00:00USA to Bosnia-Herzegovina, nil, red card via VAR to our best guy, Flo Baligan, who had
00:10another goal in the 45th minute, meaning he was out for the second half of the game, almost
00:15all of it, and he's out for the next game against Belgium on Monday.
00:20The whole game?
00:21The whole damn game.
00:24Now, as I'm watching, because remember, I'm a regular in the church of soccer every three
00:29years and 11 months, like clockwork, three years, 11 months, hi, I'm here, and then
00:35I watch soccer, and I remember all the reasons that I don't watch soccer, because the flopping
00:41is out of control.
00:42Oh, yeah.
00:43The referee's cards are capricious at best.
00:47The offsides rule is mysterious and indecipherable many times, where I'm like squinting going,
00:53I don't see it, Elaine.
00:55I don't, what does he mean he's offside?
00:57But that's fine.
00:58If you love the game, the game doesn't need me, by the way, the sport doesn't need me,
01:02it's the most popular sport in the world, it is a financial monster, FIFA is having the
01:07most amazing World Cup ever, because they came to a place, America, and Mexico, and Canada,
01:12that didn't have to build a single stadium.
01:14Yeah.
01:14Brazil had to build them, they're half empty now, Russia had to build them, same thing,
01:20Qatar killed 300 workers building them, they're half empty.
01:24We're like, yeah.
01:26Yeah, we're like, we'll pick the 12 best.
01:29And then the visitors from here are like, wow, you have such nice stadiums, and I hear
01:34that you have ones that are even bigger than this, we're like, yeah, they're college stadiums,
01:37but they don't have the nice luxury suite to the concourses, so we're not using them.
01:42We know that you all get money off of this, but you gotta take their name off of the stadium.
01:45That's it.
01:46That's it.
01:47They did that.
01:48And so this is what really, really angers me.
01:51Everyone agrees the red card for Balagan is way excessive and not warranted.
01:56That it was applied using video-assisted review, VAR, in a way that they say don't do this.
02:03They say don't use VAR for still frames or slow motion.
02:07That's what the rules say about VAR.
02:09And they basically said, yeah, this looks like a dirty play.
02:12There's countless other dirty plays by other players like Messi that were not called red
02:19cards or even yellow cards.
02:20And the play on the pitch was not even called a yellow card.
02:23So to take a guy out for a game and a half, our best guy, as we are finally climbing
02:29up
02:29to the steepest parts of the mountain to make a run at winning this thing, they take our
02:35best guy away.
02:36It's dirty pool, and I'm thinking, we covered up our ketchup bottles for this?
02:42F these guys, FIFA.
02:43Now, in theory, today, they could reverse it or downgrade it to a yellow.
02:48Everything I've read, B. Mitch, says that that is unlikely.
02:51Very unlikely.
02:52It may be unlikely, but I just still think they're a much better team.
02:56But I watched the game, and Brian know my comments.
03:00I'm concerned about the goaltending.
03:02Why?
03:03That dude was out of position.
03:05If Bosnia-Herzegovina was any good, we'd lose that game last night.
03:10He was out of position, too.
03:13When he tried to come and grab the ball, it completely missed it.
03:16Ryan, do you concur that freeze is not what it's all about?
03:19It's really ironic because our teams have been so bad, but the one bright spot every
03:23World Cup has been our goalkeeping.
03:24Right.
03:25This year, it's the complete opposite.
03:27All three of them.
03:28Freeze is our best option.
03:30It's bleak.
03:31Last night, he was out of position too many times.
03:34Well, they had some Rockets that just missed the post.
03:37They were two or three in the second half that if they don't put it too wide, he didn't get
03:46nowhere close to it.
03:47He dove to make it seem like he was.
03:49But you know we were playing 10 on 11.
03:51You know that was bound to happen.
03:53You know they were about to get some threats on goal.
03:56They had nothing in the first half.
03:58They had nothing.
03:58And then once they get a man up, they got some opportunities.
04:01By the way, Brian, I hear this guy, Freeze, is like some analytics junkie when it comes
04:06to goalkeeping.
04:08Yeah, he did this whole study about penalty kicks and that you should just stand in the
04:13middle because it's analytically correct.
04:15And he's an educated guy and he wants everyone to know it.
04:19Okay.
04:19So in other words, he's covering up for the fact that he's a mid-keeper by claiming this
04:24mantle of, oh, I'm analytically focused.
04:28So if he don't block one, he's going to say, well, I did the analytically correct thing.
04:35I don't want to hear that.
04:36See, that's why people in analytics love y'all.
04:40But I despise y'all because when stuff goes wrong, you want to tell me what you did the
04:44right.
04:44No, no, no.
04:44If you didn't stop the damn goal, you didn't score the touchdown, you didn't do this, you
04:48didn't do the right thing.
04:49So just because analytics tell you to do something don't mean do it every time.
04:54Sometimes you got to just do what you think you need to do.
04:56How bad do you think the Bosnian keeper feels on the free kick by Tillman?
05:01He pretty much conceded the entire front side of the net thinking, you know what?
05:06If he goes this way over the wall, I'll be there to get it.
05:10And he got one of his big old hamburger helper mitts on the ball and it wasn't enough because
05:14there's too much Tabasco on that ball from Tillman.
05:18And that kick from Tillman, if you look at it, it was low enough to where he couldn't
05:24see it till late and it just skimmed the top of the wall.
05:28So he caught the sight of it late.
05:31Yes.
05:31And he couldn't get a jump on it.
05:33Like most guys would have kicked that thing wide or higher.
05:37See what I'm saying?
05:38Yeah.
05:38And he'll see it the whole way.
05:39That was a hell of a kick.
05:40I am also completely gobsmacked at how a guy can get the ball up, but with topspin to
05:49bend it down like that.
05:50That is some serious soccer magic right there.
05:54But that's the level of athletes these guys are.
05:56They are absolutely phenomenal players and phenomenal athletes.
06:01You watch them how they're dribbling and passing that damn ball.
06:05Oh yeah.
06:05So it's amazing what they're doing with their feet.
06:09Yeah.
06:09Thierry Henry had the best quote about the goal.
06:13I'm just going to call it up here right now.
06:15Do you like, actually it might have been Zlatan.
06:18How are you feeling about the post game and the studio stuff?
06:22Because there's been a lot of chatter about that.
06:24A lot of people clowning on Alexei Lalas for sure.
06:28Any thoughts on how the studio goes?
06:30I don't mind.
06:30Are you not watching very much of it?
06:31First of all, I'm not watching it all the time.
06:34So I'm just happy that at least we can hear some of it at the end.
06:38And I hope that they can try to make me understand it better.
06:42All right.
06:42Brian, are you tuned into the post game, pre game halftime set and your thoughts on the
06:48three guys?
06:51Oh, Brian?
06:52No?
06:52Not listening?
06:53Okay.
06:53I was going to go to Brian because it sounds like you are more soccer oriented.
06:57Maybe you are, Clary, as well.
06:58Do you guys have any thoughts on the trio of Lalas, Zlatan, and Thierry?
07:04I love Zlatan's antics.
07:06Henry probably is the most introspective of the bunch.
07:10And I think it's funny how much they just both want to kill Alexei Lalas.
07:13They do.
07:14They can't stand him.
07:15Here's the best quote.
07:16This is from Zlatan.
07:19Okay.
07:19This is on the Tillman free kick.
07:21Quote.
07:21That is why football is beautiful.
07:23You lose a player.
07:25Everyone expects you to suffer.
07:27But then one man walks over the ball with ice in his veins.
07:31Tillman didn't just score a free kick.
07:33He killed Bosnia's belief.
07:36The wall was there.
07:38The keeper was ready.
07:39But perfection doesn't ask for permission.
07:42It simply happens.
07:44That's world.
07:47I like it.
07:48That's some poetry right there.
07:50I like it.
07:50From the guy who, when he played for the LA Galaxy, Zlatan, at the end of his career,
07:57because we always get these recycled European greats at the end of their careers to play
08:01in the MLS, as he retired from the Galaxy, he took out a full billboard in LA that said,
08:07you're welcome, Los Angeles.
08:10He has leaned into that act as that guy.
08:14That is fantastic stuff.
08:16So, we'll see if there's any news today about FIFA changing their mind, which they should,
08:23because we are giving them a phenomenal, record-breaking World Cup,
08:28where we didn't have to build a single thing for them other than put new grass in the stadiums.
08:32That might piss them off.
08:33I know.
08:34That new grass thing is becoming a big thing in football.
08:37Oh, you can put a grass for this damn soccer.
08:39You can put grass for the people that's making you all these damn millions and billions.
08:43It's like a husband who says to his wife, oh, you can tidy up when we have guests coming over.
08:47Can we not tidy up on the regular?
