The Rondo - Early World Cup
Oct 22, 2025
The Rondo - Early World Cup
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0:00
All eyes will be on the World Cup in 2026, but what can we expect this early on
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Today, we're going to be making some crazy early hot takes. Let's get into it
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All right, guys, we got three categories for each of us. Okay
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Who will be your player to watch in 2026? Can I point something out first
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Yeah. I am dreading the World Cup. Why? I'm dreading the World Cup because England should win it
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This is like the one World Cup that England, like, well, I say this every year, but like, I feel like England should win this
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and I just know I'm not going to have fun. I think the most important player for their team
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might be Julian Alvarez for Argentina. Because I think there is a very good chance
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that Lionel Messi either gets injured or is unable to play every 90
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and Argentina are going to need a second guy to score goals. And Lautaro Martinez conveniently forgets how to play football
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whenever he laces up his boots for Argentina. Other than Copa America. Other than Copa America
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He did move in Copa America. I got to give him his respect for that. True. But it will have to be Juliano Albrecht for me. Okay
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What are you going with? I was juggling with a couple of players. But I personally think it's a toss-up between, I was thinking Pedri
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I think Pedri's going to be a player that we really need to keep an eye out. Because everybody's been talking about Lamin-Yaman and all this stuff
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But I think Pedri's going to go crazy this World Cup for some reason. I don't know why. I like that. I think Pedri's honestly, Pedri's an incredible midfielder, bro
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He is. Barcelona's scouting for that one is insane. They scouted him from Las Palmas
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and he looks like literally like he's a part of La Masia. That's like the football
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what is it? The Mandela effect? Yeah. Where it's like where everyone believes that
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like Pedri was in the Barca Academy. And he wasn't. He just literally is
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so Barca coded. Yeah. It was just like a dude in Mallorca and they were like we'll have him
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Yeah bro. It honestly feels like Pedri was there his whole entire life. Yeah
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I think Pedri is look Pedri gets his flowers. Don't get me wrong. But everybody's everybody's eyes is
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going to be on somebody like Lemire and Maul and I think Pedri's going to kind of be like sort of like behind in that sense in terms of pecking order but don't get it twisted pedri's gonna i think
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have a sensational tournament for me i gotta go with michael olise my boy yes sir yes sir i feel
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like he's gonna add another dynamic whoa whoa whoa he's not getting in that team he is he already
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has he's getting in that team he's been starting on the right what so what dembele's he's gonna
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start over dembele no no dembele be starting on the left sometimes then where's mbappe play
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strike down the middle you think mbappe is gonna play striker for france he already does i'm just
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just saying i'm just saying i don't know if they're gonna be a player to watch if you can't go get into the squad for sure bro he starts for them yeah 100 i think michael elise because he
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plays in the bundesliga now we don't really get to see it because not all of us are watching you
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know barmuenich destroy freiburg every week five nil but elise is an incredible footballer he scored
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a right-footed goal against leipzig the other like this past weekend that was insane and to just
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see his development playing with harry kane taking on the scrum of the neck of one of the biggest
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clubs in europe and do his thing bro okay fine you say man your opinion who do you guys think
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will be the flop team of the tournament england oh my goodness you gonna sleep on your own nation yes yes we gonna screw it up why is that because we here it not coming home no it not coming home of course it not coming home it could bro don say that it could verbalize it it could honestly i
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think right i think i think england fans are the harshest fans ever when it comes to international
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so here's the thing i don't feel that patriotic to be british until it comes to a world cup and
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And then I'm like, this is the greatest country on earth. Yeah. But we'll just find a way to screw it up
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Like, all the pieces are in place. Hire a great manager, really great generation of players
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No super obvious holes in the squad. Like, all the pieces are in place for what should be a perfect tournament
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It's England. We'll screw it up. We will. So, I'm going to say the flop is England
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Okay. Who you got, Jon? This is so tough. I thought about this. I hate that I have to say this, but I think it might be Argentina
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and I'm sorry Argentina fans I love y'all but I just feel like it's gonna be tough one for
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some reason why do you say that look Messi this Messi that it might be his last one nobody knows
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the whole point is is that I just feel like a lot of that that pressure that comes with either the
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post Messi lifting the World Cup I think that's gonna carry a lot of weight to this squad and
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I don't know Messi should have retired after the 2022 World Cup from international duty I feel like
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him going to another one is a little bit doing too much i feel like he doesn't have to i think
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there is conversation about like is he gonna is he gonna go is he not i think there is that
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discussion i think he has to go though now because his pride will not let him not go i think that's
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the thing we don't give messy enough credit for because he's just like a tiny dude and like kind
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of awkward but like dude he's a savage of a competitor oh absolutely i think he'll i think
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he'll go and if he goes he has to play like it just seems like it might be one step too many
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I knew Messi was nothing to f*** with when he went to Guardiola and said, I'm playing number nine, and they just bought Zlatan
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That's when I knew Messi had it, bro. Because if even Zlatan, you're making Pep Guardiola be like, man, we signed this guy for 40 million plus Eto'o first season
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He's the number nine that I brought in for the season, and you're going to make him go on the bench instead
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Bro, that's when I knew Messi was one of them ones, bro. But I think my flop team in the tournament will be Brazil, and I think Brazil is going to get eliminated potentially in the group stage
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that's my hot take i just don't know from these games where the direction that brazil is heading
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into i know they have enchiladi now neymar clearly will never be fit enough for international duty i
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think it's quite obvious a future with neymar is not going to be happening but i think for brazil
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as well what is going on with the system what are they going to play who will be the number nine
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is vinny going to have help to finally accommodate him on that left wing to finally be that player
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that brazil is looking at to lead them to victory and i don't know if brazil's in the spot right now
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where they have the players to give, you know, Vinny the support that he needs to be the star
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that he could be on Brazil. I just don't know if they have it. Do you know what's insane? I would have agreed with you like a month ago
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but now I'm going the other way. I think Ancelotti and tournament football I think Brazil could just like bollocks their way to it You think they could do well I think they could I think they could because it Ancelotti and it tournament football It just what he does
6:03
We'll see. We'll see. I think for Brazil, we're not going to know until that game. Like, they don't really have that much games looking forward to the World Cup
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The qualifiers end, I think, next camp. So we're going to see what Brazil comes with
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But from what I've seen from Copa America last year to the World Cup before to now
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I'm just not seeing it, bro. I'm not seeing the Joga Benito, the Seleção, the squad that made me watch football
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The players and the talent that they had from 06, 2002 World Cup, Ronaldinho, R9
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These players that Brazil have developed in years to come ahead. I just don't see it from Vinicius Jr
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But that's part of the problem, isn't it? It's like there's so much like focus and pressure put on like this is how we're supposed to play
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It's international football. Just win, right? Oh, of course. Like England hired a German
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Like, do you know how serious? England hired a German. Brazil hired their first non-Brazilian coach ever or in a long, long time
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They're just trying to win. That's fine. You don't have to play beautiful football
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I think the problem is, though, is that England has world-class players. That's what I'm trying to say
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I don't think Brazil has world-class players in the midfield. They don't, but I mean, we were talking
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Look, when I was thinking about Argentina, I was also thinking about Brazil. And I do kind of understand where you're coming from
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But I just, I think the Carlo Ancelotti effect is just going to. Ancelotti chilling in Copacabana Beach
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He's going to get that superpower. He's going to get that level up. You know what I'm saying? The sun's going to hit him with a nice little tan
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He's going to have a great time and he's going to cook with Brazil. The power of friendship. We're going to see
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All right, guys. Who's your winner of the tournament? England. No. Spain
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Spain. It's going to be Spain. Because I feel like that generation of players is still getting started
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And it's only going to get better. It's only getting better. It's only getting better. i mean can you really look at that spain team and name like one position that they're weak at
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maybe left back alejandro balde no line the only but he's unfit a lot okay so okay like remove
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remove the caveats of injuries and everything i think the one issue they might have is up front
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then again every time alvaro alvaro puts on a spain kit he turns into aren't i yeah so i think
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I think it'll be Spain. It's hard to see anyone getting passing. I'm going to go with the three lines
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I think England... Don't say it! Don't say it! It's coming home
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It's coming home! It's coming home! It's coming home! No, no, for real, though
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I just feel like... Well, my track record is pretty good. I predicted the last..
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I put... Since 20... I can't remember. I've been predicting winners. So I have a feeling that England are going to do very well
8:39
You did? I'm coming home baby. Look, the England in the past Euros have disappointed me
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Don't get me wrong. I was extremely disappointed that they lost in the final the same they capitulated the same way twice against Italy It was just how you know there so much talent so much cohesion i mean tom was talking about before in the past england they might have
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world-class talent but the team just segmented kind of doing their own thing this team looks
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united they look they look like they're part of a family and you need that that's that's part of
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the concoction that's what gives you the recipe for success the talent of course has to be there
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but the chemistry the cohesion and this england side has that the past few defeats especially in
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the finals like the way they lost, it's gonna hurt them. And now with a German manager
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imagine the story's already said, England with a German manager coming to America
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lifting the World Cup in New York at MetLife, it's gonna be crazy
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On America's head top? On America's head top after 1776? The story's gonna go crazy
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Yo, chill. What you mean? 1776, no. Do you know what's crazy
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England could play on the 250th anniversary. That's crazy, though. It's not nuts
9:49
That's insane. If they win it on that day. It could be like a final or a semifinal. Bro, I'm telling you, bro
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If England wins on US soil, that's massive for the nation. Wait, did Togger say chill from the 1770s
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My man's going to... If England wins, he's going to pull up the carries
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He's going to be like, Paul Revere. Take that. What the hell? Yo, that's crazy, bro
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For me, my winner of the tournament will be... You guys already know
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Mbappe, Mbappe, dog. Killy, killy. I think France got it this time, bro. I think France got it this time
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Listen, when Mbappe goes to a World Cup, some type of aura just changes about him
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I don't know what it is, but when you see Mbappe in a World Cup in the group stages, he's bagging three, four on head tops, scoring against Austria
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building up the confidence for those group stage matches, ready to destroy. I feel like you cannot count France out, especially considering the fact that if Mbappe's not going to work
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they could go to Dembele. Dembele not working, you go to Elise. Elise not working, go to Due
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No, they got Due as well. Bro, come on, dawg. Like, what are we really talking about
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Also, Saliba at the back, Upamecano. You already know Upamecano in tournaments, man
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When it's time to come clutch, he is clutch. Saliba's a strong defender. They even have backups in Ibu Kunate to come off the bench or start
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Bro, France, when it comes to World Cups, they're on it. They're at least making the semifinals
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So the one thing with France that concerns me is the midfield
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Because not having Griezmann anymore to play that 10, it seems like they have a bit less of a connection
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I'm not going to lie. There has been a little bit of adjustment issues with Griezmann leaving
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So Chouameni is definitely an excellent defensive midfielder. That's not going to be a problem outside of that
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Would you put Ryan Cherokee in that 10-roll, maybe? Yeah, I mean, and Kevra and Turam can link play
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For some reason, they still like Rabiot. Yeah, they still love Rabiot
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I don't know what it is, man. Can we move past this guy? Can we please move past it? I don't know what it is with the French manager
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You saw what happened on Marseille, bro. Yeah, they're all fighting each other. They're all fighting each other, bro. Rabiot turned into a two-time world champ in that locker room, my boy
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He was out here throwing haymakers on Jonathan Rose. Oh, my goodness
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But that's the fighting spirit you need in a World Cup
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