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With heavyweights tumbling and the last 16 taking shape, The Star's Sportcast's Ng Chia Yin, together with T. Avineshwaran and S. Saktesh analyse the biggest winners, losers and what lies ahead.
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00:04welcome back to stars podcast i'm your host chia yin as usual we have our guests
00:10avi and sapish hello welcome back yeah long time no see how are you guys doing
00:15pretty good tired haven't slept for three weeks now so the round 32 has come and gone
00:22the giants have been falling and then we have already got a round of 16 fixture list to pick
00:28true so what are your guys's pick i think it's been chaotic at the moment it's been just lost
00:36count how many extra times we've had how many penalties were missed how many penalties were
00:40saved how many penalties hit the bar honestly yeah i've lost count there's been so much going on
00:44penalty shooter is always chaotic always fanatic everybody talks about the luck element but now
00:50we are seeing coaches talking about no it's no more a luck no more a lucky element it's more like
00:56how decisive you are in the modality box so that aside i mean we've been feasted quite a number
01:02of good games belgium's comeback against senegal what a comeback was that back uh 32 even though i
01:07felt like senegal could have done better the coach could have got his tactics right but he did not
01:13uh i'm looking forward to the round of 16 fixtures actually we've got some pretty interesting ones
01:19yeah some some big upsets already in the round of 32 especially so yeah i'm looking forward to that
01:24looking forward to it so what about canada beating south africa what do you think about that performance
01:30i think it was calculated and measured and i would say that uh playing in front of their crowd
01:37uh was a factor as well i'm gonna i'm not gonna take anything away from south africa they played well
01:43they were superb just that their final third uh efficiency wasn't there they couldn't bury their
01:51chances was this canada's first win in the knockout stage yeah i believe so i think that itself should
01:56give some credit because to have host teams you know personally for me it's like when you see some
02:03most countries when they host you get a free ticket into the workout right but i think this time
02:07seeing how canada mexico and the u.s are playing it's it's it's for me it's like okay you deserve
02:15to
02:15be in the knockout they're playing amazing games like not to take away from anything from south africa
02:19but canada played a very good game but it also speaks about their development because canada usa and
02:26mexico they've got lots of players who played in the previous world cup and they didn't do well in
02:32the world cup but these players have matured have shown for their respective clubs in europe or even
02:38in north america or south america like in canada's case that team has been a sad team for quite a
02:44while
02:44and they needed a coach that could inspire them to defy the odds and i think jesse marsh has done
02:51that
02:51quite well looking at estakio scoring the goal you know he's he's actually a kid that has been based in
02:57portugal for a long time it was a late goal from him yeah late goal from him and then they've
03:03got
03:03good players like natan saliba and then they have cornelius and then they've got the striker from
03:08juventus jonathan david so it speaks about their progression as a team and just needing that coach to
03:16tell them that hey each and everyone you have what it takes to push this nation to greater heights
03:21let's get into disappointments like any team or individual that let you guys down so far
03:27like anything you like to see them fix i think not the team disappoint not the team brought
03:35disappointment but just disappointing to see is for me personally is japan to see them out after
03:41what i think was the better team against brazil it's heartbreaking because based on that performance
03:49if someone tells me brazil look like they're going to win i'm like you have to be blind because
03:52brazil did not play a good game against japan like japan were in in command of the game and up
04:00till
04:00casemiro's called the equalizer i feel like they were still you know holding it and i thought i was
04:05going to go to extra time but lo and behold martinelli was martinelli's called yeah he's caught so
04:12did they deserve to win it no did japan deserve to win it yes my opinion so that's for me
04:18the biggest
04:18heartbreak so far uh to allude to what you said japan a lot of us thought this was a team
04:25that was
04:25meant for the semi-final or final because they have what it takes to go all the way up to
04:30the stage but
04:31the luck of the tour they have to face what are the favorites of the tournament in the form of
04:35brazil
04:36and i think for me instead of being disappointed instead of telling themselves say we lost the brazil no
04:42i think that moriasu and his boys will now sit down and start thinking about how do we take on
04:49these big teams how do we stun them how do we beat them in big tournaments i think that is
04:53essential
04:53the way they played i felt towards the end they got their tactics a little wrong the fact that i
05:00felt if
05:02you want to go for the kill just go for the kill right you're playing a knockout game you just
05:07go for
05:07the kill and i think they were a bit too reserved they felt like we could you know hold the
05:11brazilian
05:11down a bit yeah hold the brazilian still the end but you're facing one of the best managers in
05:18world football carlo ancelotti and you're playing at the world cup yeah you're playing at the world
05:22cup and for him the fact that he brought on gabriel martinelli i saw some tweets saying that why did
05:27you
05:27bring him on he's not going to bring anything but the coach believed in him played him in a spot
05:32that
05:32he does not play usually which is a number eight spot and he did well yeah and he scored right
05:36and he scored the winning goal so i think that says a lot about man management that says a lot
05:41about
05:41uh coaches aura right and maybe the faith on players exactly that's what i said about
05:48i think that match was the contrast like you said yeah japan made perhaps some bad calls towards the
05:53end of the game and brazil made somehow the right call this is not the fault of the place of
05:58the
05:58coach it's just that at that point of time they didn't make the the right call against a side like
06:02brazil so for me japan will only get stronger japan will should not be ashamed of what has happened
06:09i feel like one thing was also that they don't have a few notable names like those big names
06:19but it's also i feel like um people are saying oh if those players were playing japan would have won
06:25the
06:26game everything sounds perfect in hindsight that's why it's called hindsight but the fact that they
06:31they made it to where they are and the performance they gave without those players goes to show that
06:37yeah they don't need to rely on specific things like they have a very good long-term project
06:42long development that's the effect i think in earlier episodes or so i did say that they have
06:48two or three squads that are capable of playing in a world cup and they can actually form two squads
06:52that are players that are just purely based in europe so that says a lot about their development so i'm
06:57i am i i i will i want to see a stronger japan in the next world cup that's my
07:01only wish actually
07:02yeah i think we will i hope so yeah because i think they are narrowing the gap also they are
07:07they are
07:07it's not narrowing the gap they are the they are one of the big sides in world football yeah they
07:11are
07:11they deserve to be in that conversation it's just that the luck of the draw they had to face brazil
07:16in
07:16the round of 32 that game should have been in the semis or quarter quarters at least yeah that was
07:20my take
07:20but yeah luck of the draw yeah it was so sad seeing all the players cry like that yeah it
07:26shows that the place for the passion that they have one is passion second is they had the belief
07:30that they could beat this japan at this brazilian team yeah yeah it's it is good it is good now
07:35people are saying you know it's okay like it's okay no no no no no it's more of this team
07:40has what
07:40it takes to beat big teams now you cannot feel pity anymore yeah so because brazil was shaking in
07:45their boots correct for sure and i think that also gave a lot of other teams were like oh okay
07:50we can't
07:50can't just look like take japan as you know yeah cannot be taken yeah and it's good japan uh
07:58but it's reminding other countries like speaking of disappointment is their neighbors
08:01la south korea i was so so yeah other asian countries like dean perform up to our expectation
08:08if i were to go one by one let's start with south korea i felt that's a heartbreaking one as
08:13well
08:14for me it's not heartbreaking it's like they they cause problems for themselves and in this case i
08:21think it was way before the tournament by hiring hong myung bo the process of hiring the coach it
08:26wasn't uh account i mean there wasn't much accountability in it it's more like okay we
08:31we have this guy who has worked with us before there wasn't much of a due process due process and
08:35because the other coaches were there one of them was jesse marsh but but do you think he's it's
08:40despite the performance and you know all the hanky-panky of me him being manager do you think he
08:46deserves the the abuse he's getting now yeah you think so yep i don't think so i mean some of
08:52it
08:52are a bit too far-fetched like the sense there is a place you have to draw the line you
08:56don't you don't
08:56go you don't i mean you don't have to draw the line your family is getting those things are not
09:01right
09:01is not right question his performance question his decision making yeah question what he has said
09:06in the press that that to me has to be the crux of it and that's all what i see
09:10for me like when he
09:13was hired i was surprised because he actually took them to one world cup and they didn't do too well
09:17so why did you hire him again number one number two in the the whoever was in the committee hiring
09:24the
09:24coach right there were so many other coaches that were available one of them was canada's coach jesse
09:28mars why wasn't he picked why wasn't he selling this is a an association thing that they have to
09:34sort of yeah the korean president has already resigned exactly and he resigned before the total
09:40win because for me it felt like you resigned before the total knowing that things are going to go
09:44awry that's my take that's that's what most people when they will do yeah exactly and that's
09:49what happened and i and for me i do i pity the players because they don't deserve this for example
09:53like fam like everyone designs before things hit the fan yeah that happens yeah that is another
10:00episode in itself but uh yeah i mean the south korean team i pity the players because they've
10:05got talented talented players lee kang in son hyung min park singho hwang in the first game they were
10:11they gave us a lot of reasons to be proud the way they played against check and then after that
10:15what
10:15happened this is all coaching this is all coaching i mean abuses abuse like you have to be a you
10:23have to
10:23take these hard questions head on fair enough but don't abuse the family and all that that is not
10:27right do you think the abuse is also warranted that it's spilling over to some of the players
10:32there are players who are getting you know like kuma the fans in general they're just not happy with
10:37the team you know but do you think players should be getting the brunt of it as well
10:44because you're you're you're fine with the coach getting abused do you think the player should also
10:48get abused because at the end of the day the coach can do whatever he wants but the players are
10:51abuse no but i think the players will take the responsibility upon themselves knowing the south
10:55koreans that's fair they will take that responsibility like i am very sure hyung min will be like
11:01what just happened what happened why this happened that kind of stuff and even lee kang in you have one
11:08of the best playmakers it's not far-fetched for me to say this in world football and yet he is
11:14not like
11:14the last game he played he was so frustrated because he's trying to conjure up a lot of attacks but
11:18it's
11:19just not happening it wasn't happening wasn't happening yeah so i feel pity for the players
11:23actually but the coach has to take a lot of responsibility for what has happened and the
11:27korean fa for allowing this to happen yeah but also i mean if you look at it seems from you
11:35know
11:35our part of the world here like uzbekistan or out i mean iran kata unfortunately uzbekistan i felt like
11:41they should not have uh let go of timur kapadze the coach that actually brought them to the world cup
11:46and they decided to go for a bigger name in the form of fabio cannavaro he's paid quite highly
11:50yeah and look where they are right now no it wasn't it wasn't a convincing performance at all jordan
11:55they played well the amount of times i caught myself by surprise when i'm watching the game or
11:59like on my phone they were like oh cannavaro i'm like cannavaro playing and i'm like oh he's a
12:02manager manager because i didn't think he was going to be managing the team no he was a manager in
12:07the
12:07past i mean to the you know here at the world cup i didn't i really didn't expect it yet
12:11and as for
12:12jordan i felt they played very well i was i'm proud that one of the players who played for slango
12:16noral rawde clocked the most kilometers but what undid them was their side pieces we are defending
12:22side pieces were poor i think that is something that jamal salami has to really sit down and think
12:27like how do we stop this yeah because if that if they did not concede those goals i think they
12:33would
12:34have had a chance to qualify for the next one because they played well yeah i think maybe that's not
12:38not say the gap between you know asian teams and european teams no but there are things that
12:43that needs fine tuning and i think that will come with with experience as for iran uh for me it's
12:50the
12:50logistics part of it like fifa has to take the blame and i feel like afc also has to do
12:56more for
12:56for what happened to iran saudi arabia i think it's time for them to start thinking about
13:03how we can get more locals into our top division instead of how do we get the big four
13:07random stars coming into our league yeah because their first choice goalkeeper is playing in the
13:11second division of the saudi league yeah one i'm giving just one example i guess because now always
13:18on the top of my head i can think of every other saudi team doesn't have a local goalkeeper exactly
13:22so that's one example i give you so i think that has to be thought about and i am anemelo
13:27the guy
13:27who is now the uh tactical director or some kind of sporting director for the league has left the league
13:32oh knowing that because the team has not done well in in uh in in north america goes to show
13:37that
13:37you can't throw money at everything yeah money is not everything yeah right so that's saudi arabia who
13:43else were in the world cup iraq also iraq i would say it's also because of infrastructure give them time
13:52give them time and the way they came to the world cup also was hard fought like they had to
13:56go through
13:56the playoffs yeah so they will be a team that will keep leading and i hope they don't sack the
14:01coach
14:02keep him keep building the team because you think he's a good person to be leading he's a good man
14:08manager and he understands he he's a he's he's staying in iraq a war-torn country some coaches will
14:15only come during international fixtures true for example our national team ceo
14:22but yeah graham arnold he he has been there he knows the culture and i think let him build yeah
14:28that's like you said he's a good man manager yeah and when especially i guess teams like this
14:34it's not to say they are constantly you know in some but knowing how to reach players is and i
14:39think he
14:39has that inkling of you know i can do something for this country so i think they should keep him
14:45if if i were to just pinpoint a team that i would say is a shoe-in to win it
14:50has to be france
14:51because somebody told me their defense is not that strong but i'm like i don't care these fellas are
14:56squaring for fun i feel france is like one of the team when i look at their lineup if i
15:01was the manager
15:01i would pull my hair out because i'm like i can make two world cup squads here correct you want
15:06to
15:06sub this player out you have another world-class player to put him in that place so i'm like
15:11that france is spoiled for choice yeah even for me right now people are saying if olisi has a bad
15:16game jerky will be in i'm like no olisi will have a good game yeah every game is going to
15:20be a good
15:21game from him if he doesn't have a good game you still have again yeah the world-class player to
15:25come
15:25in yeah so it's it's they are blessed they're just stacked yeah
15:32so like it's still a bit early but let's do it anyway who do you guys see will win the
15:36golden
15:37boot road and ball mbappe that's for for me it's mbappe for me it's kilian mbappe
15:45uh yeah it's kilian i think kilian is showing he's looking at he's looking at
15:49a shoe in messi messi has had i
15:55honestly speaking he does not think about that award yeah he doesn't but he wouldn't be a surprise if
16:02he's but but another thing is like you see the amount of goals that players have scored i think
16:07someone mentioned to me um at this point in the world cup they've already played more games than
16:13the whole of last world cup amount of matches yeah yeah it's already that many and like the notable
16:20players like your mbappe messi and all are performing which some world cups you know you have your big
16:25players but they're just not so noted but like mbappe is scoring mess i think mbappe is the favorite
16:32second would be ken or about the golden boot you mean golden ball or wood ah golden ball sorry golden
16:39wall i think messi is chewing at the moment yeah messi yeah hard to not consider messi i'm messy but
16:50would
16:50do a lot of the other half of the world would be like gonaldo do you think he's actually no
16:57olissi really yes olissi yeah olissi no i'm gonna change my answer olissi you i'm still messy
17:06yeah i'm i'm going with olissi i've watched him play in all the four games oh my god what a
17:10player
17:11what a player what a player that's all i can say
17:16what about golden gloves golden gloves right now the mexico keeper
17:21yeah but i think keepers this this world cup so far granted you know the around the 32 there were
17:30two penalty shootouts yeah just the quick one is we're gonna miss manuel neuer yeah just neuer like
17:38to i wish i mean i was i'm happy germany lost because paraguay went in but it came at the
17:45cost
17:45of seeing neuer the last time to see neuer and that still right now saying it just makes me feel
17:50bummed because i'm like that he's what a keeper he was but yeah hard to hard to pinpoint for keepers
18:00i
18:00would say for me i think at the moment raul rangel and yasin bono the moroccan goalkeeper
18:05you do watch his shootout and takes
18:10actually when keepers are shining this time yeah when when when uh when the game went into extra time
18:16i actually told my friend morocco will go for a penalty you see they're going to hold possession and
18:21even if they get a chance or so if they miss it they're like ah it's fine we have bono
18:25we have yeah so i i was i was to have that kind of confidence in your keeper is yeah
18:30must be a nice
18:31feeling correct he's good he's good when it comes to shootouts he's good okay so last one what do you
18:37guys hope to see in the games ahead
18:42more upsets as oh but that will come at the cost of seeing one some of my teams go out
18:48but
18:49no i still i would rather see action and upsets than you know a team coming in and winning 3
18:57-0 without
18:57a fight from anyone else like you want drama you want action you want
19:02tears you want nail biting at night huh you are nail biting yeah i want a reason to
19:08worthwhile my you know sleepless nights so yeah please more action i want i like i like it going to
19:14extra time i think it keeps the game obviously more more screen time it's fun but tactics change
19:22in extra time and then now teams are like okay in penalties you can't take it for granted anymore
19:26because you can save two and then you can concede two right after that so i i just want more
19:32drama
19:32genuinely just want more drama for me i want the stars to continue with their consistent performances
19:38just more than that the youngsters i've enjoyed watching the likes of ismail saibari ayub boadi and
19:45then yassin al-ainui i hope i'm getting the names right and then paraguay also i've got some really
19:51good talents like uh julio and sisso and then argentina i hope to see more of nico pass the guy
19:59who came
19:59in the second half i can't recall what's his name was it tiago almada i'm doing very well
20:06and then uh like i was happy to see south african defender mbokazi having a really good game that
20:12even united fans are saying that why not we sign him you know that kind of performances so i hope
20:16to
20:16see these players coming up with top quality performances i know fans want more free flowing
20:21football goals and all that but i'm also appreciating the defensive aspects with the flying
20:25tackles the clearances the saves and then we feel how they're controlling the tempo and so on
20:31yeah i mean and also smaller nations like kabo wadi doing well and i hope to see more from
20:37ijib ijib the 18 year old kid is beginning to have more influence in matches now hamza abdul kareem
20:43yeah just i just want to watch lots of football i want to make sure that my sleepless nights are
20:50with it
20:52but yeah i mean i mean so far the world cup has been fun yeah i would say it's been
20:57fun i wouldn't even
20:58complain one bit about the performances of the place the intensity is good oh i just hope the
21:03refereeing can be a bit more better what i was about to say while there are yeah there are actually
21:07a lot
21:07of things to complain about on the football aspect of it yeah you can get some good football
21:15football has been good everything else outside yeah well yeah the referring i hope it improves i i like i
21:21did
21:22give reference their flowers for keeping the game flowing but some decisions are a bit questionable and i
21:27felt i i do feel like some of the offside calls are so close true it feels unfair i i
21:34spoke to
21:34former germany and leopold player did mahamma the other day and it was before they lost to paraguay and
21:40he he gave the same i mean at first he said he wasn't confident with german anyway but coming to
21:46the
21:46officiating and refereeing thing he had his glasses with the hydration break most former players i think
21:51have it but he said the same thing i think they are keeping the game flowing the only thing is
21:57coming
21:57again to my girls with the hydration break is you var breaks already take a good amount of time because
22:03they have to go check it takes two three minutes at least on top of that that's when you go
22:07drink your
22:08water lah that's the whole that's how it's always been but like he mentioned like no referees are
22:13letting the game go flowing well but um the margins are just too small with var but you can't it's
22:20hard to complain because that's why var is there i think right now fans are actually saying that we
22:25are being too technical with all these falls like in the past it wasn't like that but that's what you
22:30wanted at the end of the day yeah it's accountability at the end of the day also but i feel
22:34like some
22:35decisions are a bit hard done for the players who are receiving it lah yeah but yeah it's if if
22:41you
22:42score the goal and it looked like offside they'd be like oh it was fine but if you're on the
22:47opposite
22:47team then you're going to go shout in the reference case yeah correct correct you're never going to
22:51win that also like you watch any football game liverpool fan mu fan or whatever if it's a it's if
22:57it's
22:57for liverpool oh it's you know all hell breaks loose are you or if it's not on the opposite same
23:02thing
23:03any any football fans don't just you know root for the rules if it's favoring you it doesn't work
23:10yeah it doesn't work that way i agree the amount of times as an mu fan i watch
23:14mu play against liverpool i am like no that's a foul and they're like but you're a mu fan that
23:18doesn't mean i can't tell what's right or wrong but most important is just free flowing
23:23they're letting the game flow is just some decisions i feel like but it's okay let's see
23:26what happens maybe more drama that's why the world cup is all about yeah more var calls
23:33more you know nail biting yeah i've been using nails already here so that's your supper
23:39that was a good one yeah thank you so much for thank you thank you so much i really appreciate
23:48you guys and i had a great time so this is stars podcast i'm your host chia yin and thank
23:54you for
23:54watching bye-bye
23:58you
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