Conor O'Neill

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78 appearances 1 recordings 1 series first heard Jun 2026 last heard 6 Jun

Conor O'Neill’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 1 in all, peaking in Jun 2026 with 1.

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The Athletic FC Podcast · The World Cup's most tactically interesting teams · 6 Jun 2026 podcast

But yeah, I think it'll be much the same as they were the last time.

I've kind of looked at Portugal.

They have that midfield of Bruno Fernandes, Vitinha, Bernardo Silva, pretty much the envy of almost every other tournament.

But again, it's the same Ronaldo conundrum that's

And it's kind of like I was at the Portugal versus Ireland game in qualifying and Ronaldo got sent off and there was essentially no difference to the ebb and flow of the game.

And he is a passenger and it's kind of like, I think you can carry that a bit more at international level than you can at club football.

Teams aren't as committed to a cohesive press, which requires time on the training ground.

So I think to a degree you can, but he literally is a statue for them and it's kind of like whether the midfield quality can compensate that.

So I think they are up there fifth or sixth favorites, so they're definitely one to watch.

I've gone for Japan, who I feel are always kind of a neutral favorite.

I think we're going to see like a lot of three at the backs this summer.

And Japan are kind of one of the more exciting progressive versions of that, where they have at the wingback positions, they're playing essentially number 10s.

Their captain, Doan, plays as an attacking midfielder for Eintracht Frankfurt.

So because of that, you know, it's a very high-pressing, counter-attacking, exciting team to watch.

On the ball, they're kind of like in settled possession.

They're fine.

It's...

Daichi Kamada and Wataru Endo, who are kind of more known for their intercepting and blocking attacks rather than controlling the tempo.

But I think among those kind of more... They kind of stumbled into that tactic because at the last World Cup, they were pitted against Spain and Germany and got 2-1 wins against both, including one against Spain where they had 18% possession.

But since then, they've kind of...

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