Argentina 5-1 Saudi Arabia - ESPN FC claim Lionel Messi is too much for Saudi Arabia defense

It's one of those weird feelings. It has a lot of the feeling of the Rio Olympics in 2016, where on the face of it, you know that it's going to look absolutely incredible on TV. The shots of the amazing buildings here and everything else. But the actual experience, I imagine for fans and also media, but more importantly the fans, it's quite tough just because of the infrastructure. It's not quite on point. So for example, today for the game, the shuttle bus for the fans drops them two and a half kilometres away from the stadium and then they make their own way there in the midday heat. And last night at the fan festival, I went there to watch Qatar play Ecuador and while inside, you know, it looks sensational. All these people enthralled by what Morgan Freeman was saying in the opening speech, outside it was just chaos. People trying to force their way in, security staff struggling to deal with the amount of people there. Eventually they brought in the riot police and they shut the area down, asking everyone to sort of move on. But you know, you can see kids crying. I spoke to an England fan afterwards who had bruises down the side of one side of his body because he was pushed up against the fences. Like that's not ideal when you've had 12 years of preparation for this World Cup. So I think things will always improve. They definitely will. It's, you know, it's still early days. This is a country which wouldn't be used to, you know, the huge influx of tourism and, you know, people coming to watch the game. So there's always this sort of teething problems, but it's, I mean, it's going to end up being an amazing World Cup to watch, but I think early doors, definitely a few issues to sort out. Yeah. Okay. Let's get some predictions then from you before we go. Big day tomorrow, starts very early, bright and early. Make sure you're with us after the first game, which is Argentina against Saudi Arabia. A few have Argentina going all the way this time. It looks as though it will be Lionel Messi's last World Cup. What do you guys reckon, an easy win for Argentina or might there be some stumbles there? Well, listen, in terms of Argentina, okay, you know how we have discussed this and obviously Lionel Messi, he said it in his press conference today, how he feels absolutely fantastic. He doesn't know if this is the best version of this Messi, but I may disagree just so everything that he offers to this Argentinian side. I mean, they're going to destroy Saudi Arabia. Come on. They're just an absolute force. Haven't lost a game in 35, 36 matches, you know, the Copa America champions, but I have them until the semifinals, but I have Argentina winning. I would say, well, taking in mind, if they saw what the England did to Iran, I feel like Argentina might want to prove a point here. Maybe like 5-1, I'd say. 5-1. Wow. What have you got, Tom? Yeah, I completely agree. I think they're going to ease through this one. I've actually got them down to win the whole tournament. I just think the stars are aligning here. You know, it's got to be Messi's time. I think the priority for them, to be honest, as we talked about earlier, is try not to get any bookings and, you know, those sort of needless suspensions, avoid those with tougher opponents down the line and also avoid injuries. But I expect them to ease through that one comfortably. 4-5-0, I imagine. Yeah. Kei, you're not getting out of this. What do you think? No, I'm not getting out of it. I think it's going to be a good start for Argentina. I think we're going to have a lot of good things to say about the bright and early in the morning. We don't get paid enough for that, Kei. I can't believe we're getting that early. That's ridiculous. Let's do these next ones quickly then. Also in group C, we've got Mexico against Poland. Have you got a winner in that one, Luis? That's really tough. And like we were talking in our predictions episode on how I have Mexico getting out of this. You're far too optimistic for Mexico. I know. I know. Usually it's because historically in qualifiers, when they do awful, they actually show up in the tournament. But, you know, Mexican media, Mexican fans, it's the usual dose of pessimism and anger at Tata Martino. It's tough. It's tough to watch. But Poland are very reactive. They're not as good as Chile. They just played Chile, who are completely in transition right now and still relying on Vidal and Alexis Sanchez. And they only lost just 1-0 and they were much better than Poland. I see Mexico winning this just by the skin of their teeth. 2-1, I think. Tom's not having it. I'm not sure. I just think, you know, I went to go and see Lewandowski the other day. He's got that sort of look in his eyes. He means business. I reckon Poland might just come through this. I think it'd be tight, though. I mean, it's the sort of thing where I wouldn't be surprised if it was a draw, but I'm not going to sit on the fence. So I'm going to go for Poland 2-1. Yeah. I just want Matty Cash to do the business. What do you think? Yeah, I've got Poland out too as well, Luis. Denmark and Tunisia and France and Australia. OK, Denmark and Tunisia, guys. Luis? Well, you know what I think about Denmark, to me, Denmark are going to win this group. I love them. And you both think they're going to win the whole thing. I don't know about the whole thing. They will go far. They will go far. And this was before France's issues. This was before Karim Benzema and Nkunku and Paul Pogba and Kante. Denmark are a force. They're collectively great. Christian Eriksen, you know, so great to see him playing again. But they're young, they're experienced, they're talented. I love them. So, you know, if they're playing Tunisia, which are very good collectively for this African side, North African side, but I still see Denmark winning this. I think it'll be obviously a game of chess, so to speak, until Tunisian legs get a little bit tired. 2-0 to Denmark. Yeah, completely agree. I went to go and see Eriksen on Saturday, I think. We've got a piece with that. It's just gone live on ESPN FC.com. I really think that they will go far. And I think they'll come through this pretty comfortably, I think. I think Denmark look fantastic unit. They've got a really, really good manager, good players. And I think they'll probably come through this pretty comfortably. 3-0 or so. Tom is our friend of the stars, guys. Make sure to go and check out these. Look at him dropping names left, right. You heard it hit his gloves as it went in. It was so powerful. As a goalkeeper, was there any way he would have stopped that? No. From my tentative to say that, he would have had to guess. He would have had to be out of position. And up against somebody like Gareth Bale, easily the most experienced player on the park. He's done this wherever he's been. He's done this on world football's biggest stages. And it showed. Absolutely no panic, well-struck penalty. And as much as Tuna gets a slight finger on it, from a goalkeeper perspective, nothing he can do about those. Okay. And also, just so we can go to the other goal with Tim Weah. How wonderful to see Tim Weah doing this for the U.S. Shaka. It really was a very well-taken goal. In a half that the U.S. dominated possession, but Wales were happy just to sit back and soak up pressure. And then the odd opportunity, the odd occasion that Wales goes on the attack, they give the ball away. And you see U.S. and that Welsh defence that they'd been looking for all game long. Christian Pulisic with a great run, well-timed run. Nico Williams on the left-hand side, deciding to try to stay with Weah for some strange reason. Could get nowhere close. And a really comfortable finish for Weah. And U.S. went into the half, deservedly leading. And in all honesty, probably deserved to be even further ahead. Yeah, absolutely right. The only thing I'll add, Kay, is the point that you brought on, by the way, which is something that, you know, because it was a game of two halves, unfortunately what happens when you're a young side, and I hate to beat this drum, but you have to, because the eagerness from a young American side can show in moments when they don't have the ball. And so they lose a bit of composure. Wales, to your point, Kay, they have enough experience to know what to do here. Because in the first half, you know, it's got to be said, from a, you know, possession-based perspective, they were horrific. And they didn't want to change their play from the back system. You know, Daniel James and Garfield were too far apart. There was no connection in the midfield. And I think it was really good for them in the second half to say, look, let's bring in Kiefer more. Let's bring a strong, strong forward that can also drop and feed. And let's just be physical and let's take advantage. And that's how they got the penalty, really. They were just being more direct and the Americans couldn't go. Fantastic penalty from Garfield. I think what you saw in that first half is a lot about the psychology of the first games in a World Cup. Unless you're coming up against who is wrongly recognised as the weakest team in the group, you're generally not playing to lose. And I think that's what you saw from Wales. A team trying not to lose the opening game of the tournament. For the US, with this youth, and Ellamy, as you rightly point out, and inexperienced, they recognised Wales kind of sitting back, being pragmatic. And that fed into the natural kind of tempo of their own game. So they played on the front foot and they took the game to Wales. And then, as you mentioned, going to the break at halftime, 1-0 up, Wales, again, recognising that this is not a game you can afford to lose. And if they continued as they were in the first half, they could not get their way back into it. So they had to change tactics. They go from what was a hybrid five at the back with one defender kind of giving them liberty to step out on occasion, but more times than not, five, to having their two wing backs play higher up the park, to pressing the US a little bit higher up. And then the only complaint, or the other side to that same coin, is from the US, without that experience, without somebody in midfield, just to put their foot on the ball, slow the game down, take control of the tempo a little bit. The game played at that higher tempo, US a 1-0 up. That higher tempo serves the team who's trailing a whole lot better. And that's what you got. You got Wales getting their way back into the game, rash challenge to bring the penalty. And as I mentioned, the coolest man, most experienced man on the park stepping up. And in the end, it's a point that I think both would have taken before a ball was kicked. But if the US in that first 45, you think, man, we deserved a whole lot more. If you're the Welsh, you're probably thinking if that game had gone on for another five or six minutes on top of the nine injury time minutes that you had. If you're the Welsh, you're probably thinking if it goes on anymore, we might have gotten something out of this. But to that point, we've had more than our fair share of minutes of football today.