Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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Welcome into the latest edition of ESPN FC. I'm Dan Thomas, joined by Craig Burley and Ishaq Ahislaw. Internationals galore today. We'll kick things off at Wembley. This was not a good tie at all. It would be kind of a B team that Thomas Tuchel named as it finished 1-1. Ben White, I suppose the big story.
He was booed when he came on, booed when he scored and then booed when he conceded the penalty as well. In the end, it would finish one apiece. We welcome in Jurgen Klinsmann and Mario Malkiel who are watching their respective countries playing and this was kind of their B team, if you like, their B match. We'll get their views in a minute. Of course, it was a B side. It was my C match.
Jaco was watching it. No, I mean... He obviously didn't put out his best 11. They were on the bench. This was a reserves team.
There's a lot of players that are not going to start. But it was awful. I don't understand. I know he's got this huge squad. I really don't understand people like Jordan Henderson still in it. I mean, he's been a very good player, but he's 35 now. He's surely not going to go to the World Cup. So I don't quite understand that. It was awful. It was awful. It was slow. It was pedestrian.
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Chapter 2: What were the highlights of England's match against Uruguay?
It lacked any guile in the final third round. Who spurs players in the starting 11? That says it all. Yeah, Rashford had a couple of good runs, but maybe he held on to the ball a little long, but he injected a little bit of pace now and again. But it was a terrible game. I mean, Uruguay are not the most... Aesthetically, nice team to watch. They're rugged. There was a few dodgy challenges.
Aroha on Phil Foden wasn't very clever. And they were rough and tough. But as I said there in the highlight, best player in the park was probably Fede Valverde. Gets around, tidy on the ball, scores the penalty, box to box. So he was the real live wire in the game. As for England, it looked like they were going to win it.
Chapter 3: Should Ben White be included in the World Cup squad?
They didn't. What do you learn from it? That a lot of these players are either not playing for the clubs on a regular basis and are going to be struggling to get in the squad for the World Cup, which I believe is 26-man squad, something like that. Who the hell knows these days? On this performance, not many put their hands up and said... Take me to North America. Here is all the people.
Look at them all. There's lots of them. Jürgen, why when you've only got three matches to go, or four matches to go, I suppose, including this, before the World Cup kicks off, do you play this side when surely you can use this kind of match better to try and galvanize your starting 11?
Chapter 4: What insights did Jurgen Klinsmann provide on Germany's win over Switzerland?
Well, I can only guess, obviously, for Thomas Tuchel that he uses this window just to see how the chemistry goes between certain players that he still has in mind to take to the World Cup. So it also tells you a little bit the story that he's not sure yet about his 26. And so he's trying things out. Obviously, to see England without a Harry Kane up front there changes already a lot, a lot.
I think he just wanted to see individual performances, seeing who can play with who, what is the flow of the game. Definitely as a manager you can read a lot into it and you can learn a lot from a game like that. The result probably is secondary at the end of the day, even if you want to win your friendly games.
But if you sacrifice it just to see certain players that many of us would not have on the paper, that tells you that he's not decided yet how exactly looks his 26-man roster. So hopefully he knows now a bit more.
So there's a balance there between... Some of these players have played a lot of games, so you don't want to burn them out and send them back to the clubs with injuries and whatnot. So there is that to take into account with people like Morgan Rogers and others who've played a lot of football.
Then there's the argument to say, your argument to say, let's try and look and get some continuity within our team selection to start building that 11 that... that we have. But I think what Jürgen's saying is probably correct, that he's maybe got, I don't know, somewhere between 16 to maybe 20 in his head that he thinks, barring a disaster, they're probably going to go.
And there's maybe somewhere between four and six spots that he thinks, right, some of these guys need to hold their hands up and show me they're going to go to North America. So that's maybe the reason. Because if you're looking for just a performance, you don't cobble this team together and expect to get a performance. So, yeah, that can be the only reason, I think.
That's the thing for me. And if you look at Uruguay and the Bielsa, they made five or six changes from the team that they would normally use in common ball qualifying. And that makes sense. But if you're undecided about Rashford or Foden, whether they're going to make the squad or where they play, what do you learn by including them in a squad with nine other players who won't?
be coming to the World Cup. You don't learn anything from that. So if you are trying to figure out, trying to finalize who your 23 is or who your 26 is, you've got to play them in at least half a team, not 9 and 10 changes. You can't understand any chemistry if those players are more likely to be staying home than going to the World Cup.
Only on one other thing really from this game, and that was Ben White, who of course, going back in the history books, walked out of the squad in 2020 during the Qatar World Cup. He then said, look, I don't want to be selected, don't pick me.
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Chapter 5: How will Raphinha's injury impact Barcelona's season?
So I don't think from a player's perspective the players will bother too much. I always feel if you're a player... You'll welcome pretty much anybody into the side if you think that player can help you, can help the team, can make the team better, can make the squad better. The ones that never forget are the supporters.
And when the supporter thinks that you're not rolling your sleeves up and turning up for your country... they're going to get on your back and you better damn well play well when you're on the field because you're going to be a target and you've made yourself a target.
So he's kind of put that on his back, whether it was his fault or a coach's fault or a fallout of personalities with others, it's on his back. He chose to walk out, he chose not to play and he'll have to deal with the consequences. But listen, He's not the first player at international football that's been booed and is going to get booed. It's nothing new.
Mario, the Dutch are the kings, aren't they, of in-fighting. Ben White, what's your take on it?
No, I totally agree with what Craig said. It's also not our job. When we are players, it's not your job to be the judgement in the team. I think the first pick what you do is for your national team, you try to do your individual job in the sense of perform to your best.
And then if a player then makes his decision, look, you can have your point of view, but you're not going to go at him and say to him, like, hey, dude, what are you doing? Now, look, let's say Ben White had a situation with the coach that was prior to that. So he is, of course, going to come to this coach and say, like, hey, listen, you know, he called him up and then spoke to him.
Yeah, he's going to say, like, let's forget about it and let me start all over again. And that's what he is. But like Greg said, fans, I've been through that. If you don't get qualified, they're on your back. So if they remember and they will never forget
what you did so he's going to have a long journey try to get them on his back again so because if not they always will remind him of what he uh his situation was gary mcallister missed a penalty at wembley in euro 96 huge game scotland england david seaman saved it two years later he was my captain for scotland brilliant player great player gary and they booed him at celtic park and an international and he i don't think he ever really got over it in the end i mean he was getting near sort of retirement anyway
But that's what I'm saying with some of these supporters. They just, you know, they don't forget and sometimes they go over the top and when you put a target in your back, and Gary didn't because he missed the penalty and that could happen, but because it was England, fans turned. And Ben, listen, as a player you have to accept that. Right. You've got to accept it.
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Chapter 6: What strategies should England adopt for the World Cup?
And if he's capable to make a difference today, he's got a goal. Unfortunately, there
last moment also was responsible for penalty but but if he's he's capable to give something extra to this uh english side then then uh they will not win anymore you know it will take some time obviously and and a bit of patience but i i think it's the right the right thing to do as long as he can step it up and make that difference i think part of it as well is that he's came in
And there has been a big furore about him coming back. And that's not Thomas... Jürgen's right, that's not Thomas Tuchel's issue, whatever happened before. However, a lot of the headlines, as you well know, have been around Trent Alexander-Arnold. His exclusion.
So they now have a player coming back who didn't want to be part of it and a player has been left out who the fans know is a very talented player. Albeit, most of them probably don't watch La Liga like us, and every week I understand he hasn't played particularly well for Real Madrid, a little bit better recently.
So when you add those two together, there's a player who didn't want to play for his country, has basically been welcomed back, and a player who did, and has, and has done relatively well, he's certainly been isolated. And I think when you put those two conundrums together, you get a reaction from the fans. I think it's...
Thomas Tuchel comes in and any new manager, whether it's club or country, clean slate, reaches out to Ben White. Credit, he takes the call, takes the opportunity. Ben White would have known this was coming. So I doubt there's any kind of a surprise. But at the same time, to your question, Dan, that doesn't bother or affect anybody else in the dressing room. That's par for the course.
Can't believe we got 10 minutes out of that game. Just a reminder, we're on international break at the moment. The weekend sees domestic football return. It's the FA Cup, Manchester City against Liverpool. Of course, the headline tie. We're doing that. I saw that early. It's an early one. It is indeed. Chelsea, Port Vale, Southampton, Arsenal and West Ham lead all these games live on ESPN+.
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The key to this case, it's Brian. An hour before he died, he was on the phone arguing with somebody. This might be a hit. You want the truth. Biggest amount of conviction being placed under arrest. We had a killer amongst us. Murder at the U. Listen now. 911, where is the emergency? It's the middle of the night in a small town on the Jersey Shore. Someone reports an abandoned car on a bridge.
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Chapter 7: What factors influence player selection for the World Cup?
It's got pace about the team, particularly in the front areas. Obviously, when Pedri's fit and Rodri's fully fit, that's an awesome midfield. You could have Dani Olmo to come in there as well. There's quite a few choices.
for the Spanish head coach and I can see why they're favourites but when you saw what the French did yesterday even with 10 men in a friendly against Brazil they're not going to be far away either but they're a more physical side this is a more intricate passing movement Geil in the final third.
And if they have a goal scorer who's scoring regular, and I mentioned it, Iazabal isn't what you would call a box-to-box, you know, he's not like a poacher in the box striker for Real Sociedad. But if he can continue to score goals like that, Spain will be in a good spot. Jürgen's with us.
Jürgen, it must just be a dream to coach.
I mean, obviously, you know, coaching a team like Spain or France right now, I would throw it from a European side, definitely Portugal into that mix. And then behind that, England, Germany, Holland. The big surprise could be probably Norway because they have everything to surprise a lot of people. But I mean, this is just a joy when you see, you know,
The fluidity that a Spanish side has and you watch France even down to 10 men and no problem at all to hold themselves against a very, very strong Brazil side. I mean, we're going to see some fantastic matches this summer in the World Cup.
And they're fun, aren't they, chat? They play attractive football that you want to see. I mean, so much about this Spain team, they're there to love. And again, you talk about France yesterday and you can't help but draw comparisons between the two. Incredible footballing side. Everybody knows where each other is. And you talk about chemistry, they have it.
The passing, the understanding, everything about Spain. Again, just you feel that they're, well, quite clearly favourites. Now, England up to 11-2 after today's performance.
Pfft.
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Chapter 8: How do international teams prepare for the World Cup?
Well, you know, you think of it, Yeah, he's going to be a huge mess. Of course, he's a brilliant player. The two wide players, again, we're talking about wide players, with Lewandowski, who's been backing the team because Ferran Torres hit a little bit of a buffer in terms of his form. He might have to come in and play wide. Fermin Lopez might have to play wide. Maybe it'll be Dani Olmo.
Maybe it'll be Gavi, who I think is back sort of available again. So he has played in that position. So they have options to play out there, but they don't have somebody with... the running power and the finishing power from that left-hand side that Rafinha was giving them. And it's as simple as that.
You take a look, Shaq. Obviously, he's missed quite a few games this season with injury, and the stats speak for themselves with regards to the impact that he made. Because it provides us balance to Lamine Amal out on the other side. He can play wide left, come inside. Craig spoke about his finishing power. Everything about Rafinha, having him on the park and having him play wide on the left,
actually allows, in my opinion, Lamini Amal to be even better as well. This is a huge miss for Barcelona. Yes, they find ways to plug those holes, but Rufino's skill set, his running from deep, his finishing, I'm not sure that there's anybody else in that dressing room who can replicate it the way that he does over a sustained period.
And five weeks at this point of his season is a sustained period.
He's one of the best at running in between that gap. A lot of people can make runs. but it's the timing of the runs when he's not got the ball and the ball's on the other side with Lamal or whoever it is, Laminyamal, and he drives between right back and centre half into that gap, that diagonal run to the back post.
He does it time and time again, and lo and behold, he gets on the end of a lot because his timing is excellent, but they haven't got anybody that will do that to the same consistency, and so it's a blow for Hansi Fleck, but I don't think it's a hugely damaging blow. They'll still win the title. Yeah, because I think they've got enough good players in that front area.
They've got probably six players for that front three area and maybe in the hole in behind. They've got at least six players in there that could shuffle around, maybe five shuffle around Lewandowski. and can play in several positions. I think that's one of the good things for Hansi Flick. A lot of those guys, I mean, probably the only one is Lamine Yamal, who stays on the right-hand side.
Rafinha's played in the hall, Fermin Lopez has played in the hall, Dani Olmo, and they've all played wide as well. So there are players that Hansi Flick has options where he can play them. The ones that play in the position when they start normally are Robert Lewandowski and Lamine Yamal. Everybody else has sort of floated about. Just got to look at Eric Garcia.
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