you've got Dembele, they're just too good, they're definitely the favourites for this competition because they can increase the tempo like no other team at the tournament.
6:25 Speaker 03 The one thing that I was slightly concerned about with France is, how do they get all the big hitters into the, how does Deschamps keep all of them happy, and I tell you what, he's done a brilliant job up to now because Barca has been left out, Chirky's been left out, but he's used them and when he has brought them on, they've more than played their part, but that front four is... It's pretty unstoppable.
6:50 Speaker 01 Interesting thing of course, despite the fact if they do make it to the final, it'll be their third consecutive final in World Cups. And Deschamps been obviously in charge of all of them. There's a little bit of unrest around the fact that he was still in charge. Because I think the Euros two years ago, when he didn't get that, like couldn't get everyone buying into the system and they were a little bit negative. But what a job he's done in turning that around, Micah.
7:18 Speaker 04 Yeah, I think he's been outstanding. Obviously, I'm very close with Thierry and they talked about that sort of disconnect. It was sort of square pegs in round holes in terms of the way they play. A lot of the talk in France was, yes, we've got great players, but we don't play great football. I think that's turned now at this World Cup. Everyone knows their jobs. I like the little tactical tweet that Deschamps did in the first game where he switched Dembele and Elise around. I think it just helped. A lot of manager might have persevered with the same. But he is a top manager. We're talking about one of the best in international football. If he goes and wins it again, it's a real talking power.
8:00 Speaker 03 I also think he's got a great rapport there now because, you know, he went back for his, the passing of his mother to the funeral. I think when all the players got together and they sort of hugged and got, I think that was a great sign that they were going to be brilliant in this tournament. They have been, they haven't disappointed.
8:19 Speaker 01 I think all the other teams in the competition were hoping they'd all fall out, but it's not, it's not happening. France in 2026 are the first team to have two players score five plus goals in a single World Cup since Brazil in 2002. And they're only in the quarterfinals. Mbappe and Dembele have got eight and five, but and then Brazil's were Ronaldo and Rivaldo, they got eight and five. They also had Ronaldinho. Who's your front threes here? Okay, Ronaldo, Rivaldo and Ronaldinho, or Mbappe, Dembele and Elise?
8:52 Speaker 02 Well, I was in the squad for that game. I was on the bench, young man. And watching them free, I remember when Ronaldinho had done his move on Ashley Cole. It was so fluid and beautiful, about three players from the England bench just naturally, because they were excited, stood up, "Oh, shit, they're going to score it." And then they scored, but they could take your breath away. And I'll never remember the movement. And I think the similarities with this year, I think this France team are quite clearly the best side left in the tournament. In 2002, they had four Ballon d'Or winners because Kaka was a young man as well.
9:29 Speaker 02 So, like, watching them play, I think, the 2002, Cafu and Carlos, like, it was like the Harlem Globetrotters, watching them play. And this France team's a bit like that.
9:39 Speaker 01 I still think at the moment, I mean, obviously Elise is still quite young. I think Mbappe is definitely in his absolute prime. But those three, I mean, Ronaldinho, Ronaldo and Rivaldo, tasty, Michael, are you having?
9:55 Speaker 04 No, it's too hard to call, isn't it? Because it's different generations. And you mix in that nostalgia. Our nine, apart from Messi and Ronaldo and probably Pele. Our nine was just ridiculous. He's my favourite ever footballer. Messi's probably the best, but Ronaldo's the best. And then you add in Ronaldinho, watch his documentary, he was just incredible. And then Rivaldo too, with his left foot. Oh my god, it's too early to say, they're too young, they've not finished yet. I would go with Brazil. I have to go with Brazil because it was just mesmerising.
10:31 Speaker 01 It was so good, so good. Do you think, I know it's difficult, could Morocco have more of a go? Missed Saibari, big miss up front. They really struggled going forward, three goals in the tournament.
10:46 Speaker 02 Saibari, Saibari Gaz up front, so important for them because he's a big lump and he puts himself about. And I thought they, the thing that they got wrong today, I don't think they was humble enough. I thought because they're so good, because they've been on this mad unbeaten run and they've been so successful. I think you need a game plan for France. And I think they didn't do the low block as well as they could. They didn't make it uncomfortable, they wanted to play with, you can't play with France. You've got to, you've got to stop them first and take whatever you can out of the game because they're just so good. And if the game becomes end to end, you're fucked. Because of the pace and the strength and the speed, so you got, they got it wrong.
11:25 Speaker 03 I just think sometimes you say, you know, they were better than us. And whatever way they set up today, France are going to beat them.
11:33 Speaker 03 They just had better players individually, they were, they've got the most exciting front players in the, in the World Cup, there's no doubt about it. So, I just think they were too good and whatever way Morocco tried to play, France were going to beat them.
11:48 Speaker 01 Do you agree with that, Micah?
11:50 Speaker 04 Yeah, totally agree with the guys today, which is an absolute shame, to be honest.
11:57 Speaker 04 But, but in terms of, I, I thought they, they grew into the game a little bit and I started getting confidence because I had a few counter attacks. But the difference was, they didn't have Saibari to run in behind. So when they went forward, they didn't really have an outball. I would have done a Cape Verde where I'd just go ultra, ultra low. Force France to have shots from outside the box. That was the only way really that was going to win. And Hakimi was getting pushed back also, wasn't he? So they, he's normally an outball for them and he didn't really have the effect that maybe we all expected. But he's playing against France and he's constantly having to defend, I think that was the difference. But what would I have done different?
12:39 Speaker 04 I would have just stuck to my guns in that low block and not worry about it. Tried sort of see out the game as long as we possibly could and then just wait for that counter attack.
12:48 Speaker 02 You've got to make them cross the ball. Meek, big Meek, that's what you've got to do with France. You've got, I, I think if England play France, you have to go to a back five. You have to play with a back five.
12:59 Speaker 01 Really?
12:59 Speaker 02 I, I would, because you're going to need, you have to double up on both flanks, whether it be Douay, Mbappe. And then, and as best you can frustrate them, make them lob it into the box.
13:09 Speaker 01 Because Mbappe's not going to score too many headers.
13:11 Speaker 04 But did you see that though? Did you see that though Joe, that's a really interesting point with the players on the pitch, I think you're absolutely right. But did you see as soon as Mateta came on, they started changing the way they played, they started getting crosses. I'm thinking to myself, if they sacrifice one of their wingers and say, okay, Elisa, you go one side. De Bruyne, you go the other side and just get crosses into box to Mateta and Mbappe just running all over. That scared me because I don't think France are one dimensional. Because they've just got so much quality, but one thing I thought that they're not that great is getting the balls into the box. And then as soon as Mateta came on the pitch, I was like, oh my god, they've got a plan B, C, D, E and F.
13:56 Speaker 04 Oh my god, it's gonna be difficult for anyone against France.
14:01 Speaker 01 Definitely difficult, Michael, also I think before the tournament we're going, well, if there is possibly a weakness. It's can they cope with playing four up like they do. But then with a two man midfield, but even that's working at the moment. And I know it might be different against Spain, that will be a real, real challenge if Spain obviously get past Belgium, which I expect they will.
14:25 Speaker 04 You know who needs a lot of credit in this tournament, Rabiot. He was sort of, oh, he can't really run now, but the way he controls that midfield. Obviously, Tchouameni's been in and then out because of injury, but Kone, who I told you before the tournament, lads.
14:40 Speaker 01 You did tell us.
14:41 Speaker 04 I give you it and he's been outstanding.
14:46 Speaker 04 I think against England or Spain, they'll find it more difficult because there are areas in which you can get at France, I think Upamecano at the back, Saliba looks nice and solid. But if you see one of his clearances and if you watch him for Bayern Munich. There is areas where you can get at me, he's prone to mistake at times. But I just think the two going forward, if you have Kone and Robbie are just sat there and say, you four go do it. It's gonna be very difficult for anyone.
15:20 Speaker 01 Zaire Emery came off the bench as well, he's a talented individual. Chouameni's fitness is not quite right. A word on Morocco because they've had a good tournament, they've had two good tournaments now, that's a semi-final and a quarter-final. I suppose the positive, I think they're unlucky with the sidebar, the thing, the injury. But I think we've got an emerging star in Bouadi. Youngest player to play in a quarter-final of a World Cup since Pele in 1958.
15:49 Speaker 02 Big shoes to fill. I went to do interviews with Giroud and so I went and my old club Lille. Lovely, I saw all the old masseurs and the doctor and all that and I was chatting to them. And different times in the day, I said, "What players have you got here?" All of them said, "Bouadi". Unbelievable.
16:08 Speaker 01 Doing a mathematics degree?
16:10 Speaker 02 Yeah, it's mental. And often at football club, the people that have been there for years and seen all the great players at the club. So they know, they watch them every day and all of them eyes lit up when they talked about it. So, "Well, I watched this kid."
16:23 Speaker 01 He's even impressed you, Alan?
16:24 Speaker 03 Well, I did when Morocco played Brazil early in the tournament, I did that game, Co-Coms. And he was man of the match. He stood out massively. And if it's not this summer, it'll be next summer that he'll go for 70, 80, 90 million. I'm pretty certain of it.
16:42 Speaker 01 I think a lot of clubs will be chasing him, Michael. Where do you think he'll end up?
16:46 Speaker 04 It's tough. He's a young superstar, isn't he? He's so calm on the ball. You know, when you're looking at attributes as a player, can they pass, can they track runners, all them sort of things. But it's his calmness on the ball for me, you know, in that team, for someone so young. Like, everyone's going to be after him, absolutely everyone. But just quickly, Joe, you was at Lille. What was that like? You know, I've not heard you speak about that many times, but what was it like going over there and enjoying France?
17:19 Speaker 02 I loved it, mate. I was, like I said, I was at a difficult, difficult time in my career. And then you go somewhere and you see, I feel that now, we've all played with French players. But you don't really understand the French players, so you go over there and their culture and how they are. You know, I went over there, big man, I started drinking coffee, I got Laquip every day, pretended I was reading Laquip. Started drinking a quick, like, because they had a lovely
17:45 Speaker 01 What, so?
17:45 Speaker 02 No, they did at the training ground, you had like a middle bit, right? And they all went there and they all had the paper and had a little coffee. I thought, I'm missing out here, I need to get myself involved. So I didn't drink coffee until I went to France. Now I can't get off the training stuff.
17:59 Speaker 01 I was just about to say, you go, what about the football?
18:01 Speaker 02 Oh, yeah, no, love the football.
18:02 Speaker 01 When, when was it? When was it you went to Mexico and got the mezcal?
18:08 Speaker 02 I bring back the great things from everyone's culture and bring it into our life.
18:12 Speaker 01 How was your?
18:12 Speaker 02 The Mexicans have given me mezcal, the French have given me coffee. I'm happy. No, but the football was great.
18:19 Speaker 01 They're more known for the red wine and champagne.
18:21 Speaker 02 Yeah, yeah.
18:22 Speaker 01 Look at, what's he doing there?
18:23 Speaker 02 Love it, love it, big man.
18:25 Speaker 01 What, you on there, the brandy out the bottle?
18:28 Speaker 02 Good man.
18:29 Speaker 04 That's what the Caribbean taught me, Joe.
18:34 Speaker 01 Brilliant. What's your French?
18:36 Speaker 02 Un petit peu, a little bit, yeah.
18:41 Speaker 01 Everybody knows, everybody knows what that means, Joe.
18:45 Speaker 02 Too much, right? Don't worry about me, I can, I can get by in a French restaurant. That's enough for me.
18:50 Speaker 01 Yeah.
18:51 Speaker 02 And I've got, I've got Derek Trotter level.
18:53 Speaker 01 I thought you were gonna chuck Geez on the end as well. Joe, Joe, what's your order? What's your order?
18:58 Speaker 02 Let's not do this live, let's not do this live. But the football, I got to play with Eden Hazard.
19:03 Speaker 01 Oh.
19:04 Speaker 02 Who I think is the best player I've, I've ever played with.
19:07 Speaker 01 Really?
19:08 Speaker 02 He was a genius.
19:08 Speaker 01 You play with some great players.
19:09 Speaker 02 I played with some great players.
19:10 Speaker 01 At England as well.
19:12 Speaker 02 He, he's outstanding.
19:13 Speaker 04 Was he another level?
19:14 Speaker 02 Another level, mate. If he had the mentality, he, you know, all footballers were all very competitive and you've got that little bit of fire in you. He had none of that. He didn't like training, he didn't, you know, win or lose.
19:24 Speaker 01 Didn't even do his boots up, is that right?
19:26 Speaker 02 It was a struggle, sometimes you had to remind him, we, we got a game now, Geez. Like, the, the bells go, no in the dressing room. He'd just be in his own world. And I think he's a genius.
19:36 Speaker 01 Do you think if he'd applied himself, he could be up there with the absolute greats of the game?
19:40 Speaker 02 Absolutely. I, I think he's Messi without the, the drive. Messi's got like a drive, like, some of the things he done with the ball on a day to day. And I've played with some great players, been lucky, blessed to play with some great players. He was the best.
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20:27 Speaker 01 The Quantrill ban, I mean they've given him two games. And it's a similar sort of issue to, obviously, Balligan, that obviously happened. It was called serious foul play, the same offence as Balligan. He's got two games, Balligan's offence got suspended, not overturned, so it's not like they've gone, "Actually, that's a bad decision, you're not having it", but they've just suspended his sentence. And you go, "Hang on a minute, you can't have rules for one, rules for a host nation, and then rules for another." Let me read you something out here. The head of the White House World Cup Task Force, Andrew Gilianni, who was son of the mayor, funnily enough, says the US wanted things to be fair on the pitch, especially
21:11 Speaker 01 when you consider all the federal dollars we laid out for this, when discussing Balligan's suspended suspension. "We did that", he said. "You had that red card, which never should have been administered, reversed, you didn't get it reversed, actually, and we stand by the actions that we took." I mean, what is going on?
21:29 Speaker 03 FIFA and, they've just, they've brought all this on themselves, they really have. And all the conspiracy theories, all the anger that's directed towards them, and rightly so, because once they've done that with the Balligan, everyone is going to start saying, "Well, hang on a minute, you did it for that, so what on earth is the difference now? How on earth does Quantrill now get two games, he got one suspended, it got him taken away, yet Quantrill now has to miss if England get through the two games? It's absolutely scandalous, it really is, it's such a bad look."
22:03 Speaker 01 Let's hope that Infantino decides to suspend it. If not, I think his position at FIFA now... I mean, I think it's almost untenable.
22:11 Speaker 02 He's got one job. If you're in charge of FIFA, the one thing you need to do is make, you shouldn't be front and centre of everything, you need to make it fair. And then by being fair, you're gonna have to stand up to power at some times and go, I don't care if you've spent how much money you've spent, this is sport, and you know, and then he just gets it wrong. He's just like Basil Forty, falling over himself all the time, just messing it up. He needs like, you've got to be honest, like, you need to be fair. It's a mica.
22:44 Speaker 04 It's an absolute farce though, isn't it? I mean, how many times, how many times, all the good things that have happened in this competition, all the success stories, we keep talking about them. But this is just, it's just ridiculous. And I'd be complaining, I think it's not fair, Joe's exactly right. And when the integrity of the competition is in question, then that's a problem. Because one rule for one and another rule for someone else. If I was England, I'd be fighting that all the way. And if they were to go out against Norway, I'd fight it even further. Because it's absolute ridiculous and it's not fair. And we keep talking about the same things over and over and over again.
23:29 Speaker 04 And yeah, something needs to be done now.
23:31 Speaker 03 Everyone will just keep on appealing, everyone will keep on complaining, everyone will keep on reverting back to that situation when the president rang FIFA up and said, well, we all know what he said, and then they suspended that decision and he was able to play in that game, which ironically worked against the USA. But that doesn't take away from this decision and other decisions that everyone will say, hang on, you've set the precedent, so you have to now answer to what you have done a few days ago.
24:00 Speaker 02 A precedent set by allegedly a president, but anyway.
24:05 Speaker 01 That's it for this episode of The Rest Is Football. France are through to the semi-finals, who will join them, we'll find out soon.
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