Pod Insights What Now? with Trevor Noah WORLD CUP Bonus Episode: Week Two About this episode Trevor and Joe tackle Week Two of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. In this episode they debate whether the tournament is an incredible global block party or a giant exercise in geopolitical sports washing, whether the David vs. Goliath fable needs some adjustment, and dish on the week's most entertaining World Cup drama, from Turkey's tragic scoreless exit to the fanboys currently making life difficult for Portugal's players. Through it all, they remind us that few things bring people together quite like 22 humans chasing a ball.
Transcript 12,810 words · 2 speakers
Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.
0:00 Trevor Noah? This episode is proudly sponsored by Mazda. Consumer Reports' safest new car brand. Mazda stands for more of what matters most to you. Visit MazdaUSA.com to learn more.
0:17 Trevor Noah? This is What Now with Trevor Noah.
0:21 Trevor Noah? All right, well, welcome to Week Two of the World Cup.
0:26 Speaker 01 Yeah, I can't believe because it feels like one. We've watched so much football. It feels like a week four, but then again, time rushes when you're having fun. So it doesn't feel like Week Two yet. It's like a week, I know it sounds like a weird contradiction, but it feels like we've watched four weeks' worth of football, but then it doesn't feel like we've reached Week Two yet.
0:47 Trevor Noah? I think it feels like that because, yes, we've watched probably more games per capita than ever in our lives. But because we haven't moved in the group stages,
0:58 Speaker 01 Yes.
0:58 Trevor Noah? it doesn't feel like the tournament has moved, in a good way.
1:01 Speaker 01 Yes, yes.
1:01 Trevor Noah? So it feels like it's still exciting. It feels like it's still new. It feels like it's, but, but you know, before we even get into the results, I noticed something about the World Cup. And I don't know if you'll agree with this or disagree.
1:13 Speaker 01 Okay, probably disagree, but on principle, but okay.
1:16 Trevor Noah? The World Cup is a lot like New Year's Eve.
1:21 Speaker 01 Okay.
1:21 Trevor Noah? Everyone talks trash about it in the buildup. Everyone says they don't care. Everyone says they don't, they're not going to make plans. They're not going to participate. Ask somebody what their plans are for New Year's Eve. They'll be like, ah, is that even a thing anymore? New Year's Eve, I'll probably just sleep. I don't even care what's happening. I'm not into it. The day the clock strikes 12 and it's the 31st now. Then you start getting the texts. Hey, what's happening? Have you heard of anything? Are you going anywhere?
1:49 Speaker 01 Where's the party at?
1:50 Trevor Noah? Maybe we should go to a party. And then when it gets close to 12, it's on and once it's on.
1:58 Trevor Noah? All you're left with is joy and regret. I feel like the World Cup is that. No, because I was thinking about this. Every single World Cup starts with the scandal.
2:10 Speaker 01 Mm hmm. Oh, multiple scandals.
2:12 Trevor Noah? And by week two, people can only talk about the World Cup. So go South Africa, twenty ten. Everybody was saying, can this country host a World Cup? Is Africa ready? There's too much crime in South Africa. They don't have the infrastructure. It's going to be a bad World Cup. It's not gonna go. World Cup started, week two.
2:31 Speaker 01 Mm, mm, mm, mm, mm.
2:32 Trevor Noah? All we knew was football.
2:33 Speaker 01 Actually, the moment Shabba Lala scored that goal.
2:36 Trevor Noah? Finished.
2:37 Speaker 01 Everything shifted, yes.
2:39 Trevor Noah? Qatar.
2:40 Speaker 01 Oh, before that, Russia.
2:41 Trevor Noah? Oh, yeah, Russia. Russia was before that. People were like, oh, no.
2:45 Speaker 01 Twenty fourteen years.
2:46 Trevor Noah? Brazil, they were like, oh, no, the infrastructure, things are not gonna work.
2:50 Speaker 01 The favelas and these.
2:51 Trevor Noah? You name it. Russia, people like, oh, the visas are gonna be a disaster. Russia's not gonna let people in.
2:57 Speaker 01 Russia even.
2:57 Trevor Noah? Should Russia even be hosting a, yo, World Cup came?
3:02 Trevor Noah? People were just like, it's World Cup time. We'll, we'll, we'll, we'll get back to that later.
3:05 Speaker 01 Yes, yes, yes.
3:06 Trevor Noah? Qatar was the same. U S, week two. I don't know about you, maybe it's just my feed. Everything is World Cup now.
3:15 Speaker 01 No, I'll say this, and that's, I think, the beauty, and also the curse, in a funny way, of the World Cup, because that's what gives FIFA so much power and so much leverage. They are in control, or they're the custodians of this thing that's so powerful.
3:30 Trevor Noah? Yeah.
3:30 Speaker 01 That can shift narratives. So the World Cup, when you talk about Qatar, like, before it happened, some people were gonna, were even gonna boycott it.
3:40 Trevor Noah? Yeah, I mean, the English media, English media was essentially threatening to boycott Qatar.
3:44 Speaker 01 But then the moment, the moment the ball is kicked.
3:48 Trevor Noah? You, you know what it is? Actually, before the ball is kicked, once people see David Beckham.
3:52 Speaker 01 Yes.
3:52 Trevor Noah? They change, they change all their geopolitical views.
3:55 Speaker 01 Yes, but it's, it's funny that you.
3:56 Trevor Noah? In fact, I think it's like any party. You can say what you want about a party. If David Beckham walks in.
4:01 Speaker 01 Yeah, yeah, yeah. Now, you know, let's turn up.
4:03 Trevor Noah? The party's changed.
4:03 Speaker 01 Let's turn up, yes. No, but like, it's, uh, I, as, as I was saying, it's the great power of this beautiful game. And FIFA, fun enough, has done so much to disfigure the face
4:17 Trevor Noah? Yeah.
4:17 Speaker 01 of the beautiful game, but because the game is so popular, and once it starts. Everything is out of the window. So the US, people are going about, you know, what? E- everything that's wrong with the US.
4:28 Trevor Noah? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
4:29 Speaker 01 Then the moment the game started, now everyone's just talking about the games. People are discovering different sides of America, cause they're going to, they're getting to meet real Americans as opposed to Americans being represented by their government.
4:41 Trevor Noah? Can I, can I say, that's something that has truly made me realize how powerful the World Cup is.
4:50 Trevor Noah? I've always known that the World Cup has the power to introduce, you know, people from all over the world to a nation that they may have had a one-sided opinion of, or like a one-dimensional opinion of, rather. I didn't think the same would hold true for America.
5:07 Speaker 01 Oh.
5:08 Trevor Noah? And yet, if you've been online, the fan experiences of the World Cup, and the fan experiences of America, funny enough. Uh, there's the German guy, Freddie, I think his name is.
5:21 Speaker 01 Oh, who's going out, yes.
5:22 Trevor Noah? He's become like the most adored fan in America now. Freddie, um, is a German guy who's just in America, who's just having a great time, just loving everything about America. Meeting people, shocked at how friendly they are, discovering how big the portions are, enjoying like, like.
5:40 Speaker 01 All the things we love about America, yes.
5:41 Trevor Noah? Giant trucks, giant cars, giant worlds, giant supermarkets. He's gotten so popular, I think he got an invite to the White House. They, um, he was on a flight that was delayed and he was gonna miss a game. And then airlines just stepped in and they were like, no Freddie, we got you, we're gonna get you on another flight, we're gonna. That's when I was like, okay, this is power. When, when an airline in America is actually trying to help people.
6:04 Speaker 01 To help a customer, yes. No, but also I agree with you because America, unlike other countries, has been overexposed. We watch it in pop culture, we watch it in movies, we watch it in music videos.
6:15 Trevor Noah? Yeah.
6:16 Speaker 01 So you would think there would be nothing to discover. Qatar, you've never had anything about it, so when the World Cup goes there, there's a chance to discover a side of Qatar that you haven't seen before. But America.
6:26 Trevor Noah? I didn't think that for America, yeah.
6:27 Speaker 01 Familiar with America.
6:28 Trevor Noah? I honestly didn't think that for America.
6:30 Speaker 01 Yes. Like the people in Roland's cancers.
6:33 Trevor Noah? Yeah.
6:34 Speaker 01 They are like. Funny weird meet cute.
6:37 Trevor Noah? Yep.
6:37 Speaker 01 With Algeria.
6:39 Trevor Noah? Yeah.
6:39 Speaker 01 And then this romance that has gone on and on and on and on.
6:43 Trevor Noah? Scottish fans have drunk Boston Dry.
6:45 Speaker 01 Oh, my god, yes. You never thought that would happen. You never thought.
6:48 Trevor Noah? I didn't think it was possible.
6:50 Speaker 01 Boston would go like, there's not enough alcohol.
6:52 Trevor Noah? Yeah.
6:53 Speaker 01 In Boston.
6:53 Trevor Noah? I genuinely didn't think it was possible.
6:55 Speaker 01 The bars, no, but I think also like if you combine Scottish people with Irish people. Cause the Irish people in Boston.
7:02 Trevor Noah? You're not wrong, actually.
7:03 Speaker 01 Dry. And then they're going, no, it's, it's been beautiful. It's, um, it's why normally they go like, oh, you can't use the World Cup to sports wash or sports launder your image. And that's why I think.
7:16 Trevor Noah? But, okay, but this is, okay, let's, let's, so let's get into this.
7:20 Trevor Noah? Is it sports washing?
7:21 Speaker 01 Hmm.
7:22 Trevor Noah? Or, or rather, let's, let's, let's ask the question this way, cause people will say the World Cup is sports washing.
7:27 Speaker 01 Yes.
7:27 Trevor Noah? You use a major world tournament.
7:30 Speaker 01 Mm hmm.
7:30 Trevor Noah? To.
7:31 Speaker 01 Show a side of you, yes.
7:32 Trevor Noah? Yeah, yeah, yeah, to, to, to lighten or brighten the image of your country in the world, despite what's going on.
7:37 Speaker 01 Hmm.
7:38 Trevor Noah? But then there's a part of me that goes, i- is it sports washing or is it, is it maybe doing, not the opposite necessarily? But like, those Americans who are experiencing, or rather, those Europeans and those Africans and those, you know, South Americans and the. Very few Africans, you're not wrong, you're not wrong, actually. Yeah, way more Europeans.
7:58 Speaker 01 Hmm.
7:58 Trevor Noah? But they are experiencing America in a way that they wouldn't have otherwise. And I think America's also experiencing them in a way that they wouldn't have otherwise. Like, the effect that the Norwegian fans have had on Americans. For the first time in my life, I've seen Team USA people trying to come up with actual chants for their team.
8:15 Speaker 01 Yes, apart from, we, we shall win.
8:18 Trevor Noah? I believe that we shall win.
8:21 Speaker 01 They see the choreography.
8:21 Trevor Noah? Believe that, that is terrible.
8:23 Speaker 01 Yes, they see the choreography.
8:24 Trevor Noah? That's objectively terrible. Or just USA.
8:27 Speaker 01 Hmm.
8:27 Trevor Noah? USA. That's fine for like three minutes?
8:30 Speaker 01 Yes, you can't chant it for an entire game.
8:32 Trevor Noah? Ninety minutes.
8:33 Speaker 01 Defense.
8:34 Trevor Noah? Come on, man, come on.
8:35 Speaker 01 You need a few.
8:36 Trevor Noah? Come on, come on, come on. I still say, if you have to tell the team what their job is.
8:40 Speaker 01 To remind them.
8:41 Trevor Noah? Come on.
8:41 Speaker 01 Yes.
8:42 Trevor Noah? Like, football fans, you just get to sing and like. Reminisce à la beauté de votre équipe et de son legacy. Vous avez à chanter des chansons joyeuses. En même temps, dans les sports américains, vous devez littéralement dire aux gens ce que vous devez faire. C'est la partie où vous défendez. C'est la partie où vous défendez. C'est la partie où vous défendez. Vous savez ce que je veux dire ? Qu'est-ce que tu fais ?
9:01 Speaker 01 Vous faites semblant que les athlètes américains sont comme les requins.
9:04 Trevor Noah? Non, mais ils ne le sont pas. Je parle de la chance.
9:06 Speaker 01 Oui, oui.
9:06 Trevor Noah? Les chances sont terribles.
9:07 Speaker 01 Non, comme le...
9:08 Trevor Noah? Donc, je pense...
9:09 Speaker 01 Le chorégraphie, oui.
9:10 Trevor Noah? Je comprends, oui. Je ne dis pas que l'assainissement sportif n'est pas une chose. Mais je suis souvent épuisé parce que nous vivons dans un monde où les gens disent que nous, comme les humains, devons passer plus de temps à connaître les autres pour que nous formons des opinions les uns des autres. Et des places et des idées. Nous devons nous faire moins rigides. Et puis quand nous avons des événements qui font ça, nous disons que les événements ne devraient pas arriver parce que...
9:33 Speaker 01 Je pense que c'est parce que...
9:34 Trevor Noah? Parce que quand d'autre chose se passerait-il ?
9:35 Speaker 01 Non, je pense que c'est parce que...
9:36 Trevor Noah? Quand d'autre chose se passerait-il ? Quand d'autre chose se passerait-il ? Des milliers de Noéens influenceront les Américains. Quand d'autre chose se passerait-il ? Des milliers de Scottais influenceront... Regardez, regardez, et pas seulement en Amérique. Regardez le amour, le nouveau romance entre Corée et Mexique. As-tu vu les fans coréens et mexicains ?
9:51 Speaker 01 C'est beau, oui. Je dirais...
9:53 Trevor Noah? Il y aura tant de bébés coréens et mexicains naissants l'année prochaine.
9:57 Speaker 01 C'est drôle que tu parles de l'impact, l'impact extérieur sur les intérieurs et puis l'impact sur les... Sur les outsiders. Parce que quand nous sommes allés en Qatar, nous étions en train de parler avec l'un des meilleurs gars du comité organisateur. Et il nous a dit que Qatar ne voulait pas la Coupe du monde. Les gens de Qatar...
10:14 Trevor Noah? Oui.
10:14 Speaker 01 Ne voulaient pas la Coupe du monde parce qu'ils pensaient que tous ces foreigners qui venaient, ils n'avaient qu'à voir des vidéos...
10:18 Trevor Noah? Oui.
10:19 Speaker 01 Des hooligans anglais.
10:20 Trevor Noah? Oh oui, c'est vrai.
10:20 Speaker 01 Et ils se demandaient que tous ces animaux qui venaient en Qatar, ils allaient violer nos femmes. Ils allaient vandaliser nos bâtiments.
10:26 Trevor Noah? Oui.
10:26 Speaker 01 Et puis les gens sont venus et je me souviens qu'il m'a dit distinctivement que il se souvient que le point de départ était quand les Qataris se levantaient et en fait donnaient de l'eau aux fans. Parce que les Qataris se sont rendu compte que, oh, pas tous les foreigners sont des hooligans anglais.
10:41 Trevor Noah? Oui.
10:41 Speaker 01 Et puis les foreigners se sont rendus compte que pas tous les Qataris... I think the same as their government.
10:47 Trevor Noah? Yeah.
10:47 Speaker 01 They don't think LGBTQ people should be executed. They don't think all the things that we were.
10:51 Trevor Noah? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
10:52 Speaker 01 Or they don't think that immigrants should be said like so. That's very interesting. But the reason I think we talk about sports washing is. When you look at the countries that normally vie to host the World Cup, they're countries in need of a reputational cleanup. So, for example, Russia, they just invaded Crimea when they got the World Cup.
11:13 Trevor Noah? Yeah, but they, I'm not saying that's not true, but they had to bid for the World Cup long before they invaded Crimea.
11:19 Speaker 01 But I'm saying when the World Cup came, it helped their image. They went from, oh, Russia. Not a candidate for neighbor of the yard. Oh, Russia. It's possible. They are not as cold as they seem. I'll say, look, look at Qatar. Okay, so now it was Russia, Qatar, the US. Then it's going to be Morocco, Spain, and there's going to be Saudi Arabia. And I think logically the next stop should be North Korea.
11:44 Trevor Noah? Man, and North Korean World Cup would be something.
11:47 Speaker 01 We'll be like, oh, we did.
11:48 Trevor Noah? Did you see, by the way.
11:49 Speaker 01 The man was right all along.
11:50 Trevor Noah? By the way, did you see, uh, there was, um, there was a piece that I was reading. I saw something online. It's funny you brought up North Korea. Apparently, North Korea has experienced like a boom over the past few years, like a major, and please don't get me wrong. This is. This is relative to itself because North Korea is still like extremely underdeveloped. There's a lot of poverty in it. But apparently they've really been doing well ironically because of the wars that are being fought. People forget how many, um, how, how much, how much money they make from arms.
12:20 Speaker 01 Yeah, yes, yeah, yes.
12:21 Trevor Noah? And from troops and from, yeah, but apparently, so you never know. Maybe North Korea could be, but okay.
12:26 Speaker 01 I saw, I saw this video because you're talking about North Korea. I saw this video that was showing how North Korea has changed, has developed. And they're just using a parking lot. And you could see the number of cars.
12:37 Trevor Noah? Yeah, the technology even.
12:39 Speaker 01 The technology.
12:40 Trevor Noah? No, the technology like, but, but this is what I mean. As much as people say you should keep a state a pariah.
12:47 Speaker 01 Yes.
12:47 Trevor Noah? To punish them for their actions. I sometimes wonder if the opposite isn't more true. Can you keep a state a pariah if you bring them into the fold?
12:58 Speaker 01 That's FIFA's argument. FIFA's argument always is you can't bring the football. Can't help bring a country into the international fold.
13:06 Trevor Noah? Right.
13:07 Speaker 01 So like when. Outsiders go to Qatar.
13:11 Trevor Noah? Mm hmm.
13:12 Speaker 01 Qatar, just by that interaction alone.
13:14 Trevor Noah? Yeah.
13:14 Speaker 01 It's almost like, you know, when you hear about Europeans going and meeting these uncontacted tribes
13:19 Trevor Noah? Yeah.
13:19 Speaker 01 in the Amazon.
13:19 Trevor Noah? Yeah.
13:20 Speaker 01 Just the interaction alone has like benefits to opening up.
13:25 Trevor Noah? Yeah, I don't, I don't think you can, I don't think you can start diplomacy without diplomats.
13:30 Speaker 01 That's a very good, yeah, that's, that's your first argument every time. When we take football to these places, those places are always almost like it's an eye opening moment for them.
13:37 Trevor Noah? Yeah, but even, even not even taking it to the places, look what the World Cup has done. How many people in the world knew Cape Verde was even a thing before the World Cup? How many people knew Kurosawa was even a thing? Speaking to you now, Kurosawa has a point. They have a point at the World Cup.
13:52 Speaker 01 Yes, yes.
13:53 Trevor Noah? You know what I'm saying?
13:53 Speaker 01 Yes.
13:54 Trevor Noah? And they got that point against Ecuador, a team that did extremely well.
13:56 Speaker 01 Yeah, yeah.
13:57 Trevor Noah? In the, in the qualifying.
13:59 Speaker 01 Golden generation as well of Ecuador.
14:01 Trevor Noah? So for Kurosawa.
14:02 Speaker 01 They scored for, for, for, for, for like a heartbeat there. They were toe to toe with Germany.
14:07 Trevor Noah? And for them, it was a win.
14:08 Speaker 01 No, no, it was a win. But then again, as you see, Cape Verde, their goalkeeper going from what, a few hundred followers? To nine point four million, eleven.
14:16 Trevor Noah? Yeah.
14:16 Speaker 01 It shows, yeah, it shows that power of the World Cup. But again, man, you know, I can see what the activists are talking about because the government will always use, because anytime you give something as powerful as the World Cup to a power hungry maniac, they'll always abuse it. But as you're saying also, once, once it brings people together, because if you look at the people, the people who love the beautiful game, or in the case of America.
14:41 Trevor Noah? Yeah.
14:41 Speaker 01 The people who didn't love, but now are falling in love because they're seeing Norwegians choreographing this Viking rowing thing, or they're seeing like Scottish people just having.
14:50 Trevor Noah? Yeah, man, I think, I think, I think it's, look, I, I think both arguments have merit.
14:55 Speaker 01 Hmm.
14:56 Trevor Noah? But I think we shouldn't take for granted the lasting legacy.
14:59 Speaker 01 Yes.
14:59 Trevor Noah? And the impact this will leave of just bringing humans together. We, we, we live in a world where so many people form their opinions based on, you know, just digital, yeah, digital information.
15:10 Speaker 01 Hmm.
15:11 Trevor Noah? How many people can say their opinions of others are formed by an actual experience? That's all I'm saying. You know, so I'm, I'm loving that part of it. Like, I actually love how for the World Cup, the scandals go away from geopolitics and they just go to the pitch.
15:27 Speaker 01 Hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm.
15:28 Trevor Noah? You know, because now like the scandals are all on the pitch.
15:30 Speaker 01 Hmm, hmm, hmm.
15:31 Trevor Noah? I would say the biggest scandal at the World Cup now, oh, over this past week, Turkey.
15:37 Trevor Noah? The Turkish team.
15:38 Speaker 01 Yes.
15:39 Trevor Noah? Came in.
15:40 Speaker 01 Yes.
15:40 Trevor Noah? If you think about it, like the Turkish team came into this World Cup.
15:43 Speaker 01 Yes.
15:43 Trevor Noah? I don't know if you saw their send off.
15:45 Speaker 01 Hmm.
15:45 Trevor Noah? Right? They got one of the biggest send offs I've ever seen a country give their team.
15:49 Speaker 01 I think they were giving mansions in one of the most exclusive like seaside resorts.
15:53 Trevor Noah? My friend.
15:53 Speaker 01 Every player for just qualifying.
15:54 Trevor Noah? My friend.
15:55 Speaker 01 Yes.
15:55 Trevor Noah? Because how many years has it been since Turkey was in?
15:57 Speaker 01 Yeah, it's been like, I think.
15:58 Trevor Noah? Twenty six years or somewhere there?
15:59 Speaker 01 It's been a long time. I think the last time where it was it two thousand and two? Yes, when they made it to the semi finals.
16:04 Trevor Noah? It's been a very, very long time.
16:05 Speaker 01 Hmm.
16:06 Trevor Noah? They were driven out of the city with the most beautiful. It looked like they were going to like, like a, like a war, but a good war in a way.
16:12 Speaker 01 But that's what the World Cup feels like.
16:14 Trevor Noah? Yeah, they were like.
16:14 Speaker 01 The World Cup, to go back to your point, the World Cup is the only time I feel, and the Olympics, but especially the World Cup, is the only time you're allowed to be xenophobic. Well, or nationalistic, maybe not xenophobic, but nationalistic.
16:25 Trevor Noah? Nationalistic, yes.
16:26 Speaker 01 Where you're supposed to, where you go like, yeah, I'm from Kurasaw and I'm going to shit talk Germany. We hate the Germans. And everyone goes like, yeah, we agree, we hate the Germans. It's the only time you're allowed to be patriotically proud.
16:37 Trevor Noah? Yeah.
16:37 Speaker 01 Without it having like very negative undertones.
16:40 Trevor Noah? It's the one time Germans can fly their flag.
16:42 Speaker 01 Oh, yes, proudly.
16:43 Trevor Noah? Yeah.
16:43 Speaker 01 Proudly, yes.
16:44 Trevor Noah? This is the one time Germans can be like, and now am I allowed to bring out my flag for this moment? Yeah.
16:49 Speaker 01 And the English, and the English are like, yes, of course.
16:50 Trevor Noah? And the English are like, yeah, come on, come on. The French are like, yeah, yeah, we can do it, but just for the tournament.
16:54 Speaker 01 Yes.
16:55 Trevor Noah? That's probably why Germany always does well in the World Cup, because the longer they get to be in a World Cup, the longer Germans get to fly their flags. And they're just, they're like, yeah, this is so much fun. We're having a great time.
17:04 Speaker 01 We get to do this once every four years.
17:05 Trevor Noah? July twentieth, put it away. Ah, okay. We'll see you in four years. We're going to continue this conversation right after this short break. Well, let's take a quick break to thank our sponsor Mazda for today's episode. Safety has a new leader. You know what I've realized? Most people don't actually think about safety when everything's going right. Yeah, you only notice it afterwards at the end of a long drive when you still feel relaxed. When traffic gets chaotic, but you never feel overwhelmed. When something unexpected happens and the car just feels composed.
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18:30 Trevor Noah? Do it, do it now.
18:37 Speaker 01 No, Turkey, you are used to talk about Turkey.
18:39 Trevor Noah? Yoman, that, that, you look at it. Team comes in. That has one of the highest team values.
18:47 Speaker 01 Yes.
18:47 Trevor Noah? Per capita, as in like the value of the players, where they play their football, how they are seen in the world.
18:53 Speaker 01 Two of the youngest.
18:54 Trevor Noah? How they're rated.
18:54 Speaker 01 Two of the brightest young talents in world football, in Kenan Yildiz and Adagulay.
18:59 Trevor Noah? Yeah, Adagulay and Kenan Yildiz.
19:01 Speaker 01 And also the mixed care of experience with Hakan, Hakan Çarhanoglu.
19:04 Trevor Noah? Çarhanoglu, yeah. And you think of a team like that, everyone expected, also everyone was like, oh, their group is easy.
19:11 Speaker 01 Yes, yes.
19:12 Trevor Noah? So, so every pundit expected them to cakewalk the thing. Instead, they are now confidently out of the World Cup.
19:21 Speaker 01 Without a goal. Kurasah was done better than them.
19:25 Trevor Noah? That's wild, man.
19:26 Speaker 01 Haiti is doing better than them, than them. Kep Vard is doing better than them. The thing is.
19:30 Trevor Noah? That's wild. You do realize, you do realize, like, if you think about, like, their story, I was thinking about, like, Turkey is basically the reflecting pool of, of national teams right now.
19:41 Speaker 01 The reflecting pool, the DC reflecting pool.
19:43 Trevor Noah? Yeah, the DC reflecting pool.
19:44 Speaker 01 Okay, explain this, elaborate.
19:46 Trevor Noah? It was released to much fanfare.
19:48 Speaker 01 Okay, yes.
19:49 Trevor Noah? There was a massive overhaul.
19:50 Speaker 01 Yes.
19:51 Trevor Noah? Tons of money was pumped into it. They made this grand announcement with extreme expectations.
19:57 Speaker 01 Yes.
19:57 Trevor Noah? And much sooner than people predicted, the paint started peeling off.
20:01 Speaker 01 Things fell apart, yes.
20:02 Trevor Noah? And it fell apart and it became one of the biggest disasters we've ever seen. In, in a, like a space that really no one.
20:09 Speaker 01 The reflecting pool, yes.
20:10 Trevor Noah? It would have been one thing if they said, oh, the reflecting pool after like two years. It, it, it happened in a comically short amount of time. That's what happened with Turkey.
20:18 Speaker 01 It would be great if also Turkey had Abraham Lincoln just looking gone very disappointed.
20:22 Trevor Noah? Just judging from his seat.
20:24 Speaker 01 I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed. No, the thing is, I'll say this about Turkey. So I've had a chance, and probably you have too. I've had a chance to visit Turkey, to visit Istanbul three times.
20:33 Trevor Noah? You have?
20:34 Speaker 01 Yes.
20:34 Trevor Noah? Why is your hair still like this?
20:36 Speaker 01 They went like, we are miracle workers, but come on. We can't, we can only do so much. Even the Turkish doctors went like, no.
20:42 Trevor Noah? This is within the realm, it has to be within the realms of like science and, okay.
20:45 Speaker 01 Yeah, we, we, yeah, we don't, we don't make wonders. Yeah, no, but the thing is, I've had a chance to visit Istanbul three times. On a cruise, by the way. And every time I've visited Istanbul, I feel it's like the Brazil of Europe.
20:59 Trevor Noah? Huh.
21:00 Speaker 01 The fans breathe, live and sleep football. They have the three biggest clubs.
21:05 Trevor Noah? Galatasaray?
21:06 Speaker 01 Fenerbahce and Besiktas.
21:07 Trevor Noah? Yeah.
21:08 Speaker 01 And the fans, they're very passionate people, fiercely passionate. So I feel for them because this is very devastating. This is traumatic for them. They came in, they thought they would win, they got embarrassed. And if you've also had, like, we grew up watching European football. If you've had a chance to watch like those Turkish games.
21:24 Trevor Noah? Yeah.
21:24 Speaker 01 When they say an English team visits, oh my god.
21:26 Trevor Noah? It's massive.
21:27 Speaker 01 I remember Man United visiting.
21:28 Trevor Noah? It's massive.
21:29 Speaker 01 Visiting Galatasaray, uh, the Al Samien Stadium, and it's basically welcome to hell, that's what they call it.
21:34 Trevor Noah? Yep.
21:34 Speaker 01 And when you would watch like teams go to the, you know, the way Fenerbahce used to play, it was called the Sakko Rosarogogru. Those stadiums really feel like.
21:44 Speaker 01 I wouldn't even, I wouldn't even know how to describe them because an American wouldn't get it. They feel like you've entered, you know when they say the fan is the twelfth man? It genuinely feels, it's like a field but with, with players.
21:56 Trevor Noah? But why didn't that translate into the World Cup?
21:58 Speaker 01 No, so they have, and this is why, this is why.
22:01 Trevor Noah? Zero goals, Joe.
22:02 Speaker 01 No, so this is why I feel for them because the two thousand and two team was their golden generation before this golden generation. And if you remember that team, they had Hakan Suka in front.
22:09 Trevor Noah? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
22:10 Speaker 01 They had Hassan Sash, Davala.
22:12 Trevor Noah? Yes, yes.
22:12 Speaker 01 They had like two guy and Emery and Alfa.
22:15 Trevor Noah? And my question is what happened now?
22:16 Speaker 01 So when they came in, they thought, I think they were shocked by their, also they didn't have a, a natural number nine. I don't, I think they're struggling.
22:24 Trevor Noah? But Joe, we had, we had a stage where we're just asking about a singular goal.
22:29 Speaker 01 No, I'll say this about the World Cup, remember every team that shows up at the World Cup.
22:34 Speaker 01 Like there are no pushovers at the World Cup. That might sound weird when you've seen some of the scorelines.
22:39 Trevor Noah? Yeah, but people, people forget that every team beat a bunch of teams to get here, like Italy is not in the World Cup.
22:44 Speaker 01 It's not here because of Bosnia.
22:45 Trevor Noah? Yeah.
22:46 Speaker 01 And Bosnia hasn't had like a good World Cup, but the thing is every team at the World Cup is playing every game like it's a World Cup final. So when some people go like, oh, it's forty eight teams, they're going to be small teams. No, my friend, when Kurasaw is playing, that's the biggest game of their lives. When Cape Verde is playing, that's their World Cup final.
23:04 Trevor Noah? I think, I think maybe that's, that's something people forget. Whether actively, like subconsciously or consciously, I think a lot of people forget how many teams are at the World Cup, not because they were chosen.
23:18 Speaker 01 Yes, yes.
23:19 Trevor Noah? But because they won.
23:20 Speaker 01 Yes, they won, they earned their place.
23:21 Trevor Noah? Like every team is here because they won, but I think sometimes people make it seem like, oh, that's cute. They went and fetched Cape Verde, oh, that's cute. They think it's like a Cinderella story, like America's.
23:29 Speaker 01 Azerbaijan is here.
23:30 Trevor Noah? Yeah, like America's got talent or something. It's like, no, no, no. This is, this is like an active, active story, but, but this is, this is, this is why I think like Turkey's really gonna have to, it's, it, there's gonna be a lot of, um, uh, what do they call it? There's gonna be a post-mortem.
23:44 Speaker 01 Yeah, so Vincenzo Montella, the coach, is certainly going to lose his job.
23:47 Trevor Noah? Yeah.
23:47 Speaker 01 And I loved him as a player.
23:48 Trevor Noah? It's gonna be, it's gonna be, it's gonna be massive because here you have a team. That maybe wasn't expected to win the whole thing by their fans, but the fans expected
23:58 Speaker 01 At least to make a run, yes.
23:59 Trevor Noah? A late run. Because of the expanded format, by the way. Because of the expanded format, there's actually a high expectation on teams. Because there are easier games, there are easier moments in groups.
24:12 Speaker 01 Also, you don't have just to finish second.
24:13 Trevor Noah? Exactly. These eight third place teams are gonna go through. So their fans are saying, yeah, we didn't expect everything, but we expected something. And then you've got that happening. And I find it interesting how, I think a lot of the pressure is compounded by the fact that this is also the World Cup. It's like the Cinderella World Cup.
24:34 Speaker 01 Yes, yes, yes.
24:35 Trevor Noah? So it would be one thing if Turkey was losing their games and that was that.
24:41 Trevor Noah? It's something else when you're a Turkish fan, watching your team lose its games while Kurosawa is scoring against Germany, while they're getting a draw against Ecuador, while Cape Verde is getting a draw against Spain, while you're watching Japan go toe to toe with the Netherlands, thrashing Tunisia, while you're watching, you're watching clubs, Team USA.
25:03 Speaker 01 Also, the embarrassing.
25:04 Trevor Noah? Turning into prime Barcelona.
25:05 Speaker 01 I feel like the second game, I feel the second game they lost was very embarrassing because Paraguay were reduced. Paraguay, first of all, had lost to the US badly.
25:15 Trevor Noah? Yeah.
25:15 Speaker 01 So they went like, oh, this is a game we should be able to win. Because you went like, okay, Australia, maybe Australia sucker punched them because they dominated that game.
25:25 Trevor Noah? Yeah.
25:25 Speaker 01 They created all the chances. So you went like, okay, that's a bad day at the office, you know, we got sucker punched. But if you watch Uruguay get dominated the way they were dominated by the US, you went like, oh, this should be a cakewalk for Turkey. They lose 1-0. Paraguay plays most of the game, 10 men, because Miguel Almenon was sent off for that.
25:44 Trevor Noah? Yeah.
25:45 Speaker 01 And still Turkey couldn't find a way.
25:47 Trevor Noah? By the way, do you think that that should be a red card or a face?
25:48 Speaker 01 I think it should be. I think it should be. I think FIFA is saying you should say it with your chest.
25:53 Trevor Noah? I don't think it should be a red card.
25:54 Speaker 01 Say it with your chest. No, because when you do this, and you know where it comes from. It comes from.
25:58 Trevor Noah? Yeah, but I don't think it should be a red card.
26:00 Speaker 01 No, I think it should be. I think it should be because when you say.
26:02 Trevor Noah? I think it should be a yellow card. Okay, let me tell you why.
26:05 Speaker 01 Okay.
26:06 Trevor Noah? For me, a red card, and I'll preface this by saying.
26:13 Trevor Noah? I choose this because of when the rule was enforced.
26:17 Speaker 01 Okay.
26:18 Trevor Noah? Whenever there's a new rule in football. I think we shouldn't take for granted how reflexive so many actions are in the game, okay? Athletes all over the world.
26:29 Speaker 01 Yes.
26:30 Trevor Noah? Have gotten very comfortable doing this, even on the bench when they speak to each other. You know, they do this, watch the New York Knicks at the, at the victory parade. They're doing this the whole time. They're speaking to each other because they don't want their lips to be red, okay? You, you get taught to do this, put your hand in front of your mouth, put your hand in front of your mouth. Now, it's a new rule. That gets brought into the World Cup. A few months before the World Cup, not like years before. Right? So you don't get to like play it in the leagues.
26:57 Trevor Noah? You get to the World Cup. There's a moment. You just do your default, you put your hand, it's instinctive, red card. I think it should be a yellow. Because the game itself, the game.
27:12 Trevor Noah? Is disrupted so much by this decision. That you should give a nation an opportunity to be like, oh no, that person, like, you know what I mean?
27:21 Speaker 01 Also by the Miggy Arumiron, one of the nicest guys in the game. You also, you also don't. I hate agreeing with you, but now that you put it like that, you're going to go, there should be an off ramp.
27:31 Trevor Noah? Because also, and, and it'll be fine, you know what? Even if, even if they said to the opponent, what did he say to you? Even if the opponent said, no, no, no, he, he said something about my mother or whatever, whatever, it's fine, yellow card.
27:41 Speaker 01 No, I agree with you.
27:42 Trevor Noah? But.
27:43 Speaker 01 I hate it, but I agree with you, yes.
27:45 Trevor Noah? If the player says he said something racist, oh, then the ref can say red card.
27:48 Speaker 01 No, because that was, that was the origin of the rule.
27:50 Trevor Noah? Yes.
27:50 Speaker 01 Vinny said, Presianni said something racist. Presianni said, I didn't say anything racist.
27:54 Trevor Noah? And you can't prove it.
27:54 Speaker 01 The referee couldn't prove it because Presianni had. But the thing is, where I agree with you and I hate it, I hate it. I hate this moment. Where I agree with you is the off ramp. This was a decision, this was a rule created basically two, three months ago.
28:08 Trevor Noah? Yes.
28:09 Speaker 01 And the players have been doing this their whole lives.
28:11 Trevor Noah? Yeah.
28:12 Speaker 01 Cause even Messi, when Messi.
28:13 Trevor Noah? It's like taking your shirt off after you celebrate.
28:15 Speaker 01 Yes, yes.
28:16 Trevor Noah? You can't go to red card.
28:16 Speaker 01 Yes, that should have been an off round.
28:18 Trevor Noah? You know what I mean? You can't go red card for time wasting. And I mean, now time wasting is like more common, people understand it. But I think there are, there are certain things where we forget that it's just like part of the game.
28:27 Speaker 01 Hmm. It was a very reactive role as well. It reacted to a particular incident because that incident involved a star player.
28:33 Trevor Noah? Do you remember when they said, um, only captains can speak to the referee?
28:37 Speaker 01 Yes.
28:37 Trevor Noah? They made a new rule.
28:38 Speaker 01 Hmm.
28:38 Trevor Noah? The players, players can't swarm the ref. Only the captains can speak to the referee.
28:44 Speaker 01 Players still.
28:45 Trevor Noah? Players still ran to the referee.
28:46 Speaker 01 Yes.
28:47 Trevor Noah? And then they said, we'll give you a yellow card for this.
28:50 Speaker 01 Hmm.
28:50 Trevor Noah? Imagine if they said red.
28:51 Speaker 01 Oh, the other rule as well was you can't ask for a yellow card.
28:54 Trevor Noah? Yes.
28:54 Speaker 01 And players, every time they are fouled.
28:56 Trevor Noah? Yeah, they would do this. And then they would get yellows.
28:59 Speaker 01 Yes, yes.
28:59 Trevor Noah? But then over time, they stopped doing it.
29:01 Speaker 01 Hmm, hmm, hmm.
29:02 Trevor Noah? Except Vinicius.
29:03 Speaker 01 Yes.
29:03 Trevor Noah? They stopped doing it. And it, but imagine if it was, guys, red cards are such. A red card for me is such an egregious offence.
29:12 Speaker 01 It changes the dynamic of the game, changes the complexion, conditions the whole game. The good thing for Paraguay is it didn't cost them ultimately.
29:18 Trevor Noah? And that's now, imagine, now we're going back. Imagine if you're a Turkey fan going.
29:21 Speaker 01 Yeah.
29:22 Trevor Noah? We gave, we got, these guys got a red card.
29:25 Speaker 01 But I, but I have a question for you. Turkey and Tunisia, who is having the worst World Cup?
29:30 Trevor Noah? Turkey.
29:31 Speaker 01 Turkey?
29:32 Trevor Noah? Yeah, Turkey.
29:33 Speaker 01 Cause Tunisia fired their coach after losing five nil.
29:36 Trevor Noah? Yeah.
29:36 Speaker 01 And also they improved because they lo, they lost four nil.
29:38 Trevor Noah? But. No, but Turkey, Turkey's having a worse one because Turkey had, look at the team.
29:43 Speaker 01 Hmm.
29:43 Trevor Noah? Look at the team, look at the footballing heritage, look at their, their inner moments. Turkey's having the worst one.
29:49 Speaker 01 No, but I was.
29:50 Trevor Noah? You know who was sped? Actually, the blush is funny enough.
29:51 Speaker 01 Hmm.
29:52 Trevor Noah? Um, I think. Turkey would have wanted to do what many of the other clubs who had a shaky start did.
29:58 Speaker 01 Okay, teams, yeah.
29:59 Trevor Noah? Hmm. So Brazil.
30:01 Speaker 01 Hmm. Oh, I see.
30:02 Trevor Noah? You know, like Brazil came out and said, we've seen every meme.
30:05 Speaker 01 Hmm.
30:05 Trevor Noah? We've seen every critique, we've seen every pundit.
30:08 Speaker 01 Hmm.
30:09 Trevor Noah? Carlo Ancelotti switched out his front line.
30:11 Speaker 01 Hmm, hmm.
30:11 Trevor Noah? Put Cunha in.
30:12 Speaker 01 Hmm.
30:13 Trevor Noah? Benched Iago Tiago.
30:14 Speaker 01 Hmm, hmm.
30:15 Trevor Noah? Said, okay, let's play this game, let's get out there. And very quickly, they were on top of the game.
30:19 Speaker 01 It helps when you're playing Haiti though, in your second game.
30:21 Trevor Noah? But eh, we say that until you're drawing against Cape Verde.
30:24 Speaker 01 You're right, yes, yes.
30:25 Trevor Noah? You know what I mean?
30:26 Speaker 01 Hmm.
30:27 Trevor Noah? And I think that's, that's the biggest thing I've noticed at this World Cup is the big teams. In this second week, especially the ones who didn't have a good like.
30:36 Speaker 01 Spain.
30:37 Trevor Noah? Yeah.
30:37 Speaker 01 Yes.
30:38 Trevor Noah? Even Netherlands etcetera, they came out swinging now instead of like allowing the game to develop and thinking. The Netherlands scored two goals in the first like twenty minutes of their game.
30:49 Speaker 01 Sweden turning Brann Broby into prime Kluivert and also Cody Gappco into prime Ruud van Nistelrooy.
30:54 Trevor Noah? But that but that game, we'll we'll talk about that game should have, uh who else?
30:58 Speaker 01 Defector Scorsese, yes.
31:00 Trevor Noah? Scored Brazil, scored their first two goals, how quick, do you know what I mean? It's like, I think I think a lot of the teams are realizing this isn't a league match, it can't have the pace of a league match. You wanna get in, get your goals as quickly as possible and then get into the game. And and Spain, you saw that in their game, right?
31:17 Speaker 01 Came out here fast too.
31:18 Trevor Noah? First game, they were like, oh no, let's build it up, tic tac tac, let's feel the game. They're like, no, this is not, because they forget that their opponents are so happy to get a draw. You know what I mean? You can't, a draw is is valuable at this World Cup, especially when third place gets you through if you're in the the top eight third teams, you know? But now the teams came out, Brazil guns blazing, Spain guns blazing.
31:39 Speaker 01 But I think also the thing with opening games, opening games are always very cagey affairs. Cause no one wants, no, I mean like when it's your first game in the World Cup, it's almost like.
31:51 Trevor Noah? Look at England, look at England and look at France. Yeah, but look at England and France.
31:56 Speaker 01 Yes.
31:57 Trevor Noah? They were like, there's nothing cagey about this.
32:00 Trevor Noah? You, in my opinion, no team that's a big team.
32:05 Speaker 01 Okay.
32:06 Trevor Noah? Should ever believe that the first game should be cagey because a first game literally means nothing. It also means nothing.
32:13 Speaker 01 Yes, you lose it, you can see.
32:14 Trevor Noah? If you lose it, you can still go on to win a World Cup. We've seen many winners do that. So the first game is a game where you should just come out, swing as hard as you can and then calibrate.
32:23 Speaker 01 But I think he's just saying that as as a monolith as a team, but I'm saying the players, the individual players.
32:29 Trevor Noah? Oh, okay, okay, you think they're a bit.
32:31 Speaker 01 Yes, no player wants to be seen as a player who made the mistake.
32:34 Trevor Noah? My friend.
32:34 Speaker 01 Who made, it's almost like, you know, you know, when you come on as a substitute and they go like, let the first touch just be safe enough.
32:40 Trevor Noah? My friend, this is the World Cup.
32:44 Trevor Noah? You can't, you can't put on a Brazil shirt and not be sure of yourself.
32:47 Speaker 01 But I think it's a Brazil.
32:48 Trevor Noah? Matheus Cunha, that guy did not look like he was just trying to feel out the game.
32:51 Speaker 01 Came as a substitute. He was fighting for his place.
32:54 Trevor Noah? Yes.
32:54 Speaker 01 He got Thiago, put him on the bench.
32:55 Trevor Noah? Look now.
32:56 Speaker 01 But now, yeah, but I'm saying second game, things have settled now.
32:59 Trevor Noah? Yeah.
33:00 Speaker 01 The worst that could happen has almost happened.
33:02 Trevor Noah? But not Lamine Yamal, Lamine from the first game.
33:04 Speaker 01 He came on as a substitute as well.
33:06 Trevor Noah? Yeah, but he, but he didn't settle.
33:07 Speaker 01 Lamine has the fearlessness of youth though.
33:09 Trevor Noah? No.
33:09 Speaker 01 You know, he.
33:10 Trevor Noah? Joe, Messi.
33:11 Speaker 01 Talk to any teenager, teenagers don't care.
33:13 Trevor Noah? Messi first game.
33:14 Speaker 01 Consequences.
33:14 Trevor Noah? Messi first game.
33:15 Speaker 01 Messi has the fearlessness of a veteran.
33:19 Trevor Noah? No, you're gonna make excuses for everyone. You're gonna make excuses for everyone now.
33:23 Speaker 01 Yes, no, no, you're right.
33:23 Trevor Noah? Harry Kane.
33:24 Speaker 01 No, you're right. No, you're, no, you're right. You're right. You're right. It's, you're, you're basically saying fortune favors the brave.
33:29 Trevor Noah? Yes, it does. It does. It does. And, and by the way, that's another narrative I feel like needs to change, especially after the second week of the World Cup. This whole narrative around like David versus Goliath, I think we need to switch it up. Like.
33:42 Speaker 01 It's regards African teams, yes.
33:43 Trevor Noah? When they go like, oh, Courteiro against Germany, David versus Goliath.
33:48 Speaker 01 Senegal, mm, mm.
33:50 Trevor Noah? Senegal versus, David versus Goliath. I feel like pundits, commentators.
33:55 Speaker 01 It's very patronizing, by the way.
33:56 Trevor Noah? Yeah, it's patronizing, but more importantly, it's also inaccurate now. Okay? First of all, physically, if you look at the actual players.
34:04 Speaker 01 It's reversed, yes.
34:05 Trevor Noah? Yeah, the roles are definitely reversed. Like, Germany were struggling for size.
34:09 Speaker 01 So you're saying it's wrong both metaphorically and also.
34:12 Trevor Noah? And literally.
34:12 Speaker 01 Literally, yes.
34:13 Trevor Noah? And quite literally. And secondly, I think we've, we've outgrown that metaphor, David versus Goliath, because it's not David versus Goliath, you know? It's not like, oh, can David defeat Goliath? No. David is now a world beater. David has multiple players from Europe playing in his squad. David now has some of the most talented footballers. David's been in the gym.
34:34 Speaker 01 Taking steroids, yes.
34:35 Trevor Noah? Taking creatine, doing his thing. David is like on top of it. David's got a few belts under, you know what I mean?
34:40 Speaker 01 I always had a problem with the original. Story anyway.
34:44 Trevor Noah? Why?
34:45 Speaker 01 I thought David was, I thought David was a wimp. He was just throwing things, you know, like, come on.
34:50 Trevor Noah? Nah, man, can I tell you, it's actually funny you say that. I, I remember reading something that says, we might have misunderstood that whole story.
34:56 Speaker 01 Okay.
34:57 Trevor Noah? If it was a real story that happened. Cause they're saying by all accounts, Goliath may just have been like this very big lumbering man.
35:05 Speaker 01 Oh, okay.
35:06 Trevor Noah? And David was actually nimble, was like super quick with his slingshot. It was actually a bad, it was a bad matchup for Goliath.
35:12 Speaker 01 Okay.
35:13 Trevor Noah? Like Goliath, it was actually bad for him, even if you read it in the story, in the Bible. Like David comes there and he's like, I don't need all this armor, I don't need.
35:20 Speaker 01 Oh, cause it will weigh me down.
35:21 Trevor Noah? Yeah, he's like, it'll weigh me down. And so like Goliath is there, this lumbering, you know what I mean?
35:25 Speaker 01 Hmm, I see your point, yes.
35:26 Trevor Noah? And that's, that's what I think it is, in a weird way, it shouldn't be, you know, oh, will David beat Goliath? It should be like, i- is Goliath still what he's hyped up to be?
35:37 Speaker 01 Oh, okay, yeah.
35:37 Trevor Noah? I feel like a lot of host nations, or a lot, a lot of the big nations, that's, you know, the old winners.
35:43 Speaker 01 European nations and South American nations, yes.
35:45 Trevor Noah? They're just old Goliaths. Like England, England, they're considered a Goliath.
35:50 Speaker 01 Yes.
35:50 Trevor Noah? But when was the, when was the last time they won a fight? Like the big fights.
35:55 Speaker 01 That's what I'm thinking, it comes down to their recognizability.
35:59 Trevor Noah? When was the last time Brazil won its big fights?
36:00 Speaker 01 Yes, it comes down to how recognizable your player is.
36:03 Trevor Noah? When was the last time Italy, Italy still, Italy's still considered a Goliath?
36:07 Speaker 01 Yes.
36:08 Trevor Noah? When was the last time Italy, think about it?
36:11 Speaker 01 Since two thousand and six.
36:12 Trevor Noah? Come on, we're still calling these teams Goliaths. At some point, we've got to like change the term now, it can't be like, it can be like, yo, uh, is this Goliath?
36:19 Speaker 01 Germany didn't make it out of the group, two consecutive World Cups, twenty eighteen and twenty twenty two.
36:24 Trevor Noah? You, you get what I'm saying?
36:26 Speaker 01 No, no, I hear you.
36:27 Trevor Noah? I think all of these, all of these games, like, you can't look at Senegal anymore, even like the way the pundits talk about it. I, I, I mean, not that I should be, it's not like I'm offended by this, but I even find it weird that even like the commentators and the pundits are still like, and Africa, look at the Africans doing it, the Afri. No one says that about the European teams.
36:44 Speaker 01 You know, when a movie star is, has been so good, they cost. On the hype of their success for the longest time and then you go like, yeah, you know, many bad movies Nicholas Cage had to put out for us to finally go like, yo, guys, I think Nicholas Cage is the longest star, but for the longest time, it was Nicholas Cage, box office superstar and one of the guys, no, yeah.
37:08 Trevor Noah? I think we need to start, we need to start because, okay, let's look at the Germany-Cottevoix game, Germany-Ivory Coast.
37:16 Trevor Noah? Coming in, people would go, oh, David versus Goliath, can Ivory Coast stand up to them? Watch the actual game, watch the chances created.
37:26 Speaker 01 German was struggling, yes.
37:27 Trevor Noah? There's a specific moment that we all remember, if Simon Adingra.
37:31 Speaker 01 Yeah, yes, first times that ball, yes.
37:33 Trevor Noah? Just put it on target.
37:35 Speaker 01 Nicolas Pepe, by the way, late in the game as well, late.
37:38 Trevor Noah? All of a sudden, the game has changed, you know what I mean? It's not like Germany was all over that team. Germany scores a phenomenal goal, but even that tells you something. If you have to score a phenomenal goal to win the game, it means that you weren't the Goliath you thought you were.
37:53 Speaker 01 Yes, but I think.
37:54 Trevor Noah? Like Spain against Saudi Arabia.
37:56 Speaker 01 Yeah, yeah.
37:56 Trevor Noah? That is like, okay, you can see that this is a lopsided competition. But if you have to put together the most amazing pass, the most amazing touch and turn and shot to get your goal, then my friend, this wasn't a mismatch.
38:11 Speaker 01 But I think so.
38:12 Trevor Noah? Does that make sense?
38:12 Speaker 01 No, but I think it's still, and I agree with you, but I think it's also about the legacy, how many titles you've won.
38:17 Trevor Noah? But that's my point.
38:19 Speaker 01 I'll give you an example, Germany versus Ivory Coast.
38:21 Trevor Noah? Yes.
38:21 Speaker 01 When Germany scores, when Dennis Onda, you know, quick turn and that first time shot, first of all, by the way, in natural finisher, because he didn't even need to look where the goal was.
38:29 Trevor Noah? Absolutely out of this world.
38:30 Speaker 01 So when he scores, almost every person I know who is a student of the game, every person who has loved the game for a long time, immediately went back to Gary Lineker's court. You know that famous quote by Gary Lineker?
38:41 Trevor Noah? No.
38:41 Speaker 01 Where when like football is a simple game, where twenty-two men chase the ball for ninety minutes and in the end the Germans win.
38:47 Trevor Noah? That's so funny.
38:48 Speaker 01 So everyone went back to that. Everyone remembered, oh, this is what the Germans do. There were so many Dutch fans. Cause Holland and Germany have, or the Netherlands and Germany have that weird rivalry. There's so many Dutch fans who went like, yeah, we've seen this happen so many times. The Germans always do this. It's almost like they give you hope and then a dagger. So it's, I think it's about the legacy. And you're right.
39:09 Trevor Noah? I hear you, but at some point, we're gonna ask ourselves, like, is Goliath the underdog now?
39:13 Speaker 01 You know what's happening? Cause Americans would relate to this. It's the legacy admission. You know, when they go like, oh, your father was an alumna- yeah, he was an alumnus at this college. Oh, the library is named after him.
39:25 Trevor Noah? Yes. Just because your dad went to the school doesn't mean you deserve to be at the school.
39:28 Speaker 01 You don't have the grades even, but they go like, oh, right.
39:30 Trevor Noah? You don't have, Germany won the World Cup. Not this German squad.
39:33 Speaker 01 Generation, yes.
39:34 Trevor Noah? You get what I'm saying?
39:35 Speaker 01 Hmm.
39:35 Trevor Noah? This current Argentina squad won the World Cup.
39:37 Speaker 01 Yes.
39:38 Trevor Noah? See, that's different.
39:38 Speaker 01 Yes, that's different.
39:39 Trevor Noah? This current French squad won the World Cup. That's different. When you look at like the pieces, a lot of it's.
39:44 Speaker 01 Italy shouldn't be getting into a college.
39:45 Trevor Noah? You can't. You can't.
39:46 Speaker 01 Italy should be going to a community college somewhere.
39:48 Trevor Noah? You can't still be riding on the coattails of a generation that doesn't exist anymore. Oh, we've won the World Cup. No, we. Who's we? That's where, that's where if you had like an African parent, they would be quick to tell you.
39:59 Speaker 01 Yeah, they would remind you.
39:59 Trevor Noah? You'd be like, ah, we bought this house. They'd be like, who's we? You live in this house. I bought it.
40:04 Speaker 01 This is my roof, yes.
40:05 Trevor Noah? Yeah, this is my house and my car.
40:07 Speaker 01 Yeah, but that's why we don't have.
40:08 Trevor Noah? You live in it.
40:09 Speaker 01 Yeah, but that's why we don't have Nepal babies in Africa.
40:10 Trevor Noah? Yeah, that's exactly.
40:11 Speaker 01 The concept of a Nepal baby is spoiled. It's like totally.
40:14 Trevor Noah? So for me.
40:15 Speaker 01 It's wasted on an African parent.
40:16 Trevor Noah? It doesn't work.
40:17 Speaker 01 Cause an African parent goes like, what do you mean? This is my stuff. You better go out there and look for your own stuff. Cause I also remember African parents love struggle. They go like, ah, I struggled.
40:26 Trevor Noah? Yeah, do you know what I'm trying to get here?
40:28 Speaker 01 Yes, you have to struggle as well. You appreciate it when you struggle.
40:30 Trevor Noah? Maybe that's why we appreciate Team USA so much now is because it feels like their struggle is bearing fruit.
40:36 Speaker 01 Hmm. And it's also disconnected. They don't have that legacy. They don't have a team they can point to. Where they go like, oh, this team. Like they have.
40:44 Trevor Noah? Man, they did well, man.
40:45 Speaker 01 They have had some teams like in two thousand two that maybe lost to Germany, but they still don't have that team, yes.
40:50 Trevor Noah? It was great.
40:51 Speaker 01 Hmm. No, they are amazing.
40:52 Trevor Noah? It was great. It was great for football.
40:54 Speaker 01 Hmm.
40:54 Trevor Noah? Again, they're through now, two games.
40:56 Speaker 01 Mexico is through.
40:57 Trevor Noah? By the way, how do you, how do you feel about um the new format? Goal difference used to be the determining factor, now it's head to head.
41:05 Speaker 01 I think it sucks.
41:06 Trevor Noah? Because now it means like teams immediately know that the third game means nothing.
41:11 Speaker 01 Means nothing, cause back then, when goal difference is the determinant or is the decider, then the teams go like, okay, third game, I'm gonna give it all.
41:19 Trevor Noah? Yeah, because it might determine where you end up.
41:21 Speaker 01 Yes, now it's.
41:22 Trevor Noah? Now, Mexico has, Mexico literally.
41:25 Speaker 01 Yeah, they don't need to.
41:26 Trevor Noah? Can walk onto the pitch against Czechia and they can sit down and it does not change their outcome.
41:31 Speaker 01 And all, and Czechia can score as many goals as they want. Yes, I think FIFA tried to do head to head to avoid. I, I think it backfired. I think, I think it backfired, but Mexico making it through is good. I watched that Mexico game.
41:46 Trevor Noah? No, I'm happy, I'm happy Mexico made it through.
41:48 Speaker 01 Made the save of the tournament. He made, he made like an incredible double save when he was on the ground.
41:53 Trevor Noah? Oh, he did the, it's a, yeah, he had the first save down and then the second save, he was falling.
41:58 Speaker 01 Yes.
41:58 Trevor Noah? And he hit the ball. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was a great, yeah, that was really nice.
42:01 Speaker 01 We celebrate like the strikers with their golazos, but that.
42:04 Trevor Noah? This has been the, the, the World Cup of goalkeepers.
42:07 Speaker 01 Yeah, goalkeepers, yes.
42:07 Trevor Noah? No, goalkeepers are looking good in this World Cup.
42:09 Speaker 01 Vozina.
42:10 Trevor Noah? Yeah, no, they, they're actually looking very good in this World Cup.
42:12 Speaker 01 His mom was allowed into the country. That's, that's how good a performance he gave in that game.
42:17 Trevor Noah? That's when you know.
42:18 Speaker 01 That forget about the, also, also forget about the following, his mom.
42:22 Trevor Noah? You know, that's, that's when you go like, how good were you? I was so good that America changed its immigration policies for my mom.
42:30 Speaker 01 And also, the mom was received as like a, some kind of returning.
42:33 Trevor Noah? Like a dignitary.
42:34 Speaker 01 Yes, but also like Vozina's story is so interesting and I think we touched about this.
42:38 Trevor Noah? Yeah, we did, we did last time, yeah.
42:40 Speaker 01 He got like millions of followers and he's almost like the reverse Spider-Man, cause with great power came great irresponsibility. So he received 14 million followers and the first thing he did was follow everybody, every Instagram body that he could find.
42:56 Trevor Noah? Hey man, live your dreams, you know?
42:58 Speaker 01 Also at 40, yeah, you know, this is his last dance and he's going like, I'm going down swinging. Yeah, I know. The keepers have been outstanding.
43:06 Trevor Noah? What are we excited looking forward? What are we looking for?
43:09 Speaker 01 Looking forward, I'm very interested, one, in how Sweden navigates their last game.
43:16 Trevor Noah? You know, let's talk about that game before we go into what's coming up.
43:18 Speaker 01 I'm very interested, yeah.
43:19 Trevor Noah? I don't know what your analysis was. I think that's one of those games where the score doesn't reflect the chances. So Sweden, Sweden is a very spiky team. And what I mean by that is, you know, like, I think a team that's well balanced has a very smooth shape to it. So its good moments and its bad moments are not particularly far from each other. So it creates like a really beautiful, smooth shape.
43:41 Speaker 01 Okay.
43:42 Trevor Noah? Then there are teams that are just like bad. So it's like a small circle. But then you have spiky teams, amazing moment, terrible moment, amazing moment, terrible moment, amazing moment. Because Sweden is so spiky, they conceded in every terrible moment. But they had like really good spikes where they could have scored and they didn't. Like, I thought Isak was fantastic feeding the ball to Gjokaréz. I think Gjokaréz was fantastic feeding the ball to Ayary.
44:05 Speaker 01 Yes.
44:05 Trevor Noah? Ayary should have put a ball on target. Gjokaréz, I think, should have been a little bit more clinical. There were like three or four chances where Sweden could have scored and should have scored, in my opinion, and they didn't. And that turns the game, because when it's two nil and you make it two one.
44:23 Speaker 01 Yeah, of course. Now it's totally different.
44:25 Trevor Noah? The Netherlands is a bit shaky now.
44:26 Speaker 01 And we've seen them against Japan, yes.
44:29 Trevor Noah? If it's two one or three one and you make it three two, momentum, shaking it. I just felt like Sweden. I think people are writing Sweden off prematurely.
44:39 Speaker 01 I think they ran into a Dutch team again, because also you are talking about teams that started, that started in a cagey manner and then canned on the start. The Netherlands did that in the second game. I think they ran into a Dutch team that finally got its tactics together. Because remember the first game, they played Daniel Marin as the lone follow, as the lone forward. And then because in this game, uh, some of it was struggling with a knock, they moved Daniel Marin to the wing and then they brought in Brian Broby. Who is like a handful.
45:09 Trevor Noah? I've always thought his, uh, Marlin is better on the right.
45:12 Speaker 01 Yeah, no. So they, so that's what they did. And then they brought in, because Broby killed them. He killed them with his physicality. He killed them with his strength.
45:18 Trevor Noah? Yeah.
45:18 Speaker 01 He killed them with his running. And I think for the longest time, for the longest time, especially in the first half, Lindeoff and his defensive partner couldn't handle that much power.
45:26 Trevor Noah? You know what made me wonder, actually? I wonder if. You know, Brobby and Haaland and a lot of these, even Lukaku for glimpses.
45:35 Speaker 01 Big, strong boys, yes.
45:36 Trevor Noah? I wonder if football, like fashion, is experiencing its come back to bell bottoms moment.
45:42 Speaker 01 Oh, it went through the small forward.
45:44 Trevor Noah? Where we, we had a game for a long time where it was all about have a big man up front. He powers through, he makes space, he gets you goals. Then that man became shorter and shorter and shorter.
45:54 Speaker 01 And smaller, yes.
45:55 Trevor Noah? Messi.
45:55 Speaker 01 Yes.
45:56 Trevor Noah? Basically eclipsed, like basically deleted that position from the game. And now it was the David Vias and it was, you know, the Agueros and, but it was really like, the point of that player was not to like overpower a defense.
46:08 Speaker 01 It was skill them through their movement.
46:09 Trevor Noah? Right, but then because the game became about movement and passing, defending became tighter.
46:14 Speaker 01 Yes, yes.
46:14 Trevor Noah? It became about a block, it became about shapes to cut off the passing lanes and the triangles. But now because of that, one of the only ways you can get a goal and you can score is to whip the ball in behind a defense. Or to whip the ball in or to create some sort of running chaos. Because that's where numbers don't help you.
46:30 Speaker 01 You need a battering ram, yes.
46:32 Trevor Noah? Yeah, if you, if you have six defenders running towards their own goal. It doesn't really help them as much as six defenders facing away from their goal.
46:40 Speaker 01 Yes, you're right, yes.
46:40 Trevor Noah? Do you get what I'm saying?
46:41 Speaker 01 The thing about soccer, soccer or football, it's very cyclical.
46:44 Trevor Noah? Yeah, and so now, now it feels like, you know, like, looking at Brobby as like, I think five, six years ago. That player is not on a squad anywhere.
46:52 Speaker 01 So he was endangered or even almost extinct, yes.
46:56 Trevor Noah? And now, it looks like there's a space for him in every squad in the world. Even like a Giorcres.
47:01 Speaker 01 Yes, yes, yeah.
47:02 Trevor Noah? There's like, there's space for like this big, fast, strong player. Who's gonna like cause chaos up top. It's one of the reasons I actually think Mbappe is only being saved by his pace. Not, I think Mbappe is one of the greatest players we'll ever see. I still think he should be playing on the left. In the middle, without his pace, he just gets like knocked off a little.
47:23 Speaker 01 Yes.
47:23 Trevor Noah? Just, he gets knocked off balance. He just gets, he, he doesn't like, he, he's not a battering ram. You, you, you know what I mean?
47:29 Speaker 01 I was looking at, so for me, when I look at Sweden, because Sweden does, Sweden has gone back to that. First of all, Sweden uses two strikers, which is a rare.
47:36 Trevor Noah? They, they shouldn't. I don't think they should. I don't know what you think of it. They shouldn't. I like the way Isak played on the left.
47:40 Speaker 01 No, but then, but then also Norway uses two strikers, Soloth and.
47:44 Trevor Noah? Yeah, but I feel like they're like they sort of have to.
47:46 Speaker 01 Hmm, okay. No, but I'm going like so when I.
47:49 Trevor Noah? Sweden had nothing. It wasn't just, okay, let me put it this way. It wasn't about the two strikers. It was about the formation behind it.
47:54 Speaker 01 Yes.
47:54 Trevor Noah? If you have two strikers, but then you play an attacking midfielder right behind them. So you're playing a four three one two. Your wings are so wide open. Gakpo and Dumfries are having the time of their lives.
48:05 Speaker 01 They're just overloaded.
48:06 Trevor Noah? Yeah, because now your wings are just, and the game is on the wings most of the time anyways. So people are going around you. You know what I mean? You've built like a really strong front door with no walls.
48:14 Speaker 01 But that's what I'm thinking. That's why, that's why I'm very interested in how Sweden handles their last game. Because Graham Potter, in the game against the Dutch, he showed that he's no Harry Potter. But in the final game, in the final game, yeah, he's going to need to, like, with some magic men, because it will be very disappointing with a team that Elanga and Lucas Bagwell, with a team that talented.
48:34 Trevor Noah? Why don't they start Elanga?
48:38 Speaker 01 His squad like goes for them, but I think maybe they, no, maybe, maybe here's what I'm thinking. With his raw pace. Graham Potter is going like, oh, I need him against tiring legs. That's the only.
48:48 Trevor Noah? My friend, that makes no sense when you look at his record. Elanga is playing from minute one.
48:54 Speaker 01 He has.
48:55 Trevor Noah? So here's, okay, here's what I mean.
48:56 Speaker 01 But sometimes, sometimes he runs head down. Sometimes there's a roadrunner quality to his game. Where you don't know what he's going to do next.
49:04 Trevor Noah? Maybe I have a, I have a differing opinion here. I go. Bringing in impact players in those types of situations can work in your favor sometimes. I think what a lot of coaches take for granted is you might bring them in when you're down now. And now you're playing, and now you're playing against somebody who can afford to sit back and, and rob you of yards.
49:24 Speaker 01 Yes, yes, yes.
49:25 Trevor Noah? So now this person gets to go, okay, Elanga's faster than me. I'm gonna stand ten, twenty yards further back. Let's move everything back. And rob him of space. But if you start Elanga and he's running from the very beginning. And we need to attack at the same time. We now have to choose, do we attack? Look at what PSG did, look at what PSG did to Arsenal. Bukayo Saka spent the whole game defending.
49:45 Speaker 01 Defending, yes.
49:46 Trevor Noah? Because Kavaskeria on that, on that left wing.
49:49 Speaker 01 Was a constant menace, yes.
49:50 Trevor Noah? So now Bukayo Saka, one of the best like wide players, doesn't get to do, play his trade. He spends sixty something minutes defending and then he comes off the ga- the field. That, that's what pace does from the very get go.
50:01 Speaker 01 And also I'll tell you, as someone who has played defensive positions, pace is scary. When you're playing against a player who you know in.
50:08 Trevor Noah? Pace is terrible.
50:09 Speaker 01 Who you know in a footrace can beat you. It's like the worst.
50:12 Trevor Noah? Because they just kick the ball and they run.
50:13 Speaker 01 Yes, cause like a player who dribbles, you go like, oh, maybe I'll touch the ball.
50:16 Trevor Noah? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
50:17 Speaker 01 When a player, cause also remember footresses are like the most natural, almost most alpha male. Like you, you think about when someone can beat in a.
50:26 Trevor Noah? It is the most primitive competition.
50:28 Speaker 01 Yes, alias like, you know, primitive lizard brain. The goal he scored once, he's running through the middle, cause you know he's beating you. Like pace is not something you can, someone is either faster than you or not.
50:40 Trevor Noah? Yeah, that's it.
50:40 Speaker 01 It's like very, yeah, no, so I'm very interested now to handle that.
50:43 Trevor Noah? Okay, so we're looking forward to the Sweden game, that's gonna, that's gonna be a big game. Uh, Ger- Germany's games are done.
50:49 Speaker 01 I'm looking, I'm looking forward to the Egypt game as well. Uh, not because it could be Salah's last game if they don't make it, but also because Egypt for me has, you did ask me last week about my like most heartwarming moment.
51:01 Trevor Noah? Yeah.
51:02 Speaker 01 Oh, and I, I remember for me, I didn't say this, and I think I should have said this last week. For me, it's seeing the Egyptian coach on the bench, Hossam Hassan. He's a legend, he used to be the face of Egypt before Salah came along, he helped Egypt win most of those stars.
51:18 Trevor Noah? Oh, I didn't know that.
51:18 Speaker 01 And now he's coaching at the World Cup, and he's coaching the guy who replaced him as the first.
51:23 Trevor Noah? Oh, that's amazing, I didn't know that, yeah, I didn't know that.
51:26 Speaker 01 He was part of that team that had, you know, Mohamed Bou- Boutrika, Mohamed Barakat and all these legends. But seeing him at the, cause he never, he never got a chance to go to the World Cup. So imagine if Salah never got a chance to go to the World Cup. He kept winning all these Nations Cups, but for some reason or another, Egypt could never make it to the World Cup. And now he's at the World Cup, he's the coach, so I'm really looking forward to at least him making it to the knockout rounds. It would be like a beautiful, like way to bring his story all around. He's a legend of African football, so for me that was just watching him. It's like almost, remember when Maradona was coaching Messi?
52:00 Trevor Noah? It was a weird, that was beautiful.
52:02 Speaker 01 Yeah, no, it's a beautiful, you see.
52:04 Trevor Noah? It was dysfunctional, but it was beautiful.
52:05 Speaker 01 It was dysfunctional, yes. But like, it's almost like you see this person, it's like almost a passing of the torch.
52:10 Trevor Noah? Yeah.
52:10 Speaker 01 But like in a game, like not, not like outside the game.
52:14 Trevor Noah? Yeah, yeah, yeah, actually actively in the game.
52:16 Speaker 01 Yeah, so I would really, I would really love for Osama San to make it to the knockout rounds. And also for Salah, like that would be a good send off.
52:23 Trevor Noah? Yeah, man, we need, we need as many of them as possible. We need, um, what about your boy CR7? Do you think he's a?
52:32 Speaker 01 The funny thing is, I'm a huge admirer. And people might not, might find this hard to believe. I'm a huge admirer of Cristiano Ronaldo, the person. Cristiano Ronaldo, the human being.
52:42 Trevor Noah? Yeah.
52:42 Speaker 01 He's like a superlative human being. When you hear about the things he has done for charity. When you hear about the fact that doesn't have tattoos. Cause he likes donating blood. That's the reason he doesn't have tattoos. He's like a superlative, but then because he's a competitor, I think like. Cristiano Ronaldo, the competitor, Cristiano Ronaldo, the human being, especially when they come on the pitch.
53:02 Trevor Noah? Yeah.
53:03 Speaker 01 This is the reason why people call him Homelander. Cause I think Cristiano Ronaldo.
53:08 Trevor Noah? Did you see that meme, by the way?
53:10 Speaker 01 It was like, it was like one for one. Yeah, no. So I feel like the competitor, it's almost like if someone has like an alter ego, you know, so like, uh.
53:17 Trevor Noah? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
53:17 Speaker 01 Yeah, like, you know, Clark, Clark Kent and Superman and Bruce Wayne and Batman. But then if Batman takes over. Cause the thing that makes Superman very human is Clark Kent.
53:26 Trevor Noah? Yeah.
53:26 Speaker 01 The thing that makes Batman human is Bruce Wayne. So I feel like with Cristiano Ronaldo. The alter ego sometimes takes over when he's, actually most times takes over when he's on the pitch. And so what happened in the first game was, of course, it no longer has the legs. So he's no longer as mobile as he should be.
53:43 Trevor Noah? Yeah.
53:44 Speaker 01 The midfield can't feed you if you're not making runs in behind. The midfield can't feed you, however superlative that midfield is. Bruno Fernandes, Yawon Neves, Vitinha, they can't feed you if everyone you're making, you're in an offside position. So they spent most of the time, despite having eighty percent of the possession, just passing sideways. And then what happened was after the game, they asked you, oh, Neves, Cristiano Ronaldo, and he said something that I thought was diplomatic.
54:09 Trevor Noah? I actually thought it was diplomatic as well, yeah.
54:10 Speaker 01 Yeah, but because you went like, oh, he's just another player, because you don't want to heap pressure on Ronaldo, to go like, oh, he's our only hope. He's our Prince and Slayer, please save us. No, you want like, no, he's just, he's just one of us, we have to deliver. Ronaldo fans didn't take it like that. And remember, your own Neves had scored the goal that spared their brushes. They have been flooding his Instagram. Comments were coming in, a hundred comments of hate per minute. They didn't just do that, they went and flooded.
54:37 Trevor Noah? His girlfriends, yeah, yeah.
54:37 Speaker 01 His girlfriends. And they're doing that to Bruno Fernandes, they're doing it to Yawo Neves, they're doing it to Vitinha. And they also are doing it to, you won't believe this, and this is going to hurt you, they're doing it to the Liverpool player. I don't even know whether I should say his name.
54:52 Trevor Noah? Who?
54:53 Speaker 01 Who passed away.
54:55 Trevor Noah? They're doing it to Diego Jota?
54:56 Speaker 01 That's it, yeah. They're going to his comments and they're leaving comments. No, I know, it's, it's, and some people, so they, they even, they're coming to Neves's Instagram and saying, it should have been you.
55:07 Trevor Noah? Geez.
55:08 Speaker 01 Instead of Jota, it should have been, that's what I'm saying, I didn't even know.
55:10 Trevor Noah? That's the, that's like the, that's, that's the downside of football is like, the fans, yeah, the fans get so, you know?
55:17 Speaker 01 Because I went like, should I bring up Diogo Jota? Because it's, you don't want to bring him up in these circumstances.
55:21 Trevor Noah? Yeah, but it is like the.
55:23 Speaker 01 They're flooding. And so I'm thinking, I'm thinking, how is that affecting, how is that affecting the chemistry?
55:28 Trevor Noah? That's what I was wondering. I was like, does this, is this one of those moments where you hope a coach can like shut the whole thing down and say, team, we have to do this? Or does it put too much pressure on Portugal now?
55:36 Speaker 01 It puts so much pressure because now they're going to be watching every pass.
55:38 Trevor Noah? Yeah, now they're like playing for a nation, by the way.
55:40 Speaker 01 Yes, either you pass Ronaldo or you know what's going to happen off the pitch. But also I'm going like, these players these days are online constantly.
55:48 Trevor Noah? They are.
55:48 Speaker 01 So they're seeing all this. And for me, I'm just thinking, how does Roberto Martinez?
55:52 Trevor Noah? You know what also people forget is, in footballing nations, there's also like a strange entitlement that fans have. Where like footballers will talk about. How they can't go to the grocery store, their families can't go out.
56:08 Speaker 01 Yes.
56:08 Trevor Noah? Because people go to their families or them in public and curse them out.
56:12 Speaker 01 Hmm.
56:13 Trevor Noah? For their performances.
56:14 Speaker 01 It's not just footballers. I think Arsene Wenger did talk about he can't pick. Coaches have talked about not being able to pick their kids from school because a parent comes up to you.
56:24 Trevor Noah? But that, but you see, I don't, I don't, I don't hear, maybe it happens and I don't hear, but I don't hear stories like, like that in American sports.
56:30 Speaker 01 Americans are very good, I think, at sometimes.
56:32 Trevor Noah? They go like you're trash.
56:33 Speaker 01 Yes, yes.
56:34 Trevor Noah? But I don't see them.
56:35 Speaker 01 Your kid, yes.
56:35 Trevor Noah? Yeah, I don't see them, I don't see stories like that.
56:38 Speaker 01 Hmm.
56:39 Trevor Noah? And like, that's the one thing about football where it's like.
56:42 Speaker 01 It's very intense.
56:43 Trevor Noah? The weight of a nation.
56:44 Speaker 01 Hmm.
56:44 Trevor Noah? Is not born easily.
56:46 Speaker 01 Hmm, hmm.
56:46 Trevor Noah? You know what I mean? Like, literally, carrying the weight of your nation is one that's, yo, man, it's no joke.
56:52 Speaker 01 So now I'm just thinking about how toxic that is for the, because now Portugal, the same way you said Spain.
56:57 Trevor Noah? Yeah.
56:57 Speaker 01 The same way you said the Dutch, Portugal really needs to win its next game.
57:01 Trevor Noah? Yeah, they do.
57:02 Speaker 01 They really cannot afford not to, because the pressure is only going to intensify.
57:06 Trevor Noah? Yeah.
57:07 Speaker 01 And some person saying, and I'm one of those people, you're one of those people who are saying, maybe Ronaldo should be taking on a lesser role. Maybe should go from being, you know, the, you know, you know, when they go like, oh.
57:17 Trevor Noah? Be a cheerleader.
57:18 Speaker 01 Yes, the lead name on the poster, maybe should be a supporting character. Because also when you think about the major trophy, the one major trophy Portugal has won, Ronaldo was forced off by injury.
57:29 Trevor Noah? He was.
57:30 Speaker 01 And he spent the entire final against France, Euro two thousand and six, he spent, rather, Euro twenty sixteen, he spent the whole final cheerleading from the bench. And who scored the goal? Edéa. No one knows him, no one knew him before, no one knows what happened to him after.
57:44 Trevor Noah? Yeah.
57:44 Speaker 01 But guess what? Ronaldo was a European champion. So by that time, he was forced by injury to go off the pitch.
57:51 Trevor Noah? So what you're saying is someone, someone in the Portuguese TV is to slide tackle Ronaldo in the change room.
57:55 Speaker 01 No, their family will be.
57:56 Trevor Noah? Make something happen, make something happen.
57:58 Speaker 01 Your family home would be firebombed.
58:00 Trevor Noah? Yeah, you'd be gone, you'd be deported from your home country.
58:02 Speaker 01 No, it would be, yeah.
58:02 Trevor Noah? All right, well, this has been it. Another week of the World Cup, another exciting one.
58:07 Speaker 01 Yeah.
58:07 Trevor Noah? It's gonna be fire, man.
58:08 Speaker 01 No, no, I, I can't wait because normally it would be like two more weeks to go now because normally the World Cup.
58:13 Trevor Noah? Yeah, now, now it's done.
58:15 Speaker 01 Yes, now we have like four more weeks.
58:16 Trevor Noah? Yeah, yeah, we're not even, pace yourself.
58:18 Speaker 01 Hmm, pace yourself.
58:18 Trevor Noah? I tell everybody who's watching the World Cup now, I'm like, pace yourself. This is the longest World Cup we've ever had. This is the most packed World Cup we've ever had. Pace yourself. Don't get too angry, don't get too happy. Unless you're Turkish. Unless you're Turkish.
58:33 Speaker 01 The Turkish fans have every reason to be angry.
58:34 Trevor Noah? You can go crazy, but otherwise, enjoy it.
58:36 Speaker 01 I'll say this, the reason I am enjoying also the fact that we have four more weeks is, you know, our watch party is, you know, we've built, we've built a community actually. It really feels like a family. And then every week that passes, because you keep reading out certain names.
58:48 Trevor Noah? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
58:48 Speaker 01 And I think every week that passes feels like, oh, we're getting to know more.
58:52 Trevor Noah? Yeah, we're building, it's like a little, it's a little village.
58:54 Speaker 01 Yeah, no, it's really, it's really beautiful. And I don't know where four weeks are going to take us. Maybe we're going to be meeting this, because it feels like now we are dating, you know, but we're not meeting. You know, you're dating, but I don't trust you yet to meet my friends, but maybe four weeks from now. Who knows?
59:09 Trevor Noah? You never know, you never know, we'll see how it goes. But sure, this was fun, man, as always, my friend.
59:12 Speaker 01 Brother, a pleasure. I just said the fact that I had to agree with you at some point, but.
59:16 Trevor Noah? Ah, man, you know, as Gianni Infantino says, "The World Cup brings people together who never imagined they could be together." And even Joe and Trevor can agree sometimes because of the World Cup.
59:32 Speaker 01 No, it's beautiful, man, it's beautiful. I'm looking forward to more of these, man.
59:40 Trevor Noah? Thank you again so much to the sponsor of today's episode, Mazda. Mazda delivers confidence and control in every single drive. And Consumer Reports' safest new car brand award proves it. You know, there's a phrase I really like. "A lot can happen when an accident doesn't."
1:00:02 Trevor Noah? And that's true. A calm drive home, a conversation that continues, a trip that stays exactly what it was supposed to be.
1:00:12 Trevor Noah? That's what we're looking for. Mazda has been named Consumer Reports' safest new car brand in America. Mazda's safety features are designed to bring more enjoyment to every drive, not to take away from it, so you can do what you feel like doing. Mazda has been named Consumer Reports' safest new car brand, people, safest. Visit MazdaUSA.com to learn more. Consumer Reports does not endorse products or services.
1:00:44 Trevor Noah? What Now World Cup bonus episodes are produced by Day Zero Productions in partnership with Sirius XM. Executive produced by Trevor Noah, Sanaz Yamin, Ryan Harduth and Rebecca Shane. Music, mixing and mastering by Hannes Brown. Thank you so much for listening. Join us every Monday during the World Cup for bonus episodes of What Now with Trevor Noah.
1:01:16 Trevor Noah? Subtitles by the Amara.org community
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