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The Pat Kenny Show

World Cup Update

14 Jun 2026

Transcription

Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.

Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?

1.01 - 11.34 Pat Kenny

The Pat Kenny Show. With Timber Living Log Cabins. Saturday and Sunday from 10am. On Newstalk. Conversation that counts.

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11.59 - 18.398 John Duggan

Now off the balls, John Duggan has just sidled into studio here. Looking a little bit tired, John. A few late nights?

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18.798 - 23.163

Morning, Ciara. Well, that's part of the gig, isn't it? It was 5am into Friday morning.

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Chapter 2: What recent matches have influenced the World Cup standings?

23.564 - 41.545

I'm not going to do that again. If I'm working the next day and it was 1am this morning. 1am is not too bad after watching Brazil against Morocco, which was an entertaining game. One all draw. Brazil up and running now in the tournament. Vinicius Junior, their star player, played quite well, I thought. It was New York, New Jersey is the branding of the stadium in New Jersey.

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41.605 - 62.53

And that's where the final is going to be. And it was hot last night at 11 o'clock, 6 o'clock local time. So that's where the final will be at 3 p.m. on the 19th of July. It's going to be possibly even hotter. So these hydration breaks where the cynics would say this is just for commercial advertising. I do think they are needed for a lot of the teams in certain games.

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63.771 - 65.273 John Duggan

Do they need to be three minutes long?

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65.573 - 86.991

Well, that's it. But that's the way FIFA's gone. It's a World Cup that is different to other World Cups because it's in North America. It's in the United States, which we know is the hub of capitalism. And we're seeing a lot of empty seats. We're seeing dynamic pricing. We're seeing the well-off being able to get to games and the ordinary fan being left out.

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87.089 - 107.325 John Duggan

And look, we discussed it at length here on the programme. I've discussed it at length on Newstalk Daily podcast, all the controversies. So let's just take a break. Let's talk about the beautiful football. That's history for Qatar, isn't it?

107.345 - 123.458

It is, yes. First point of the World Cup, host nation four years ago. You've got to take your chances. You're never safe at 1-0 or a goal ahead, Ciara, and that's the price that Switzerland paid when they went in front through Mbolo earlier on with a penalty, but a 94th minute equaliser.

123.438 - 139.708

from Boualem Okuki their skipper and it was a brilliant header to be fair to him so the few Qataris that were there in San Francisco really enjoyed that a one all draw the best game for me so far that I've seen has been Brazil Morocco Scotland have won their first match in 36 years

Chapter 3: How is the weather affecting the World Cup games?

139.688 - 160.347

They beat Haiti overnight. John McGinn from Aston Villa with the winner. And that's good for the Tartan army that have gone out there. And we also had overnight, a bit of a surprise to be honest, Australia beating Turkey by two goals to nil. Young team Australia, the Socceroos, and they won that match by two goals to nil. We also had yesterday,

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160.327 - 176.006

Early in the day, what it was like late Friday, a big win for the USA, 4-1 over Paraguay. So they've got up and running in Los Angeles at this most futuristic stadium that we're playing in. But they've got Mauricio Pochettino, formerly manager of Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea in charge.

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176.426 - 183.094

I think they might do okay, the USA, beating Paraguay 4-1 and Canada and Mexico, the other host nations have already played as well.

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183.31 - 189.657 John Duggan

Were you impressed with Morocco last night? I was very impressed. They kind of needed a standout team in some ways with those games yesterday.

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189.817 - 207.597

Yeah, I was really impressed with the way they played the first half there. I thought they moved the ball in a very fluid manner, scored early. And Brazil were all over the shop, to be honest. And Morocco have got a lot of good young players. They won the Under-20 World Cup last year. They've got Ashraf Hakimi, who's a Champions League winner with Paris Saint-Germain.

207.577 - 227.434

And it's not going to be a shock if Morocco do well, because they reached the semifinals, surprisingly, in Qatar a few years ago. Got to the African Cup of Nations final, lost that, 1-0 to Senegal. Senegal walked off the pitch, though, in the middle of it, so Morocco being awarded it. But you wash all that away, Morocco do have a chance of doing something in this tournament.

227.835 - 237.172

I really enjoy the way they knitted their passes together. But then once Brazil got their heads around the game, they started to get into it. And you saw a bit of Brazilian magic from Vinicius Jr.

Chapter 4: What unique challenges does the North America World Cup present?

237.272 - 256.664

to equalize. And once again, in the second half, I think the problem with this World Cup, I think in a way, Kira, is you've got 48 teams. Normally it would be 32 and it'd be two out of four. A lot of teams, if you finish third, you should be okay to get through. That means to me that the tournament doesn't really start in earnest until the 29th of June, where we're into the last 32.

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256.824 - 257.766

It'll be knockout then.

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257.746 - 259.411 John Duggan

Until we kind of get out of this group state.

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259.431 - 270.267

You could almost, it'd be better, to be honest, and there's nothing to say, to have 64 teams where it's just an even 16 by four and two from two and we'd be there. I'm feeling that.

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270.287 - 272.772 John Duggan

Belute that World Cup, lads, and let us at it.

272.792 - 290.065

Qatar-Switzerland was a tough, I mean, it's a hard enough slog watching that. Like Germany play Curacao this evening. That'll be a hard enough slog. And how many are they going to put past Curacao, which is the smallest, it's the smaller than the Isle of Man. It's an island just north of Venezuela.

290.085 - 291.668 John Duggan

And it's their World Cup debut.

291.648 - 310.385

Yeah, and it's their World Cup. And that is the beauty of Uzbekistan or Curaçao or Jordan, these countries that are going there for the first time. Cape Verde with an Irish lad, effectively, in Pico Lopez, who's from Crumlin, who will play tomorrow against Spain. So for these countries, it is their Italian 90.

310.665 - 319.174

It is their beautiful moment for their culture and their country and their history of their country, but might not avoid a heavy defeat.

Chapter 5: Which teams have surprised us in the early matches?

442.467 - 444.15

They play on Wednesday against Croatia.

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444.13 - 444.931 John Duggan

At nine o'clock.

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445.531 - 448.474 John Duggan

At night. But that's a pretty good time. We'll be able to watch that.

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448.494 - 465.089

We'll be able to watch that. In England, there's just going to be such a circus around them. Whatever they do, given their press, is quite feral when it comes to the way they analyse their team. The German manager, Thomas Tuchel, the back page of the mail today is that boots were nicked. There's going to be a story.

465.109 - 480.364

There's going to be a story every day with England until they start playing football. And then when they play football, even if they win, they can't win. And if they lose, they can't win. So... How far they get, I don't know. But I think a lot depends on Harry Kane, who's their key player. He scores so many goals for Bayern Munich and for the national team.

480.724 - 498.522

If he gets injured, they could be in trouble. But what I'm looking forward to seeing is Spain and France. Kira, Liminia Mal is a teenager and he could light up the World Cup as Kylian Mbappé did eight years ago. Mbappé is there. Argentina, I haven't even mentioned the defending champions, Lina Messi, turning 39 in the tournament. So...

498.502 - 500.564 John Duggan

And remember Argentina lost their first game.

500.584 - 501.405

Yes, it's the Saudis.

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