Transcript of Somali Referee Being Denied Entry Lumps USA In With Russia And Qatar | Hour 3 New

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This is the Dan Lebatard Show with the Stuckaz Podcast.

The World Cup is kinda here and we are celebrating it in our own way. Mike Ryan leads our morally abhorrent coverage. We will be covering, uh, the games as well, uh, but everything that surrounds the World Cup, uh, it's about to engulf us over the next couple of months as a surprisingly great hockey a final that is getting surprisingly great ratings comes to a close. And a— I'm gonna say surprisingly great NBA Finals so far because it's been many years since the games were this close right at the start. These teams seem pretty evenly matched and they've given us 3 close games in the last 3 minutes when we haven't had these entire NBA playoffs a whole lot of close games at the end.

You know, I said it was going to go 7 and be a classic. I'm not surprised.

So Morally Abhorrent will be here in a little bit and we will also update the polls. But speaking of the World Cup, Ian Wright, who is now a television personality and broadcaster, and I believe he's famous for scoring like 3 goals, a hat trick, in like 20 minutes during his playing days. Mike, what is the context I need for this sound that we're about to play as we head into a fairly chaotic time where a Somali referee who's considered among the best in the world isn't allowed access to the United States and Miami and is is going to have to referee games outside of the United States because already the problems with immigration and the problems with our country's divisions are already touching this thing.

Ian Wright's a respected voice in the soccer world, and he felt compelled to take to his social media on the heels of that story that you just mentioned and share some thoughts here about the World Cup. Let's listen to the man.

I just read that the Somalian referee, the Somalian referee has been denied entry. Every few hours it's another story, another story about fans denied, players denied, officials denied, journalists denied, now refs. You know something, I'm laughing but it's not funny. It's actually not funny. Something has to be said. Expensive tickets, most expensive tickets ever. Expensive accommodation, transport through the roof. It has to be said, you know, this— is this how the hosts behave really for the greatest game, the greatest tournament in the world? Is this how the hosts behave? Are we not hearing more? Are we seeing how Qatar got dragged? Are we not hearing more? Is this the spirit of football? Really? You know who I feel for? I feel for the American fans who are desperate for this. American soccer fans who are desperate for this. How embarrassed they must be. How embarrassing for them this must be. This is, you know what, this is the World Cup. This is a World Cup of chaos. Whoever wins this World Cup is going to have to go through some serious, serious chaos to get this done. I hope we can do it. But something has to be said.

This is just like— this is the World Cup.

I agree with everything that Ian Wright said over there, but the part that connected with me was him speaking about the US soccer fan. Now, polling shows most people in this country, in growing numbers, aren't down with what's happening. This is really unfortunate for the world because I still view us as a world leader. And when I dreamed about this day for decades, about the World Cup finally coming back here, it was going to be a momentous occasion in which we— I felt like, you know, decades ago, we'll finally be a proper soccer nation. We have this great infrastructure. We can show the world what we are capable of. It's not this novelty that it was in the '90s. They're going to come here and understand that we have a sporting culture, because I do think The American soccer fan, the true American soccer fan, is as knowledgeable and respectful of the game as anyone you'll find. We have to work hard in this country to follow the sport. I love traveling abroad and talking soccer with other fans. Those other fans, they know domestically what's happening. They're not dialed into the Bundesliga, Liga MX, MLS the way that we are.

We fight hard for this. And yes, it's embarrassing. And yes, It'll be a regret for the rest of our lives. These shots are really hard to come by. I may not see another one in this continent as long as I live. It's a huge missed opportunity. I'm hugely bummed about it. I am going to apologize for our very existence constantly. Yes, it sucks. Please don't take it out on the people. Don't hold it against us for generations. And I do think the point that he made about Qatar was Incredible. Yes, everyone felt super comfortable going at the Middle Easterns. Mm-hmm. Yeah, tinge of racism, and maybe not a tinge. We deserve what's coming our way right now. And when it came to the Somali referee, the hell we doing? What is Johnny Soccer doing parading at the, uh, the, the Port of Peace and giving Donald Trump FIFA Peace Prizes, if we're not going to have stuff like this ironed out, unless it is 100% intentional. And I'm only left to believe that. I'm— this is not a loose end. It's a World Cup that has about a decade of prep going into it. And if your president is going to parade himself around as having this great relationship with Donald Trump, take him to task too, because it's a failure on his end.

To not have the simplest of logistics buttoned up. Summer always hits different once the big games start stacking up. Now you've got finals games on every other night, baseball's rolling all week, racing on the weekends, and suddenly everybody's looking for an excuse to get together. The other night, a buddy texted me, "We've got the game on, come through." I figured I'd stop by for maybe an hour. That was optimistic. Next thing you know, everybody's locked into the game and we're all part of the coaching staff. Somebody's yelling at the ref, somebody else is suddenly an expert on pitch strategy, and nobody's even pretending they're leaving early anymore. It's one of those nights where you take a sip of Miller Lite, look around, and realize, yeah, this is exactly what summer is supposed to be. That's why Miller Lite is always part of these nights for me. It's clean, refreshing, easy to drink when it's hot outside, and perfect for long nights hanging with friends, watching games. An all-American summer? Starts with an all-American beer, Miller Lite. Go to millerlite.com/dan to find delivery options near you, or you can pick up some Miller Lite pretty much anywhere they sell beer.

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Don Lebatard.

It's all about me.

Stugatz. This is the Don Lebatard Show with Stugatz.

Really quickly, the '94 World Cup, what made it so special, and, and I'm speaking from the international perspective, is because it was the most accessible World Cup. They were like Every stadium is 80,000 seats. Uh, there's, uh, travel is pretty easy within the United States. People could get to these games and they could get tickets to the games, and it really impressed the international audience, even if they were not impressed with the knowledge base of the American audience, right? Fast forward, this was supposed to be that, but like Mike said, now it's like, oh wait, the, the soccer-loving population has grown, and so now it's going to be more nuanced and more intelligent, along with those great logistics. And what we've done instead is we turned it into the ugliest part of America, which is late-stage capitalism, which is, uh, the incredibly pricey tickets and transportation and hotels and all that stuff. But then add on top of it a little tinge of xenophobia, and now we're stopping people. Not— it's one thing to say to certain fans, hey, in order to come, you have to give a $15,000 deposit per person in your traveling party that you can get back at the end of the World Cup.

That's one part of that's already pretty disgusting. But now when you're making it hard for people who are actually in charge of doing this— referees and players and stuff like that— now you've just completely lost the plot. What are we doing here?

Well, I think one of the realities here is that FIFA and Trump are kissing cousins. FIFA's very much pro-Trump. And then, by extension, I think FIFA is very much pro-America in terms of immigration policies and everything that's affecting this, including Iran fans being turned away and not having tickets anymore. I think FIFA is OK with the way this is going. And I think FIFA thinks that once the games begin, once there is the momentum of the soccer itself building like a locomotive, that all is going to be well.

There are so many examples of a, of a World Cup and the game transcending. Brazil was incredible. South Africa was incredible. And people turned to it the way that Ted Lasso had its time in the sun because people were just gravitating to something positive that was a distraction from everything else. Now this gets lumped in with Russia, with Qatar, and there's no coming back from that. And you want to talk about FIFA, you're talking about one of the most corrupt organizations in the history of sport. No, not one of— the most corrupt sporting government ever. And it's met the most corrupt American government ever, and they are quite thrilled to have met each other at this moment in time while Americans and those traveling to America are left holding the bag for the world's most accessible game.

One of the things here that I do want to point out, uh, because this is not Qatar, okay? The, uh, the, the World Cup that we were talking about that was killing essentially slaves were in a hurry to build stadiums so that other places would have—

and we're killing protesters in the street. Look, we were supposed to be a moral beacon.

Look, Mike, I'm not saying the standard's not higher for us. I'm not even disputing that all of this is embarrassing. I'm just saying that to hear America, with what it's supposed to represent, be guilty of telling a Somali referee, not welcome here, this is not a place for you, because that's what's happening with our borders. It's not killing the slaves who are building stadiums, but it's less American than I thought it would be in 2026 when we welcome this game with a celebration, and what it is that you have around it is instead just some chaos and corruption that makes it ugly But yes, of course the sports will always be the bomb. You, you just got done telling me that Adam Silver has a responsibility to do bomb talk before the games are played because that's his job as commissioner of the league. You just, you just got telling me, got done telling me that the games fix everything because you don't care if your commissioner behaves impotently because he must in order to protect public relations.

I don't think the games fix everything, but I think the games are a hell of a makeup on the scars. And if we have an exhilarating— and part of me hopes this, I don't know about you, Mike— if we have an exhilarating World Cup that on the pitch is just mesmerizing and it crescendos July 19th with an epic final match, I'm not going to say all is going to be well about the U.S. as host, but A lot of the issues are gonna sort of be softened by the games themselves.

Ein perfekter Frühlingstag.

Hach!

Sonne.

Hach!

Park.

Hach!

Picknick.

Und so viele Pollen.

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Don Lebatard.

I wanna address Tony and all men who would wear that shirt in public.

Stugatz.

Don't do it.

This is the Don Lebatard Show with the Stugatz. I talked about this some on TalkSport this morning with Master Tesfatsion, who hosts a show over there called The S Word, and he's constantly trying— having to apologize for Americans on that show broadcast out of the UK. He's our guest on today's episode of Morally Abhorrent. I have to remind myself we're not the only host nation here. There's going to be plenty of beautiful moments in Mexico. I think they're primed for potentially a deep run. Canada will be scenes. I saw a U.S. hockey team that at a very complicated time with politicians going out and reaching out to them with cosigns from the athletes themselves, still bring a nation together on a Sunday morning when they won a gold medal and people were still proud. So I am hopeful that we will have those moments. I am encouraged by the recent performances. There's also going to be triumphs of the human spirit against people we are actively engaged in a war operation against in Iran. Who were wearing lapel pins to honor those who died at that school yesterday. Iraq is over here. There is going to be a lot of interesting stories.

Statistically, the most probable knockout round opponent for the United States, I believe, is Iran. If you check the numbers and advanced measurements. So there's going to be a lot of real eye-popping moments here. Where would that game be? It depends, I don't know, but it's not going to be in Mexico or Canada. But Iran's playing its first couple games. I think that the most recent news that I saw, Iran's been moved all over the place. Iran has to travel same day. That's the most recent bit of news. Hopefully they get some relief there. I don't know how much we can put their soccer team through. Remember, this was a soccer team that has been progressive historically, has taken the opportunity— the last time they played the US, there was protests against its own government. So when they play in Los Angeles, a lot of Iranian expats that are going to be there in support. I do think that there are going to be really interesting moments here from a societal POV, and I hope that it brings out the best of us because right now unchecked corruption on both sides has brought out the worst in both organizations.

I think there's a chance Iran could play, uh, in Chicago the day before the Fourth of July, which would be spectacular in its way. But you're right, there's so many human interest stories. For me, one of them is Haiti. Um, you saw the fans in two exhibitions down here in Fort Lauderdale and Miami for the Haitian team. The Haitian team couldn't even train in their own country because of ongoing gang takeover of that nation, which needs all kind of help to save itself. And here's the Haitian team in the World Cup for the first time in 52 years. There's all kind of stories like that. That, that have a heartwarming underbelly and underlining to, to all of the, the problems we have with the US as host.

Yeah, I just wanted to point out, Dan, I know you mentioned slave labor dying. We're a country that's actively at war. We bombed a school with kids. Like, even if you want to do life-for-life Olympics, which no one should do, we can all agree it's all morally abhorrent. This is hardly a saintly place, even compared to Qatar. You say, "Oh, we have a higher standard." Again, kind of what's happened over the last few months would probably beg to differ.

I don't really want to do it.

I don't want to do it either. I just want— I want to— I don't want to do it. I just want to point it out.

But the last time that the World Cup was there, those people were dying in service of the World Cup. It wasn't like those people were dying building stadiums in a big hurry so that they could host the world. We were supposed to be prepared to host the world.

What did those kids die in service of? That's my point.

I've got a couple of stats for you guys. I want you to, I want you to tell me which is the best of these two stats. This one from Sean Grande: the Mets and Yankees lost 37 games between Knicks playoffs losses, and also the Knicks hadn't lost a playoff game since day one of the NFL Draft. Wow. Which one of those sounds more impressive to you? Because day one of the NFL Draft feels to me like it was 17 years ago. Yeah, that one.

Who went number one again?

Is Aaron Donald coming back? Is Aaron Donald going to come back after 2 years off to play for the Rams?

I doubt it.

Like week 11, he'll be back.

I can't believe it. No, I can't. He's 35, out 2 years. He's not going to be the same Aaron Donald. I don't care what anybody says. Play on third down.

I, I he might come back. I don't think he needs to be the same Aaron Donald because he's playing on the line against, alongside Miles Garrett. I don't think as much is required from him, but it'll be curious to see if that's something he wants to do because it's not ring chasing. Los Angeles has had good teams. I'm sure he's had the opportunity midseason. If I'm Sean McVay, I'm calling that guy every week. Hey, you look like you're ready to go. We think we got a good shot here. Yeah, bye week after Week 10. We think he's decided against it at every turn. So maybe the opportunity to play alongside another all-time great is what entices him. He— I think he's enjoying teasing folks, but he's been put together for a while now and doesn't mind sharing it, and you can't blame him.

He does look pretty damn good in those workout videos, I'll give him that.

Uh, he always looks pretty damn good. I would— I'd play him. That percentage, this percentage of Aaron Donald is better than most defensive tackles.

I'm dying on my podcast, not this one.