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Whateley

Simon Hill - World Cup Update | Iconic football caller for SEN (23.06.26)

23 Jun 2026

Transcription

Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.

Chapter 1: What were the highlights from the Socceroos vs USA match?

0.031 - 9.754 Gerard Whateley

At 10 o'clock on Tuesdays, we've dedicated to the Trek Around the World Cup. We're following Simon Hill, who took us through an agonising 90 minutes on Saturday.

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10.662 - 35.435 Chris Wokes

Now the Americans are way down the left. They've got a big chance here. Oh, it's a no-go. America take the lead. It's Cameron Burgess, the unlucky defender, who got the final touch. The cross had pace on it and there was nothing else that Burgess could do but turn the ball into his own net. Here's the free kick. Robinson back to the top of the box and it's fired in with pace.

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Chapter 2: How did Simon Hill react to the disappointing performance of the Socceroos?

35.455 - 54.258 Chris Wokes

It spoons up in the air. I think we can all agree that sucked.

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54.798 - 71.398 Gerard Whateley

That was Seattle. We're bound for Santa Clara next. Simon Hill. Simon, welcome back to the program. How are you, Gerard? You all right? Not too bad. It was just so galling that the Americans who had been insufferable, to be honest, ended up sort of being vaguely right. God, that was awful.

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72.661 - 93.866 Simon Hill

Yeah, it wasn't pretty, was it? And I can tell you, walking out the stadium, we copped a bit as well, which was hard to hold your tongue. But anyway, they deserved to win, the Americans. And I know some people are annoyed about the refereeing. And I'm sure we'll talk about Tony Popovich's tactics and selections.

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93.926 - 110.374 Simon Hill

But I think at the end of the day, you've just got to hold your hands up and say, on the day, Australia wasn't good enough. Better in the second half, but even then, didn't really put the goalkeeper under sustained pressure. And, you know, sometimes you've got to tip your hat to the opposition and say, look, you were better on the day.

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111.175 - 132.794 Simon Hill

But the good thing about the Turkey result, of course, is that Australia is still in with a very, very good chance of getting to the knockout stage. So in many ways, you know, that game against the Americans was almost, almost, I stress, a free hit. Yes. Because, you know, game three was alive anyway. So now it's on to Paraguay and Santa Clara, as you say. You're making us feel better already.

132.874 - 136.097 Gerard Whateley

Where do we find you today? What have you been doing since the game?

136.077 - 160.965 Simon Hill

We flew back from Seattle to Los Angeles. So we've been in Los Angeles again for a couple of days. Tomorrow we get on a seven-hour bus ride, which, as you can tell, I'm hugely looking forward to, to go to San Francisco, which is... obviously in the same metropolitan area as the stadium in Santa Clara. So, yeah, long day tomorrow.

161.365 - 168.356 Simon Hill

And I'm not going to be able to see the England game, which is annoying for me because I missed the last one because we were on the bus as well. But anyway, that's the way it goes during a World Cup.

169.037 - 186.742 Gerard Whateley

All right. What's the washout been for Australia? And yes, we should – I've said this right from the outset. When the country plays in a World Cup, it should be a national debate. We should revel in it. We should – engage in the debate and criticise and that's the whole point of being there. What's the wash-up been to the Popovich tactics?

Chapter 3: What are the implications of the Socceroos' tactics and selections?

369.754 - 371.335 Chris Wokes

In terms of scoring in World Cup finals, you are looking at the greatest moment

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372.547 - 383.205 Gerard Whateley

You want all-time deeds as well as great matches and underlings doing their thing. It's had a little bit of everything. The Messi moment is one that's going to resonate, isn't it?

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384.367 - 401.522 Simon Hill

Yeah, well, he's played two games and he's scored five goals already. So goodness knows how many he's going to end up with at the end of the tournament. That was the Argentina game, of course, against Austria early on today. The game that I'm just watching, France 2, Iraq 0, Kylian Mbappe has just scored two. So he's up to three already in two matches.

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402.322 - 420.981 Simon Hill

But Messi is, you know, obviously he's a phenomenon. He's the greatest player in the world, has been, along with Cristiano Ronaldo, not too far behind for the best part of, what, nearly two decades. And I think it's probably only in future years, once he's retired, that we'll see the full magnitude of what he's achieved here.

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421.315 - 441.036 Simon Hill

And I'm just seeing that most World Cup goals of all time list just pop up on the screen in front of me here. Messi, 18. And Kylian Mbappe has just gone level with Miroslav Klose of Germany on 16. Those are games in the World Cup finals. So Mbappe's not too far behind. And I think he's only 23, 24, Mbappe. So, goodness me, he could smash all the records.

441.937 - 446.723 Gerard Whateley

How good is it to have – Mbappe might break Messi's record during this tournament.

Chapter 4: What does Simon Hill think about Australia's chances of reaching the knockout stage?

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447.083 - 455.451 Simon Hill

Yeah, yeah, it's entirely possible. I mean, he's going like a train at the moment. And it could be on again here, looking for a penalty. No, goal kick.

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455.591 - 472.748 Gerard Whateley

Sorry. No, don't be sorry. It's the commentator in you. Hey, Carbo Verde, what they've been able to do, draws against Spain and Uruguay. So part of this World Cup, the expanded number of nations, it has to have its moments to pay its way. Are Carbo Verde doing their bit for that?

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473.689 - 498.665 Simon Hill

Yeah. I mean, they were brilliant yesterday. To get that two-all draw against Uruguay, who, you know, probably after Brazil and Argentina are, you know, one of the forces in South America, despite a very small population, they produced some amazing players. And when they went 2-1 up Uruguay, I thought, OK, here we go. This is going to be 4-5-1. But they dug in and they found a second goal.

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498.725 - 520.99 Simon Hill

And that's, yeah, two draws out of two after drawing with Spain. former world champions themselves on match day one. So, yeah, they've really covered themselves in glory at this World Cup so far. They're not going to win it, but as you rightly point out, that's what the World Cup's all about. You want your minnow stories. particularly when you've expanded it to this ludicrous number of 48.

521.59 - 538.49 Gerard Whateley

So you've got to have these teams through the first two weeks to make it worthwhile. Now, CuraƧao, I'd never even heard of CuraƧao until we played friendly against them in the lead-up to the tournament and sort of watching their deeds as well. Is it doing enough, do you think, in the first stage?

541.294 - 564.15 Simon Hill

It's hard. I mean, certainly Cape Verde, you would say, have... made it a story. CuraƧao, of course, got absolutely belted in their first game by the Germans by seven goals to one, which didn't really augur well. But you're going to have the occasional And I mean, you've seen Qatar as well getting beaten 6-0 by Canada.

565.231 - 587.537 Simon Hill

I don't know whether you'd put them in the Mino category, given that they are back-to-back Asian champions. You're always going to get those odd results in World Cup finals games because you're dealing with some of the best players in the world. But yeah, to be honest, it's not so much the number of teams. It's more the long-drawn-out nature, I think, of the World Cup.

588.023 - 611.567 Simon Hill

it seems to have gone on forever already. And we're not even through the group stage yet. So many matches to really only knock out 16 teams before we get to the 32, which is what we started with four years ago in Qatar. So look, I'm not a fan. I'm sure if you spoke to the people in Cape Verde, they'll probably tell you a different story because they're having the time of their lives. So

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