FIFA World Cup Quarterfinals Recap and Semifinals Preview | Morally Abhorrent
7/13/202632 min
Former USMNT forward Herculez Gomez joins Mike Ryan to recap an epic weekend of quarterfinal action that included England's comeback win over Norway and yet another controversial win for Argentina over Switzerland. Plus, Spain and France both advanced convincingly to set up a dream semifinal between arguably the two best teams in Europe. The pair tell us who they believe comes out on top in that clash of giants, and how England can exorcise their international demons against Argentina.
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First 90 secondsMike Ryan· Host0:00
[electronic sounds] The semifinals are set. For the first time, I think, in World Cup history, the top four seeds have made it to the semifinals, just like FIFA wanted. A lot of people are running crazy with conspiracy theories. I don't know how you rig that second goal for Argentina. But we will get into the Argentina discourse, we will preview these semifinals, and we will talk about the path that got us here with our good friend Hercules Gomez. Hercules is doing tremendous work. You've seen him a lot more around ESPN, which is a good thing. I think he's one of the few soccer analysts that shine because he can talk about several things. So Herc, welcome back to the show. Treetop view here. These semifinals, as gigantic as you could possibly anticipate, how pumped are you for this, and is this good for the game? Because I tend to think it is.
Herculez Gomez· Guest0:47
Mike, I appreciate the kind words. Uh, yes, it's great for the game. Listen, you mentioned, like, FIFA wanted. It's how FIFA designed it. The design in this tournament was the top four teams in the rankings could not meet each other until the semifinals if they advanced first place out of their respective groups. That happened. By design, the same way you see in a lot of different sports, the seeds get the road that is not easiest, but the way they wanted to. So by design, this is a great thing. First time in World Cup history you get all top four seeds in a semifinal. It's the teams that many of us wanted to see, the stars that many of us wanted to see shine, that are shining here in the United States. 2026, this World Cup, all we