Quote · The Bill Simmons Podcast
Spain Prevails, World Cup Winners and Losers, and Damon Vs. Leo With Chris Ryan and Anthony Dabbundo
Where this was said
Biggest winners and losers of the World Cup
At 45:10 · chapter starts 20:19
Bill launches the losers segment with Tuchel, the coach hired to make England bold who instead implemented the most conservative strategy imaginable the moment they went ahead. Chris Ryan argues Tuchel lost control of the midfield and panicked 15 minutes too early, while Anthony focuses on the baffling exclusion of Bukayo Saka — the same player who then scored a hat trick in the meaningless third-place match. Christian Pulisic follows: not just for the injury that cut his tournament short, but for deeper questions about his leadership, his relationship with teammates and coaches, and the ominous fact that ex-players felt it was open season to criticize him the moment the US exited. FIFA is next, criticized for hydration breaks in air-conditioned domes — effectively commercial timeouts, Bill says — and for rigging the World Cup hosting rotation to funnel the 2034 event to Saudi Arabia [1] — Anthony Dabbundo "Anthony Dabbundo defended VAR as getting more calls right than the pre-VAR era ever did. Chris Ryan countered that it kills the cathartic g…" 57:50 . VAR generates the most back-and-forth: Anthony argues it gets dramatically more calls right than the pre-VAR era, while Chris says it kills momentum and gives managers an invisible reset button; Bill proposes a blue card / sin bin as a smarter middle ground than the current all-or-nothing red card system.
Lionel Messi led the tournament in goals plus assists at age 39, including a hat trick in Argentina's first game, cementing his status as the best player at the 2026 World Cup.
Messi led the 2026 World Cup in goals plus assists at age 39, then wandered into scrums where much bigger opponents simply stepped aside because he was God. The Ronaldo-or-Maradona debate is finished — it's Messi and then everyone else.
After Bellingham trash-talked Messi and got hit with the smirk heard round the world, the internet exploded. Bill Simmons argued the Messi smirk meme will go down as a top-5 sports meme of all time — and read five De Niro film comparisons from a listener email.
Lamine Yamal, playing through a hamstring injury at the 2026 World Cup, has now won both the Euros and the World Cup before turning 21, arguably the most accomplished resume of any under-21 player ever.
Lawrence, Kansas became an Algerian outpost. Mexicans and Koreans sang Gangnam Style together in LA on opening day. The 40-city 2026 World Cup delivered cultural moments nobody predicted — and in a divided country, it arrived at exactly the right time.
Thomas Tuchel was brought in to make England aggressive. Instead, he parked the bus up 1-0 against Argentina — leaving Saka on the bench, keeping a gassed Harry Kane on, and letting Messi camp on the right side until Enzo Fernandez's strike leveled it. Not one England fan thought this was right.
