Transcript of FIFA World Cup Quarterfinals Recap and Semifinals Preview | Morally Abhorrent

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The semi-finals are set. For the first time, I think, in World Cup history, the top 4 seeds have made it to the semi- finals, just like FIFA wanted. A lot of people running crazy with conspiracy theories. I don't know how you rig that second goal for Argentina, but we will get into the Argentina discourse. We will preview these semifinals and we will talk about the path that got us here with our good friend Hercules Gomez. Hercules is doing tremendous work. You've seen him a lot more around ESPN, which is a good thing. I think he's one of the few soccer analysts that shine because he can talk about several things. So, Herc, Welcome back to the show. Treetop View here. These semifinals, as gigantic as you could possibly anticipate. How pumped are you for this? And is this good for the game? Because I tend to think it is.

Mike, I appreciate the kind words. Yes, it's great for the game. Listen, you mentioned like FIFA wanted. It's how FIFA designed it. The design in this tournament was the top 4 teams in the rankings could not meet each other until the semifinals if they advanced first place out of their respective groups. That happened by design, the same way you see in a lot of different sports. The seeds get the road that is not easiest, but the way they wanted to. So by design, this is a great thing. First time in World Cup history you get all top 4 seeds in a semifinal. It's the teams that many of us wanted to see, the stars that many of us wanted to see shine, that are shining here in the United States. 2026, this World Cup, all we kept hearing about, Mike, was it's going to be terrible. The, the stadiums aren't going to be full. Uh, the ticket prices are crazy. Uh, the hosting ability, or maybe lack thereof, of the United States, of Mexico, of Canada. And it's been great. Kylian Mbappé is shining. Harry Kane is shining. Erling Haaland is stormed onto the scene for, for Americans to discover.

Every star possible has shined in this World Cup.

So let's talk about the path that got us here before we preview these semifinals. I thought the quarterfinals were tremendous. Every game was pretty much interesting outside of France-Morocco. And even in that first half, it was, it was cagey. But for all the talk of FIFA got what they wanted and some people suggesting that there was rigging, there was a tough path to get to these semifinals. It might have been chalky, but it wasn't easy getting there. There were a lot of compelling quarterfinals. What did you make of the test that England took specifically from Norway? Because that was a battle, had to come back from that. There's all sorts of controversy surrounding a cable wire and if that goal should have been taken off. Hercules, specific to that cable, isn't there tracking data on this, on this ball? Wouldn't we know that? I don't understand. That's the kind of stuff that is suspicious and gives credence to some of these conspiracy theories. No.

Yeah. The problem is FIFA wants us to trust them. They want us to trust the technology that they've established and invested in. But we don't feel good about trusting FIFA. That's a reality here. We do not feel good about trusting FIFA. The technology— imagine an earthquake, a Richter scale. Was there an earthquake? There's the Richter scale, goes off. It's good enough to tell us that a hair follicle was touched in the Portugal-Croatia game, but all of a sudden they're saying no touch here, but our eyes are telling us something different. They're, they're asking us not to believe what we see, and that is difficult. That is hard because the more and more I look at that play, and I wasn't in the stadium, but the more and more I think it touched the cable. If it touches the referee, you stop play. If a pigeon comes in à la Randy Johnson and gets struck by a ball, you stop play. This hit the cable, it should have been stopped. And, and one could argue, well, listen, you got to play to the whistle if you're Norway. The rules are the rules, and if Norway doesn't go into that game level heading into halftime, if they're up 1-0, it's massive momentum for them.

Shoulda, coulda, woulda, all these different things, but the game would and could have been different. This is embarrassing. FIFA is to this point of this distrust because of their own doing and nobody else's.

Yeah, this is where the Balogun thing rears its ugly head. When you do something unprecedented for Flo Balogun and bend the rules, when, by the way, It was reported they couldn't do this. You know why? Because a FIFA spokesperson came out and told assembled media that Balogun's red card could not be rescinded. That was an official from FIFA that said that, and then they bent the rules for him. So once you did that, you opened up the floodgates to all sorts of controversy and conspiracy theories gaining traction. Once you have shown that you're willing to do something unprecedented, and now we're seeing it play out on social media. Anytime there is anything controversial, everyone goes to game is rigged. And this isn't just like the the outskirts of the internet. These aren't just the wayward Reddit posts and conspiracy theorists. It's, you know, credible people, big-time fans, lifelong fans that are suggesting these sort of things. You mentioned the scoreline going into half. Norway should have gone up by 2. Oh, Sørloth, if yes or no, if Sørloth simply plays a square ball to Erling Haaland— I'm not even giving you the result of the goal— if he simply plays a square ball to Erling Haaland, who is charging into that box on a 2v1.

Is Norway in the semifinal?

Quite possibly. That's a, that's a big hole for England to dig themselves out of, Mike. I've heard so many things about John Stones, his positioning. He did very well to cut off the angle. Any player in that situation, cut the ball back, give yourself an angle, excuse me, and you play to Erling Haaland. Let him do the rest. Let him take care of the rest. He's one of the world's best goal scorers. I don't want to blame Alexander Sorloth. He is a center forward playing as a winger. You don't want him running with the ball. You don't want him on point. You want him finishing off a play. It's on the coach for putting him in there, but once you're in that position, help yourself out. Give it to Erling Haaland. He did not. And we could make a credible case too, if you're up 2-0 against the English national team, they chased the game more and you pick them apart. You absolutely pick them apart. And it's Norway, not England, in a semifinal. It's Norway making history, not England looking to bring it home. It's that easy. The margins are so slim at this level.

That was a massive momentum swing for the Norwegian national team.

An overthink from the manager putting Sorloth out there on the wings. Sorloth said he didn't see Haaland, which you're more likely to believe just because he's playing out of position. I don't know how you don't see a 6-foot-5 Viking with blazing speed. It's Erling Haaland. That team looks for him all the time. He just thought it was Sorloth time playing out of position. I thought it was an overthink not putting Nusa out there. Bob has been good for them. It's such a crazy thing to do to your lineup. And after he makes that mistake, I can't believe he came out for that second half. That was egregious, Herc.

Yeah. Yeah. And look at the other side. Madueke wasn't doing very well for England. Thomas Tuchel said, I've seen enough, and he didn't come out for the second half. You've got to make big decisions. They did not. I'm sure Alexander Sorloth would love that playback and would love to give it to Erling Haaland, but you don't get these do-overs in international football, not at this level. And that could have been the difference. And it's very unfair to blame it all on Alexander Sorloth, but goals change games. It's very simple, but they do. And if in that moment you put the dagger into England, and you see what the English national team is right now, there seems to be some cracks you know, in that system. There seems to be a little bit of turmoil within that locker room. You could have really just twisted that knife, and they didn't. So it was a moment lost in time that he will never get back.

Well, let's talk about what you just referenced there. Now, I've seen some people on the internet theorize, well, this journalist was out of line for asking a leading question. I think they're just looking to point the blame on somebody else that isn't associated with the team. Thomas Tuchel is a German. And I think what happened there was maybe lost in a little German translation. But Jude Bellingham, if anybody on that team outside of Harry Kane has the chutzpah and the bona fides to be able to buck up against what Thomas Tuchel said, it was Jude Bellingham. Thomas Tuchel questioned the effort, said that England didn't play their best game. Jude Bellingham bounced back, snapped back live in front of a microphone during post-match availability, saying he doesn't know what it's like to play in these conditions, which I think is fair. As someone that was in attendance, it was very swampy out there. Or what's it like to play against the likes of Haaland and Odegaard? Easy. I mean, Thomas Tuchel has won a Champions League. What'd you make of Jude Bellingham picking that moment, to be honest? Because I didn't think what Thomas Tuchel did was that out of line.

It's a motivational thing that Thomas is known for.

Oh, I'll tell you what, that's the type of thing that you keep in-house. Both of them. And they're both right. Um, Thomas Tuchel is right in what he says. The quality wasn't there from England. The mentality was there, the fight was there, but the quality was not there. But that's something you say to your Team in the locker room, boys, congratulations, we advance. But if we play like this next round, we're going home. It's not coming home, we are going home. But he didn't do that. He told the world. So Jude Bellingham, who's a competitor, the ultimate competitor, who just scored 2 goals in this game and is coming off a literal on-field war in Mexico in Estadio Azteca where they left everything out on the field, is saying, hold on a second, this guy doesn't know what it's like to be on the field because Thomas Tuchel at age 25 retired from football. He got to Bundesliga 2. So while he's a great coach, he doesn't know what it's like to be on the field. Not that you need to, but it seems like there was a shot taken from Thomas Tuchel to his boys and Jude wasn't there for it.

This is the type of thing, and you know how the English press works, they are going to feed off of this for a while. And if they don't advance, if there is a big moment that doesn't go their way against Argentina, the narrative will be this team imploded. That's the way football works around the world and 10 times over in England. The press is going to eat him up. So on all accounts, this should have been kept in-house. It's great for us, we work in the press. It's great for the fan base 'cause a lot of them think, hey, it's emotion, they care, et cetera, et cetera. It's bad in a team dynamic.

It's unfortunate you speak to that team dynamic because prior to that quote from Thomas Tuchel and Jude Bellingham, Jude Bellingham is a great story for Thomas Tuchel to tell. There were newspaper articles suggesting leave Jude at home. He's not good enough to make the, the national team because he's struggling on form at Real Madrid. And Thomas Tuchel stuck with Jude Bellingham and it's paid off immense dividends right now. So it's unfortunate that this is happening for them, though, because of the reason I just cited, I think they can bridge that gap. For me, Jude Bellingham has been the player of this tournament so far, not just because of the goal contributions, not just because of how clutch he has been, but his ability to track back defensively has been the best out of any of the other players in this tournament that are in that mix outside of maybe Erling Haaland, who shocked me with how he cleared two balls off the line and his ability to run back. That wasn't there so much in the, the conditions at Miami Stadium. Truthfully, it wasn't there as much as it had been for Jude Bellingham, who's played a lot of soccer here recently in this tournament.

Who has been the best player of this tournament for you? Who do you think is getting Golden Ball if you had to call it right now?

Kylian Mbappé. I, I really think in, in real time we are witnessing the greatest World Cup player that's ever going to play the game. Um, he's got a realistic opportunity of winning his second World Cup at the age of 27. He's already— if they go to the final, if they're fortunate enough to beat Spain, we're talking about a player who's going to play in 3 World Cup finals. That's putting him in uncharted territory, very rare air, I should say. That's Pelé air. Pelé is referred to as the best player that's ever lived, arguably, with Diego Armando Maradona and, and to me, Lionel Messi. But the one thing that he was known for was World Cups. He played his whole career pretty much in South America and a few stints here, there, but never had a European career. It's the World Cup that put him on that map. Mbappé is there. He's got 8 goals right now. He's got a total of 20 World Cup goals. He's 27 years old. If we go by the graph that is the GOAT, the greatness, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo of this generation, they played 6 World Cups. He'll have 3 more World Cups.

He's going to have all the records, Mike. He's going to have everything. It's insane. And he doesn't look like he's slowing down. For all the trouble he had in club the last 2 years at Real Madrid or at Paris Saint-Germain, we couldn't win the Champions League. And it seems to be the finger pointed at Kylian. It's Kylian's fault. It's Kylian's fault. It's Kylian's fault. He is the reason France are in this position. He's the best player I've seen in this tournament. And this tournament's had a lot of good players. And I do not want to be unfair to Messi, but he's on a different level right now.

I, I do agree with Mbappé. He's solid pick, not doing the defensive work as much, but he does reach a next gear when he puts on that national team shirt. I think the fire that he plays with, the ability to mix it up, I'm sure José Mourinho is going to be tapping into that, no doubt, at Real Madrid next season. Let's turn our attention to Argentina, subject to many conspiracy theories out there. I don't know how you rigged that second goal. I think it was a boneheaded mistake. I'm here to entertain what the internet says about Argentina. I get it. Some of the stuff is suspicious. The one that really sticks out to me was the Netherlands-Argentina match from a, from a previous World Cup. But that was boneheaded. When you're on a yellow already. And I know that there is a discourse here, Herc, about VAR overstepping its bounds, that that wasn't what it was intended for. But to me, the blame goes to Switzerland and the decision to do that. I don't think it's an overreach by VAR. What was your take on the matter?

I agree with you, Mike. Mbolo made a boneheaded decision there. You're sitting on a yellow. You have to be careful. He takes a blatant dive. This is no different than Miguel Almirón taking a dive with Tim Ream in the opening match, U.S. Men's National Team versus Paraguay. And I think what confuses confuses people here is that it's being viewed under the term, uh, of a mistaken identity, and that confuses people. They're like, you can't do that, it's not mistaken identity. Well, the mistaken identity falls into that they carded Paredes. Paredes wasn't the player who's supposed to be carded there. It wasn't a foul. So they removed that card and gave a second yellow, which red cards are viewable under VAR to Mbolo. They were all over Argentina. There was one team in this game in the second half, and it was Switzerland. They could have been in a semi-final for the first time in their history, and Mbolo made a lapse of judgment, got the second yellow, and he's gone. We can talk about conspiracy theories, and I'm here for it. It's fine. FIFA has earned this, but not here, not in this play. This was the right call, right process.

And right call. Now, Argentina versus Egypt, there's a gripe. Argentina versus Algeria, there's a gripe. Argentina versus Australia, there's a gripe as well. But not here, not in this one.

100%, I agree. All right, huge semifinals, massive, top 4 teams in the world. Spain hadn't conceded until Belgium, and I, I was really impressed with Belgium and Rudi Garcia. I thought they were at the end of their run, and clearly generationally they were, but they got better as that tournament progressed. The ability to rally from, from that deficit against Senegal, they were really strong to end this tournament, end up putting one in the back of the net against Spain, something that no one else had been able to say. Defensively stout, Lamine Yamal just turned 19 years old today, has not played particularly well so far in this tournament outside of the Saudi Arabia match. What do you make of this match? I think it's going to be a cagey affair, but France has shown you, Herc, over these last few World Cup tournaments, they can beat you any style?

Yeah, I don't think it's going to be cagey, if I'm being honest. I think I'm taking the over on this one, Mike.

Really?

You've got— yeah, you've got the team, uh, in Spain that may be known defensively right now as the best defensive team, but they're the team that's performed better when it comes to expected goals. That means they're closer to scoring a goal than anybody else, uh, and they've not gone in. They've constantly knocked on that door. Lamine Yamal, the 19-year-old teenage phenom— excuse me— he's got 1 goal in this tournament But he's got top 3 shots on goal in this tournament, so he's constantly knocking on that door. He's the best player in 1v1 situations in this tournament. It's not my opinion, those are statistics. This team constantly puts you under pressure offensively, which is why they're so good defensively. They keep the ball so much. But on the other side, you've got a French national team that nobody's been able to stop. Some teams have been barely able to slow them down somewhat. If you manage to slow down Kylian Mbappé, can you slow down Michael Olise, who's the best playmaker in this tournament? If you do that, can you slow down, uh, Desirée Doué or Barkola on the other side? What about Dembélé, who's the current Ballon d'Or, best player of the year right now?

There's so much going for them, and I really feel, Mike, that the way that Spain play with that high line, if for whatever reason there's an early goal here for France, this could get ugly. If they are forced to chase the game, they're going to allow those spaces in behind and France is going to overwhelm. That said, Spain is very good with the ball. They can definitely hurt the French national team and beat them. Absolutely. But Lamine's got to come out. He's not shined. We spoke about the likes of Kylian Mbappé. We spoke about the likes of Erling Haaland. We mentioned Harry Kane. We mentioned Jude Bellingham, Dembélé. Those are the stars. They've come out. Lamine Yamal has not come out and Lamine is the guy that everybody would have bet on. I bet on him before his injury to be the player of this tournament and he's sitting on 1 goal. He needs to come out and needs to perform if Spain is to do something against France.

I don't think he's even been the young player of the tournament for his national team as they got a dynamite center back there that's also 19 years old. But you mentioned some very interesting data that I hadn't considered, that this is an opportunity for Lamine Yamal to ascend to the mean. The narrative around Lamine so far is that he hasn't been good. And while the counting stats aren't there, the take-ons, that's certainly encouraging. This is an opportunity for Spain as a collective and for Lamine Yamal individually to ascend to the mean and to have some of those breaks go their way.

Yeah, yeah. Think about the last time we saw this team as European champions, what they were— two very exciting players on the wings, Lamine Yamal, Nico Williams. Both haven't been healthy in the last 6-7 months. That's a reality. Nico Williams fell off a cliff. He's not been the same player. Lamine Yamal has been up and down. That hernia really did him in. He's not been the same player. But if they explode, this team controls the midfield unlike any other team that I've ever seen. Rodri is as good as they get, but he started off not great this tournament and has been building up. Pedri right now, we don't even know if he's a starter. We don't know if Pedri is a starter on this team. It could be Fabián Ruiz. Fabián Ruiz comes into the game, scores a goal. Luis de la Fuente, the head coach of the Spanish national team, he's been— every single button he's pressed, he's hit. Substitutions, replacements, he's gotten it right. But if Pedri's not on the field, if Rodri's not on his game, if that motor is not there, you're allowing the French national team to dictate pace. You've got to take the ball away from them.

The problem is, out of the two teams, who feels comfortable without having the ball?

France.

France, they have a plan B. I don't think the Spanish national team has a plan B, and that's the difference this year. Can they hurt the French national team? Absolutely. They got quality all over the field. But this one could get ugly. And, and, and I say it in the sense of how gameplay goes. If they are forced to chase the game because they are looking for a goal, France can pick them apart in transition.

Well, you mentioned some of the things that they can do with the team selection. I, I like Fabian Ruiz, and it's not just a surname thing. I think he's a big match player, and I was confused at what I saw earlier on in the tournament. Not at all surprised that he rose to the occasion in his last match. He is pretty consistent with that respect. Moreno's been dynamite off the bench. Do you change how you use him? Because we saw with Germany, they had a really great player that worked really well off the bench, and then they started him. You didn't get the same kind of impact. Do you keep the Moreno thing in the back pocket, or do you start him because he deserves it clearly?

No, I, I, uh, it's so difficult. There's a danger to being typecast as the super sub. That you're always going to be the super sub. But at this point, for Merino, that's his best bet. I don't know if you've seen the GIF. There's this kid riding a bicycle and then somebody crosses the ball and he heads it in while he's on his bike. Yeah, that's Merino. That's him. That's who he is right now. He doesn't miss. I don't move that. And I trust Luis de la Fuente. He's been pressing the right buttons here, man. Like, like, this team was heavily criticized in the group phase, and then you look at the, you know, underlying stats of expected goals, of take-ons, of shots on goal, shots on target, all these different things of possession. And this team, for as defensive, you know, as an idea that we have about them, is very offensive. They are very foot forward. But that foot forward for them is because of who they have starting and, and who they have coming off the bench, who keeps you on your heels if you're a defensive team. I don't move it. I think, I think Merino is a fabulous footballer, but I think Luis de la Fuente has gotten it right here.

It's uncommon when two nations have so much history despite not playing on the same continent. And that's what we have internationally, geopolitically. Argentina versus England, one of the game's great international rivalries that exists on separate continents. I think once I saw England go to the Azteca, once they had their mettle tested against DR Congo and the way that they came back, I was like, yes, that's the best possible thing that could have happened to this team going into Azteca. Then they survived survived Azteca. Entire book on this team was they lack the intestinal fortitude. Huge gut check, great heart displayed. They've been tested every match, and I think that experience in Azteca helps fuel them here. I anticipate England going through. I'm in the minority because we all know what we get, and sometimes the officials are on the side of Argentina. This is as big as a semifinal gets. What do you think happens in it?

Massive semifinal, and I could not agree with you more about Estadio Azteca. I'm so glad you brought that up, Mike. I, I firmly believe decades from now we're gonna see, uh, documentaries being made on Harry Kane, on Jude Bellingham. And let's say England is to go on to win this World Cup. In those documentaries where some of the best generational players, or maybe some of the best players who ever played the game, when they're all said and done with this, they're going to be talking about that Azteca game as a turning point in their careers, as a turning point in their World Cup. That's how massive of a win. Gut check. And reality check for many of us with the English national team. That said, um, they slayed one demon, now they gotta go slay another. And this other is, is a probably the biggest international demon that they have. Um, you're talking about geopolitical history between the two countries. They do not like each other. You're talking about history within the game. The 1986 World Cup is not lost upon the English, how they bowed out in that tournament with the hand of God from Diego Armando Maradona with the goal of the century Maradona taking on like 8, 9 English players and what happened, that's not lost upon them.

The red card that David Beckham gets with, with Cholo Simeone, you know, back in, I believe it was 1998, that's not lost upon them. They, they understand who they're playing against here. Uh, this is a tricky one. Um, and I don't know if you heard this, but Argentina is already doing the mind tricks. Guess what color uniform they're gonna play with? I love the Blues. That is the Blues that they won in 1986 with. This is a difficult one because if we know anything about the English, we don't question the talent, we question the medal, we question the psyche. And right now, um, it's reached a boiling point. I too think England has more talent, um, to an extent. If we were to remove what I think is the X factor in this game, Jude Bellingham, I give it to Argentina, but Jude Bellingham is here. So I tend to lean England because Argentina looks tired, but they got Messi, and Messi's a massive sleeve up your head— excuse me, massive ace up your sleeve.

Argentina do look tired. I thought that was Messi's most pedestrian performance from, from the World Cup tournament so far, and even then he almost caught them sleeping, right? He famously saves his energy and he's always capable of an individual moment of brilliance. But it does seem like all this, quite frankly, unnecessary additional football that they've played, because they should have handled Cabo Verde, they should have put forth a much better effort against Egypt. They played with their food a little bit. They— I think especially in Cabo Verde, Herc, they look like a team that wanted to save their legs for the next round, and shit got real for them real quick.

I mean, let's be honest, they've been very fortunate. And but this is not the first time that we see— people forget what what Qatar was like. They lost to Saudi Arabia in the first game. You know, they had a very difficult game against Mexico where for 60 minutes it was a cagey 0-0 until Messi shows up. You know, they suffered versus Poland as well. You know, they suffered versus Australia. They suffered versus the Dutch. Croatia was probably their easiest game, you know. And then they went to the final and had a ridiculous World Cup final where, yes, they win, but they suffered. This is the Argentine way. And they understand that. In, in all my years of playing the game and covering the game, I have never seen a gene to compete as I do with the Argentine. They understand the willingness to suffer. And Lionel Scaloni, the head coach, he tailor-makes a suit for each opponent. If you saw last game, they didn't care that Switzerland was the underdog. They said, this is how we need to play against Switzerland. And Dibu Martínez, the goalkeeper, everything was route 1, direct. And, and Messi was playing underneath Julián, and then at one point when everything's going awry, he's on the right-hand side kind of quarterbacking.

It's— they don't care if it's aesthetic, they just want to win. And when you have the world's greatest player who's ever played the game in Lionel Messi, who's already put on a show— like, you and I are talking about him looking human, bro. We're at this stage, he's got 8 goals, and we're talking he's looking human. Like, think about that. He's 39 years old. This is Isn't normal.

Yeah. Got a great on a curve. I think the only time he ever looks human is from the penalty spot. That's the only time he ever looks human. There were some things that happened that were of interest in that recent England performance. We made mention of it. Madueke was not very good. Reece James, who I thought we were done seeing him because he had a hamstring injury. As a Chelsea supporter, I know that's usually it for Reece James, but he came on. He was strong, versatile, came in initially as a defensive mid. Moved out wide in his traditional role. Do we see him in the starting 11? Looked pretty good from what I could see. Is Madueke out?

If Zlatan has anything to do with it, Madueke is out.

Yeah, that was a great one.

You know, I'll be honest, Madueke didn't shower himself in glory. This is where I give Thomas Tuchel a lot of credit. The movements weren't like for like. He changed things up and different players played in different positions. Spence found himself on the left-hand side and looked like Roberto Carlos for a second. I'm like, what are you doing out there? Reece James comes on and he's in the midfield, then he goes out, you know, out to the right-back position. But he's coming off a muscular injury, and that's— you got to be delicate with that. I don't know if he starts, because if you're going to start him, you got to assume he at least goes 60. I don't know if that's the recipe here. There— they are ideal conditions now. Last game was played in Miami. It was the Sunblock Clásico versus the Norwegian national team. It's not going to be the case now. You're in a dome. And being in a dome has its benefits, both for you and the opponent. I don't think Reece James starts, though I do like what I saw from— I love what Thomas Tuchel did. I thought every sub he made, there was an impact, and it wasn't a like-for-like, which I think shows the tactical flexibility.

All right. As we close things out here on our penultimate episode of Morally Abhorrent, 6 days from now, New Jersey. Which two nations are represented?

My gut tells me the French national team versus the Argentine national team. A repeat. Argentina finds a way. I'll start with Argentina-England. Um, I love the competitor of Jude Bellingham, but that shows me there are cracks in that system. That shows me that something underlining is going on within that locker room. It didn't stay in there, it boiled over, and you don't want that happening. And they've also been through some physical and emotional just battles, and maybe it's too much. And with Argentina, I do agree, physically it's taken its toll, but they survived, and they have Messi for another day. And we've also seen a few players that have not made a name for himself that I think can make a name for themselves, and we may see a player like Nico Paz como player, a player like Barco, a player, a player, uh, to the stature of, um, who's the guy that I'm thinking of? The other guy who didn't play. Um, it'll come to me, but they've got players who haven't seen the field who I think can see the field and make an impact. Julian Simeone is who I was thinking of, excuse me.

So, so I think they have a little extra there that will get them over because they know how to compete. The French national team, I'm going to equate it to the 2002 Brazilian team. That's how they're playing right now. Um, and not in the term of Jogo Bonito, but in terms of— I don't think anybody could stop them. I think they're going to overwhelm opponents. And if you manage to slow down an Mbappé, what do you do with Michael Olise? If you manage to slow down an Olise, what do you do with Dembélé? If you manage to slow down a Dembélé, what do you do with Barkola and Desirée Doué? And it goes on and on and on. I like those teams. My gut tells me it's a repeat of our last final.

Yeah, Kone's played really well. They haven't really missed Tchoukaméni at all. Yeah, just an embarrassment of riches from a golden generation, from a proud footballing nation. Hercules, thank you so much. For joining us on Morally Abhorrent. You're the man. You've been doing such great work for ESPN. I remain a huge fan of yours.

Appreciate it, Mike. Money's— the check's in the mail.

We will talk to you on our final episode of Morally Abhorrent on Thursday after the semifinals wrap up. We will preview what promises to be, no matter the results this week, a tremendous final in New Jersey. We'll speak to you next time.