WORLD CUP DAILY: Ireland off to Kazakhstan | Young English lions triumph in Dallas | 36 years on from the Dunphy rant
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Football on Off The Ball. I think they can go and win it. They're a very, very difficult team to beat. They don't lose an awful lot of games. I think Morocco are better than Germany. I think, and people have said to me they fancy Germany as dark horse, as people have said they fancy Ecuador, or I personally fancy Colombia as a bit of a dark horse. I think Morocco are ahead of all those teams.
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World Cup Daily, on off the ball, with Lynx, a proud sponsor of the FIFA World Cup 2026.
Hello and welcome along to Thursday's World Cup Daily. I'm Phil Egan. Coming up today, Ireland find out their opponents for the World Cup playoffs later this year. England get their World Cup campaign off to a winning start, thanks to two goals from Harry Kane in a 4-2 win over Croatia. And Liverpool look set to make their first signing of the summer under new boss Andoni Irajola. But first, the draw for the 2027 World Cup playoffs took place in Nyon, Switzerland earlier today. Ireland were seeded for the draw and have been paired with Kazakhstan in the semi-finals of the playoffs. Carla Ward's side will be away for the first leg on the 7th of October. The second leg will be at home a week later on the 13th.
Kazakhstan are ranked 100th in the world and finished second in their group in League C. Kazakhstan were in a group of Belarus and Armenia. They beat both of those teams once and also drew with Armenia to finish in seven points, two behind Belarus. If Ireland come through that tie, the girls in green would play either Belgium or Poland for a place at next summer's tournament in Brazil. Ireland beat Belgium over two legs in the Nations League relegation promotion playoff last year. It was 4-2 at the Aviva and Ireland then lost 2-1 in Belgium in the second leg. but Abi Larkin's late goal secured a 5-4 aggregate win. Carla Wardside beat Poland in back-to-back games in April in their most recent group.
It finished 3-2 in the away game on the 14th of April and then 1-0 at the Aviva four days later. The playoff finals will take place at the end of November and the start of December. England opened their World Cup campaign with a 4-2 win over Croatia and Dallas last night. Captain Harry Kane scored twice in the first half. It was 2-2 at the break. Jude Bellingham and Marcus Rashford then scored in the second half. Martin Badarina and Petter Musa scored the goals for Croatia in the first half. England boss Thomas Tuchel says it was a great attacking display, but he admits there are areas in the performance to work on.
I loved the second half, all of it. I loved the reaction to a very complicated first half.
Who are Ireland's opponents in the World Cup playoffs?
We got a tough draw to start against Croatia. So the positives are clearly the ones where we focus on now and enjoy the moment and we have enough days to adjust.
Harry Kane admits that Thomas Tuchel's half-time message spurred them on in the second half.
He just told us to let the shackles off, calm down, what are we scared of, let's just go. The way we conceded that second goal is not the team we want to be, dropping deep, waiting and conceding anyway. So he kind of just said what's the worst that can happen, we lose a match, first group game, we get on with it, we move on, let's just go and show the world who we can be.
Kane added he was happy to get off the mark after watching Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland and Lionel Messi all score in their opening games.
Obviously I saw the guys scoring their goals yesterday and I don't like to concentrate too much on other people but I think it's natural as a sportsman, as an athlete to try and reach the highest levels and obviously all those guys started in a great way.
Elsewhere in Group L, Ghana scored in the 95th minute to beat Panama 1-0 in Toronto. Caleb Yirinkai scored the only goal of the game. Ghana and England will meet next in Boston on Wednesday. Panama take on Croatia in Toronto. Cristiano Ronaldo failed to score yet again at the World Cup, with Portugal having to settle for a one-all draw with Dior Congo in Houston.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–2:36
2
Who are Ireland's opponents in the World Cup playoffs?
2:36–9:39
3
How did England perform in their World Cup opener against Croatia?
9:39–11:10
4
What did Thomas Tuchel say about England's attacking display?
11:10–14:22
5
What were the highlights of Ghana's late victory over Panama?
14:22–15:44
6
Why is Cristiano Ronaldo's World Cup goal drought significant?
15:44–16:38
Speakers
8 identifiedMore from OTB Football
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