00:02we're real excited to have kyle bond back on the show because it's uh i mean it's that time of
00:07the
00:07year i mean the world cup begins next week we could have started next week with kyle but we
00:11wanted to get an early look at who people are betting and and by the way i think this is
00:16going
00:16to be a very exciting uh tournament uh kyle thanks for coming on the show and i know that
00:20you're getting ready for it as well appreciate it yeah thank you craig uh this is the most exciting
00:26time of the soccer calendar so very much looking forward to it this is a sport that never ends
00:31uh we've got year-round soccer all the time but the world cup sure is special yeah and i think
00:37kyle look the reason why it's more special let's begin with this this year is the most low-lying
00:43fruit obvious reason it's in the united states like it's never avoidable i mean i live in south
00:50florida where everybody of course you know latin america they follow the world cup here but the
00:54fact that is in the u.s this year kyle to me that's what puts it over the top and
00:58by the way
00:59it may be decades before we see it back here again yeah you know i was talking to a friend
01:04of mine who
01:05is not a soccer fan um earlier this morning and he was texting me how's the u.s gonna do
01:10and i
01:10mentioned that this that they're hoping to reach the quarterfinals of a world cup for the first time
01:15since 2002 and this is someone who is not a soccer fan and he goes yeah i remember that 2002
01:20team
01:20i remember everybody going crazy and that was in asia if that's the kind of effect that a deep run
01:26for the u.s team can have across the world imagine the kind of effect that a good tournament can
01:33have
01:33on this the sport in this country on home soil all right so kyle let's get started because this is
01:39our first conversation of the world cup season essentially uh let let's go into you know who's in
01:45it who the favorites are if you think that the odds are correct we'll get into some of the surprises
01:51but let's just start off with the favorite to win the world cup this season and do you think that
01:57the
01:57odds are properly priced having spain essentially france and england all within those three it would
02:05appear odds makers are telling us one of those three wins it this year yeah i think that's that's
02:12correct uh for the most part uh i think if any of those three teams don't reach the semifinals it's
02:19a massive disappointment for them at the world cup i think all three of those teams also would expect to
02:25reach the final and probably lift the trophy too so they're all strong contenders i have questions
02:30about each one though spain have had injury issues they're the best team in the world i think but there
02:36are some questions the biggest one being to laminya mall who's in my opinion the best player in the
02:40world right now at the very least top three um just 19 years old unbelievable player he's going to win
02:46multiple ballon doors in his career but he tore his hamstring towards the end of the season with
02:50barcelona missed the rest of the season and now there's reports that he could miss the first few
02:55games of the world cup they don't need him to progress through the group stage i'm not worried
02:59about them there i'm worried about the lingering effects of that hamstring injury through the rest of
03:04the tournament even if he comes back will he be at full strength will he be able to run as
03:08fast as he
03:09normally can dribble that kind of thing so i have a little a bit of of injury questions there with
03:14spain there's also some other players who are either missing or struggling with injury england
03:19very well coached team but there's been some questionable roster decisions from thomas tuchel
03:23and fatigue could be a factor for them arsenal reached the end of the champions league uh tournament
03:29it was a long premier league season they've got a number of of players who who had very long club
03:34seasons that you wonder if maybe that could play a factor in the world cup uh france really good
03:42attacking team but their coach didier dechamps is notorious for for reining that in and playing
03:47defensive first it worked in 2018 it almost worked in 2022 they're a very good team but will they let
03:53that strong attacking talent run free to me the biggest miss from the top of the odds is argentina
04:02though defending champions are plus 900 to win this tournament that's insane for me uh they are
04:09the they have the the one quality that is most coveted at a world cup and that is that they
04:16are the
04:16hardest team to beat they are so tough to beat their coach lionel scaloni for me is the best national
04:21team coach in the world obviously they have lionel messy but what scaloni has done is he has propped
04:27this team up to be one of the best in the world with or without messy uh and and they
04:32are a formidable
04:34team plus 900 is crazy to me especially when you look at brazil at plus 850 which is also crazy
04:41for me
04:41stay away from brazil yes they're the most successful team in world cup history they have not won since
04:462002 and they just don't have that top to bottom star level talent they usually do neymar is washed uh
04:55he's just not it anymore and also may be injured for the tournament um they've got a ton of players
05:01missing due to injury and in a squad that already is thin i just don't see it for them let's
05:08get to
05:08team usa here and kyle uh you believe that this new format that's in place basically gives team usa a
05:17better chance and so i guess my question to you would be was this strategically done because it's in
05:24the united states this season and the ratings i mean there's conspiracy theorists who would believe
05:29that or is it just simply put they got lucky they're they're in a format that makes it easier
05:33i would say it does and it doesn't make it easier for them uh i would say in the beginning
05:39it does
05:39the reason for the new format is money that's it top to bottom money there's more games they've gone
05:45from 64 games uh to 104 games i believe over the course of the world cup so you've just almost
05:52doubled the amount of sheer volume of matches in the tournament by expanding from 32 to 48 that's
05:58the only reason they expanded for the u.s it means that there's a higher floor uh there's always the
06:04risk that the u.s in the 32 team format could get eliminated in the group stage that is almost
06:09impossible in this new format for them to be eliminated in the group stage only the all fourth
06:15place finishers in in the groups are eliminated and then four of the 12 third place finishers are
06:21eliminated that's it so they can finish third in their group and still have a two thirds chance
06:25of qualifying for the knockout round now where the group stage really matters when you put aside the
06:30fact that they're probably not going to get eliminated in the group stage what really matters is setting
06:35themselves up for a success in the knockout stage here's the variance that they could enjoy if they win
06:41their group which is going to be tough because turkey's a good team if they win their group they would
06:46set
06:46themselves up to face a third place finisher in the round of 32 remember this year with the 48 team
06:51tournament there's a round of 32 which there's never been before and then in the round of 16 they would
06:56face the winner of belgium's group so belgium probably one of the most beatable tier one teams in this
07:04tournament if they finish third or even second in their group there's the chance that they could play
07:10argentina in the first round of the knockout stage it's so that's what you're looking at where the
07:16group stage matters are they likely to be eliminated in the group stage almost impossible but it could
07:22make or break their tournament knowing that to me now different people will say different things
07:28the round of 16 reaching the round of 16 is the bare minimum for this team reaching the quarterfinals
07:35something they've never done since 2002 would be an unmitigated success and reaching the
07:39semifinals would be a dream okay so to get there they have to have a good group stage okay so
07:45so
07:45here's what i don't understand this is why we have kyle on uh guys put up the graphic to odds
07:50to qualify
07:51from group d why are all of these minus money kyle what am i missing here i mean shouldn't somebody
07:57be
07:57plus or literally can all four get in no all four cannot get in but three of the four are
08:04likely so
08:05that's why you're looking at that those kind of odds and in this group there's no real bottom feeder
08:11like there's no there's no uh team that everyone can beat up on and is very unlikely to reach
08:16the knockout stage that's what you're looking at right there is that three of those four teams
08:20have a good chance of moving on okay finally let's talk about the rule changes here kyle before we let
08:27you go and then we'll bring you back on uh and talk more world cup later in the week
08:32yeah so there's going to be a number of tweaks to you don't see this very often where the ifab
08:37the
08:37rule making organization uses the world cup as kind of a test run almost for some of these rule
08:43changes but there's going to be the ones you'll see the most there is a time limit for substitutions
08:48of 10 seconds which could matter because if the the player coming off does not get off the field in
08:5310
08:53seconds that delays the substitute coming on by a minute so your team now has to play down a man
08:58for a
08:59minute uh and that that could be a big thing throw-ins there's a five second time limit or else
09:04throw-in goes to the other team that's new uh var can review fouls before a corner is taken which
09:11is
09:11new uh so there's a number of new things here that they're trialing that you may see during the games
09:16and we'll have a lot of coverage here of course on sports grid throughout the world cup kyle will be
09:21with me on this show as well kyle thanks for coming on news i really appreciate it thanks craig enjoy
09:26you
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