Feb. 6, 2026

Clemente Lisi returns! 2026 World Cup and the Soccer Hobby E374

Clemente Lisi returns! 2026 World Cup and the Soccer Hobby E374
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WEBVTT

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Sports Guard Nation, Hobbies the People, Wheely News and Interviews.

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It's your number one soul, Sportscarnations hobby is the people.

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Sports gar Nation. What is up, everybody? Welcome to episode

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three seventy four Sports Card Nation. I just had an espresso.

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I am rearing to go. Clemente Leasi is back for

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part two of our two part episode, and today he

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is breaking down the World Cup and the soccer hobby market.

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No one does it better than Clemente least in the hobby.

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This guy wrote a book about the World Cup, which

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has been updated. He'll talk about that during today's episode.

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But tremendous, vast bastion of knowledge about past and current

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soccer and the World Cup is on North American soil

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here in the US, I believe at twelve locations, Mexico

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and Canada, so many of you listening might be taking

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in some of the actions. So that's what today's episode

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is going to be about. A little bit longer than

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our typical but I did not want to short the

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World Cup. It only comes around every four years, and

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it doesn't always come around to us here in the

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United States. So didn't want to short change this. And

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so We have a little bit longer episode today, but

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I think you'll find it very interesting. So with that

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being said, let's get the show started, all right. Here

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is part two of our conversation with Clemente Lasi and

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part one we talked about the NHL and the hockey hobby.

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Today we're going to talk uh the World Cup and

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the soccer market. And so they're kind of two separate episodes,

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so really not really part two, but back to back

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weeks of Clemente. So uh, here you go, let's get

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into some soccer talk. You know, coming to coming to

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the United States, Mexico and Canada, the first time that

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it's going to be in three countries at the same

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time you mentioned the meat before. It's the most it's

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ever been, is too. The field expanding what from thirty

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two to forty eighteen, which means more games. Let me

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let me your you're you know, soccer is right in

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your wheelhouse. Do you like these changes with the expansion

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and more teams in the more countries in the field.

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It's a good question. My fear is that you may

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be watering down the event by bringing in countries that

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maybe or not going to be able to hold and

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we'll find out. If we get a couple of lopsided

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scores in the group stage, we'll see. Now the rationale is,

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you know, the World Cup is for everybody, and it

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is fun to see countries who haven't qualified in fifty

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years or sixty years or maybe ever qualify, So that

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is fun, you know, Like for example, Haiti is qualified

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for the World Cup and they haven't qualified since nineteen

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seventy they've only played in one World Cup, so it's huge.

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It's a huge thing for a country that's in a

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lot of turmoil at the moment. So you have a

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lot of Haitian Americans, so for them it's a sense

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of pride. It's huge. But are they're going to lose

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seven zero to Brazil in the group stage and people

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are going to be like, what are they doing here?

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You know, and so that's that's that's the that's the

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push pull. And for example, FIFA wants more countries from

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around the world to be at the World Cup, so

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they want more countries from Africa and Asia in South America,

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and that's great, but the number of European countries hasn't

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really moved up much. So for example, you could see

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Haiti at the World Cup. And there's still four teams

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that need to qualify for the World Cup, and one

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of those four that could qualify and those four spots

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that come March is Italy. We could have a World

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Cup without Italy in it, which would be a huge

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kind of loss.

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That's insane to me. Yeah, I'm half Battalion and like that.

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I actually didn't even really, I'm not, just to show

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you how much I know coment. I just assumed they

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were in the field already.

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No they're not. And so Italy hasn't qualified for the

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last two World Cups, which is already a staggering thing

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considering it's a four time world champion, and you know

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it's a country shape like a boot, so they have

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no choice but to be a soccer powerhouse. But also

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I remember that ninety four World Cup, and ninety four

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I'm sure you remember New York hosted the old giant

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Staium hosted games, including the famous Italy Ireland game, right

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and so, which Italy lost one zero, and all my

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Irish fans remind you of that every day. But you know,

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you had Italy playing training in New Jersey. You have

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a huge attime in American community. So not having in Italy,

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for example, could hurt the tournament. And then you have

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Rezbecca stand who was in for the first time. People

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are like, why why do we have this? Now I

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understand it's also a political thing, you know, FIFA to

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maintain its power. Every FIFA member gets one vote in

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the presidential election. The FIFA president Johnny and Fantina, which

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a lot of people may have heard that name because

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it's become like Trump's best friend. He's always at the

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White House and I always hanging out. They have like

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a romance going. He wants to get elected. He knows

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that Italy gets the same number of votes as Haiti.

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They get one vote each, and so it does help

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to kind of it's like the electoral college of FIFA.

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It's nice to dole out, you know, World Cup spots

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to countries that are smaller or that never been the

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World Cup before because they'll vote for you, and so

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that's a power thing internally.

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So he he'll just say, like, this team's inn don't you.

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Have no no the qualifying process, but the qualifying process

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could be tipped by saying, hey, Latin America, you have

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ten countries in Latin America will give you instead of

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three spots, will give you seven. So literally every almost everybody,

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it's like everybody makes the playoffs kind of thing. And

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so so just so you know and the listeners know,

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there's two hundred and four FIFA members, two hundred and

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four and only thirty two went to the World Cup before,

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not only forty eight naked, but still two hundred and four.

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So do the math. A lot of teams don't make

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the World Cup, right, so.

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It'll be one hundred or practically that.

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Don't make the World Cup and are anticipating that. Why yeah,

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and when that and when those countries are not participating

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are I don't know Tunisia, which they're in the World Cup.

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Let's say which is in Africa. Let's say they don't

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make the World Cup. No one's really gonna notice but

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people in that country. But if Italy doesn't make the

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World Cup or in Argentina or Brazil, it's noticeable. People

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are going to notice that. And so I'm sure FIFA

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wants Italy in there because and I don't want to

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harp on Italy. It's become it's become a big controversy.

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Now it's it's going from.

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Sixty is why they can still qualify? Why don't we

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know the like in the USA group, there's still one

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more team to be now, yes, why why are there?

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Why are is still Why don't we know the full

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forty eight now? Like, why isn't it?

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Because? Yeah, because the qualifying ended in November and they

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had a World Cup draw in December, which I'm sure

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a lot of people watched, and the issue with that was, oh,

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we still have to play kind of a playoff like

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a play in. Look, it's to create more you know,

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it's to create more drama, to have more teams qualifying,

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and you have to expand the qualifiers because you know,

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in soccer, national teams are not the only game in town.

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Most players are earning their money on club teams Real Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus,

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AC Milan. That's where the game is actually played on

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the club level. The national teams is like the Olympics.

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This is a kind of a special kind of thing.

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So you pointed out correctly, the US is in Group

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D with Paraguay Australia, and then it says the winner

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of UEFA Path C and it's like, okay, well, what's

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what does that mean? So there's like a mini there's

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four teams buying to become that one team. All all

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indications point that it will be Turkey. Now they could

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be upset and they can lose. If Turkey gets into

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that group, the US group will be I think the

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US got a pretty good group. I think it's a

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pretty easy group for the US considering they could have

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they could have gotten some tough teams.

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Let me ask you this, how are the groups who

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decides it's US, Paraguay, Australia And is that like? Is

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it random? Is it?

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Is it?

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Yeah?

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So it's a good point. So there's something called the

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FIFA rankings that come out every month, which are a

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little bit like tennis rankings, a little bit like college

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football rankings. Every month, based on results, they rank the teams.

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The top eight teams are the group leader. Okay, so

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for example, like a Brazil, A Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain,

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and then you have Mexico, Canada, the US. Those teams

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cannot play each other in the group stage. They can

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only in a knockout round because they're really good. You know,

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you wouldn't want to put Spain in Germany in the same.

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They're trying to they're trying to create parody that.

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Way exactly, exactly.

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Three powerhouses in one group exactly.

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And then you write because it's better for the you know,

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for the for the show to have the better teams

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than not. In the knockout stage, then you have with

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teams that are in Pot two, Pot three, and Pot four.

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So every group is put together. The US is Pot

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one and they come out. Then Pot two is like

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a Paraguay and Morocco, Japan, whatever. Then you pull them

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out and so you end up with So it's it's orchestrated. Now,

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when the World Cup was smaller, there was a possibility

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that you could get a tough group. But the more

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teams that are in it and the more parody you create,

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the more water down it becomes. So for example, uh,

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it doesn't mean that on paper Germany can win their group,

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but who knows. They could be an upset and they

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lose to Ecuador, which is the same group as Germany,

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and there's an upset that could happen. But you have

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you know, you have in in Group E with Germany,

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you have a team small island in the Caribbean called Curissa.

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They're at the World Cup for the first time. It's

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a tiny country. This is the same country that way

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Gretzky mis pronounced Caraco during the World Cup draw, which

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was kind of hilarious, And I.

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Was actually believe Andrew Jones might be from Uh yeah,

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I don't know. Some there is a baseball player, I.

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Think that, yeah, and base Yeah, they're good at baseball.

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It's a former Dutch colony. It's a vacation spot for

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many people. It's a country that people have never heard of,

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and they're like, well, they're at the World Cup. Yes,

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Italy might not be there, but curis I was there,

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so don't worry. Rest assured.

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And what is the thing like you not to cut

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you off too, clement De like you mentioned like I

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know Italy missed a couple of the last couple of

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World Cups. They can make this one. But why do

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we not know yet? Like when when the BCS college

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football like releases the sixteen teams in the playoffs, they're

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all released at one time. Here it is, yeah, you

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know college World Series, everyone's playing. Here's the field. Now

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you play. You got out of the region. Why is

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it not all known at once?

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Because what normally happens is the qualifiers end in November

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of the year before the World Cup, and then in

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December there's the draw, which happened right in December. We

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had the draw, but because there's more teams qualifying, there

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wasn't enough time to get all these teams in. So

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what ended up happening is FIFA was like, okay, Europe,

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you will have your your playoffs the best second place teams.

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Because all only the group winners of the qualifiers qualified automatically,

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the best number two teams were thrown in this pot

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where they had to basically fight it out. And so

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they're like, you're going to play in March. Because FIFA

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has what they call international windows. There is when September,

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one October, When November, When in March, when in April?

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They have to spread this out. So unfortunately, now when

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I talk to the Panini people, for example, this tripped

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them up because Panini was like, we were ready to

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put out our sticker book in January, if you know,

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the Speene Stickers World Cup book, which is super popular.

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But they're like, we can't do that. We have to

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wait until at least April or May, because we need

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to figure out which four teams are left and then

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get them in the book. Now, if you're Panini, you

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probably already have, you know, the four teams that make it,

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but there's like sixteen teams left. I'm sure they've created

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pages for all of them, and then they're just gonna

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00:12:19.840 --> 00:12:21.320
throw out the ones that they'll make it and put

237
00:12:21.320 --> 00:12:23.960
the ones that you know. But that delayed because the

238
00:12:23.960 --> 00:12:27.000
people of Panini America or like people love the Sticker book.

239
00:12:27.159 --> 00:12:29.039
It would have been awesome to have the book out

240
00:12:29.360 --> 00:12:31.759
in December January, and now we have to wait, and

241
00:12:31.799 --> 00:12:33.919
so it tripped up Panini as well, and then trips

242
00:12:33.960 --> 00:12:36.440
a Panini Prism, which is a big World Cup set

243
00:12:36.440 --> 00:12:38.919
people want to collect. You have to wait until the

244
00:12:38.960 --> 00:12:40.639
World Cup or maybe even have to the World Cup

245
00:12:40.679 --> 00:12:42.360
to be able to sell this box because you want

246
00:12:42.360 --> 00:12:44.000
to be able to get those teams there too. So

247
00:12:44.519 --> 00:12:46.840
it does hurt in terms of cars.

248
00:12:47.879 --> 00:12:50.320
Going back to what happens on the pitch, is it

249
00:12:50.360 --> 00:12:55.320
a disadvantage to a team that qualifies late or an advantage.

250
00:12:54.759 --> 00:12:58.159
Or it's a disadvantage because you're in pot four. So

251
00:12:58.279 --> 00:13:01.240
for example Italy that ended up in the Germany group

252
00:13:01.240 --> 00:13:03.080
and that's it. Italy qualifies. They could have ended up

253
00:13:03.080 --> 00:13:05.480
in the Germany group or in the Spain group. Now

254
00:13:05.559 --> 00:13:08.480
luckily they ended up in they could end up in

255
00:13:08.519 --> 00:13:12.000
the Canada group, which is super interesting because Canada's first

256
00:13:12.039 --> 00:13:15.200
game would in Canada's a co host Canada would play,

257
00:13:15.639 --> 00:13:18.279
it would be Canada Italy in Toronto. Now that would

258
00:13:18.320 --> 00:13:20.759
be an amazing game considering the Italians live in Toronto.

259
00:13:21.000 --> 00:13:23.720
But Italy has to qualify. It could be another country

260
00:13:23.720 --> 00:13:25.519
and then it's like, Okay, that's not going to happen.

261
00:13:25.679 --> 00:13:30.279
So that that Canada, that Canada versus blank team game.

262
00:13:30.720 --> 00:13:33.080
A lot of people the ticket is the ticket price

263
00:13:33.159 --> 00:13:35.440
are going up on that because it's Canada yet and

264
00:13:35.480 --> 00:13:39.919
their home. Sure, but people could be Italy, Lily, it

265
00:13:39.919 --> 00:13:43.000
should be Italy. Could be Italy and Italy Canada. So

266
00:13:43.120 --> 00:13:45.559
Italy got a Italy. If if Italy were to qualify,

267
00:13:45.559 --> 00:13:47.679
they would get a pretty easy group because they'd been

268
00:13:47.720 --> 00:13:51.080
a group with Canada and Canada. You know, with Qatar

269
00:13:51.240 --> 00:13:53.279
and Switzerland. It's a pretty easy group for a team

270
00:13:53.279 --> 00:13:55.360
that just snuck in, you know what I mean, as

271
00:13:55.360 --> 00:13:57.759
opposed to like, oh, you're in the Spain group with

272
00:13:58.039 --> 00:14:01.399
Uruguay and Saudi Arabians, gets complicated. They could end up

273
00:14:01.399 --> 00:14:03.279
in the US group, right, which would have been which

274
00:14:03.320 --> 00:14:05.080
would have made the US group all of a sudden

275
00:14:05.159 --> 00:14:08.120
really hard because it's like, great, you know, it's like

276
00:14:08.320 --> 00:14:10.600
we're talking about hockey before. It's like, you know, you

277
00:14:10.600 --> 00:14:12.840
don't you know, a number eighteen could have had a

278
00:14:12.840 --> 00:14:16.519
pretty lousy regular season. But if that team is the Oilers, yeah,

279
00:14:16.559 --> 00:14:18.240
you don't want catch fighting in a bottle. You don't

280
00:14:18.240 --> 00:14:20.360
want to play them. Yeah in the first round or

281
00:14:20.399 --> 00:14:23.360
even later, you're like, oh boy, so it's interesting, what

282
00:14:23.399 --> 00:14:25.600
could happen? So look, there's still a lot of variables

283
00:14:25.600 --> 00:14:28.279
out there. The groups are made, the eight groups are set,

284
00:14:28.679 --> 00:14:30.919
but there's still a couple of you know, teams need

285
00:14:30.919 --> 00:14:33.720
to qualify for more teams, and then June eleventh you

286
00:14:33.759 --> 00:14:36.240
have the opening game in Mexico City, and then you know,

287
00:14:36.279 --> 00:14:38.720
it's a five week extravaganza. Everyone was what the World

288
00:14:38.720 --> 00:14:40.960
Cup is. I think the World Cup is the biggest

289
00:14:41.000 --> 00:14:43.000
putting event in the world, but I think it will

290
00:14:43.039 --> 00:14:44.879
be made even bigger by the fact that most of

291
00:14:44.919 --> 00:14:46.480
the games are going to be played in the US,

292
00:14:46.879 --> 00:14:49.639
and anything that happens in the US is magnified, and

293
00:14:49.720 --> 00:14:52.559
people who are not soccer fans are World Cup fans.

294
00:14:52.679 --> 00:14:55.799
Yeah, I'm not gonna lie. I would probably fit that description.

295
00:14:56.039 --> 00:15:01.120
I'm not necessarily following soccer all the time. Uh, but

296
00:15:01.399 --> 00:15:03.799
when the World Cup was played, I watch it. I

297
00:15:03.919 --> 00:15:07.080
watch it, and I'll probably watch even more being here

298
00:15:07.120 --> 00:15:10.080
that it's we're one of the host country. Is that

299
00:15:10.240 --> 00:15:12.720
a rule too, If you're the host country, you automatically

300
00:15:12.799 --> 00:15:13.600
qualify that.

301
00:15:14.200 --> 00:15:16.799
Yeah, so the US, Yeah, the US, Canada and Mexico

302
00:15:16.879 --> 00:15:17.960
automatically qualified.

303
00:15:18.440 --> 00:15:19.879
That's that's that's what I thought.

304
00:15:19.879 --> 00:15:23.440
I want to Yeah. The positive on that is like, well, yeah,

305
00:15:23.440 --> 00:15:25.639
you host it, so you have to be there. But

306
00:15:25.679 --> 00:15:28.080
the negative is you don't play a lot of competitive

307
00:15:28.120 --> 00:15:31.480
games leading up to So Brazil and Argentina and all

308
00:15:31.519 --> 00:15:33.840
these countries how to slock it out to get to

309
00:15:33.960 --> 00:15:37.039
the show. The US didn't have to play games that

310
00:15:37.159 --> 00:15:40.559
meant much, a lot of friendlies, exhibition games. It's hard

311
00:15:40.600 --> 00:15:43.480
to create chemistry, it's hard to create competitiveness there.

312
00:15:43.799 --> 00:15:49.000
So there's a disadvantle tested potentially potentially not now you're

313
00:15:49.039 --> 00:15:50.039
hoping that, you know.

314
00:15:50.679 --> 00:15:53.480
In essence, a national team in soccer is basically like

315
00:15:53.519 --> 00:15:56.759
your all star team. Any American playing anywhere in the world,

316
00:15:56.840 --> 00:15:58.759
as long as they were American syst and can play

317
00:15:58.759 --> 00:16:01.480
for the US. So it's the coaches job to go

318
00:16:01.600 --> 00:16:04.000
out and say, you know what were my best twenty

319
00:16:04.000 --> 00:16:07.039
six guys were the best players that are American in

320
00:16:07.039 --> 00:16:09.679
the world. You know, the best American player right now

321
00:16:09.720 --> 00:16:12.279
is Christian Pulsick who actually plays in Italy. He plays

322
00:16:12.279 --> 00:16:15.320
for a Cimalan, which is in of itself an amazing

323
00:16:15.360 --> 00:16:18.799
thing to have an American player playing professional soccer in Italy.

324
00:16:19.039 --> 00:16:21.919
So that tells you where American players have gone, how

325
00:16:21.960 --> 00:16:24.480
far we've come as a country. You know, twenty five

326
00:16:24.559 --> 00:16:26.480
years ago, thirty years ago at the World Cup in

327
00:16:26.559 --> 00:16:29.159
ninety four, most of those guys were college guys. They

328
00:16:29.159 --> 00:16:31.879
didn't play for anybody. Yeah, a lot's changed.

329
00:16:32.000 --> 00:16:34.960
So you mentioned tickets and you mentioned like speculating with

330
00:16:35.120 --> 00:16:42.000
maybe a Canada Italy matchup early in Toronto. You mentioned tickets.

331
00:16:42.559 --> 00:16:47.519
Kind of crazy stuff going on with tickets and getting

332
00:16:47.559 --> 00:16:50.360
them and the prices kind of I told you kind

333
00:16:50.399 --> 00:16:52.480
of the save it when you were going to tell me,

334
00:16:52.559 --> 00:16:54.679
but I said, hey, let's save it for the show.

335
00:16:54.759 --> 00:16:58.320
So what's going on when it comes to buying and

336
00:16:58.519 --> 00:17:01.320
being able to buy these tickets so you can watch

337
00:17:01.399 --> 00:17:02.519
these matches?

338
00:17:02.799 --> 00:17:05.799
Yeah, so it's been a bit of a disaster for

339
00:17:05.880 --> 00:17:08.440
a couple of reasons. One is that soccer is a

340
00:17:08.440 --> 00:17:11.839
global sport, so people around the world are not just

341
00:17:11.920 --> 00:17:14.640
consumers of soccer. They understand the game, but they also

342
00:17:14.799 --> 00:17:17.880
know that in Spain or in Italy or in Brazil,

343
00:17:18.359 --> 00:17:20.960
they're pretty affordable to go to see a World Cup

344
00:17:20.960 --> 00:17:23.759
in those countries. But even just regular league games, we're

345
00:17:23.759 --> 00:17:26.920
talking about sixty seventy eight dollars a ticket is considered

346
00:17:27.000 --> 00:17:29.240
a lot of money in some country. In the US,

347
00:17:29.599 --> 00:17:32.279
we have to understand that people are willing to pay

348
00:17:32.279 --> 00:17:34.960
a premium to go to events. And I saw this

349
00:17:35.000 --> 00:17:37.200
a couple of years ago. Everyone here knows what happened

350
00:17:37.200 --> 00:17:40.480
with Taylor Swift, right the mainia around Taylor Swift, and

351
00:17:40.519 --> 00:17:43.960
the ticket prices mean so much so that it became

352
00:17:44.000 --> 00:17:46.680
a congressional investigation. So when that happened a couple of

353
00:17:46.720 --> 00:17:48.839
years ago, I remember saying to myself, wait until the

354
00:17:48.880 --> 00:17:51.839
World Cup gets because if anything's bigger than Taylor Swift,

355
00:17:51.839 --> 00:17:55.359
it's the World Cup. Okay, And the World Cup came

356
00:17:55.759 --> 00:17:58.079
and everyone around the world, it's not just Americans want

357
00:17:58.119 --> 00:18:00.359
to buy tickets. People around the world wan by tickets

358
00:18:00.359 --> 00:18:02.640
because they'll fly anywhere. If the World Cup was in

359
00:18:02.720 --> 00:18:05.599
North the North Pole, people would fly to the North

360
00:18:05.599 --> 00:18:08.640
Pole to watch it. It's that popular, okay, but people

361
00:18:08.640 --> 00:18:11.680
are not willing to spend what's the cost of these tickets?

362
00:18:11.839 --> 00:18:14.440
Face value for some of these tickets. We're talking about

363
00:18:14.759 --> 00:18:18.759
two thousand, three thousand dollars for a group stage game

364
00:18:18.920 --> 00:18:22.240
when the price for that should be basically sixty pucks.

365
00:18:22.240 --> 00:18:24.839
And it's not sixty bucks, it's three hundred dollars.

366
00:18:24.880 --> 00:18:28.480
Who's in charge of the original tickets sale?

367
00:18:28.480 --> 00:18:32.599
I know a lot of these FIFA, So FIFA controls

368
00:18:32.799 --> 00:18:33.559
who's all?

369
00:18:33.880 --> 00:18:34.680
Is it their fault?

370
00:18:34.960 --> 00:18:38.559
Yeah, it's FIFA. FIFA has control. And if FIFA's figured out, hey,

371
00:18:38.559 --> 00:18:40.720
you know what, Americans are willing to pay money, so

372
00:18:40.799 --> 00:18:42.759
we can. It's a cash grab for us. We can

373
00:18:42.839 --> 00:18:45.599
charge whatever we want and people will buy. Now people

374
00:18:45.599 --> 00:18:47.839
around the world are like, wait, why are the tickets

375
00:18:47.839 --> 00:18:50.720
three hundred dollars when the finals should be three hundred

376
00:18:50.720 --> 00:18:53.759
dollars not a group stage game that has very little

377
00:18:53.759 --> 00:18:57.480
meaning or could have very little meaning. So FIFA's also

378
00:18:57.519 --> 00:19:00.680
created a portal where you can resell your tickets, and

379
00:19:00.720 --> 00:19:03.759
when you resell your tickets, they take fifteen percent, So

380
00:19:03.920 --> 00:19:06.400
FIFA makes out like a bandit here now that they

381
00:19:06.880 --> 00:19:09.400
escalated the prices. I mean they're charging one hundred dollars

382
00:19:09.440 --> 00:19:13.240
for parking passes okay, and the secondary market is even worse.

383
00:19:13.400 --> 00:19:18.400
They're selling tickets for five, ten, twenty thousand dollars okay

384
00:19:18.759 --> 00:19:22.119
to go see a final, a quarterfinal, a semifinal. People

385
00:19:22.359 --> 00:19:24.160
in the New Jersey area. Because the final will be

386
00:19:24.200 --> 00:19:27.960
on on July nineteenth at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.

387
00:19:28.240 --> 00:19:32.839
People are are airbnbs for that weekend or fifteen thousand

388
00:19:32.880 --> 00:19:35.480
dollars a night. Now, well they get that money, maybe not,

389
00:19:35.720 --> 00:19:38.319
but people are out. The hotel rooms in New York

390
00:19:38.559 --> 00:19:42.039
are two thousand dollars a night that weekend. Because everyone

391
00:19:42.079 --> 00:19:45.519
knows you want to be at the biggest game on Earth.

392
00:19:45.759 --> 00:19:48.440
It happens every four years. We'll charge whatever we want.

393
00:19:48.440 --> 00:19:50.359
Now will they get those prices, we don't know. But

394
00:19:50.400 --> 00:19:53.599
if you get a France Argentina final, you may you

395
00:19:53.640 --> 00:19:55.880
may get people who are crazy enough. I mean four

396
00:19:55.960 --> 00:19:58.319
years ago on Qatar and I was there, there are

397
00:19:58.359 --> 00:20:02.319
people from Argentina flu to Qatar, no ticket. They're just

398
00:20:02.359 --> 00:20:04.279
like I want to be here. The people that told me.

399
00:20:04.319 --> 00:20:06.839
They sold their car to go there. I mean, so

400
00:20:07.400 --> 00:20:10.640
we can laugh about it. It's funny. My fear is

401
00:20:10.640 --> 00:20:12.480
that the real fans will get shut out and that

402
00:20:12.720 --> 00:20:16.279
people people around the world will do anything to get there,

403
00:20:16.319 --> 00:20:18.559
and they'll sell off their car, they'll.

404
00:20:18.559 --> 00:20:20.279
They'll max up the brokers.

405
00:20:20.480 --> 00:20:22.799
Yet they max out their credit card, whatever they got

406
00:20:22.799 --> 00:20:25.319
to do to get there, because it's every four years.

407
00:20:25.599 --> 00:20:28.559
It's it's a religion to these people. You know, it's crazy.

408
00:20:28.839 --> 00:20:31.759
But I worry that FIFA is taking advantage of that

409
00:20:31.920 --> 00:20:35.240
because they realize the American market is very and look,

410
00:20:35.279 --> 00:20:37.359
it's be honest. Having the World Cup in America is

411
00:20:37.400 --> 00:20:40.279
great because we have great roads and great hotels and

412
00:20:40.319 --> 00:20:42.920
great facilities. I mean, who doesn't want to come here

413
00:20:43.079 --> 00:20:45.759
on vacation and watch a couple of soccer games, right.

414
00:20:45.680 --> 00:20:48.319
It's nothing. People want to come here, not for even

415
00:20:48.400 --> 00:20:50.079
soccer matches. You just want to come.

416
00:20:50.640 --> 00:20:53.839
There's a reason for yeah, exactly. And so FIFA knows.

417
00:20:53.880 --> 00:20:56.440
I mean this past summer they had the FIFA Club

418
00:20:56.480 --> 00:20:58.319
World Cup. You might have heard of that, where you

419
00:20:58.359 --> 00:21:00.839
had all these club teams playing for because basically it

420
00:21:00.880 --> 00:21:02.799
was a dry run. It was like they wanted to

421
00:21:02.839 --> 00:21:05.799
see could the stadiums hold up. Could could the US

422
00:21:05.960 --> 00:21:08.240
host a large scale event, you know, give it a

423
00:21:08.240 --> 00:21:10.119
bit of a dry run? And they did fine. I

424
00:21:10.119 --> 00:21:13.039
mean there were some issues with you know, you know,

425
00:21:13.319 --> 00:21:17.319
the ticket prices, because the ticket prices were basically the demand.

426
00:21:17.400 --> 00:21:19.200
If demand went up, the price went up. If the

427
00:21:19.279 --> 00:21:21.799
band went down, the price went down. So some some

428
00:21:21.880 --> 00:21:24.599
World Cup games the price is kind of flatlined. But

429
00:21:24.680 --> 00:21:26.920
for some games, like in the group stage in New

430
00:21:27.000 --> 00:21:31.240
York especially, there's France Senegal and France Norway, two big

431
00:21:31.279 --> 00:21:34.279
games that are happening at met Life in the group stage,

432
00:21:34.319 --> 00:21:36.319
and the tickets for that are in the thousands already,

433
00:21:36.440 --> 00:21:39.000
even though face value it's about three hundred, which is

434
00:21:39.039 --> 00:21:41.839
already a lot of money. But the brokers now because

435
00:21:41.880 --> 00:21:44.519
once the schedule came out. So just so you're aware

436
00:21:44.559 --> 00:21:47.200
and the listeners are aware, people were buying tickets back

437
00:21:47.200 --> 00:21:50.000
in September. They're buying tickets to games they didn't even

438
00:21:50.000 --> 00:21:51.799
know who was going to play. People were paying three

439
00:21:51.839 --> 00:21:55.160
hundred dollars, yeah, people people were playing paying Yeah, people

440
00:21:55.160 --> 00:21:57.960
we paying three hundred dollars to watch Game forty six

441
00:21:58.000 --> 00:21:59.680
at met Life Stadium. Who's going to play in it?

442
00:21:59.720 --> 00:22:04.799
We don't know just to just to exactly. So, so

443
00:22:04.839 --> 00:22:06.839
the whole thing from the very beginning, and this back

444
00:22:06.880 --> 00:22:09.079
started back in September with what they call the visa

445
00:22:09.119 --> 00:22:11.799
pre sales. They have a visa card to be able

446
00:22:11.799 --> 00:22:14.880
to buy tickets and they've had various stages. Now in

447
00:22:14.880 --> 00:22:17.039
New York we have a new mayors or in Mamdani.

448
00:22:17.160 --> 00:22:19.720
He is a pretty big soccer fan. He's complained about

449
00:22:19.759 --> 00:22:23.000
ticket prices. You know, in the past at other World Cups,

450
00:22:23.160 --> 00:22:26.839
FIFA would give tickets away to local people like school

451
00:22:26.960 --> 00:22:29.519
children and because they had to fill the stadiums, right,

452
00:22:29.799 --> 00:22:32.359
and it's also a good will gesture. But in America

453
00:22:32.720 --> 00:22:35.519
between the visitors and the and then we forget how

454
00:22:35.519 --> 00:22:38.119
many people in this country are soccer fans. And if

455
00:22:38.480 --> 00:22:42.079
they're not soccer fans, if Italy's playing at Giants Stadium,

456
00:22:42.359 --> 00:22:44.319
you're gonna go, even if you're you know, half a

457
00:22:44.400 --> 00:22:46.160
talent and you're like, hey, you know, I don't watch

458
00:22:46.200 --> 00:22:48.759
soccer every week, but this is my country, of my people,

459
00:22:48.799 --> 00:22:51.440
I want to go watch it, right. So there's a

460
00:22:51.480 --> 00:22:54.839
lot of national pride that's attached these teams. So FIFA

461
00:22:54.920 --> 00:22:58.519
knows all this and so hopefully things kind of you know,

462
00:22:58.599 --> 00:23:01.119
loosen the bit. Maybe there's some Maybe there'll be games

463
00:23:01.200 --> 00:23:03.640
where there'll be few receipts, maybe gives them away. I

464
00:23:03.640 --> 00:23:06.480
still I'm hoping because you know, back in ninety four

465
00:23:07.000 --> 00:23:09.519
they did give out free tickets to soccer clubs and

466
00:23:09.680 --> 00:23:12.359
soccer camps, and at the time, FIFA was worried that

467
00:23:12.400 --> 00:23:14.480
the US wasn't a good enough market for soccer. I

468
00:23:14.480 --> 00:23:16.519
think we were able to prove them wrong in ninety

469
00:23:16.519 --> 00:23:19.119
four and ninety four is still considered the most successful

470
00:23:19.119 --> 00:23:21.920
World Cup ever because basically every game was a sellout.

471
00:23:22.079 --> 00:23:24.720
Will that happened this time? We shall see? One hundred

472
00:23:24.759 --> 00:23:27.759
and four games is a lot considering that the last

473
00:23:27.799 --> 00:23:29.160
World Cup was sixty four games.

474
00:23:29.240 --> 00:23:31.680
So I would I tell me if you agree with this,

475
00:23:32.039 --> 00:23:34.960
I think there'll be sellouts. Now will they get all

476
00:23:35.039 --> 00:23:38.279
the what they're they're asking price? Like right off the top?

477
00:23:38.359 --> 00:23:41.640
Maybee maybe not down, but I think there should be

478
00:23:42.000 --> 00:23:45.319
the demand should be enough where everything has a price

479
00:23:45.359 --> 00:23:46.559
at some you know.

480
00:23:47.119 --> 00:23:50.440
But but Germany cures out, isn't going to get the

481
00:23:50.440 --> 00:23:54.160
same price as France Norway. You know, it's not gonna happen.

482
00:23:54.200 --> 00:23:56.079
And then and then once he gets to the knockout stage,

483
00:23:56.400 --> 00:23:58.839
all those games really matter. I think the knockout stage

484
00:23:58.839 --> 00:24:00.839
is where the money really is. And just so you

485
00:24:00.960 --> 00:24:04.039
know and the listeners know, Mexico and Canada will host

486
00:24:04.079 --> 00:24:05.960
games as well, But once you get the knockout round,

487
00:24:06.119 --> 00:24:08.119
all those games are in the US. So the US

488
00:24:08.160 --> 00:24:11.000
is hosting the majority of these games, and in that way,

489
00:24:11.039 --> 00:24:14.119
it's considered very much a US led World Cup. But

490
00:24:14.160 --> 00:24:16.440
because you have so many teams and so many games,

491
00:24:16.720 --> 00:24:19.599
you really got to spread it out across Canada and Mexico.

492
00:24:19.720 --> 00:24:21.720
The truth is, though, if you had just kept it

493
00:24:21.720 --> 00:24:23.880
in the US, the US could have hosted as many games.

494
00:24:23.920 --> 00:24:27.000
There's a lot of cities that did not get games. Washington,

495
00:24:27.039 --> 00:24:29.440
d C. Is not hosting the World Cup. Chicago is

496
00:24:29.480 --> 00:24:30.359
not hosting the World Cup.

497
00:24:30.839 --> 00:24:34.119
They weren't selected. Were they not selected, or they didn't

498
00:24:34.160 --> 00:24:34.720
put it in a.

499
00:24:34.680 --> 00:24:38.079
Bit like so okay, so most cities put in bids

500
00:24:38.480 --> 00:24:40.680
and didn't get them. Chicago didn't actually put in the bid,

501
00:24:40.680 --> 00:24:43.359
but Washington, d C. It was it was actually Washington Baltimore.

502
00:24:43.359 --> 00:24:45.240
They wouldn't have the games in Baltimore. They did not

503
00:24:45.279 --> 00:24:47.839
get They were able not to be able to get games.

504
00:24:48.000 --> 00:24:51.000
But there was a lot of maneuvering. For example, Jerry

505
00:24:51.079 --> 00:24:53.480
Jones really wanted to get games in Dallas, and he

506
00:24:53.559 --> 00:24:55.720
got them. And Dallas is a big it's a great stadium.

507
00:24:55.720 --> 00:24:57.440
You know, these are all NFL stadium so it's a

508
00:24:57.440 --> 00:24:59.920
great stadium in Dallas. Dallas wanted to host the final

509
00:25:00.119 --> 00:25:02.599
and they didn't get it. But they also wanted to

510
00:25:02.599 --> 00:25:04.519
be able to have games where teams didn't have to

511
00:25:04.519 --> 00:25:07.079
travel all over the country, you know, So for example,

512
00:25:07.119 --> 00:25:09.400
there's games in Boston, New York and Philly, so you

513
00:25:09.440 --> 00:25:12.000
can keep teams pretty close. They can travel by train

514
00:25:12.200 --> 00:25:14.680
and not create because you know, we have time differences here.

515
00:25:14.839 --> 00:25:17.400
Players would be jet lagged. But for example, Boston was

516
00:25:17.400 --> 00:25:20.920
not an original team that anyone original city anyone thought

517
00:25:21.000 --> 00:25:22.880
was going to get the World Cup. But Bob Kraft

518
00:25:23.160 --> 00:25:26.039
put a little pressure on FIFA and they're like, all right, Bob,

519
00:25:26.039 --> 00:25:27.480
we'll make this work for you. We're going to We'll

520
00:25:27.480 --> 00:25:29.519
pick Boston and not some other place.

521
00:25:29.759 --> 00:25:29.920
Right.

522
00:25:30.319 --> 00:25:33.039
So a lot of these NFL owners see the potential

523
00:25:33.079 --> 00:25:35.599
in soccer. You know, some of them own MLS teams.

524
00:25:35.640 --> 00:25:39.559
They definitely want their NFL stadiums to host World Cup games. So,

525
00:25:39.759 --> 00:25:42.480
you know, Jerry Jones is friendly with FIFA, Bob Craft

526
00:25:42.480 --> 00:25:45.680
is friendly with FIFA. You know, the people that you

527
00:25:45.720 --> 00:25:48.319
know own the Giants, so friendly with you know, FIFA

528
00:25:48.359 --> 00:25:50.880
and MetLife got chosen to host the final, which I

529
00:25:50.920 --> 00:25:52.920
think is fair because I can't think of a more

530
00:25:52.920 --> 00:25:55.480
international city than New York and to host the final

531
00:25:55.519 --> 00:25:58.160
would be amazing. People should remember it. Back in ninety four,

532
00:25:58.680 --> 00:26:00.559
the World Cup Final was held at the Rose Bowl

533
00:26:00.599 --> 00:26:03.279
in Pasadena, So New York didn't host the final. They

534
00:26:03.319 --> 00:26:04.079
host to semi final.

535
00:26:04.279 --> 00:26:06.200
West Coast and Southeast Coast.

536
00:26:05.880 --> 00:26:08.960
Turn Yeah exactly. I mean, you know, I thought Dallas

537
00:26:09.079 --> 00:26:11.240
might get it because I still think in the mind

538
00:26:11.279 --> 00:26:14.000
of many Europeans, they don't know America. They just know

539
00:26:14.160 --> 00:26:18.319
New York, La, Miami and maybe Dallas, right, They don't

540
00:26:18.359 --> 00:26:21.240
really know other cities. They never heard of phild Healthire

541
00:26:21.279 --> 00:26:24.079
of Boston or Kansas City, for example, which we'll be

542
00:26:24.079 --> 00:26:24.920
hosting games as well.

543
00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:28.759
Yeah, let's talk about you got your traditional favorites, right

544
00:26:28.839 --> 00:26:31.839
you you kind of I don't want to say handicap

545
00:26:31.960 --> 00:26:35.359
in the event, but like, who are obviously you got

546
00:26:35.400 --> 00:26:39.000
your leaders of each of these groups, right, But as

547
00:26:39.160 --> 00:26:42.720
as as someone who knows a lot of these rosters

548
00:26:43.039 --> 00:26:47.359
who they're going to be traditional powerhouses that we should expect.

549
00:26:47.559 --> 00:26:49.720
I know you mentioned, you know for everyone here in

550
00:26:49.720 --> 00:26:52.480
the US, uh that we got a pretty good draw

551
00:26:52.680 --> 00:26:55.279
with our group. We might be able to fight our

552
00:26:55.279 --> 00:26:57.640
way out of that and then survive in advance. But

553
00:26:58.240 --> 00:27:01.000
who are like coming in? Who are the favorites in

554
00:27:01.039 --> 00:27:03.519
your mind? Is it kind of the chalk what we

555
00:27:03.559 --> 00:27:05.680
would normally say or not necessarily?

556
00:27:05.759 --> 00:27:08.079
Yeah, so I put them in tears. So I would

557
00:27:08.119 --> 00:27:12.200
say the teams that are super favorite would be Argentina

558
00:27:12.359 --> 00:27:15.640
defending champion. Then you have France which they were runners

559
00:27:15.680 --> 00:27:19.039
up last time, Spain which are the current European champions,

560
00:27:19.119 --> 00:27:22.279
and then you have England in Brazil. Okay, so these

561
00:27:22.319 --> 00:27:24.160
are the teams we're looking at that are in the

562
00:27:24.200 --> 00:27:27.200
favorite category. Then you have the dark horse category. It's like, oh,

563
00:27:27.319 --> 00:27:29.759
what's a team that could emerge that no one expects

564
00:27:29.920 --> 00:27:32.079
in the dark horse category? I look at Morocco who

565
00:27:32.079 --> 00:27:35.599
finished fourth last time with a surprise fourth. They're a

566
00:27:35.680 --> 00:27:38.200
very good team. A lot of their players play in Europe.

567
00:27:38.359 --> 00:27:41.240
The Netherlands, which is another team that finished runners up

568
00:27:41.240 --> 00:27:44.319
twice in history the World Cup. Oh three times, I

569
00:27:44.319 --> 00:27:46.720
should say three time. Runners up, never won a World Cup,

570
00:27:46.720 --> 00:27:49.119
but they're always in play. A team like Germany who's

571
00:27:49.119 --> 00:27:51.279
been traditionally very good, but they've they've been in a

572
00:27:51.279 --> 00:27:53.640
bit of a love last couple of years, they could emerge.

573
00:27:53.640 --> 00:27:57.319
So you're looking at the usuals with maybe a sprinkling

574
00:27:57.359 --> 00:27:59.839
of some newer teams. Let's not forget the last two

575
00:27:59.839 --> 00:28:02.640
World Cups. Croatia did very well. Croatia got to the

576
00:28:02.640 --> 00:28:07.400
final in twenty eighteen and then got pretty deep semifinals

577
00:28:07.599 --> 00:28:10.400
in twenty twenty two. But they're an aging team. But

578
00:28:10.400 --> 00:28:13.160
that's a team that emerged out of nowhere and then

579
00:28:13.759 --> 00:28:15.880
it goes through cycles. And because the World Cup is

580
00:28:15.920 --> 00:28:18.559
every four years, you know, it's hard to build momentum

581
00:28:19.079 --> 00:28:21.079
year after year, right, so you can't build. It's not

582
00:28:21.119 --> 00:28:23.720
like a playoff team that you build momentum. You rebuild,

583
00:28:24.000 --> 00:28:25.960
you don't rebuild. I mean, you have to just hope

584
00:28:25.960 --> 00:28:29.720
that your country's producing young players, young enough talent, and

585
00:28:29.759 --> 00:28:31.599
that the coach who has all the power in the

586
00:28:31.599 --> 00:28:33.880
world to pick the players he wants and creates enough

587
00:28:33.920 --> 00:28:38.119
team chemistry over the four year period between World Cups

588
00:28:38.240 --> 00:28:40.680
to be able to then field the team for five weeks.

589
00:28:40.720 --> 00:28:42.480
You got to win nine games to get to the final,

590
00:28:42.480 --> 00:28:45.200
and in the whole thing you can get hot, you know,

591
00:28:45.319 --> 00:28:47.000
like in the knockouts, you get hot and you can

592
00:28:47.000 --> 00:28:49.160
get to the final. It can happen. But the World

593
00:28:49.200 --> 00:28:52.400
Cup has only had eight winners in ninety six years,

594
00:28:52.519 --> 00:28:54.759
so it's not easy to win the World Cup. Only

595
00:28:54.799 --> 00:28:57.440
eight countries I've ever won it, so it's a very

596
00:28:57.480 --> 00:29:00.519
exclusive club. And so I mentioned these teams. The teams

597
00:29:00.559 --> 00:29:05.799
I mentioned in the favorite category mentioned Brazil, Argentina, France, Spain.

598
00:29:06.279 --> 00:29:08.319
These countries have all won a World Cup at least once.

599
00:29:08.559 --> 00:29:11.799
So it's going to be the usual suspects. And the

600
00:29:11.839 --> 00:29:15.240
truth is you almost want the usual suspects because it

601
00:29:15.279 --> 00:29:17.200
does make for a better show, and it will be

602
00:29:17.240 --> 00:29:19.920
I should point out probably the last World Cup for Messi,

603
00:29:20.240 --> 00:29:22.400
the last World Cup for Ronaldo. These are guys who've

604
00:29:22.440 --> 00:29:25.839
been playing for twenty plus years, and so that'll be

605
00:29:25.839 --> 00:29:26.480
interesting to see.

606
00:29:26.640 --> 00:29:28.799
Do you think they let me ask you this? You

607
00:29:28.839 --> 00:29:32.039
can't answer for them, but just playing, you know, putting

608
00:29:32.079 --> 00:29:35.960
on your speculators. Do you think I know? Messi kind

609
00:29:35.960 --> 00:29:38.839
of at one point was like saying that that's probably it.

610
00:29:39.359 --> 00:29:41.880
Do you think the fact that it's here in the

611
00:29:42.000 --> 00:29:45.640
United States kind of influenced their decision to give it

612
00:29:45.680 --> 00:29:49.119
one more goal this go round or not. I think

613
00:29:49.279 --> 00:29:49.799
that really.

614
00:29:50.039 --> 00:29:53.359
I think for for Messi, yes, because Messi plays here

615
00:29:53.400 --> 00:29:55.799
in Miami in the US and he's made the US

616
00:29:55.880 --> 00:29:58.839
is home and he's been extraordinarily good at thirty six

617
00:29:58.960 --> 00:30:02.359
years old and still you know, breeze past twenty year

618
00:30:02.400 --> 00:30:04.440
olds with ease, and people would say, oh, he's doing

619
00:30:04.440 --> 00:30:06.480
that in America. I still think if he was playing

620
00:30:06.519 --> 00:30:08.839
in Europe, he could probably play at a pretty high level. So,

621
00:30:09.000 --> 00:30:11.640
I mean, he reminds me. Him being here reminds me

622
00:30:11.640 --> 00:30:14.000
of when Pala came here in the seventies and when

623
00:30:14.039 --> 00:30:17.440
Beckham came in the two thousands. You know, you have

624
00:30:17.559 --> 00:30:20.000
this idea of like, we have the best player in

625
00:30:20.079 --> 00:30:22.240
the world and he's coming to a market the US.

626
00:30:22.319 --> 00:30:23.920
He's helping to grow the game. So I do think

627
00:30:23.960 --> 00:30:26.160
he wants to finish that out. He wants to play

628
00:30:26.160 --> 00:30:29.000
at the World Cup Argentina in the US and then

629
00:30:29.039 --> 00:30:31.640
maybe finishes two years in Miami and then maybe retire

630
00:30:31.680 --> 00:30:33.559
at thirty nine years old and forty years old, and

631
00:30:33.599 --> 00:30:36.039
he can retire. Ronaldo's already at forty forty one. He's

632
00:30:36.079 --> 00:30:39.359
already pretty old for soccer anyway, but the guy keeps

633
00:30:39.599 --> 00:30:41.759
The guy reminds me of Tom Brady. He's he's in

634
00:30:41.799 --> 00:30:45.279
great physical shape, he's got great mentality. You know, he's

635
00:30:45.400 --> 00:30:47.400
you know, but it'll be interesting to see. Can he

636
00:30:47.519 --> 00:30:50.039
play for Portugal? Can he start? Will he be on

637
00:30:50.079 --> 00:30:52.200
the bench. He's not the kind of he's not a

638
00:30:52.200 --> 00:30:55.440
team player, you know. Ronaldo is very much into himself.

639
00:30:55.680 --> 00:30:58.160
Can he sacrifice himself for the team if he gets

640
00:30:58.160 --> 00:30:59.519
subbed out? Will he throw a tantrum?

641
00:30:59.599 --> 00:30:59.680
Like?

642
00:31:00.079 --> 00:31:01.519
We'll see what you know. Can you play the full

643
00:31:01.599 --> 00:31:04.279
ninety minutes? Maybe not, but I think it'll be interesting

644
00:31:04.319 --> 00:31:07.400
to see what he can do. And come spring, the

645
00:31:07.480 --> 00:31:11.000
US will play Portugal in a pre World Cup friendly,

646
00:31:11.119 --> 00:31:13.240
as they call it, a game that's an exhibition game.

647
00:31:13.559 --> 00:31:17.920
So chrisy Ronaldo come here? Ronaldo did recently. Now Ronaldo

648
00:31:17.920 --> 00:31:20.240
also plays in Saudi Arabia. So Ronaldo and Messi both

649
00:31:20.319 --> 00:31:23.079
left the European soccer a while ago because they realize

650
00:31:23.400 --> 00:31:25.400
they're getting older, they're getting slower, and there's a lot

651
00:31:25.440 --> 00:31:27.680
more money that we had outside of Europe in this

652
00:31:27.759 --> 00:31:30.279
case in the Middle East, and they want to be ambassador.

653
00:31:30.319 --> 00:31:32.720
So I think they're playing one more time, just one

654
00:31:32.799 --> 00:31:34.720
more go at it and we'll see what happens. I

655
00:31:34.799 --> 00:31:37.480
think if you remember four years ago when Argentina won

656
00:31:37.480 --> 00:31:40.319
the World Cup, that was an amazing World Cup final

657
00:31:40.359 --> 00:31:43.400
member three three. They went to penalty kicks and Messi

658
00:31:43.440 --> 00:31:44.960
not only won the World Cup for the first time,

659
00:31:44.960 --> 00:31:46.799
but I think pretty much crowned himself.

660
00:31:47.039 --> 00:31:49.759
That game, havington I'm not a soccer guy per se,

661
00:31:50.200 --> 00:31:51.920
but they have me on the edge of my seat.

662
00:31:52.000 --> 00:31:55.079
Like I was thinking to myself, it stakes that someone's

663
00:31:55.119 --> 00:31:57.960
going to lose this game, right, like these both these teams,

664
00:31:58.640 --> 00:32:01.279
like you know, you can't what a trophy and half

665
00:32:01.400 --> 00:32:04.519
or you know, but like I felt bad, Like I

666
00:32:04.519 --> 00:32:07.559
didn't have a particular rooting interest, but I knew one

667
00:32:07.599 --> 00:32:10.759
team was gonna lose, and whoever was gonna be I

668
00:32:10.920 --> 00:32:14.440
was gonna feel bad, like so enthralling and they were

669
00:32:14.880 --> 00:32:19.000
leaving it all out there. Yeah, just momentum swings one

670
00:32:19.039 --> 00:32:21.839
way back the other way, and I'm like, it's too bad.

671
00:32:21.920 --> 00:32:25.359
Someone's gotta feel the pain of not coming out of

672
00:32:25.400 --> 00:32:28.720
the victorious. But that's the beauty of it too. Yeah,

673
00:32:28.759 --> 00:32:29.960
at the end of the day.

674
00:32:30.079 --> 00:32:33.039
No, and that's absolutely true. But when you get to

675
00:32:33.079 --> 00:32:35.039
that level, you get to a final, you want that

676
00:32:35.079 --> 00:32:37.519
game to be that game. You want there to be,

677
00:32:37.880 --> 00:32:39.839
you know, because these are the two best teams.

678
00:32:39.839 --> 00:32:40.000
Now.

679
00:32:40.039 --> 00:32:43.119
Oftentimes you don't get that in soccer because teams are tired,

680
00:32:43.160 --> 00:32:46.079
they've played seven eight games in a tight window, and

681
00:32:46.119 --> 00:32:49.039
also all the pressure. Sometimes the championship game isn't always

682
00:32:49.079 --> 00:32:51.079
the best game of the tournament, but it's nice when

683
00:32:51.119 --> 00:32:53.160
it works out that way. And we should point out

684
00:32:53.160 --> 00:32:55.160
that on the other side of Messi was killing Nimbappe,

685
00:32:55.279 --> 00:32:58.000
who will be back for France. He's much younger at

686
00:32:58.000 --> 00:33:01.359
twenty four. He could break a few Cup records. I

687
00:33:01.799 --> 00:33:04.880
totally see him, you know, doing something with France. Maybe

688
00:33:04.880 --> 00:33:06.400
you already won a World Cup in twenty eighteen and

689
00:33:06.480 --> 00:33:08.480
he was like basically nineteen years old, so he's already

690
00:33:08.480 --> 00:33:10.759
won a World Cup at a very young age. So

691
00:33:10.799 --> 00:33:13.119
these these these are players who are primed. And in

692
00:33:13.200 --> 00:33:18.200
these players I'm mentioning Ronaldo Messi and Bope who these

693
00:33:18.200 --> 00:33:19.799
are all players who are going to who have the

694
00:33:19.799 --> 00:33:21.599
biggest card values anyways in the in.

695
00:33:21.559 --> 00:33:24.599
The Yeah, they're thetions of the game. And even Bope,

696
00:33:24.720 --> 00:33:28.319
even at at a young young age of twenty four

697
00:33:28.519 --> 00:33:31.160
is like, I know who's a lot of people.

698
00:33:30.920 --> 00:33:33.480
Know who someone's at my door. I've got to get

699
00:33:33.559 --> 00:33:35.240
that be right back.

700
00:33:35.799 --> 00:33:40.079
Hobby Hotline is the Hobby's only live, interactive call in show.

701
00:33:40.799 --> 00:33:45.119
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702
00:33:45.160 --> 00:33:50.319
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703
00:33:50.880 --> 00:33:53.880
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704
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705
00:33:58.240 --> 00:34:00.559
Hobby Hotline.

706
00:34:03.720 --> 00:34:06.519
Sports combination has reasons.

707
00:34:09.960 --> 00:34:14.960
Who's the hot name, that's the real young player to watch?

708
00:34:15.079 --> 00:34:15.320
You know?

709
00:34:15.480 --> 00:34:19.039
In yeah, in eighteen, let's say there is yet somebody.

710
00:34:19.199 --> 00:34:21.840
Yeah, there's a player that plays for Spain named Lamina

711
00:34:21.920 --> 00:34:25.480
mal who is He's only eighteen years old. He was

712
00:34:25.519 --> 00:34:28.480
sixteen when they won the European Championship with Spain. He

713
00:34:28.519 --> 00:34:30.920
was sixteen. He was a kid and he was playing

714
00:34:31.000 --> 00:34:34.519
like he was twenty five. So he's eighteen now nineteen.

715
00:34:35.039 --> 00:34:36.519
I think he's going to have a great World Cup.

716
00:34:36.559 --> 00:34:39.599
He plays for Spain, so Spain again one of the favorites.

717
00:34:39.800 --> 00:34:41.960
He's another name you see a lot at card shows.

718
00:34:42.000 --> 00:34:44.559
People like to speculate on his rookie cards, which are

719
00:34:44.719 --> 00:34:48.400
fairly new and he is a great player. You just

720
00:34:48.519 --> 00:34:50.480
tell by the way they move, the way they run,

721
00:34:50.559 --> 00:34:53.880
the way they play, the maturity they bring. And soccer,

722
00:34:53.920 --> 00:34:55.840
you have a sixteen seventeen year old playing against twenty

723
00:34:55.920 --> 00:34:58.760
nine year olds and he's gliding past these guys. So

724
00:34:59.559 --> 00:35:02.679
it's guys have something special again. Like in hockey though,

725
00:35:03.039 --> 00:35:06.039
these guys are scoring goals. They're the alpha male, they're

726
00:35:06.079 --> 00:35:07.840
they're the guys on the team that everybody wants to

727
00:35:07.840 --> 00:35:10.280
be And so you know, it's not a goalkeeper, it's

728
00:35:10.280 --> 00:35:12.440
not a defender, it's it's the guy scoring the goals.

729
00:35:12.480 --> 00:35:12.719
Again.

730
00:35:12.800 --> 00:35:15.159
You know, this is what gets people excited in the hobby,

731
00:35:15.320 --> 00:35:17.880
it's what gets people excited in sports and soccer. He's

732
00:35:17.920 --> 00:35:20.480
putting up big goals, he's doing great things, he's making

733
00:35:20.480 --> 00:35:23.840
great moves, and so he's the he's the one younger player,

734
00:35:24.239 --> 00:35:26.119
even he's been playing for a few years now. It'll

735
00:35:26.159 --> 00:35:27.920
be his first World Cup though, so people are gonna

736
00:35:28.239 --> 00:35:31.440
want his sticker, first sticker, They're gonna want all that

737
00:35:31.480 --> 00:35:34.199
and and and look, if Spain go far win a

738
00:35:34.239 --> 00:35:37.119
World Cup, even then, I think, you know he's going

739
00:35:37.199 --> 00:35:40.039
to be the next with the next embope he'll he'll

740
00:35:40.039 --> 00:35:42.519
slide right in there. In terms of popularity.

741
00:35:42.880 --> 00:35:46.280
Now, we know, like the soccer market, the soccer harbor,

742
00:35:46.480 --> 00:35:49.119
hobby market's gonna get a bump from the World Cup.

743
00:35:49.159 --> 00:35:53.159
I think even more so being here on North American

744
00:35:53.280 --> 00:35:57.960
soil in Canada and Mexico, but having it here since

745
00:35:58.000 --> 00:36:01.119
the last World Cup. You know, how how would you describe,

746
00:36:01.480 --> 00:36:05.599
you know, a synopsis of what the soccer market hobby

747
00:36:05.599 --> 00:36:08.719
wise has done. You know, obviously you get the World

748
00:36:08.719 --> 00:36:12.440
Cup bump. Well, how has it been between last World

749
00:36:12.440 --> 00:36:15.239
Cup and leading into this World Cup?

750
00:36:15.639 --> 00:36:18.920
Yeah, so back in twenty eighteen, there was really no

751
00:36:19.039 --> 00:36:22.800
soccer card market. There were soccer cards and they were okay,

752
00:36:23.239 --> 00:36:25.519
and they were stickers. The stickers are what people wanted

753
00:36:25.519 --> 00:36:29.360
in Europe. Anyway, COVID soccer blew up. Then the World

754
00:36:29.400 --> 00:36:31.079
Cup in twenty twenty two was in the middle of

755
00:36:31.599 --> 00:36:34.280
the COVID thing. So they kind of had a big bump,

756
00:36:34.360 --> 00:36:36.880
and I want to say that it was a bump

757
00:36:36.920 --> 00:36:40.400
that kind of stabilized, but it did put soccer from

758
00:36:40.440 --> 00:36:43.239
being almost non existent to being in a place where

759
00:36:43.519 --> 00:36:46.079
any show I go to, whether it's a small show

760
00:36:46.119 --> 00:36:49.039
or regional show, the national, the expo whatever. Soccer is

761
00:36:49.039 --> 00:36:53.840
a big deal, Like there's soccer only dealers, even people

762
00:36:53.840 --> 00:36:57.320
that sell multi sport will sell soccer cards, you know,

763
00:36:57.440 --> 00:37:01.159
the big names. Right, So soccer's because more integrated, I

764
00:37:01.199 --> 00:37:04.639
think into the hobby more so than even Formula one,

765
00:37:04.639 --> 00:37:06.599
which kind of had that big spike and then kind

766
00:37:06.599 --> 00:37:08.559
of I don't know, I think it kind of died, right,

767
00:37:08.800 --> 00:37:11.199
But soccer is there. I think when you talk about

768
00:37:11.199 --> 00:37:13.679
the hobby, you're talking about five sports. Really you're talking

769
00:37:13.679 --> 00:37:16.320
about the four major American sports, and soccer I think

770
00:37:16.440 --> 00:37:19.079
is in that category now. And you have card shows

771
00:37:19.119 --> 00:37:20.960
now all over Europe. You have the London Card Show,

772
00:37:20.960 --> 00:37:22.599
which I went to a couple of years ago. You

773
00:37:22.639 --> 00:37:26.800
have shows in all over Europe. Europeans now buying you know,

774
00:37:27.360 --> 00:37:30.719
soccer cards. Tops is making Soner cards. Fanatics is super

775
00:37:30.719 --> 00:37:33.559
interested in soccer. They would love to have the FIFA license.

776
00:37:33.960 --> 00:37:36.679
So I don't know if you know, but fanas Fest

777
00:37:36.719 --> 00:37:40.599
this year will take place during the World Cup final weekend,

778
00:37:40.760 --> 00:37:43.400
which will be in New York, so and FIFA. I

779
00:37:43.400 --> 00:37:47.000
had a huge booth at the last a finax Fest

780
00:37:47.039 --> 00:37:49.840
last year. The one negative of that is that it

781
00:37:49.880 --> 00:37:53.119
puts fax Fest in the National literally within two and

782
00:37:53.119 --> 00:37:55.400
a half weeks of each other, which is not ideal, right,

783
00:37:55.719 --> 00:37:58.599
But I don't think cares about the National or anybody else.

784
00:37:58.599 --> 00:38:00.679
They just they just care about what they're doing and

785
00:38:00.719 --> 00:38:03.599
they care about working with FIFA and working with other partners.

786
00:38:03.800 --> 00:38:03.960
Right.

787
00:38:04.000 --> 00:38:06.679
So I say that to say that's how big soccer

788
00:38:06.679 --> 00:38:09.320
has become. That finax Fest is like, yeah, we'd love

789
00:38:09.320 --> 00:38:11.519
to have our show in June every year in New York,

790
00:38:11.519 --> 00:38:12.920
but we're gonna do it in July this year because

791
00:38:12.920 --> 00:38:14.559
the World Cup is the final is there and they're

792
00:38:14.559 --> 00:38:17.159
gonna have a viewing party and it's gonna be FIFA

793
00:38:17.280 --> 00:38:18.840
is going to have a big booth again. It's really

794
00:38:18.840 --> 00:38:21.320
gonna be fully integrated. So if you're coming to New

795
00:38:21.400 --> 00:38:24.400
York for the final and you're in New York that weekend,

796
00:38:24.519 --> 00:38:28.199
you can pop into finas Fest and maybe buy merchandise, memorabilia,

797
00:38:28.639 --> 00:38:30.679
soccer cards. You know, that's all part of it. So

798
00:38:30.840 --> 00:38:33.239
TOPS is super interested in it. Panini still has the

799
00:38:33.280 --> 00:38:35.639
World Cup license, they still have the FIFA license, So

800
00:38:35.719 --> 00:38:38.599
they're gonna produce Punini, Prism and a bunch of other

801
00:38:38.880 --> 00:38:40.599
don us, and they're gonna produce a bunch of cards

802
00:38:40.599 --> 00:38:42.519
this year, they are gonna have a lot of relevance.

803
00:38:42.559 --> 00:38:45.440
I think because it's a World Cup year, there's definitely

804
00:38:45.480 --> 00:38:48.599
a bump that is already starting to emerge. And then

805
00:38:48.599 --> 00:38:50.679
people are going back and trying to buy the old stuff.

806
00:38:50.679 --> 00:38:53.400
They're trying to buy the Messi Rookies, the Fernaldoki. I

807
00:38:53.440 --> 00:38:57.159
think the Messy Rookie card has become almost as iconic

808
00:38:57.159 --> 00:39:00.239
as the Gretzky Rookie or the Mickey Mantle. If you're

809
00:39:00.239 --> 00:39:03.559
a soccer fan or multi sport collector, you want the

810
00:39:03.599 --> 00:39:06.400
Messi Rookie because he's got a card. It's from two

811
00:39:06.440 --> 00:39:08.679
thousand and four. It came out in Spain. It was

812
00:39:08.679 --> 00:39:11.360
put up by Panini, but there's lots of examples of it.

813
00:39:11.400 --> 00:39:13.800
I mean every show I go to, I inevitably run

814
00:39:13.840 --> 00:39:16.320
into this Messy Rookie card. You know, it's not hard

815
00:39:16.360 --> 00:39:18.960
to find, but the prices have been going up up up,

816
00:39:19.320 --> 00:39:22.400
and the better the grade, the better it is. I

817
00:39:22.440 --> 00:39:24.599
still have a fantasy that one day someone is going

818
00:39:24.639 --> 00:39:27.239
to like find in a warehouse in Spain like one

819
00:39:27.320 --> 00:39:29.599
hundred thousand of these Messy cards and go, oh, look

820
00:39:29.599 --> 00:39:31.719
there's a ton of these sitting in a box. You know,

821
00:39:31.800 --> 00:39:35.159
and with that Devalue, I don't know what because it's European,

822
00:39:35.280 --> 00:39:38.480
because it's only issued in Spain, it's you know, it's

823
00:39:39.400 --> 00:39:41.159
hard to find in America. This is a car that

824
00:39:41.199 --> 00:39:44.360
you literally ten years ago didn't even know existed. And

825
00:39:44.400 --> 00:39:48.719
now every Golden auction you see it. Every article about

826
00:39:48.760 --> 00:39:51.639
soccer cards, you see that card photographed them there, so

827
00:39:51.719 --> 00:39:54.239
it is become I think the Messi Rookie is in

828
00:39:54.280 --> 00:39:56.760
the same collection as the Mickey Mantle Rookie and the

829
00:39:56.760 --> 00:39:59.800
Gretzky Rookie and the Tom Brady Rookie. It's like the goats.

830
00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:01.760
If you want the goats, you have to go out

831
00:40:01.800 --> 00:40:02.960
and get that card.

832
00:40:03.159 --> 00:40:05.280
Well, if you ever want to sell one in a ten.

833
00:40:05.239 --> 00:40:09.719
You have you know, I left though you have won.

834
00:40:10.159 --> 00:40:12.880
But I bought it back in twenty eighteen when it

835
00:40:12.960 --> 00:40:15.400
was worth punches of dollars. Now it's worth thousands of dollars.

836
00:40:15.480 --> 00:40:17.840
But you know, it's the kind of thing where I

837
00:40:17.960 --> 00:40:21.440
enjoyed buying soccer in the twenty seventeen twenty eighteen because

838
00:40:21.599 --> 00:40:25.239
nobody was really buying And now I think soccer maybe

839
00:40:25.280 --> 00:40:28.760
even hotter than hockey in terms of cards because the

840
00:40:28.840 --> 00:40:31.960
people that collect soccer cards are really rabid, and that

841
00:40:32.360 --> 00:40:35.280
fan base is growing larger and larger. And like I said,

842
00:40:35.480 --> 00:40:37.480
you have guys at the National now. For example, at

843
00:40:37.480 --> 00:40:40.880
the last National where I saw you, because soccer collectors

844
00:40:40.880 --> 00:40:43.800
didn't think there was enough soccer at the National, they

845
00:40:43.840 --> 00:40:46.920
actually had their own show in Chicago the same weekend

846
00:40:47.599 --> 00:40:50.239
at night. So I went to it one night and

847
00:40:50.280 --> 00:40:52.599
I couldn't believe. They were like fifty vendor tables selling

848
00:40:52.639 --> 00:40:56.159
soccer and it was held at an indoor soccer facility

849
00:40:56.480 --> 00:40:58.840
about thirty minutes away. I took an uber, I went

850
00:40:58.840 --> 00:41:00.800
over there and it was cool. It was like wow,

851
00:41:00.960 --> 00:41:04.519
it was like fake turf tables everywhere, and you know,

852
00:41:04.719 --> 00:41:07.519
and so there is definitely a community that's grown. You

853
00:41:07.559 --> 00:41:09.559
would not have seen that five years, not at all.

854
00:41:09.639 --> 00:41:13.119
Yeah, do you think obviously there's going to be a

855
00:41:13.119 --> 00:41:17.159
bump with it being here on North American sore? Do

856
00:41:17.159 --> 00:41:20.159
you think it'll be a bigger one? Just on that alone,

857
00:41:20.280 --> 00:41:23.960
just just from that alone, comparatively speaking to the last

858
00:41:24.000 --> 00:41:27.800
World Cup and a two prime question, do we know

859
00:41:27.840 --> 00:41:30.880
where the next one is after this one? Or not yet?

860
00:41:31.280 --> 00:41:34.480
We do the next one will be in So I'll

861
00:41:34.519 --> 00:41:36.639
take that question first. So The next World Cup will

862
00:41:36.639 --> 00:41:39.880
be in twenty thirty and that's going to be one

863
00:41:39.960 --> 00:41:41.800
hundred year anniversary of the World Cup, so it's going

864
00:41:41.840 --> 00:41:43.920
to be a big deal in the itself. Okay. Now,

865
00:41:43.920 --> 00:41:46.400
the first World Cup was held in Uruguay, very small

866
00:41:46.480 --> 00:41:48.840
Latin American country, so they could not host a World

867
00:41:48.840 --> 00:41:51.119
Cup at this big They just couldn't, right, So what

868
00:41:51.159 --> 00:41:52.519
they're going to do is they're going to have a

869
00:41:52.559 --> 00:41:57.159
few first round games in Uruguay, Argentina and Peru as

870
00:41:57.159 --> 00:41:59.199
an homage to that first World Cup.

871
00:41:59.440 --> 00:42:00.000
That's cool.

872
00:42:00.320 --> 00:42:02.280
Then they're going to have the rest of the tournament

873
00:42:02.719 --> 00:42:06.639
in Spain, Portugal and Morocco. So yes, the next World

874
00:42:06.679 --> 00:42:10.760
Cup will be hosted by six country okay, and then

875
00:42:10.840 --> 00:42:13.639
the next World Cup after that, twenty thirty four, will

876
00:42:13.679 --> 00:42:16.639
be held entirely in Saudi Arabia, which, if you know

877
00:42:16.679 --> 00:42:19.920
anything about Saudi Arabia, they've gotten into the sports market,

878
00:42:20.000 --> 00:42:23.360
big time soccer and the golf, golf and everything. Now

879
00:42:23.760 --> 00:42:26.719
we don't know this yet, but I am already speculating

880
00:42:26.760 --> 00:42:29.400
that World Cup will be like Qatar, it'll be too

881
00:42:29.400 --> 00:42:31.679
hot to have in the summer, and they'll have another

882
00:42:31.719 --> 00:42:34.119
winter World Cup, and which we all lived through in

883
00:42:34.159 --> 00:42:36.719
November and December of twenty twenty two, and ultimately I

884
00:42:36.719 --> 00:42:38.960
didn't think it was that bad watching soccer on Thanksgiving.

885
00:42:38.960 --> 00:42:41.079
I gotta tell you, I gotta be honest. So the

886
00:42:41.079 --> 00:42:44.440
European leagues didn't like having a month break in between,

887
00:42:44.519 --> 00:42:44.960
but you.

888
00:42:44.920 --> 00:42:46.920
Can watch football and then football.

889
00:42:47.079 --> 00:42:50.239
Yeah, exactly exactly which people did you? I don't know

890
00:42:50.239 --> 00:42:53.719
if you remember, but on Black Friday US England, I'm

891
00:42:53.719 --> 00:42:56.519
Black Friday was pretty fun game and it was zero

892
00:42:56.639 --> 00:42:58.519
zero And to this day England has never beaten in

893
00:42:58.519 --> 00:43:00.760
the US at a World Cup. So so yeah, so

894
00:43:01.199 --> 00:43:04.000
we have So the next two World Cups are spoken for.

895
00:43:04.320 --> 00:43:06.239
Then after that we don't know. But the World Cup

896
00:43:06.280 --> 00:43:08.880
is becoming hard and harder to host because it's getting

897
00:43:08.920 --> 00:43:11.760
bigger and bigger, and it's really hard for countries to

898
00:43:11.800 --> 00:43:13.519
do it alone because you know, the US is a

899
00:43:13.519 --> 00:43:16.039
big country, but in sad Arabia is a big country.

900
00:43:16.039 --> 00:43:18.599
But a country like Italy or Germany or England couldn't

901
00:43:18.599 --> 00:43:21.440
host a World Cup that was that big. So be curious.

902
00:43:21.440 --> 00:43:22.760
See what happens with the World Cup. Is all the

903
00:43:22.840 --> 00:43:24.800
speculation that the World Cup might go from forty eight

904
00:43:24.840 --> 00:43:26.000
to sixty fourteen so.

905
00:43:26.000 --> 00:43:28.159
That was my next question, like, a we're going to see

906
00:43:28.159 --> 00:43:29.480
more it's possible.

907
00:43:29.559 --> 00:43:31.400
And then to pick up the other question, we could

908
00:43:31.400 --> 00:43:33.679
see more expansion in the future, which who knows how

909
00:43:33.719 --> 00:43:35.880
well people will take that. The original idea was not

910
00:43:35.920 --> 00:43:37.760
to expand the World Cup was, but to have it

911
00:43:37.800 --> 00:43:40.239
every two years, and people really didn't like that, and

912
00:43:40.280 --> 00:43:41.679
so FIFA was like, Okay, we won't have it every

913
00:43:41.719 --> 00:43:43.320
two years before, we're going to make it bigger. So

914
00:43:43.360 --> 00:43:45.519
people were like, okay, the other question you had, will

915
00:43:45.559 --> 00:43:48.199
the World Cup give soccer cards a bigger bump? I

916
00:43:48.199 --> 00:43:51.280
think because they're helping in here. Yeah, yeah, I I

917
00:43:51.320 --> 00:43:54.639
think I think yes. Now I think the World Cup

918
00:43:54.639 --> 00:43:56.599
could be held anywhere and people would still watch it

919
00:43:56.639 --> 00:43:58.639
on TV. Yeah, the World Cup is really a television

920
00:43:58.639 --> 00:44:00.519
event at this point, like the Olympics. So it doesn't

921
00:44:00.519 --> 00:44:03.239
matter where you hold it, but having get here does matter.

922
00:44:03.320 --> 00:44:06.639
Because Panini and Upper Deck and Tops and all these

923
00:44:06.719 --> 00:44:08.960
country all these companies are going to try to produce

924
00:44:08.960 --> 00:44:12.199
as much soccer as they can just to meet the demand.

925
00:44:12.639 --> 00:44:14.880
You might get new collectors, and you know, you have

926
00:44:14.920 --> 00:44:17.639
to remember back in ninety four, Upper Deck they put

927
00:44:17.639 --> 00:44:20.320
out that ninety four World Cup set that has become

928
00:44:20.400 --> 00:44:22.960
kind of iconic among soccer fans because it was kind

929
00:44:22.960 --> 00:44:26.440
of the first real World Cup card set, you know,

930
00:44:26.440 --> 00:44:29.239
and Upper Deck put that out and which produced some

931
00:44:29.280 --> 00:44:32.119
pretty famous cards of some pretty good soccer players. But

932
00:44:32.159 --> 00:44:34.239
in addition to that, they made these special cards of

933
00:44:34.519 --> 00:44:37.960
Wayne Gretzky and Michael Jordan. There's a Michael Jordan card

934
00:44:38.000 --> 00:44:40.639
dunking a soccer ball, like there is a Joe Montanas

935
00:44:40.639 --> 00:44:43.000
soccer card. There's a Reggie Jackson. These are all guys

936
00:44:43.000 --> 00:44:46.480
that Upper Deck had under contract back in the nineties, right. So,

937
00:44:46.480 --> 00:44:49.239
so though that set became iconic as a result of

938
00:44:49.280 --> 00:44:51.000
the fact that that World Cup was being held here,

939
00:44:51.039 --> 00:44:52.360
and Upper Deck was like, well, we got to put

940
00:44:52.400 --> 00:44:54.519
out a set, you know, because the World Cup is here,

941
00:44:54.559 --> 00:44:56.440
It's going to be a big deal. So I think

942
00:44:56.719 --> 00:44:59.519
that will happen. I mean, Panini America is already positioning

943
00:44:59.559 --> 00:45:02.280
itself to try to me. I noticed four years ago

944
00:45:02.320 --> 00:45:04.800
with the stickers. Literally every place I went to in

945
00:45:04.800 --> 00:45:07.920
New York City, even Walgreens had the stickers, and before

946
00:45:07.960 --> 00:45:10.239
that they never had them. So I have to imagine

947
00:45:10.320 --> 00:45:12.920
that the World Cup being here, the buzz of it

948
00:45:13.000 --> 00:45:16.480
being just next door is going to be huge, especially

949
00:45:16.480 --> 00:45:18.440
if you live in a big American city and you're

950
00:45:18.440 --> 00:45:20.719
gonna see people in the street celebrating and see people

951
00:45:20.719 --> 00:45:25.280
at bars. It's gonna be Jersey. Yeah, exactly, it's gonna

952
00:45:25.320 --> 00:45:28.239
be like March Madness on steroids. I think, you know,

953
00:45:28.280 --> 00:45:30.280
it's gonna be huge, And I think it's going to

954
00:45:30.360 --> 00:45:34.280
have help the hobby because naturally young people, older people

955
00:45:34.400 --> 00:45:38.800
might say, Oh, I'm believe enjoin the sport. I do baseball, cars,

956
00:45:39.079 --> 00:45:41.920
maybe I could do soccer. Now I can collect some

957
00:45:41.960 --> 00:45:43.960
of my favorite players I'm watching at this tournament right

958
00:45:44.039 --> 00:45:45.639
And you know, so, I think there'll be a lot

959
00:45:45.639 --> 00:45:48.039
of product out there for everybody. Come come the summer.

960
00:45:48.280 --> 00:45:50.400
So the last time you were on, which was, like

961
00:45:50.440 --> 00:45:54.079
you said, a while ago, too long? Any traction on

962
00:45:54.159 --> 00:45:57.199
my rule suggestion. One of my pet beeves is like

963
00:45:57.239 --> 00:46:01.119
a guy gets like script and anyone can shoot the

964
00:46:01.199 --> 00:46:04.440
penalty shot, Like I think, yes, it's whoever I think

965
00:46:04.480 --> 00:46:08.599
it should be. Whoever gets, whoever's the penalty occurs on

966
00:46:08.840 --> 00:46:11.159
has to do the penalty shot. You can't just have

967
00:46:11.320 --> 00:46:15.639
like messy take everyone. Like in basketball, if you file,

968
00:46:15.960 --> 00:46:17.679
you always want to file the guy who has the

969
00:46:17.760 --> 00:46:21.519
worst free throw percentage because there's more likely he's gonna mess.

970
00:46:21.639 --> 00:46:23.719
I think it should be like that in soccer, like

971
00:46:24.079 --> 00:46:27.519
you know that that guy has to kick, be the

972
00:46:27.559 --> 00:46:30.800
one that tries to kick the penalty shot one on

973
00:46:30.800 --> 00:46:32.119
one with the going it.

974
00:46:32.079 --> 00:46:36.039
Would so So no, there's been zero traction on what

975
00:46:36.079 --> 00:46:39.719
you said, though, I will admit. I will admit when

976
00:46:39.719 --> 00:46:42.360
you mentioned that on our last time I was on,

977
00:46:42.440 --> 00:46:44.800
which was a long time ago, but I do remember

978
00:46:44.840 --> 00:46:46.679
you saying that, and a light bulble off in my head.

979
00:46:46.679 --> 00:46:48.480
I thought, you know what. I never heard anyone say that,

980
00:46:48.840 --> 00:46:50.519
and I've never heard anyone say it since. But I

981
00:46:50.559 --> 00:46:53.480
think it's a genius idea because the probability of a

982
00:46:53.559 --> 00:46:57.119
kicker scoring is very high. It's like sixty seventy percent

983
00:46:57.559 --> 00:47:00.840
in favor of kicker, so it's almost like a goal.

984
00:47:00.920 --> 00:47:01.079
Now.

985
00:47:01.400 --> 00:47:04.079
We we have seen players miss, so we've seen goalies

986
00:47:04.119 --> 00:47:08.360
make saves, but the odds are stacked against the goalie, right,

987
00:47:08.719 --> 00:47:11.039
So it would be amazing if someone gets tripped, and

988
00:47:11.079 --> 00:47:14.800
let's say they're not a penalty kick specialist, okay, so

989
00:47:14.920 --> 00:47:16.320
if they have to take the kick, it makes it

990
00:47:16.320 --> 00:47:18.599
more exciting. Number one, So I like your idea. Number one,

991
00:47:18.639 --> 00:47:19.039
Number two.

992
00:47:19.320 --> 00:47:22.360
Well here's the other thing, real real quick too and

993
00:47:22.519 --> 00:47:25.639
looks a MESSI and Ronaldo and the greats of the

994
00:47:25.719 --> 00:47:29.440
game of soccer are great without I'm not saying they're

995
00:47:29.559 --> 00:47:32.480
they're not great, But does this some of the numbers

996
00:47:32.480 --> 00:47:35.239
get inflated because these are counted as goal.

997
00:47:35.320 --> 00:47:37.800
Yeah, it's yeah.

998
00:47:37.599 --> 00:47:41.480
It's like an empty net goal in hockey. Like he scored, but.

999
00:47:42.280 --> 00:47:42.840
It wasn't hard.

1000
00:47:43.119 --> 00:47:44.480
It was like it was at the end of the

1001
00:47:44.519 --> 00:47:47.119
game they had it trying to get the extra guy

1002
00:47:46.360 --> 00:47:50.119
and get the goalies there, but he's getting a stop

1003
00:47:50.199 --> 00:47:53.599
play shot right right, Like so you know, they might

1004
00:47:53.639 --> 00:47:56.519
have four hundred goals in their career, you know how

1005
00:47:56.559 --> 00:47:59.639
many were Like I'm like, to me, I take more

1006
00:47:59.760 --> 00:48:03.599
pro or I think it's more exciting and in play

1007
00:48:03.639 --> 00:48:05.639
goal where you know it's set up and the guy

1008
00:48:06.400 --> 00:48:09.280
we're heads in and then or bicycle kid, right, you know,

1009
00:48:09.960 --> 00:48:13.840
I just think, yeah, I think like if you if

1010
00:48:13.840 --> 00:48:16.320
you're the one that like gets tripped and you do

1011
00:48:16.400 --> 00:48:19.360
a face plant, you should at least get to reap

1012
00:48:19.440 --> 00:48:21.519
the rewards of drawing that penalty.

1013
00:48:21.599 --> 00:48:24.880
You know, I've seen games where someone gets tripped and

1014
00:48:24.880 --> 00:48:27.000
then every team's got that one guy who kicks, the

1015
00:48:27.000 --> 00:48:29.079
penalty kicks, and usually it's like a Messi or Ronaldo.

1016
00:48:29.119 --> 00:48:33.039
But I've seen games where players have gone into fights

1017
00:48:33.639 --> 00:48:35.000
like I want to kick it, No, you kick you know,

1018
00:48:35.039 --> 00:48:38.000
it's like because because they want the goal, or maybe

1019
00:48:38.000 --> 00:48:40.440
they're in a scoring drought and it'll maybe help them.

1020
00:48:40.599 --> 00:48:43.480
So you're right, the idea that that you're committed to

1021
00:48:43.519 --> 00:48:46.039
the guy that got tripped, that would be fun and

1022
00:48:46.119 --> 00:48:47.920
that's never been floated, but I still think it's a

1023
00:48:47.920 --> 00:48:50.360
good idea because it would be interesting, and you're right,

1024
00:48:50.440 --> 00:48:52.760
the Messies of the world wouldn't be able to pad

1025
00:48:52.800 --> 00:48:55.719
their numbers. But on top of that, you have some

1026
00:48:55.880 --> 00:48:57.679
you know, a penalty kick would be such a sure thing.

1027
00:48:57.760 --> 00:49:01.000
If if some defender got tripped in the box and it's like, oh,

1028
00:49:01.000 --> 00:49:02.360
he's got to take the kick, and he's not that

1029
00:49:02.400 --> 00:49:04.480
he's a little wobbly on because some players don't do it.

1030
00:49:04.719 --> 00:49:07.239
It's not their special they don't. They don't do pks right.

1031
00:49:07.159 --> 00:49:10.159
Well, it's hacky, right if the guy's got a breakaway

1032
00:49:10.480 --> 00:49:13.840
and the defenseman trips him, he has to take this shot.

1033
00:49:13.960 --> 00:49:17.719
They don't like if it happens to Oilers. McDavid doesn't

1034
00:49:17.760 --> 00:49:20.639
come out and like, okay, it's me get off the eyes.

1035
00:49:20.719 --> 00:49:21.159
I got this.

1036
00:49:21.480 --> 00:49:24.360
Yeah, it's almost like it's almost like a pinch hitter

1037
00:49:24.519 --> 00:49:26.440
or like a pinch runner. It's like, oh, I'm just

1038
00:49:26.440 --> 00:49:29.360
gonna swap them. I'm gonna put my best guy to

1039
00:49:29.400 --> 00:49:29.760
take it.

1040
00:49:30.039 --> 00:49:30.239
You know.

1041
00:49:30.320 --> 00:49:34.119
It's interesting and FIFA does do experiments at youth tournaments

1042
00:49:34.159 --> 00:49:37.079
and minor tournaments with rules. A lot of the rules

1043
00:49:37.199 --> 00:49:40.559
are surrounding, you know, offside and using video review, and

1044
00:49:40.559 --> 00:49:43.239
it's become a big more technology in the game. For example,

1045
00:49:43.280 --> 00:49:45.400
this FIFA is doing this thing where they're going to

1046
00:49:45.480 --> 00:49:48.000
take a body scan of all the players who are

1047
00:49:48.000 --> 00:49:50.400
going to play this way when they're offside, they can

1048
00:49:50.480 --> 00:49:53.679
tell you know, given that body type. I mean, so

1049
00:49:53.760 --> 00:49:55.199
AI is going to be part of the World Cup,

1050
00:49:55.239 --> 00:49:56.800
there's gonna be a lot of technology. So FIFA is

1051
00:49:56.840 --> 00:49:59.760
looking like all the leagues, how do we integrate more technology?

1052
00:50:00.159 --> 00:50:02.159
Your rule change is a good idea, but it's like

1053
00:50:02.199 --> 00:50:03.920
for the old school, it's like, oh, well, let's just

1054
00:50:04.079 --> 00:50:05.559
have this, you know, and maybe that would be a

1055
00:50:05.559 --> 00:50:08.239
fun experiment. I'd love to see how that would look

1056
00:50:08.239 --> 00:50:10.840
over time. But no, no traction, even though I will

1057
00:50:10.880 --> 00:50:13.440
say it stuck with me because it was like, no,

1058
00:50:13.599 --> 00:50:15.960
I never heard that before. It's actually a pretty good idea.

1059
00:50:16.000 --> 00:50:19.039
Maybe because you're not a habitual viewer, you came in

1060
00:50:19.079 --> 00:50:20.280
with fresh fresh eyes.

1061
00:50:20.320 --> 00:50:23.000
You're like, like, if I'm playing soccer even like just

1062
00:50:23.159 --> 00:50:26.480
rec league but not even I'm not a profe, but

1063
00:50:26.559 --> 00:50:29.599
I'm just playing rec league and I'm driving towards the

1064
00:50:29.639 --> 00:50:35.239
goalkeeper and I'm like, hey, I got a shot here,

1065
00:50:35.639 --> 00:50:39.320
and then some dude like Clyde cackles me and I

1066
00:50:39.920 --> 00:50:43.159
go head over heels and the Reugh calls, you know,

1067
00:50:43.239 --> 00:50:45.760
a penalty kick. I want to kick that thing. As

1068
00:50:45.760 --> 00:50:48.440
long as I can get up and still breathe. I

1069
00:50:48.480 --> 00:50:50.199
want to kick that thing. I don't want Mike to

1070
00:50:50.239 --> 00:50:53.000
come off, you know, come from where whoever on the

1071
00:50:53.039 --> 00:50:55.679
field or the sideline, and I got this and get

1072
00:50:55.679 --> 00:50:58.800
out the way, like, dude, I just got killed. I've

1073
00:50:59.039 --> 00:51:01.000
just caught my breath. Want to I want to kick

1074
00:51:01.039 --> 00:51:03.440
this thing in Yeah, why do you get to do

1075
00:51:03.519 --> 00:51:06.679
it like that's you know, maybe it's the hockey, the

1076
00:51:06.880 --> 00:51:11.360
you know, with the penalty shot and then you know, yeah.

1077
00:51:11.400 --> 00:51:13.400
You know, you you foule that guy.

1078
00:51:13.440 --> 00:51:15.800
He goes to the line. Now, not the best free

1079
00:51:15.840 --> 00:51:19.719
throw shooter on the team. You know, oh, technical files

1080
00:51:20.079 --> 00:51:23.400
the best free but if it's a normal, normal file,

1081
00:51:23.480 --> 00:51:26.559
you have to shoot him. So that's where I guess

1082
00:51:26.639 --> 00:51:29.480
I'm just traditional, you know. I always thought it was

1083
00:51:29.920 --> 00:51:33.719
like that guy got tripped and kicked and half punched

1084
00:51:33.760 --> 00:51:36.159
and bit and then this guy comes in and gets

1085
00:51:36.199 --> 00:51:39.360
to kick it, like, come on, man, that's that's my shot.

1086
00:51:39.760 --> 00:51:42.480
Yeah, no, absolutely, it's it's an interesting thing. And I

1087
00:51:42.559 --> 00:51:45.239
do think it's funny. You remember that from our last conversation,

1088
00:51:45.400 --> 00:51:48.239
because it was something I think is interesting. It would

1089
00:51:48.320 --> 00:51:50.320
be fun to see, you know how.

1090
00:51:50.519 --> 00:51:53.559
You know, I don't even going to compromise. Clemente do

1091
00:51:53.679 --> 00:51:56.159
it for the first half. In the second half you

1092
00:51:56.239 --> 00:52:00.320
can have in the second half or overtimes. Anyone can

1093
00:52:00.400 --> 00:52:05.039
kick the penalty kick in the first half. The first half,

1094
00:52:05.400 --> 00:52:06.639
the guy who gets the.

1095
00:52:07.320 --> 00:52:10.320
Uh yeah, like in baseball where like the manager gets

1096
00:52:10.320 --> 00:52:12.440
a challenge, you can challenge or whatever.

1097
00:52:12.519 --> 00:52:16.159
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll compromise. You know, FIFA meet

1098
00:52:16.199 --> 00:52:19.000
me halfway first half. That guy's got to kick the

1099
00:52:19.000 --> 00:52:21.480
ball whoever it is, you know, and if it's messy

1100
00:52:21.480 --> 00:52:24.440
you get stripped out, then it's you know, or I.

1101
00:52:24.440 --> 00:52:27.400
Mean generally generally, just to put a fine point on this,

1102
00:52:27.679 --> 00:52:31.119
generally the attacking players pick the p case. They're the

1103
00:52:31.119 --> 00:52:32.920
ones that get tripped in the box anyway because they're

1104
00:52:33.000 --> 00:52:35.840
charging towards the Yeah, it's unlikely the defender would do.

1105
00:52:35.800 --> 00:52:36.039
It, though.

1106
00:52:36.519 --> 00:52:39.039
You do have defend defenders who do play up the wings,

1107
00:52:39.239 --> 00:52:41.920
but more likely it will be attacking player that gets

1108
00:52:41.960 --> 00:52:44.639
chopped down anyway. So that's it often works out, but

1109
00:52:44.679 --> 00:52:45.719
doesn't always work Well.

1110
00:52:45.760 --> 00:52:48.599
Maybe maybe maybe next world couple'll see.

1111
00:52:49.440 --> 00:52:52.039
You can put you're put in your petition with FIFA.

1112
00:52:52.360 --> 00:52:55.039
Yeah, I'm sure that be right. That'll be right at

1113
00:52:55.039 --> 00:52:58.440
the forefront of the people where they're looking through. Well, listen,

1114
00:52:58.719 --> 00:53:02.800
you wrote the book. Uh you know you've updated it

1115
00:53:02.880 --> 00:53:07.920
well factoring in you know this World Cup. Talk a

1116
00:53:07.920 --> 00:53:12.079
little bit about the book where people can get it again.

1117
00:53:12.280 --> 00:53:15.840
A lot of history I actually read. I didn't read

1118
00:53:15.920 --> 00:53:19.079
the new version. I read the old one. It's not

1119
00:53:19.159 --> 00:53:23.679
that old original, I should say, and like just full

1120
00:53:23.760 --> 00:53:26.159
of of history. And you know, you know, I'm not

1121
00:53:26.599 --> 00:53:29.599
what you would call your typical soccer fan, and it's

1122
00:53:29.679 --> 00:53:33.360
just as a sports fan, I love the history of sports, right,

1123
00:53:33.400 --> 00:53:36.039
and you really covered it, you know, not that I've

1124
00:53:36.039 --> 00:53:38.559
read a ton of soccer, but you've You've covered really

1125
00:53:38.639 --> 00:53:41.639
every aspect and and you did it in a way

1126
00:53:41.800 --> 00:53:44.000
like it's not a small book, but you did it

1127
00:53:44.039 --> 00:53:47.199
in a way it's concise, you know, and and you

1128
00:53:47.320 --> 00:53:50.679
kept it interesting. Talk about like the update where people

1129
00:53:50.760 --> 00:53:53.519
can can buy the book and that sort of thing.

1130
00:53:53.599 --> 00:53:55.639
Yeah, so the book is called The World Cup, History

1131
00:53:55.639 --> 00:53:58.480
of the Planet's Biggest Sporting Event, twenty twenty sixth edition,

1132
00:53:58.639 --> 00:54:00.920
so it's the new title for it. And yeah, it

1133
00:54:01.360 --> 00:54:03.800
covers every World Cup from nineteen thirty to the present.

1134
00:54:04.199 --> 00:54:07.079
It really has a big focus on not just the

1135
00:54:07.119 --> 00:54:10.800
games and the players, but also the politics at the time,

1136
00:54:11.079 --> 00:54:13.159
what was happening in the world and how that affected

1137
00:54:13.159 --> 00:54:15.519
the game. And then you know the countries that was

1138
00:54:15.559 --> 00:54:17.760
being played in that always has a factor in it.

1139
00:54:18.079 --> 00:54:21.840
The new edition has two added chapters. One is on

1140
00:54:21.880 --> 00:54:24.079
the twenty twenty two World Cup, the one that we

1141
00:54:24.119 --> 00:54:26.800
went in Katar with that epic final. I was there

1142
00:54:26.800 --> 00:54:28.800
at that game, so I had a lot of firsthand

1143
00:54:28.840 --> 00:54:31.440
reporting in there, so I have that in the book.

1144
00:54:31.480 --> 00:54:33.639
And then I have a chapter that pretty much previews

1145
00:54:33.639 --> 00:54:36.440
this World Cup. I have a pretty funny anecdote of

1146
00:54:37.039 --> 00:54:40.559
the FIVA president this past summer during an encounter the

1147
00:54:40.599 --> 00:54:43.000
media had with him at Trump Tower in New York,

1148
00:54:43.000 --> 00:54:44.840
and I was there for it. So it's got some

1149
00:54:44.880 --> 00:54:47.679
funny anecdotes in there about that meeting, which was a

1150
00:54:47.760 --> 00:54:49.880
little unusual, and that was right on the eve of

1151
00:54:49.920 --> 00:54:52.280
the Club World Cup that I told you about last

1152
00:54:52.360 --> 00:54:55.480
July and New York, so it's got some firsthand reporting

1153
00:54:55.480 --> 00:54:58.079
in it. A lot of stuff has happened the last

1154
00:54:58.119 --> 00:55:00.679
four years, of course soccer wise that really matters. And

1155
00:55:00.679 --> 00:55:02.599
there's a bit of a preview on the US, Mexico

1156
00:55:02.599 --> 00:55:04.840
and Canada. I couldn't preview all the countries, of course,

1157
00:55:04.840 --> 00:55:07.159
because we didn't know the countries that they were going

1158
00:55:07.199 --> 00:55:09.119
to qualify, so I was in the same predicament, only

1159
00:55:09.119 --> 00:55:11.719
my deadline was much sooner than Panini's. So that's what

1160
00:55:11.719 --> 00:55:13.519
the book is really about. You can get it on Amazon.

1161
00:55:13.559 --> 00:55:15.480
It's currently in pre sale. The book comes out in

1162
00:55:15.480 --> 00:55:18.360
March nineteenth. The World Cup is June eleventh, so a

1163
00:55:18.440 --> 00:55:20.079
bit of a buffer. But if you want to order

1164
00:55:20.119 --> 00:55:22.400
it now on Amazon, you can. You can do a search,

1165
00:55:22.599 --> 00:55:23.960
look it up, order it and you'll get it in

1166
00:55:24.000 --> 00:55:27.440
the mail on March nineteenth, right around Saint Patrick's Day,

1167
00:55:27.440 --> 00:55:29.320
and it's a good book for as a gift for

1168
00:55:29.400 --> 00:55:31.639
Father's Day. If you want to read about the World Cup.

1169
00:55:31.679 --> 00:55:34.119
If you're a collector, for example, and you don't know

1170
00:55:34.119 --> 00:55:36.639
who to collect or why you should collect somebody, you know,

1171
00:55:36.679 --> 00:55:39.000
reading a little history of the game might help you know.

1172
00:55:39.079 --> 00:55:41.400
And also watching the World Cup and reading a few

1173
00:55:41.480 --> 00:55:44.400
chapters of the last few World Cups heading into it

1174
00:55:44.440 --> 00:55:46.320
gives you a little bit of some groundwork. And like

1175
00:55:46.400 --> 00:55:49.079
you said, the book is concise because you know, I

1176
00:55:49.119 --> 00:55:51.159
could have written a two thousand page book, but nobody

1177
00:55:51.199 --> 00:55:54.199
wants that, right, so, you know, so we the goal

1178
00:55:54.320 --> 00:55:57.239
was to keep it as tight as possible. We're covering

1179
00:55:57.280 --> 00:55:58.920
almost one hundred years here, so all.

1180
00:55:58.880 --> 00:56:01.480
Of those you did a great job. And I like,

1181
00:56:01.920 --> 00:56:04.840
you know, we think we forget that's what happens in

1182
00:56:04.920 --> 00:56:08.719
life affects what happens in sports, right, And how some

1183
00:56:08.760 --> 00:56:11.440
of these wars and what's going you mentioned like politics

1184
00:56:11.800 --> 00:56:15.360
and wars and countries who really can't stand each other

1185
00:56:15.440 --> 00:56:18.559
would want to wipe each other of the earth at

1186
00:56:18.559 --> 00:56:24.360
the time. You know, how that played into the tournament

1187
00:56:24.440 --> 00:56:27.360
field and where games can be played or not played

1188
00:56:27.800 --> 00:56:30.159
or hey, if they're here, we're not going to be

1189
00:56:30.679 --> 00:56:33.400
you know, that sort of thing, and sometimes we don't

1190
00:56:33.400 --> 00:56:36.599
always think about that aspect. And you know, just like

1191
00:56:37.119 --> 00:56:40.119
just what we're seeing today with the Olympics, about this

1192
00:56:41.000 --> 00:56:43.960
happen in the Winter Olympics for hockey, and there's no

1193
00:56:44.079 --> 00:56:47.679
Russian there's not going to be a Russian entry into

1194
00:56:47.760 --> 00:56:52.320
the ice hockey competition, right, And it's twenty twenty six, right,

1195
00:56:52.400 --> 00:56:56.159
this is an old school war. You know, this is modern,

1196
00:56:56.599 --> 00:57:01.119
modern day, and it's still things like that still are happening.

1197
00:57:01.239 --> 00:57:04.519
So I'm a history guy, I'm a history of sports.

1198
00:57:04.880 --> 00:57:07.199
I'm a world history guy. And so when those two

1199
00:57:07.320 --> 00:57:11.440
kind of meld or go hand in hand, I find

1200
00:57:11.480 --> 00:57:15.880
it very interesting. Not that you like controversy or bad things,

1201
00:57:15.960 --> 00:57:18.679
but it is part of the fabric of how we're

1202
00:57:18.679 --> 00:57:21.840
here where we are today, like it or not, and

1203
00:57:22.840 --> 00:57:26.199
I love learning about it. And you know, like they say,

1204
00:57:26.239 --> 00:57:29.079
you learn about that's how we avoid future stuff, maybe

1205
00:57:29.119 --> 00:57:32.280
from mistakes in the past. Sometimes we do learn that.

1206
00:57:32.920 --> 00:57:38.559
In other instances we repeat those But I love learning

1207
00:57:38.639 --> 00:57:41.480
about that. And then when you encompass sports in there

1208
00:57:41.800 --> 00:57:44.639
as well, I love it even even more so because

1209
00:57:44.639 --> 00:57:47.639
it's like two checkboxes for me and like I said,

1210
00:57:47.880 --> 00:57:50.719
this is not, this is not I'm not a salesman,

1211
00:57:50.760 --> 00:57:52.760
but you just the way you did it and the

1212
00:57:52.800 --> 00:57:55.719
way you wrote it, you're very talented, and he made

1213
00:57:55.760 --> 00:58:00.000
it interesting, you know, whether you're a die hard side

1214
00:58:01.119 --> 00:58:04.239
or a casual, which I would, you know, describe myself

1215
00:58:04.280 --> 00:58:08.400
as it was just very enthralling and interesting. I kept

1216
00:58:08.400 --> 00:58:12.280
turning pages and reading more and more, and you know,

1217
00:58:12.360 --> 00:58:15.960
it's important. It's important to you know, we're here because

1218
00:58:15.960 --> 00:58:18.639
of what happened before we got he you think all

1219
00:58:18.679 --> 00:58:22.159
that stuff is important to know and or at least

1220
00:58:22.199 --> 00:58:22.440
to me.

1221
00:58:22.840 --> 00:58:25.360
You know, the goal is to always make the accessible

1222
00:58:25.400 --> 00:58:28.960
to everybody. But you know, even for myself, someone who's

1223
00:58:29.000 --> 00:58:31.960
watched the game for decades, just being able to peel

1224
00:58:32.000 --> 00:58:34.840
back a little bit, do some research, learn things along

1225
00:58:34.840 --> 00:58:36.559
the wind, and share them with other people. That's really

1226
00:58:36.559 --> 00:58:39.400
what motivates me. Ultimately, I could tell stories. That's why

1227
00:58:39.679 --> 00:58:42.360
I write magazine stories, That's why I write newspaper stories.

1228
00:58:42.400 --> 00:58:44.960
I work for various websites. I I like to write

1229
00:58:44.960 --> 00:58:47.800
books because I like to look at a story, find stories,

1230
00:58:47.840 --> 00:58:49.880
and then tell these stories to other people, whether it's

1231
00:58:49.880 --> 00:58:52.800
about sports or the hobby, or politics or whatever it is, religion,

1232
00:58:53.159 --> 00:58:55.360
these things are all matter to us. And I agree.

1233
00:58:55.400 --> 00:58:57.480
The World Cup is one of those events like the Olympics,

1234
00:58:57.480 --> 00:59:03.239
where it's international, encompasses different cultures and nationalities, and ultimately

1235
00:59:03.280 --> 00:59:05.440
it does reflect what's happening in the world. Like you

1236
00:59:05.480 --> 00:59:08.280
mentioned the hockey tournament not having Russia. This has happened

1237
00:59:08.280 --> 00:59:10.039
before in history, it will happen again. And you're right,

1238
00:59:10.079 --> 00:59:12.360
this is not about some far far off place. I'm

1239
00:59:12.360 --> 00:59:14.320
talking about the present. And you know the World Cup

1240
00:59:14.360 --> 00:59:17.960
doesn't have any political tensions at the moment, but you

1241
00:59:18.039 --> 00:59:19.639
never know what can happen in the world. You know,

1242
00:59:19.760 --> 00:59:23.440
we live in times where wars can break out any moment.

1243
00:59:23.519 --> 00:59:25.840
So it's a great guide book if you look, if

1244
00:59:25.840 --> 00:59:27.960
you're going to this World Cup, I'll leave you with this.

1245
00:59:28.000 --> 00:59:30.440
If you're going in those World Cup this summer without

1246
00:59:30.480 --> 00:59:32.840
ever really watching the World Cup, we're experiencing it. The

1247
00:59:32.880 --> 00:59:35.039
book is really a great guide to say, you know what,

1248
00:59:35.119 --> 00:59:37.760
let me do a little cramming before the final exam.

1249
00:59:37.840 --> 00:59:39.679
Let me do a little reading on what this, what's

1250
00:59:39.679 --> 00:59:40.679
all the craziness about it?

1251
00:59:40.800 --> 00:59:43.199
Get your uses flow and get your hyped up for.

1252
00:59:43.199 --> 00:59:45.480
It exactly exactly and and March is a good and

1253
00:59:45.519 --> 00:59:47.440
March is a good time. March is about the time

1254
00:59:47.440 --> 00:59:50.079
people the hype will start building, and you know, were

1255
00:59:50.079 --> 00:59:52.039
closer and closer to the hyper is already building. It's

1256
00:59:52.039 --> 00:59:54.039
been building for years now. But now that we're really

1257
00:59:54.039 --> 00:59:55.760
in the same calendar year as the World Cup, I

1258
00:59:55.760 --> 00:59:56.639
think the hype is here.

1259
00:59:57.079 --> 01:00:00.480
When you can start counting down days in the double

1260
01:00:00.519 --> 01:00:04.360
on single digits, you know you're closed. You know that's

1261
01:00:04.360 --> 01:00:08.039
that's huge, and having it here in our home country

1262
01:00:08.800 --> 01:00:12.840
even even cooler right in various cities, and Canada is

1263
01:00:12.880 --> 01:00:14.880
not that far away. I don't know if I'm going

1264
01:00:14.960 --> 01:00:18.800
to get to go, especially with all this frice, but like,

1265
01:00:18.880 --> 01:00:21.639
I'm not super far. I'm not. I never say never.

1266
01:00:22.079 --> 01:00:25.079
I'm gonna leave the door open. But you know, Toronto's

1267
01:00:25.119 --> 01:00:28.920
not too far from me. I'm in Syracuse, but I'm

1268
01:00:28.960 --> 01:00:32.760
from New York City. That's only two hundred thirty forty

1269
01:00:32.800 --> 01:00:36.599
miles from where I am that way. I love Boston.

1270
01:00:36.639 --> 01:00:39.679
I just went there for the first time in September,

1271
01:00:39.679 --> 01:00:42.679
believe it or not. And great city, so I wouldn't

1272
01:00:42.719 --> 01:00:45.760
rule that off the table either. So maybe I know

1273
01:00:45.840 --> 01:00:47.800
my son would like I know, we talked last night

1274
01:00:48.000 --> 01:00:50.599
my son would would like to go if we can,

1275
01:00:50.719 --> 01:00:54.320
and so I'm not closing that door. We'll see what's

1276
01:00:54.400 --> 01:00:58.000
available and where, and you know, well how the dates

1277
01:00:58.119 --> 01:01:00.920
might work in times, but you know, if you get

1278
01:01:00.920 --> 01:01:03.599
a chance to go, right, you don't get this. You

1279
01:01:03.679 --> 01:01:06.760
don't get the World Cup all the time, obviously, and

1280
01:01:06.800 --> 01:01:09.440
you don't get the World Cup in general. It's every

1281
01:01:09.480 --> 01:01:12.840
four years, and so when it's in your country, who

1282
01:01:12.920 --> 01:01:16.239
knows when you get it back again. So when it's there,

1283
01:01:16.280 --> 01:01:18.239
you you got to try to get there if you can.

1284
01:01:18.360 --> 01:01:20.599
I mean, you went the guitar to go see the

1285
01:01:20.679 --> 01:01:24.320
world you know, right, and now it's right in our backyard.

1286
01:01:24.360 --> 01:01:27.639
So you know, if you get a chance to go,

1287
01:01:28.679 --> 01:01:31.119
you know, and it's an event, it's right, it's the

1288
01:01:31.239 --> 01:01:34.360
super Bowl, you know, we talk about Super Bowl right

1289
01:01:34.400 --> 01:01:37.440
in the NFL. Right, people go go to that event

1290
01:01:37.480 --> 01:01:41.159
and aren't even football like American football fans in an event,

1291
01:01:42.079 --> 01:01:44.360
I think the World yeah, I think the World Cup

1292
01:01:44.480 --> 01:01:48.199
is the same as that. Some people might be shaking

1293
01:01:48.199 --> 01:01:51.679
their head. I don't really care, but it's the proof's

1294
01:01:51.679 --> 01:01:54.199
in the pudding, right, This is a it's called the

1295
01:01:54.239 --> 01:01:58.360
World Cup, you know, so and here it is on

1296
01:01:58.920 --> 01:01:59.599
our home.

1297
01:01:59.440 --> 01:02:03.639
Soil and Canada and Mexican some opportunities to even if

1298
01:02:03.679 --> 01:02:07.360
you make a vacation inside the trip to see some

1299
01:02:07.679 --> 01:02:10.840
you know, soccer being as well, there's always that aspect.

1300
01:02:10.920 --> 01:02:15.239
So Clemente, I appreciate you dropping some knowledge on me

1301
01:02:15.360 --> 01:02:18.559
and those listening. Give out again, if you want to

1302
01:02:18.599 --> 01:02:21.320
plug where people can get the book, where people can

1303
01:02:21.400 --> 01:02:25.440
see what you're writing and doing and anything, take your

1304
01:02:25.440 --> 01:02:29.320
time website the floors yours to give out that information.

1305
01:02:29.679 --> 01:02:33.239
I'll also put this in the show notes for episode

1306
01:02:33.239 --> 01:02:36.360
notes as well, so even if they don't catch it verbally,

1307
01:02:36.800 --> 01:02:38.559
they can catch it in the show notes. We go

1308
01:02:38.559 --> 01:02:39.000
go ahead.

1309
01:02:39.199 --> 01:02:41.199
Yeah, yeah, I think I'd to send you this stuff earlier.

1310
01:02:41.199 --> 01:02:43.559
But yeah, I could be found on Twitter or x

1311
01:02:43.639 --> 01:02:47.199
at Clemente Lisi and then I also write for various

1312
01:02:47.239 --> 01:02:51.119
hobby publications including Sports Collectors, Digesting and find my stuff there.

1313
01:02:51.679 --> 01:02:55.000
I also work for write for puck jump dot com.

1314
01:02:55.000 --> 01:02:58.519
I also am a regular on Sal Barry's podcast, I Sal.

1315
01:02:59.039 --> 01:03:02.000
And then I saw my own substack where I write

1316
01:03:02.000 --> 01:03:07.000
about soccer at Planet Soccer dot substack dot com. And

1317
01:03:07.039 --> 01:03:08.559
you know, you can hit me up on all these platforms,

1318
01:03:08.559 --> 01:03:12.840
and of course The book is available at Bluesberry Publishing.

1319
01:03:12.880 --> 01:03:16.679
It's also available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.

1320
01:03:16.679 --> 01:03:17.599
I love to say that.

1321
01:03:17.639 --> 01:03:22.039
There you go and listen. I promise it won't be through. Well.

1322
01:03:22.039 --> 01:03:25.320
We're gonna do a post World Cup sort of recap

1323
01:03:25.519 --> 01:03:29.119
and how it went, maybe what happened with those tickets,

1324
01:03:29.199 --> 01:03:31.760
and see how this all plays out, and kind of

1325
01:03:31.760 --> 01:03:34.320
do a post game if you will. I know it's

1326
01:03:34.360 --> 01:03:37.840
more than one post World Cup sort of recap, and

1327
01:03:38.719 --> 01:03:41.519
then even after that, I promise not to make it

1328
01:03:41.559 --> 01:03:42.679
three years.

1329
01:03:42.360 --> 01:03:45.639
Well between I will. I will close it off with

1330
01:03:45.719 --> 01:03:48.960
this by saying that the World Cup Final is July nineteenth.

1331
01:03:49.079 --> 01:03:51.039
It is in New York. It also the same weekend

1332
01:03:51.119 --> 01:03:53.119
as fanax Fest, so I'll probably try to be at

1333
01:03:53.119 --> 01:03:55.920
both the final and nax Fest. And then two weeks later,

1334
01:03:56.239 --> 01:03:58.199
at the end of July is the National in Chicago.

1335
01:03:58.239 --> 01:03:59.840
I'll be there as well. I think I'm gonna have

1336
01:03:59.880 --> 01:04:01.760
a busy July, but it'll be a lot of fun.

1337
01:04:02.000 --> 01:04:05.239
Yeah, no doubt, no doubt. And you do a great

1338
01:04:05.320 --> 01:04:09.800
job covering it and getting that information out to everybody

1339
01:04:09.800 --> 01:04:15.000
who maybe can't always as well. So Clemente always appreciate it.

1340
01:04:15.119 --> 01:04:19.039
Love chopping it up, which thanks as always, Thank you,

1341
01:04:20.280 --> 01:04:24.519
honestly one of my favorite dudes in the Hobby. I'm

1342
01:04:24.559 --> 01:04:26.599
not going to be shy away from saying that love

1343
01:04:27.039 --> 01:04:33.000
Clemente and glad he can bring his knowledge and expertise

1344
01:04:34.320 --> 01:04:38.480
to this show, especially with soccer, something I'm not as

1345
01:04:38.599 --> 01:04:42.719
well versed on obviously, but always love. I don't matter

1346
01:04:42.760 --> 01:04:44.679
what we're talking about. If I see him in person

1347
01:04:44.719 --> 01:04:47.800
and we're talking about life, it doesn't matter. I just

1348
01:04:47.960 --> 01:04:51.840
enjoy chopping it up with him. So we're gonna hear

1349
01:04:51.920 --> 01:04:55.280
from our Hobby is the People Announcer of the Week

1350
01:04:55.400 --> 01:04:58.320
and kind of wrap up today's episode. We went a

1351
01:04:58.320 --> 01:05:01.639
little bit longer, but we don't. I don't like to

1352
01:05:01.639 --> 01:05:04.199
cut anything out, so we did it.

1353
01:05:05.199 --> 01:05:09.079
Time for our Hobby is the People Announcer of the Week.

1354
01:05:12.119 --> 01:05:15.719
This is King Nascar from the NASCAR Radio Podcast. And

1355
01:05:15.840 --> 01:05:18.440
remember the Hobby is the People.

1356
01:05:19.079 --> 01:05:21.280
If you'd like to be the Hobby is the People

1357
01:05:21.320 --> 01:05:24.119
Announcer of the Week to a one or m P

1358
01:05:24.280 --> 01:05:28.199
three file and send it to Sportscard Nation PC at

1359
01:05:28.239 --> 01:05:30.760
gmail dot com.