Mark Critchley

speaker

1,840 appearances 10 recordings 1 series first heard Jun 2026 last heard 8 Jul

Mark Critchley’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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recordings per month · last 12 months

Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 10 in all, peaking in Jun 2026 with 7.

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The Athletic FC Podcast · Germany hit new low + Ornstein transfer latest · 30 Jun 2026 podcast

Just couldn't believe what I was seeing.

And to be honest, I say it didn't have an impact on the game.

I think it felt like a bit of a turning point within the game where it started to feel like Brazil were taking on more of the momentum and

finding that edge that they needed I was a little bit disappointed with Japan overall I know that sounds a bit daft given that it was such a tight contest and it felt like it was really building into a crescendo and it would be a really great game and it was a good game absolutely but it just feels like they played a little bit within themselves and I think they've been guilty of that at times in this tournament Netherlands as well in their opening game I thought they could have beaten the Netherlands if they'd just

shown that little bit more courage and a little bit more belief in their own ability because when they run at you they're dangerous and we've seen that a few times but it didn't always feel like they were willing to just take that chance yesterday and I think that allowed Brazil back in so that was the standout for me the Netherlands I mean another crazy penalty shootout

That surprised me as well.

I think we've seen, and particularly the African nations that have been, I think all of them apart from Tunisia qualified.

So I think we have seen with this expansion of Europe,

the World Cup to 48 teams.

We've seen a lot of nations from outside Europe and South America sort of raise their game and really become stories of the tournament in some respects.

I don't know.

I think Germany and Netherlands, yes, two big names from Europe, but they're not two names that I think would have been if we were picking the five at the start of the tournament who we said would probably go on to, well, the winner would be among them and they're the main contenders.

I don't think either of those names would have cropped up.

I know they were popping up in those rankings we were doing last week and I was sceptical about both of them and look what's happened, guys.

I said England had been the team in the tournament so far based on the first performance.

What else was it?

I really don't want to have to put France number one, but I guess I'm going to have to.

But yeah, France.

Okay, France look really strong.

France look strong, let's face it.

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