America 2026 with Paul Howard and Kevin Kilbane

España son los campeones del mundo.Argentina’s white knuckle ride through to the final of this World Cup met its match last night with ruthlessly proficient Spanish display. The individual star power of Messi came up against a solid collective set up and though they left it late, there was only ever going to be one winner on the night. For the last time in the series, Paul Howard is joined by Kevin Kilbane and Malachy Clerkin to chat about what wasn’t a particularly spectacular final despite the amount of star power Fifa attempted to cram into the event. And with that, World Cup 2026 is in the books. Thank you for listening!  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lionel Messi’s international football career wasn’t always a litany of heroic victories and dressing room anthems. For most of his time in sky blue and white he looked more likely to go down as a busted flush. An iconic club player who left his home too young and therefore severed the connection he could have had to his national team. The wheel has well and truly turned and he now finds himself just one game away from back to back World Cup titles in what will be his last tournament at international level, if the song is to be believed. Standing in his way is the ruthless professionalism of Spain and the man he once washed in a bathtub as a baby, Lamine Yamal. Ken Early is in on the ground in New York and gives us his thoughts going into the game, how likely it is that we get a finale anywhere close to 2022 for drama and why Spain should win but he’s reluctant to go against Argentina. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Spain haven't lost a competitive game since Scotland beat them in March 2023. Tonight's win leaves them just a single match from breaking Italy's record unbeaten run of 38 games. Oh, and from lifting a World Cup trophy too, of course.In the end, Spain's structure and patience proved far too much for France. They were ruthless in midfield, picking apart the soft spots in the French line-up and doing the unglamorous things well. You'd be forgiven for thinking they wore the look of the rightful favourites. A title they’ve been quietly holding onto all along while our attention was pulled elsewhere.Malachy Clerkin and Paul Howard took the game in from the studio, while Keith Duggan joins us from the stadium in Dallas, Texas. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

France thumped Morocco with relative ease last night, laying bare just how wide the gulf still yawns between the plucky underdog and the ruling classes of world football.Ken Early joins us from Boston for our weekly check-in, sharing his reflections on the tournament as the endgame comes into view. He also gives his take on the zealous furore engulfing Brazilian media since the seleção's exit.Closer to home, Malachy Clerkin and Gavin Cooney are in studio to look ahead to the weekend’s quarter finals games.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The American Dream is over. The United States, perhaps laden down with the sheer weight of the swirling situation, limped to a 4-1 defeat in Seattle. A result which ends their campaign and potentially the administration’s interest along with it. For all the strings pulled to drag Folarin Balogun back onto the pitch, their exit was a quiet, deflating end to the loudest week of the World Cup so far.Paul Howard and Malachy Clerkin are in studio to review the events of last night and the rolling catastrophe still engulfing FIFA. Meanwhile, Keith Duggan was in Dallas to see Spain pip Portugal last night. The defeat also draws the curtain on Cristiano Ronaldo's (not-so) storied World Cup career, forever missing the one prize that eluded him to the very last. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"We'll sell you the whole seat, but you'll only need the edge of it."Fridays tend to run giddy on the America 2026 podcast but make no mistake, this World Cup is barrelling into the serious business end now.Malachy Clerkin is in studio to keep an increasingly delirious Paul Howard company. Kevin Kilbane joins us from Canada, where the tournament's stay is drawing to a close. Though not without leaving an enduring mark on the country's culture, and on Kevin's star power.Paul also caught up with Ken Early in New York last night, who shares his reflections on England, hearts of darkness, and the champions-in-waiting: France. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The old world is fading, and the new one struggles to be born. There was a time when it seemed a foregone conclusion that the likes of Germany and the Netherlands would loom large at the business end of any World Cup, grinding out wins with efficient, controlled football. Last night, neither looked anything close to it. Germany crashed out to Paraguay, the Dutch to Morocco, both on penalties.Killian Sundermann - comedian, podcaster and crestfallen Germany fan, joins Paul Howard and Gavin Cooney in studio to explain exactly what went wrong for his boys, and to offer a message of hope and direction to his fellow suffering Germans.Japan, meanwhile, threw everything at their footballing mentors Brazil before falling to a late Gabriel Martinelli winner. They didn't sparkle but perhaps, like a good Ancelotti side, they'll just keep finding a way to win regardless. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

To everything there is a season. That’s a lesson Scotland will surely have to learn if the football gods grant them another crack at this World Cup in the knockouts. Brazil were only too happy to feast on a calamitous defensive set-up, banging in three past a back line that flatly refused to ‘just knock it’.Paul Howard checks in with correspondents across North America, starting with Kevin Kilbane in Vancouver, who watched Canada's momentum get smothered by Switzerland. In Miami, Ken Early is in reflective mood, turning over how the Scots made such a mess of it, and why Brazil's fans so desperately want Neymar to have his ‘Messi in Qatar’ moment.Plus, Jonathan O’Brien unpicks a quirk in this year’s format, one that harks back to one of the strangest and most consequential episodes in World Cup history. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Forty years to the day since Diego Maradona's unforgettable brace against England at Mexico '86, three of the defining stars of the 2026 World Cup produced doubles of their own. Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé and Erling Haaland each struck twice in a remarkable night that invited comparisons with the tournament's most enduring icon. Paying tribute to Maradona in some moments, and perhaps surpassing him in others.Paul Howard is joined in studio by Malachy Clerkin and Gavin Cooney - the Messi, Mbappé and Haaland of sports podcasting - to unpack the night's action. As well as Luther Vandross, Britpop, and why Cristiano Ronaldo may prove to be the Enoch Burke of this competition.Plus, Irish Times columnist Dave Hannigan joins us from New York to explore why the United States continues to struggle to produce a footballing phenomenon in the mould of Haaland, and how the Dunning-Kruger effect can apply to the confidence of the USMNT fan. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Canada notched their first ever World Cup victory after stomping Qatar 6-0 in Vancouver last night. Not everyone loved the wild celebrations on the touchline and after the whistle but is it all actually playing right into coach Marsch's plans for global domination?Kevin Kilbane was at the game in Vancouver on televisual duties, we get his thoughts on what he makes of the co-hosts, the potential fallout of Ismaël Koné’s horror injury and how he reckons the groups are poised going into the second round of games. America 2026 lands in your podcast feeds at least three times a week throughout the tournament, free to everyone, wherever you get your podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Life is just better when the World Cup is on.We know it. For better or worse, sport has a way of melting away the woes of the world, and nothing has captured that quite like the last few days of America 2026. Mere hours after Iran were ushered out the country at the whistle of their opening group game, our gaze was swung to the twinkling brilliance of Mbappé, Messi and Haaland, who each smacked in a bag of goals to truly bring the tournament to life. Suddenly, all the off-pitch noise felt a world away.Malachy Clerkin and Paul Howard are in studio and in the mood to revel through last night's action. We also catch up with Keith Duggan, who took in France v Senegal at the Meadowlands, though not before a detour to DC for UFC Freedom 250. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

America 2026 roared into life in the stadium formerly known as the Azteca in Mexico City last night, with a match that was a much better occasion than it was a game. Elsewhere, early risers will have enjoyed much schadenfreude as the Czechs slumped to an opening-round loss to South Korea in Guadalajara. Malachy Clerkin and the fresh face of Gavin Cooney join Paul Howard in studio to chat about the opening games, their watch strategies, and how much of a role these new-fangled "hydration breaks" might play in who takes home the trophy. Plus, we explore 2026 Derangement Syndrome, where even in our wildest World Cup fantasies, we still cannot imagine the Republic of Ireland as anything other than a gloriously middling team in this tournament. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Maybe the worst thing about the Republic of Ireland losing their World Cup place to Czechia is missing out on the chance to play tournament co-hosts Mexico in their home stadium - the Estadio Azteca - almost 40 years to the day since Diego Maradona's 'Hand of God' moment cemented its status as one of the truly iconic stadiums in world football.Paul, Kevin and Malachy discuss the state of play for both Mexico and Canada, as teams and as co-hosts of the 2026 World Cup. Can Mexico top their group to keep home advantage? Can Canada claim their first ever World Cup point? We also chat to Andrew Downie, a foreign correspondent for Reuters based in Brazil and the author of a number of acclaimed sports books, including a personal favourite of Paul’s, "Doctor Socrates".Andrew tells us how the 1986 earthquakes in Mexico City jeopardised the country's chances of hosting the World Cup last time round, how they managed to avoid losing the tournament, and the social and political ripple effects the disaster had on Mexican society. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.