00:00I got to tell you, Michelle, last night watching Hard Rock with all those fans there, that was an amazing
00:07place and an amazing event last night.
00:10Yeah, I've covered seven World Cups, and I can tell you that that was the most dramatic, riveting game that
00:19I've covered in seven World Cups.
00:21It was unbelievable.
00:22It was just the back and forth, but not just that.
00:26It was the circumstances.
00:27You've got Messi in Argentina, the defending champions, 65,000 people were there.
00:34You know, 64,050 of them were from Argentina, and then there were like 50 people in the end zone
00:41for Cape Verde.
00:44It was just a total, one of these underdog of all underdogs, this little, it's the tiniest country ever to
00:52advance in a World Cup ever.
00:54And for them to be toe-to-toe, not just toe-to-toe, scaring the crap out of Argentina and
01:02Messi and all of their fans, their fans got there in a total party mood.
01:07They were singing and dancing from the moment they got, you know, off their buses and into the gates.
01:12It was a huge Argentinian party, and all of a sudden, that game, it started off like, whoa, this game
01:20is kind of close, but you know that Argentina, you know, they're going to pull it out or whatever.
01:24And then they take shot after shot, Vozinha, the goalie from Cape Verde, 40 years old, unbelievable.
01:32He stops Messi point blank.
01:36Like, he did not get intimidated that the best player of all time was staring him face-to-face.
01:41He stopped that shot.
01:43He stopped a free kick.
01:45The defense played great.
01:46It was just incredible drama to be there in person.
01:51I have to tell you that the building actually shook.
01:55I mean, I was in the press box, and the building was swaying at moments when the Argentines were all
02:02jumping up and down, 64,000 people jumping at the same time.
02:06The press box was also jumping.
02:09So, it was, I mean, there are certain moments in your career, you know, I've been doing this for 40
02:17years now, and there are certain moments where you know you're watching something incredible and historic, and that was definitely
02:25one of those moments.
02:27Had to remind you of being back at the Orange Bowl a little bit when you're talking about swaying and
02:32going up and down in a press box like that there.
02:35I mean, but, you know, what was really wild is that, you know, there was some criticism at the beginning
02:40of the tournament that expanding it and putting more teams in.
02:44In your opinion, Michelle, has that been really something that has really been a pleasant surprise that adding more teams
02:50to the World Cup has actually been, it's been a really entertaining sporting event.
02:56Absolutely.
02:57I mean, I think that, you know, I know FIFA gets a lot of criticism, but Africa has been underrepresented
03:03at the World Cup for the longest time.
03:07There were 55 countries in Africa, and they only got five spots in the World Cup that they were competing
03:15for.
03:1555 countries competing for five spots every four years, whereas Europe had 54 countries competing for 13 spots.
03:25So more than double the representation from the European countries, the African nations have been underrepresented for so long.
03:35So this time, because they expanded the field to 48, they gave Africa nine spots, and then a 10th spot
03:44was a playoff, a playoff spot against Jamaica.
03:47And the African team won that, so it ended up being the 10 teams from Africa were in this World
03:55Cup, and nine of the 10, nine of the 10 advanced to the knockout round, which is unbelievable.
04:03No one expected that, and Cape Verde, what they did, it was not just what they did last night.
04:09It was not just what they did last night.
04:11They tied Spain.
04:13They opened this tournament tying, you know, the European champion.
04:18The European champion that a lot of people think is a serious contender to win this whole thing, and Cape
04:24Verde opens with a tie against them, and everyone's like, oh, well, you know, that was probably a fluke or
04:29whatever.
04:30Then they tie Uruguay, and you're like, okay, they have now tied two World Cup champions, two former World Cup
04:39champions.
04:40Then they tie their third game.
04:41So they go through their whole group stage without losing.
04:45They didn't win, but they did not lose in three games.
04:48And they come in second in their group, not third.
04:51They went in as a runner-up in their group.
04:53And then they give Messi and Argentina another, the defending World Cup champion.
05:00They gave them everything that they could handle.
05:04I mean, it was unbelievable how scared every Argentinian fan was that they were about to get knocked out of
05:13the World Cup, the defending champions.
05:15It was Lionel Messi ruining the whole storyline of Lionel Messi, his final World Cup.
05:21Maybe they're going to repeat.
05:22They were about to knock him out in the freaking round of, you know, it's just insane.
05:29And so they played amazing for all the games that they played.
05:33Cape Verde and their coach have so much to be proud of.
Comments