About this episode

Chad and John discuss the World Cup, focusing on key games, upsets, and off-pitch controversies.

In this episode, Chad and John continue covering the biggest games and most surprising upsets of the World Cup. We preview a monumental game for the USMNT against Bosnia and Herzegovina, and discuss some controversies off the pitch, including inconsistent refereeing, Seattle's Pride Night, and a star player facing a serious criminal trial. 00:00 John's Experience at the World Cup 07:32 World Cup Fever in America 12:50 Best Team So Far 18:22 Would Portugal Be Better Without Ronaldo? 21:30 Biggest Upset: Paraguay over Germany 25:27 Game of the Tournament: Morocco and the Netherlands 34:01 State of the Union: USMNT in the Round of 32 36:37 Analyzing Bosnia and Herzegovina 41:57 Florian Balogun and birthright citizenship at the Supreme Court 44:38 Globalization of Soccer and Dual Nationalities 55:11 The Rise of African Soccer 59:29 Refereeing Controversies in the World Cup 01:07:17 Iran leave the World Cup and Seattle's Pride Night 01:13:59 Tournament Success and Do We Like the 48-Team World Cup?

People in this episode

Hosts: Chad, John

Topics covered

• World Cup
• USMNT
• soccer controversies
• refereeing
• dual nationalities
• African soccer

Keywords

• World Cup
• USMNT
• soccer
• refereeing
• upsets
• dual nationalities
• Florian Balogun

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Seattle

Places: United States, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iran, Morocco, Netherlands, Paraguay, Germany

More episodes of Crunching Tackles

• Final World Cup Final Thoughts · July 17, 2026 · 32 min
• Episode 196: World Cup Final Preview · July 13, 2026 · 1h 11m
• Episode 195: America Crashes Out of the World Cup · July 8, 2026 · 1h 32m
• Episode 193: World Cup Week 1 Recap · June 18, 2026 · 1h 21m

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