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Welcome to 48:1 presented by Heineken from fans to friends. This is The Score's World Cup show. I'm Joseph Keshishian, that's Jean-Luc Nesci, that's Michael Chandler. On today's episode, we're going to be doing a little buying and selling, or buying or selling with some of these World Cup takes. So, I'm just going to get us started right away. Chandler, buying or selling France is unstoppable. Why are you even asking me this? I mean, France was my pre-tournament pick. Most of my pre-tournament picks have come to fruition. So far, I'm incredibly intelligent. than I am, that's for sure.
Wow, that's saying a ton. Anyways, they're joint tops in the tournament with Germany and the Netherlands for 10 goals scored. I believe they're converting 21% of their chances. Kylian Mbappé is playing wonderful football. Michael Olise one of the best creators in the tournament. William Saliba and Dayot Upamecano form arguably the strongest central defensive pairing in the tournament, and they have heaps of experience. Like, they do have a tougher draw than would other maybe tournament favorites like an Argentina,
wink. You know, it's fixed. I don't know what you want to say there, but I see no reason why they can't win the tournament. At a certain point, you know, like we made all our pre-tournament predictions, and you know, some of us, i.e. me, tried to get a little too cute. Like, at a certain point you look at the squad and the team, you just can't overcome that amount of talent. Yeah. And Chandler just mentioned some of those guys. Like, they bring Bradley Barcola and Rayan Cherki off the bench. Like, Mateta hasn't even played a minute yet. Marcus Thuram is there still waiting just in case. Like, it's an unbelievable collection of riches. So, yeah, I'm I'm buying all the stock in France winning.
I told you guys this off the air as well. Like, the only team that can stop France is France. If they decide, you know, we saw it against Norway against a like a B team for Norway, they went up 2-0 and fell asleep and immediately gave up a goal. Like, if they kind of mess around, if they're not 100% on it, which I don't expect will happen, but that's the way that they're going to lose. Nobody in this tournament, even the top teams, are going to outplay France. Yeah. I mean, even just the names Chandler's rattling off there, and he didn't even mention Dembélé. Like, this team is The reigning Ballon d'Or holder.
Adrien Rabiot. Like, just what an embarrassment of riches. All right, we're obviously all buying that yes, France is unstoppable. Next one, Lionel Messi has six goals right now through, depending on when you watch this, six goals through three matches through the group stage, with Argentina looking at a very favorable draw in which one, they should be able to go deep, and two, Messi should be able to bag a few more against some low-quality competition. So, buying or selling that Lionel Messi will break Juste Fontaine's record of 13 goals in a single World Cup.
I know we said before the tournament like, even with the expanded field and the extra game, like, we didn't think anybody would get there. I'm sort of in on it now, having seen him score six in, you know, two and a half games, really. Not even two and a half games, came on late in the second half of that group finale. So, he gets to play Cape Verde now. They've been amazing, one of the greatest, you know, stories in tournament history, tournament darling, all that stuff, but He's got to beat Vozinha, man.
It's a tough task. Not many people have been able to do it in this tournament. Um, and then he gets a pretty favorable last 16 match-up, potentially, right? Like, Columbia seems to be the only team in that quartet, uh, that part of the bracket that might be able to slow them down. I think it's very much in play. I could see him doing it. I'm going to say that I'm buying. I mean, of course it's in play. Like, this guy just keeps shifting the goal posts towards what is imaginable in football. That said, he needs So, he's
on six. 14 would break Juste Fontaine's record, so he needs to score eight across five matches. That seems a lot. I am neither buying or selling. All right, so you're cowardly. I am cowardly. [clears throat] Yeah, you're a coward. Yeah, well, we didn't need an episode to tell us that. No, I'm kidding. Love you. Big facts. All right. Yeah, I think I'm selling, too, just because as much as I respect Messi as the goat and obviously he's on an insane pace right now.
He would need to score at an even crazier pace than this and have Argentina go pretty much all the way. Speaking of goals, we took to the streets to ask some World Cup fans what their favorite World Cup goals of all time are. Favorite World Cup goal? Part of it is because I've seen it so many times, but James Rodríguez. That thunderbolt volley from outside the box, that has to be like one of the most memorable goals in recent memory. Alphonso Davies' first goal for Canada against Was that Croatia? Within the first couple minutes, that was a good one. Oh, Mbappé's in the final against Argentina. The one-timer off the volley. That was Yeah.
Richarlison to score last World Cup. I would Yeah, I like that bicycle kick. It was good. Maradona had a huge assist unbelievably cup of minutes when he scored the goal with his hand and then he scored the iconic dribble. And he was like literally I mean you've seen some goals, but he was running such speed the ball was like stuck to his foot. That segment was presented by Heineken from fans to friends and we're going to get to our next topic now when it comes to buying or selling, John Luca. Buying or selling that a first-time winner is coming in this World Cup. I think I'm selling, but you know, we saw in one of those clips there like the James Rodríguez goal. I think Colombia is in play potentially as a
first-time winner. They've looked really good. Beat Portugal in the group stage. One of Chandler's predictions again, he's bang on, batting a thousand. The Netherlands and Portugal are probably the other two that come to mind immediately. But I still think one of the perennial powers will end up winning this tournament, so I'm going to sell on that one. I'm definitely selling. Uh So, what there's been eight nations that have won a World Cup? Uh of those eight, Uruguay is out because they were crap in the group stage.
Oh, horrible. Absolutely horrible. Italy is on an extended vacation, but other than that, those six teams, I will try to rattle them off now. Brazil, Argentina, England, Germany, Spain, France. and France. I One of those six teams, in all likelihood, will win this tournament. So, once again, I'm definitely uh selling on that one. Yeah, I'm going to have to sell, too. I mean, it would be nice to see a new winner, but you go through it. The top teams are still the teams that have won before. I mean, I picked Spain to win it. I've got England losing to them in the final. If Spain doesn't win it, I would pick France. So, it's kind of hard for me to be buying when I'm saying one of those teams is going to win it, but
hey, maybe a Netherlands, maybe a Portugal, [clears throat] if they find a new striker. All right, next What's wrong with the current guy? That's a whole episode for another day. Um speaking of, buying or selling, Cristiano Ronaldo doesn't score another goal at this tournament. I'm going to buy because I think they even if they get through against Croatia, then impending match up against Spain, and I think that's probably the end of the road for them. Um I know he got those two goals, and he actually looked good against Uzbekistan, but, you know, come on. In fairness, it was Uzbekistan.
His other two matches, not great. All the questions we had about it pre-tournament still remain. So, I think it's goose eggs for Ronaldo the rest of the way. I'm not going to take the bait, and I know everyone loves to delve into the Messi or Ronaldo, who's the goat. I will say I've seen a lot of really bad footballers score goals at Field in person. Terrence Boyd comes to mind. Sergio Reguilon. So, I mean, there is a precedent for this. Is like the only goal he ever scored in his life? Jeez. Quite possibly. I mean, he did play for Spurs. But anyways, I mean, look, who knows what's going to happen, but to
your point, they do face stiffer opposition in the knockout stage. Croatia is a little bit more defensively resolute than their group stage competition. It's going to be a big ask for Ronaldo. Yeah, I'm buying. And I also love, by the way, the little quirky stat that Estakio is the first at one time Portuguese international wearing the number seven to score in a World Cup knockout match. Great uh That's the other thing. He's literally never done it before, so You know what's a good testament to how old I am that when I saw that tweet, the first person I thought of was not Ronaldo, but Luis Figo. So, really dating myself there.
Yeah. Legend. All right, last one for you guys. Buying or selling the US men's national team is going to take advantage of a favorable draw and go all the way to the semifinals. Great question. Coming into the tournament, I thought of the three co-hosts that Mexico would make it the furthest. And that's not like an anti-American bias. I just did not think Mauricio Pochettino's team would be this good. Granted, they did lose to Turkey 3-2 in the group finale, but that was sort of a lot of reserve players playing there. Yeah. By virtue of their draw where they play Bosnia and Herzegovina in the last 32, if they do win that, they will face the
winner of Belgium and Senegal. These are beatable teams. win those games, absolutely. And I think Not I think, I know that Mexico has a more challenging draw. They will first have to get past Ecuador in order to get to the last 16. I think the US does, you know, on paper have a better chance. Now, look, it's a young team that don't have a ton of experience with knockout football. It presents a completely different challenge that the group stage doesn't. So, and also playing at home, it can be freeing, it can be liberating, but it can also place added pressure and a burden on the shoulder of the players.
We'll see how those players navigate this. But, we have to look at it in the sense their best player, Christian Pulisic, is hopefully match fit. He was able to play very little in the group stage, which was a forte to him because there was such a large gap between the first and second matches in the group stage, which is a result of the expanded format. And I think this is maybe another Gianni Infantino sort of masterclass, keeping the best players in the tournament fit to keep them on the pitch. So, I you know, I'm kind of running off on a tangent here, but I do like the American chances of possibly even getting to the quarter-final.
What about the semis, though? You think that probably a stretch? have the bracket in front of They would have to beat one to get to the semis. So, okay, get to the round of they make the quarter-final pretty comfortably, to be honest. Really? So, I don't believe in Belgium that much. eh? Leandro Trossard in the form he's in you know, and Jeremy Doku's obviously back, but they're still relying a lot on an aging Kevin De Bruyne, an aging Romelu Lukaku. That backline is frankly just not very good. And I don't think Rudi Garcia is that great of a manager who can overcome any personnel issues. I actually think Senegal will win that game against Belgium. And then I think the States can certainly beat Senegal. It's not an
outlandish thing to say. I think they get to the quarter-finals. Not for sure, but very likely. But, then once you get to that point, like you were about to say, then it becomes a lot more challenging. because they're likely going to play Spain in the quarters. If not Spain, then probably one of Portugal or Croatia. And that's, I mean, I'm selling Austria short. I think the US's only chance to get to the semi-finals is if Austria upsets Spain and then upsets the winner of Portugal-Croatia. And even in that situation, I mean, if Austria can do that, I don't think it would be a shock for them to then beat the US. So, I'm selling on the fact they can get to the semis. I'm saying one of Bosnia, Belgium, or
Senegal beats them. And they don't even get to the quarters. Look at this hater over here. No, I think the US is um the best team in that portion of the bracket. Like in terms of last 32 and last 16. You know, Spain haven't looked great, in fairness, and Nico Williams might not play another minute. Lamine Yamal is still not 100%. Um and then Portugal, we talked about the issues with Ronaldo. Croatia, you know, change of tactics after their first game and they've looked better, but it's not the vintage Croatia.
There is a path to the semifinals, but I think they'll make the quarters, the Americans. Uh and so I guess, in reference to your question, I'm going to sell on them getting to the semis, but I still think it will be a very good run for the US this summer. All right, I think we can leave all that there for this episode of 48 to 1 presented by Heineken from fans to friends. A reminder you can get all of our World Cup coverage and sports coverage in general on the Score app, so make sure you've downloaded that app. Make sure you're liking all these videos and that you're subscribed to this YouTube channel. For 48 to 1, we'll see you next time.
