Speaker
Ally McCoist
Appearances over time
2 episodes
Episodes
2Podcasts
Quotes & moments
Ally McCoist's honest assessment: England are the third best team remaining in the tournament, but they are better than Argentina and should make the final.
Gary Lineker confirms what everyone suspected: strikers track their rivals for the Golden Boot from day one and secretly hope they miss. It's a competition within a competition, and no one pretends otherwise — not even the most team-spirited player.
Mo Gilligan was so locked in at Soccer Aid that he completely forgot Cafu was a two-time World Cup winner and told him to drop back defensively. Cafu responded in Portuguese. Mo nodded and said 'yeah, cool cool' — never finding out what was actually said.
Whatever option Joe Hart tried to close off in a 1v1 with Messi — the far post, the cutback — Messi would always choose the hardest option and execute it with total calm. Hart calls it disheartening, but also the thing that brought the best out of him.
Ally McCoist had a front-row seat at the 18-yard line watching Lamine Yamal destroy Federico Di Marco at a Champions League semi-final. He calls it the best 45 minutes of individual talent he has witnessed in a very long time.
David Raya is in the form of his life and arguably won Arsenal the title, yet Unai Simon keeps the shirt for Spain. Joe Hart makes the case that once you own the number 1 jersey, you almost have to lose it yourself — and Simon hasn't done that.
Robbie Keane told Mo Gilligan he needed someone who could actually play football at the back — so he paired him with Berbatov and Roberto Carlos. The resulting anarchy, including Mo telling Cafu to drop back, is one of the episode's funniest moments.
Lamine Yamal doesn't just score — he rewires the entire pitch. Micah Richards explains that his presence changes every defensive angle, while Ally McCoist calls the 45 minutes he watched Yamal terrorise Inter Milan live the best individual performance he has seen in years.
Spain have gone 32 games without defeat across all competitions — 23 wins, 9 draws — the second longest unbeaten run in their history. With Lamine Yamal fit and firing, the question is no longer whether they are contenders, but whether anyone can stop them.
Cape Verde have drawn against Spain and now Uruguay, and their goalkeeper Vosinho has gone from unknown to 15.2 million Instagram followers. Joe Hart captures the emotional tightrope every goalkeeper walks: you want the game to pass without incident, but the spotlight is blinding.
Joe Hart says he felt not a single ounce of fear at the prospect of facing Messi, Mbappé or Haaland one-on-one. He wanted all three running at him simultaneously. Only in retirement has he stepped back and realised how completely irrational that mindset is.
It was the 93rd minute in Manaus. England were 2-1 down against Italy. Pirlo's knuckleball free kick had gone in and the ball boys were soaking up the occasion. Joe Hart's head went completely, he screamed 'give me the f***ing ball', and only saw the clip afterwards — horrified to discover he was shouting at a 10-year-old.
Mo Gilligan admits he's not really watching the World Cup for England — he just doesn't want Arsenal players getting hurt or burnt out. Fresh off Arsenal winning the Premier League title, he's mostly rooting for Brazil so his Brazilian fiancée doesn't poke him in the nose again.
Jude Bellingham scored both of England's goals against Norway to send them into the semi-finals. The second — a tap-in after the keeper spilled Morgan Rodgers' shot — was pure predator instinct. Make 100 of those runs and you're lucky to get one; Bellingham got his.
Alan Shearer is livid. Djed Spence was denied a clear penalty when VAR overturned the referee's decision, and Shearer called it 'so bad', a 'joke', and 'nonsense'. Spence did exactly what he was taught — he's not to blame if the defender makes the challenge.
Before the tournament, Alan Shearer said Jude Bellingham should not start for England. Micah Richards has not let him forget it. Now Bellingham is on 7 World Cup goals and Shearer is still at the tournament watching him score twice. Taxpayers' money, indeed.
Analysis
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