SPEAKER_01 0:10

The king, you best not miss the ominous words of Omar Little in the Wire. A statement that I'm guessing rings true for Roberto Martinez in his current situation as manager of the Portugal national team at the World Cup.

SPEAKER_00 0:29

To drop Ronaldo or not to drop Ronaldo. That is the question.

SPEAKER_01 0:34

Welcome to Puncer episode three of our World Cup series. Alex is traveling today, so it's just me. And there's no better place to start, in my mind, than possibly the biggest story of the World Cup. There's been a lot, but the Ronaldo headlines and the question about whether he should be playing has certainly clogged up the Twitter timelines, and a lot of people are talking about it. Everyone has their two cents. So why not throw in mine as well? Um, in the second episode, or yeah, I think it was the second episode, Alex and myself spoke at length about the Ronaldo situation, and I've having watched them for some time, um, as Ireland have had to play Portugal various occasions in qualifying campaigns over the last few tournaments, it's been clear that Ronaldo is not the player he was, and that it is having an impact on the Portuguese team. We spoke about that in the in the last podcast, and I think that's been pretty obvious again. After the first game where Portugal drew 0-0, there was a lot of comments about how he should be dropped, he needs to be dropped. Then, of course, the goal beats Uzbekistan and Ronaldo scores two predictably. I couldn't have been the only person who backed Ronaldo to score a few goals in that game. He did that, and then in his own words, he exclaimed, I'm back. Which suggests that he's aware that he wasn't there in the first game. Well, I think what's really interesting about this conversation is he seems to be getting a lot of stick, a lot of slack, you know. People are calling for Ronaldo or blaming Ronaldo as if it's his choice, as if it's his choice to step aside or it's his decision to step aside. Of course, it's every player's decision to retire, but put it this way: if Hamir Helbrusen calls me up to the Irish team to play centre half in the World Cup qualifiers or the European Championship qualifiers, I'm not gonna tell him no. I'm not gonna say, well, I don't know, Hamer. Have you had to look at that Nathan Collins? Of course, even at my nearly 40 years of age, my large turning circle, there's no way I'm turning down a cap, and absolutely no way Cristiano Ronaldo should be obliged or feel like he's obliged to retire. It's it's his decision. He hangs up the boots when he wants to, when he feels it's time. But if he doesn't feel it's time yet, then he should keep playing. Anyone who's ever played football at any level, whether it be amateur or professional, knows how hard it is when you give that up, when you retire again at any level, you miss that. When you train once a week, twice a week, or five days a week as a professional. When you give up that routine, it's very difficult, and it's it can be heartbreaking at times because you lose something that's been part of you since you were six or seven years old. And Ronaldo, he's dead right, he should play on as long as he can and keep scoring goals. But of course, the question isn't about whether Ronaldo wants to do this or not, it's about whether Roberto Martinez, as the manager of Portugal, should pick up, in my opinion, and in a lot of people's opinion, no, he shouldn't. So the question is why is he? And if we go back to the quote from Omar Little at the top of the show, I think it's exactly the reason why. If you come with the king, you best not miss. Cristiano Ronaldo is undoubtedly the king of Portuguese football, and therefore, Martinez feels or probably feels like if he drops Ronaldo, that's gonna cause huge um headlines, negative, positive, whatever it is, it's going to be a huge media storm, especially in Portugal. So if he drops Ronaldo, he's dropping the record goal score, one of the greatest goal scores the game has ever seen. And you can imagine um they're playing Croatia in the round of 32. Can you imagine a situation where Ronaldo's on the bench and Portugal miss a few chances? Gonzalo Ramos misses a few chances, which in a normal run of events is possible. It could be Ronaldo missing those few chances, but in this situation, it's Ronaldo on the bench, and Portugal get a scabby penalty, they win one-il. Uh, or sorry, Croatia get a scabby penalty, they win one nil, Portugal go home. Can you imagine the backlash that would Roberto Martinez would face in that situation? It would be in it would be huge. He'd be sacked, he'd be getting questioned a lot. People would be saying, How can you not start Cristiano Ronaldo, the greatest goalscorer the game has ever seen? How can you have him on the bench? He has to play every minute, and people will begin to rewrite everything that has already been spoken since the beginning of the World Cup and since before the World Cup. And it's such an annoying position to be in because I have no doubt in my mind that Roberto Martinez does not want to play Grenada. I don't know how you could. It does hurt his uh his position slightly that Gonzalo Ramos is not banging down the door, he's not scoring loads of goals, he doesn't play regularly for PSG. But he is a good player, we know he is. The fact that he even plays for PSG shows that he has something, but of course, Luis Enrique has moved away from a kind of central striker, number nine, a traditional number nine, and that's obviously impacted Ramos and his Portuguese output. But then the other question is really well, why hire a manager like Roberto Martinez if they're going to be too weak? They have to be strong enough to make these big decisions. This is what they're all this is what they're hired for, after all. So, of course, it's a complicated situation, and I think it's really interesting when I suggested on the second podcast when we were talking about this before the World Cup started, that perhaps Roberto Martinez is kind of required to play Ronaldo because, of course, the more Ronaldo plays, the more money the Portuguese FA gets. I think Portugal have the squad and the talent to win the World Cup, just not with Ronaldo starting at centre four. Bring him on, that would be a massive lift. And I think if when we get to the game against Croatia, if Ronaldo doesn't start, I'm backing Portugal, I think they would uh beat an aging Croatian team, which we saw against England weren't particularly strong, although they did create chances. Um but I think Portuguese midfield would just completely dominate the game, and so if Ronaldo does start, I I don't I don't fancy Portugal to get the job done, and with that in mind, the the price in Ronaldo to score is about even money. I think it's worth a bet though, because he's almost definitely gonna. I mean, you're probably better off waiting to see the teams, um, but if he does start and the price is even money, I think it's a good bet because ultimately Croatia aren't a great team, and he probably will get some chances, and he's a great finish if he does, so there's always a chance with him. That might sound contradictory to everything, but of course, anyone who knows anything about football, there has to be more, it's a team game now more than ever, and so I think for Portugal to progress, they need to continue with Leiton. So let's move on to the outrights and how that's changed. So initially, when we spoke about the World Cup with Alex in the first uh episodes, we looked at the favourites, and the favourites haven't actually changed. So still France, Argentina, Spain, England, Brazil. The order of those have changed and the price has changed. So Brazil in fifth are now around 12, even 14 to 1, whereas when the before the tournament started, I think it was around Argentina, we're around 10 to 1 of the top fives. So I believe the original five were France, uh, Spain, Brazil and England maybe quite close, and uh Argentina, but that's changed, and the story really is France. I mean, they've looked really good. I spoke on the initial podcast about the dates I had about the midfield and the loss of Griezmann. Um I've been surprised at how good Raviot has been. I remember when he first came on the scene, I thought he was an amazing player and could be one of the best midfielders in the world, but he just never seemed to fulfil that potential. He seems to have some kind of personal issues all the time, and it seems to have impacted his career. And I think that when you look at the clubs he's played for, he's played at the top level of football, but never for the top teams, the really top teams. Um but he's looked really good in this tournament. In terms of missing Antoine Griezmann, I thought he was their best player, France's best player in the previous two tournaments. So I thought he'd be a big loss. I didn't think they'd have that kind of link between midfield and the forward, which he did so well uh in the last tournaments. Um, but he's been replaced by uh Olysse. Olisse looked amazing. So in the first game against Senegal, I had actually tipped the draw. I say tipped, I backed the draw. Uh my kind of thinking behind that was for the reason I've said about France's midfield, the fact that Senegal would view that as really big, it'd be an emotionally big game for them. They're coming up against France, they want to be France, and physically they'll be able to match France, and those things all happened until the second half when at least they went into midfield and they just kind of took control of the game, produced an incredible pass for a great goal, and from that point, I think France took a lot of confidence as well. Not that they were lacking in it, but yeah, the clubs uh they've looked the best team, unquestionably. Argentina then have also looked really strong, but of course they haven't played played the quality of opposition uh that France have played. But the reason I think they've jumped so far in the Bucky's minds is because their path to the final looks looks pretty handy, you know. So they're playing Cape Verde in the rain 32, so that's obviously not going to be an easy game, despite what I kind of suggested in the first podcast. Um they look like a really well-organized team. Shout out to Pico Lopez, Irishman, flying the flag there for Cape Verde. But of course, coming up against Argentina in a knockout game, it's gonna be a different uh feel to the game, flow to the game. It's just straight knockout, so it's hard to believe that a team like Argentina and the way they play and their intricate passing, their style of football, they're probably the country that plays most closely to their DNA for want of a better term, um, to the traditional Argentinian style where they have lots of midfielders kind of close together, and then they have third man runs and wide players to kind of create that space. They've they really are adhering to their tradition, and in this World Cup, that could really as it did in the last World Cup, it could really benefit them. Um and then Messi, it's a different question to to Ronaldo because Messi's involved in the play, and he's so far, I mean, he scored six goals, rested in the last game. He's obviously well, you would imagine he'd start against Cape Burley from here on out, all their games, so yeah, Argentina. I think they haven't really been tested, so they can go a long way. Um, but at this moment in time I'll be back in France. Spain again. I tip them up, I kind of fancied Spain would win it. Um but you mean Lamal has probably not been great so far in the minutes that he's played, which is understanding he's come back from injury, and the the amount of pressure that's on him now when the round of round 32 starts. Spain obviously have to play Austria, it'll be a difficult game. I don't know if he'll necessarily have to play, but you'd imagine he'll start because we're into Notgate, and shot Austria is a tricky enough game. Uh, they didn't upgrade against Argentina, but a tricky enough game, you have to be honest. Um so you'd imagine uh minim will start uh but with a lot of pressure on it. Um so we'll see. I'm hoping he can start and do well. Just not sure Spain are as strong as I probably, or as I did think they were at the eight set of the tournament. They've certainly kind of dropped a level or two, or or they are a level or two off where I expected them to be. England, uh again, they've dropped results. Dictate this, obviously, they had a good win against Croatia on the opening day of the season for the opening round of the World Cup. Um, but then they had that difficult draw with Ghana, and they weren't particularly good either in the third group game against Panama, where they required two I wouldn't say late goals, but late enough goals. Um so they haven't been outstanding, but we'll speak a bit more about England uh in the next segment. And then finally, Brazil. Brazil have just just yeah, they've won, they've come through qualifying, but I don't think anyone's convinced about Brazil. Uh I never particularly was, to be honest. Um they don't have they've got some good forwards, they don't have great forwards. I mean Vinny is a great forward, I don't think he's all time great. He's one of the best players in the world at the moment, uh, and he's looked fantastic. But the midfield is a problem for them, I think the defence is a problem for them. So and I don't think uh Cunha, for example, is uh really top class world-class player. So, yeah, I don't think Brazil, I think of the four teams, Brazil are the least likely to win it, which is obviously reflected in the betting as well.

SPEAKER_00 16:10

So moving on to England, um quick segment on them.

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I suggested at the beginning of the tournament that I think Tukil had picked a really good team. He picked a team that was built for the to be the best team as opposed to building the picking the best individuals. And now three games in, and it's obviously games to come, so I could be proved wrong. Um they were but three games in I think I was probably wrong. Um I s did say on the preview podcast that I think maybe Phil Foden or Cole Palmer could have been picked, and I think that's clear now. So they had a good win against Croatia in the first game. But if we're calling a spade a spade here, I wasn't as impressed with them as a lot of people were. They played well in bursts, but but Croatia, an old aging team, they created a lot of chances, and for a lot of that second half, people talked about the England second half like it was from whistle to whistle, non-stop England. It wasn't they had a good spell, scored their goals. But Croatia had a lot of dominance in that half as well. It was up and down, and I was just surprised by that because Moderich looked his age, he was awful in the first game. Uh, certainly the first half, he couldn't pass the ball, he looked way off it. Um, and he he's been a great player, but he's 41, so yeah, I was surprised um at the positive reaction to the England game, but it's the first game. Then the second game, the draw with Ghana. Um, I think that was not unexpected, and of course, you don't want to read too much into it, but England seemed to be built to be a counter-attacking team, and they couldn't counterattack. Ghana were happy to sit back and defend, and they were able to match England physically, and made England look really ordinary. Um, one of the things uh I didn't predict was just how bad Anthony Gordon would look, and it's kind of easy to say that, but he really has not been good, and I'd be surprised if he starts the game again. Um there's a real he he just doesn't look like he's capable at this level, which is strange because we have seen him in the Premier League be a very good player. I'm not saying he's the best player in the league at all, but we've seen him play some very good games, he's determined, he runs hard, he works hard, and often he's has good quality to go with that, but for some reason uh it has not been on show at this World Cup yet. So for England's sake, um I think Rashford will probably start. Probably not a top-level replacement either. Um, but that's where England are at the moment. Uh, I think Kane it's funny because he gets so much credit uh for dropping off deep and being that playmaker type of player, and but we've seen Tuco's reaction to that at times, and I can understand it because if England want to be a counter-attacking team, you want him at the end, and he is scoring goals, can't criticise that, but I always feel like is it necessary for him to drop off? Maybe it is if you have a Declan Rice and a um and uh Bellingham and Bellingham's running behind because Kane can spray those passes, but and I I can see the idea that if Kane drops in and then Bellingham explores the space that Kane's left, but Bellingham is still not a centre forward, and as good as he can be in those positions, if you have a player who can really dictate the play from midfielder, then Kane shouldn't be doing that. So it would always frustrate me. I mean, even as an amateur footballer playing centre back, if a midfielder would drop off right beside you and ask for the ball, I say, No, go away. I'm capable of playing this pass myself, and I'm sure the midfielders for England have to feel like that sometimes. Fuck off, I can do this. I don't need you dropping off and just spraying a diagonal when I can like at this level, England players can do that. They might not necessarily do it all the time, but Kane doesn't get it right all the time. We saw that in the opening minutes against Canada, and so yeah, I mean I mean, looking at England and how they're gonna go, obviously, um, I don't predict them to go too far. I think they've got a really tricky game with Congo because Congo will be able to match them physically, and from what we've seen, England are gonna need to do something. I think they'll come out of it with a win, of course. Um, but these games are gonna take a bit out of them, and maybe it's my bias, it's not wanting to England to not wanting England to win, but I wouldn't be backing up to go too too deep into this uh tournament. Um and that's it really. I mean, yeah, hopefully we'll have Alex back at the next podcast, uh, which will hopefully be in a week's time or so after the round of 32, looking ahead at the quarters and how that's shifted. Um, and see how our bets are doing. I mean, my bets in Spain and Ecuador are still alive, although I'm not as confident as I was before. So, yeah, have a better idea of how it is because we're coming into what I'm really excited about now is the fact that we're into the knock-out stages. This is really where the World Cup begins. I said before that the group stages are basically warm-up games for the actual tournament, which is from the round of 32, and I believe that I think there is a danger of looking too much into what we saw in the first in the group games because they've all got through, no massive team has gone home. So they've all got through unscathed, relatively, and now the real action starts. But yeah, I mean, if thank you for listening. Uh, I'm on Twitter, it would be great if uh you could give us a follow there, puncer underscore IE. Um if you do that, let us know what you think about Ronaldo.

SPEAKER_00 22:21

Should he or not? Uh I yeah, I don't think he should. All right. Adios, I'm not sure.