- 6 hours ago
Daniel Sperry joins the show to talk World Cup Soccer In KC.
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00:04welcome back in sports daily on a tuesday morning tj cleveland paul savage filling in for jacob
00:09albrock joined by daniel sperry of the kansas city star we keep getting kc star people joining
00:14the show we might as well get some soccer kc stars talk uh here on kfh here in wichita daniel
00:20good morning i imagine uh that uh you didn't sleep well last night thinking about today how
00:24excited are you i think that that's the that's an understatement i i'm so excited
00:30uh i this is this has been a kind of a crazy journey for me and like this is kind
00:35of the dream
00:36right to to cover the world cup and to do it in a place that i now really love to
00:41call home
00:42in kansas city and be out there for argentina algeria it's kind of a dream come true so i'm
00:47i'm fully loving it it's been a crazy ride the last week but yeah i did not sleep very well
00:52last night
00:53this has been you know what four years in the making that we've known it's going to be in kansas
00:58city
00:58like eight years in the making we knew it was coming to america and we hoped it was coming to
01:02kansas city then we learned it's going to be argentina coming to kansas city for the people
01:06you know we've been talking a lot about the world cup and you know we we typically don't talk too
01:10much
01:10about soccer on the radio we you know you know in america you know the way it all goes and
01:16everything
01:16like that uh but it's growing popularity by the day this feels like a real linchpin of getting people
01:21excited in america especially in kansas city more so and more so but to have argentina in kansas city
01:28i mean you follow this that's for people that don't even follow soccer to see argentina coming to
01:33kansas city when you saw that announcement how big of a deal was that back then and now to see
01:37it come
01:38to life how crazy is it i think more so than even like messy coming to kansas city it was
01:44art when you say argentina's coming to kansas city you're you're argentina is literally coming to
01:50kansas city i don't know if you've seen the videos on my on my social media yet but like
01:55the the scene on the plaza last night was unreal i i felt like i was in buenos aires maybe
02:02um it it
02:03and they were all argentinian too there was quite a few locals and people that popped their head in but
02:08i don't know how many times i encountered people sitting at the cafe on the corner trying to file a
02:13story uh sitting there and all argentinian did not speak any english uh came from buenos aires
02:20or came from uh an interesting northern region where there's a lot of a lot of folks from out
02:26of town i think that announcement was like uh it understanding what the atmosphere is going to be
02:32like at arrowhead um i know the way that place holds noise right we know that that place just
02:37turns into a cauldron of noise and you have one of the noisiest fan bases that sings and chants and
02:45dances and has drums and trumpets the entire match they'll do it for the two hours they're in the
02:50stadium before the game they'll do it on their way out to the buses and however they're going to get
02:54to the stadium it's going to be a giant party um and i i don't think you know kansas city
03:00has kind
03:00of gave me a little flack for saying this might be the most mad that arrowhead might be have ever
03:06been and you know i love chiefs fans i've been to chiefs game i i don't know if it will
03:11compare to
03:12what a world cup match for argentina is like because it's going to be absolute bedlam in that place
03:18you know i've just got to ask you because let's face it there's many of us that are just like
03:24me
03:24and i'm basically a knuckle dragging football basketball baseball kind of guy and that's
03:31probably fairly typical amongst much of the population of the united states but i need your
03:38help i need you because i i'm into this i've i i have bought in to the world cup i'm
03:45i'm with i'm i'm
03:46checking scores i'm i'm looking at what i need a look at but help me out help me understand what's
03:53going on more i don't know i don't understand soccer i i need some tips from you how do i
04:00enjoy
04:00this tournament what do i look for when i'm watching a game help me explain explain to me
04:07what i need to see and know to you know really help me enjoy this once in a lifetime world
04:15cup
04:16coming to america help me please i think the biggest thing i can say is look for teams that
04:23uh don't need to use the air to travel the ball i think in soccer and one of the things
04:32that you can
04:32tell by the quality of a team and the thing that's interesting is the way that they move the ball
04:37oh person with their feet keep the ball on the ground i'm not saying they can't play over the top
04:43but teams that are constantly sending it long and looks like they're going four verts you know through
04:49the through the channels and stuff sometimes it works a little bit um you'll see teams do it i think
04:55usa's example against paraguay was brilliant because there's a little bit of that and in football terms
05:00right think of the way you got to you got to take the top off the defense a little bit
05:04to get the get the space and be able to dink and dunk and get that space to run or
05:09short pass
05:10underneath and kind of possess the ball and in soccer sometimes you got to do things that will
05:16open up other things and you watch the u.s they went long a little bit on paraguay and then
05:20for
05:20stretches they just sit there and they'd they'd ping them into the and keep them into their back
05:26um defensive third of the field and and create overwhelming pressure and i think that's something
05:32a lot of the best teams do um and i that's just that's just one tip in like understanding the
05:38quality of a team that you're looking at and i think you know that doesn't mean that teams that
05:43do it aren't great but i think it tells it shows you the quality of the player of the other
05:47of that
05:48team if they're able to ping the ball thank you so much because i can understand that what you just
05:52tipped me with is is something that i can grasp and helps me make a judgment helps me understand
05:58thank you so much go ahead so so going back to tonight's match let's talk about the actual
06:03specifics of what to expect as we're saying you know the casuals will watch it and look for number
06:0710 the entire time which you know people that aren't casuals will do as well whenever it's messy
06:11you you watch messy uh but these are two loaded and algeria is no slum either they're they're a really
06:16good country uh what their star played for man city i believe uh most recently before joining the
06:21the saudi league i believe uh who are the stars who do we look for outside of number 10 yeah
06:27so
06:27obviously i mean it's so hard to talk about stars in this without talking messy right but messy is
06:32almost transcendent in a way these days um for argentina julian alvarez number their number nine
06:39um i'm not 100 sure if he's gonna wear number nine but look for julian alvarez he is a world
06:44-class
06:44striker but he also isn't the type of like big giant guy up top that you just lump the ball
06:50to
06:50he can do a little bit of everything not like messy um maybe a little bit more like cristiano
06:56ronaldo i didn't for a the purposes of a more general comparison um he can drop in and pick up
07:03passes and and pass the ball around he can do it from the wing and send crosses in and he
07:08can he
07:09can shoot from distance he's got an incredible shot from a free kick um as much as messy is dangerous
07:15over the ball there will be certain angles that's better for him to take the free kick and he might
07:19put
07:19one in the top corner um as far as algeria you mentioned uh i'll say this too one more thing
07:25about argentina their entire team is like very very high level most of them play at the top clubs
07:31in spain or or in england um a couple of them play in germany a few of them play in
07:35argentina but
07:36maybe a young breakout star for argentina too is going to be nico paz um he plays at a small
07:42team in
07:43italy called como that has absolutely punched above its weight its stadium is beautiful on lake como in
07:48italy um it's an unreal sight at matches out there they play some incredible soccer um coached by
07:56former uh barcelona and arsenal got uh cesc fabregas and nico paz has been one of the youngest
08:01prod prodigies in the world um so i think he's going to be a guy that might see some time
08:07over this
08:08tournament it's going to be a real big excitement then on the algeria side you mentioned
08:11riad mares uh playing for manchester city but so has um so does ryanite nuri who plays for them now
08:18he's their one of their defenders he's a very very good defender but he's also he's a left back so
08:24that means he kind of attacks and defends and provides a lot in the build-up there's a couple
08:29of two two players that are young and playing really really well in germany um and that's uh amora
08:34who is their striker um he led them in goal scored and qualifying he scored tons of goals for
08:39wolfsburg um in germany this year and then ibrahim mazza is a weirdly cerebral young midfielder i
08:48mean he is he sees everything he lives and breathes the game there's a clip of him sitting on the
08:54plane
08:54um just looking at clips while everyone else around him is watching movies he's on a plane
08:59sitting there trying to learn more about what he's going to see and they're downloading information
09:04into his brain about what he's going to see over the tournament he lives and breathes the game and
09:09he is a phenomenal player to watch in germany and i think this algeria team is no slouch it's going
09:14to
09:14be a pretty i i would expect argentina to win tonight but this is going to be a pretty tough
09:19matchup um
09:20algeria is quite a strong team and could even pull off an upset i wouldn't be surprised yeah paul let
09:26me hop back in here there's so many storylines to follow through this one between you know the the
09:31argentina being here and then the university of kansas algerians which is the story that nobody
09:35expected to see coming it's so fun to watch uh before we let you go we'll talk a little team
09:39usa
09:39uh because you know again soccer casuals here i follow the world cup every year i watched the
09:45game last week and i told people that's the most optimistic i've ever felt leaving a team usa
09:49watching experience they seem like they're going to be legit right yeah that that was quite a
09:54performance and i you know i kind of talked a little bit of the tactics and what that meant
09:58before but that that is a performance from the u.s that i i think will do wonders in in
10:07pushing the
10:07eyes of the u.s program for americans um i i think the way that they played with it attacked
10:14um they
10:15were relentless in going forward they created tons of good chances they were incredible 1v1
10:20um they they combined really well they did all the great things attacking teams do but then defensively
10:26they were so good for a majority of it i know the goal is kind of unfortunate to give up
10:31but that the way
10:32that they would lose the ball maybe off an attack and immediately just flood and regroup and win that
10:39ball and immediately recycle it into another attack there was a tactical level of execute
10:46very high level of tactical execution and understanding and i don't think we've ever seen before but i don't
10:51think we've also ever had an american roster as talented as we have before and maybe a coach as high
10:57level as pochettino pochettino is a brilliant coach and i think we're finally seeing the tactical stamp
11:03that everyone thought we might get with a big name coach um coaching the u.s men's national team but
11:09it also helps to have the talent on the roster um to do that they have 13 players playing in
11:14the top
11:14five leagues in europe that shows that's this way different than any american team we've ever had
11:19in a world cup before what's really interesting is goaltending give me a give me a little scenario
11:25about goaltending where where does the united states in your opinion and i know this is just an
11:30opinion but your opinion where where does the united states rank when it comes to goaltending because
11:35i think we all understand you don't even have to understand soccer to understand that if you have a
11:40great goaltender man you have you have a leg up on anybody you play yeah this is a this is
11:46a weird
11:47stretch for america because right in the past we've had world-class goalkeepers that are some of the best
11:53in the world right now we don't really have a guy that is that good but they are guys who
11:58are not going
11:59to lose you a game i don't think matt turner um is the backup matt freeze is who you saw
12:04um he's been
12:05one of the best goalies in major league soccer um i've covered him a couple of times now in mls
12:10over the last couple years and he is a very very good goalkeeper very good shot stopper but it does
12:15it changes the game when you can have it and it's it's so funny that the u.s is in
12:19a spot right now
12:20where we're in our greatest heyday and yet the one thing we were known for for decades around the world
12:26was the fact that we just kept producing great goalkeepers casey keller was an unbelievable
12:30goalkeeper tony miola was an unbelievable goalkeeper playing in mls people around the world respected and knew
12:36how good of a goalkeeper tony miola was for the kansas city wizards and so you have all of those
12:42guys and then tim howard who at the highest of you went back to the 2014 world cup saw him
12:47make 16
12:48saves against belgium at his time he was probably a top five goalkeeper in the premier league played
12:53for manchester united played years and years at everton um right now we're kind of in this lull of
12:59like we don't really have this big name goalkeeper but everyone else around him is certainly carrying the
13:04weight there you go all right it's officially match day it's raining in kansas city right now so let's
13:09get rid of this uh and we'll see you out there tonight daniel i'll be in air or kansas city
13:13stadium
13:14not arrowhead don't don't you dare say that uh you can follow along with daniel tonight sperry daniel
13:18nine four on uh x daniel appreciate you hopping on talk a little footy with us this morning i'm gonna
13:23have to have you on again throughout the world cup sounds good man thanks for chatting love the love
13:27the chat world cup with anyone i can there you go all right we'll be right back here on sports
13:31daily
13:32open wide for some soccer
13:37it's all here
13:38it's all here
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