Jude Bellingham is the real deal, Eriksen's Euro 2024 comeback, Happy Father's Day

This episode delves into the ongoing Euro 2024, examining key performances and the broader narratives shaping the tournament, especially Jude Bellingham's emergence as a football star.

1. Jude Bellingham's performance solidifies his status as a star, not just a promising talent.
2. Christian Eriksen's comeback is both heartwarming and impactful, symbolizing resilience and skill.
3. England's strategy and player roles under scrutiny, with a need for tactical flexibility highlighted.
4. The effectiveness of strategic substitutions was evident in the Netherlands' victory over Poland.
5. Father's Day adds an emotional layer to the tournament, connecting personal stories to professional achievements.

1. England vs. Serbia: Tactical Analysis

An in-depth look at England's performance, emphasizing tactical setups and player roles. "Alexi Lawless: Jude Bellingham is not just a star in the making, he is already a star."

2. Christian Eriksen's Comeback

Reflects on Eriksen's remarkable return to football, scoring in Denmark's Euro opener. "David Mossey: It was storybook stuff."

3. Poland vs. Netherlands: Substitution Impact

Covers the decisive impact of substitutions in the Netherlands' win against Poland. "Alexi Lawless: You judge coaches on their ability to make changes."

1. Embrace Role Adaptability: Footballers like Harry Kane adapting roles show the importance of flexibility in achieving team goals.
2. Recognize Emerging Talents: Jude Bellingham’s rise underscores the value of nurturing young talents in high-pressure roles.
3. Value Resilience: Christian Eriksen’s comeback can inspire individuals in overcoming personal and professional hurdles.
4. Strategic Decision Making: The impact of timely substitutions in football can be applied to making decisive business or personal decisions.
5. Celebrate Personal Stories: Integrating personal milestones like Father’s Day enriches professional environments, fostering deeper connections.

Alexi Lalas and David Mosse breakdown England’s opening match performance at the Euros. Jude Bellingham continues to deliver with his header early in the match against Serbia. Bellingham's goal secured three points for the Three Lions. Christian Eriksen also scored a remarkable goal for Denmark, after suffering a cardiac arrest just 3 years prior. Lastly, The Dutch grab a win in their comeback victory over Poland. We are only a few days into the tournament and the guys are already liking what they see. (1:56)
To end the show, Alexi and Mosse give a shout out to their father’s for their tremendous support and impact on their lives, and to all the dads out there on this special holiday. (22:18)

People

Jude Bellingham, Christian Eriksen, Harry Kane, Kasper Schmeichel, Peter Schmeichel

Companies

Real Madrid

Books

None

Guest Name(s):

None

Content Warnings:

None

Alexi Lawless
Hello, sunshine. I'm Alexi Lawless, and welcome to the State of the Union podcast, where we look at the beautiful game on and off the field through the lens of red, white and blue colored glasses. Today's show is brought to you by Zillow agents Tours loans homes get home with Zillow. We are coming to you live yet again. Sunday, June 16, following our third day of the 2020 €4.

As we continue on into this amazing summer of soccer, reminder, we'll be coming to you live after each and every day of euros action and Copa America action, which, by the way, kicks off next Thursday. We'll give you a wrap up and a preview of what's to come. But first, joining me as always, my friend, my colleague, my guiding light, David Mossey, a soccer savant and a Fox soccer researcher and writer extraordinaire. Mossy, how are you doing on this Sunday, June 16 in the year 2024? I'm doing very well.

David Mossey
Day three in the books. We started early today, covered three matches, and I thought it went very well. I think it was great in terms of the production. I think it was great in terms of the action that we had on the field. We know you're not listening to or writing anything or reading anything or watching anything.

Alexi Lawless
You've told us that that still holds true right now, right? You're just being pulled in so many different directions. Yes, I did reply to your mother yesterday and over some suggestions, and I'm waiting to hear back from her. So that back and forth contains a very busy poet. And so don't hold your breath when it comes to that.

All right, should we light this candle, my friend? Let's do it. All right. Let's start with our three takeaways from the day victory unlocked, brought to you by Zillow agents Tours loans home get home with Zillow. All right, let's start with Serbia and England.

It just concluded. We just got off the set and came up here. I changed and I still kept the makeup on for those. I need all the help I can get. Not a game that is going to go in a time capsule when it comes to tournament play or an England time capsule when it comes to this english team.

We came on air with myself and Peter Schmeichel and Daniel Sturridge, and we talked about the expectation and the hope and I guess the ambition when it comes to this England team. After 90 minutes, they got the win. They got the three points. Again, it wasn't a vintage type of performance. I think it highlighted some of the weakness that we have been talking about.

And to be fair to England, they probably understand. So I don't know how much we can take out of this game, other than England, one of the favorites for this tournament, doing what they need to do against a. A plucky type of Serbia team that was, you know, very cautious in the first half. They let a goal in and so they have to get a little bit more expansive. But I thought really, at times took over the game.

And if not for some, you know, soccer gods intervening here and there, if it had ended up one, one, I don't think England fans would have been that surprised. Yeah. Nervous start for sure. For England. They do get a clean sheet.

David Mossey
Just the second team in this tournament, along with Spain, to get a clean sheet. And it's funny because we set this up as if the attack is great. The back line is the question mark. I still think that's true, but at least for one game, they were able to hold that at the back against a dangerous Serbia frontline with Mitrovic and Vlachovic. And yet it was the attack that was left wanting.

They actually didn't create a whole lot after that Jude Bellingham goal. Yeah, Phil Foden was kind of non existent. Non existent. Harry Kane had two touches in the first half, and really, you didn't see a lot. There was a point in the first half, I kid you not.

Alexi Lawless
I forgot that Harry Kane was actually on the field. Now, that sounds negative. And when listening to Landon Donovan talk during the game and then being in the green room with the guys, there was this sentiment that he was being used in a different way. And so while he might not be the traditional Harry Kane in terms of getting opportunities and scoring goals, he was being used to distract. That's all fine and well, but then everybody else has to kind of pick it up.

The posture that Serbia took in the beginning of the game was obviously one to absorb pressure, and I guess that's pragmatic and practical for what they saw that was ahead of them. But it requires everything to go perfectly, and I thought that they did a good job of withstanding the initial pressure, and then it's kind of a broken play down the side with Sokka, and it does deflect and deflects perfectly into this wonderful pocket of space. And Jude Bellingham, who we all know is not just a star in the making, he is already a star, and arguably the best, the biggest star when it comes to England. He smelled that and he went right to that space. And for all the talk about how skilled he is and he is.

This was. This was sheer commitment and this was sheer bravery to put his head in there. And ultimately, it was the difference in terms of winning the game and losing the game. So he gets on the scoresheet, he lives up to the hype immediately, and he certainly was one of the stars today. Yeah, his fourth international goal.

David Mossey
We've talked about how it was going to be fascinating to see whether the Real Madrid Jude Bellingham, who got all these goals and assists this past season, would carry over to England. And so far, so good on that front. I also found it interesting that Trent Alexander Arnold started in the midfield alongside Bellingham and Declan Rice. There were some questions about that. We'll see if it lasts the entire tournament.

Later on, he brought on Gallagher and Mino, so he's got some options there in the center of the park. Be interesting to see if Trent Alexander Arnold keeps that spot throughout the tournament. Can I bring it back out into a bigger picture conversation that we had on air and behind the scenes when it comes to this England team? And I was really interested to hear Daniel Sturridge's take on what he feels is, I'm not putting words in his mouth, but an unfair narrative and portrayal of what England is. And it all relates to.

Alexi Lawless
Is it coming home? And are they able to finally win the big one and win that trophy? And, you know, we came on air and I talked about things that I've talked about before when it comes to England, in that they are the Dallas Cowboys of this tournament, in that as many people hate them as love them, but everybody tunes in. They are these OG type of elite, snobby types of teams that have not lived up to it when it comes to winning. And he seems to think that that's unfair in that that's not actually what they are.

And it kind of blew my mind, because from an early age, growing up in the United States, I have been inundated with english british influence when it comes to on the field, off the field, and we've been told how good England is and how good the culture is and how historic it is and how influential it is. And he seemed to be saying that we have false expectations when it comes to this England team. Do you think that that's valid or fair? Well, if I recall, it came up in the context of Gareth Southgate. Yes, and I do understand the point they were making.

David Mossey
Garrett Southgate got England to a World cup semi final and then a euros final. That's farther than they had been advancing in those competitions in those many years prior. So I think framing it as if, if he doesn't win this tournament, his time as a coach would have been a failure. That's a bit unfair to me. I think the fact that he's got him up there coming so close to winning these major tournaments does speak to the fact that he's done a good job overall.

It would be nice to see him cash in and cap it off by finally winning one of these. A part of me understands what you're saying, but now, after all the pomp and circumstance and all the strutting and swagger, I gotta look at England in a practical way and have perspective. I don't think so. Does everybody get a trophy now and it's okay to finish second? I mean, this is England, after all, in terms of all the money and all the attention, all the prestige and to be fair, all the talent and depth that they actually have now England wants me, even from the outside, to settle and let them just say, oh, it's okay, that's fine, you didn't win going on.

Alexi Lawless
I think there's a lot of England fans, I think there's a lot of non England fans that would say, no, not so fast. You do spread the love around. You've managed to annoy all our new colleagues, everyone from Kilini to Schmeichel to Sturgeon at some point in the last couple of days. You know what? I'm having a fun time working with them and I should say that they are all taking it in stride and they give as good as they get.

And this is part of the gig. I did speak to Kilini briefly after the production meeting today. First off, I asked him about coming on the pot. He's all for it. He actually wants to talk about the us team.

David Mossey
He thinks it'd be interesting to get an outside perspective on the us team. And then I asked him about growing up as a kid, when you were playing in Italy with Padova. Does he remember that? He said, absolutely. He said, thanks to you, his image was that every american must be a hippie.

Alexi Lawless
Well, there you go. That's what I have given to my country and culture over the years. Well, we'll get him on and we'll have him talk about. Honestly, the first thing when I met Kilini for our coverage that he said is, I have so many stories about you. So we're going to get him on and we'll let him talk about it on air.

Okay. So that was the first game that we're going to discuss. Let's move on to Slovenia. Denmark. Yes, that was the other game in Group C.

David Mossey
It took place in Stuttgart. And in the pre game show, Tom Rinalli did this wonderful piece reflecting on the incident involving Christian Erickson in Denmark's opening match of the last euros against Finland when he collapsed on the field in the first half, suffered from cardiac arrest, had to get rushed to the hospital, obviously ended up surviving, thank God, and resuming his playing career. And now here he is at the euros again, starting for Denmark and their opener. And so we set it up and what happens? He scores the opening goal.

So it's kind of storybook stuff. But then Denmark, frankly, were disappointing after that, couldn't kill off the game and then ended up paying the price at the end. Janza with a strike that deflected in one. One. The final.

Alexi Lawless
Yeah, I mean, they completely took their foot off the gas. I mean, Denmark. And it was interesting watching it with Peter Schmeichel and seeing him, like any fan, go through all the different emotions. And by the way, on Father's day, and I'll talk a little bit more about Father's day later on the pod, but on Father's day, watching his son play for his country and I mean, Castro Schmichel had nothing to do with the goal and played well. I love the side volley that Schmeichel is always giving.

It's just so wonderful. But watching him go through these emotions because they score that goal and it's more than a goal because of who scores it and you think they're going to kick on and it just. It never happened. And they just let Slovenia back into the game. And this is part of the reason why I did not have Denmark in my top ten in my power rankings.

And I know Peter gave me plenty of crap for it, but they collectively, I think they're not as ruthless as they need to be going forward. They let this one slip away and they have no one to blame but theirselves because talent wise, and certainly historically, they are better than Slovenia. And this should have been a three points in the bag, but it wasn't. And Slovenia, what we have in the rundown, they stole a point. I'm not sure how fair that is because to your point, I don't think that Denmark kicked on and did anything after they scored.

To really say it was just one of those days. We'll bring Kyle on to defend her framing match if she wants to. Come on. Should we move on to the next one? Let me just say before we move on, the Casper and Peter stuff was very cool.

David Mossey
We did the double box in the pregame with the two of them, and we actually have a lot of sons of famous fathers in this tournament. You've got Casper and Peter. One of Romania star players is Giannis Hadji, the son of George Hadji, who you played against at the 1994 World cup, obviously. Marcus Turan, son of Lilian Turan daily Blinn, son of Danny Blinn. Federico Chiesa, son of Enrico Chiesa, who you played against as well.

So that's kind of a neat little storyline. I thought Peter was wonderful today when he was asked to expound upon it and what it means. And you could see the father, but you could also see the player and certainly you could see the pride that anybody feels in that moment. So I thought that was really good television. And look, the dynamic when we are on stage and when we are doing television, it changes.

Alexi Lawless
It can go from very serious to very funny and everywhere in between. And you just got to take the temperature, what's going on. But I think he hit the perfect tone in that segment. So if you, you know, we'll send it out there on all the social media platforms out there so you can get that. All right.

Should we go to Poland? Netherlands. Yes. This was a group D match in Hamburg, Poland, playing without Robert Lewandowski. Our old friend Adam Buksa started up front.

David Mossey
We remember him from his New England revolution days. He scored, Poland took the lead, but then the Netherlands equalized through Cory Gakpo. And then who else but vood weghors comes on late and two minutes after coming on, he gets the winner, two. On the final. The Dutch take all three points.

Alexi Lawless
Speaker one, he took it well, too. I mean, he turned kind of a broken type of play and he just smashed it home. I talked about vood vaghorst and we judge coaches on their ability to make changes. We often judge them on the substitutions and the impact. They're positive, negative that they make.

You put him on, he finishes it up. It wasn't, again, it wasn't a remarkable performance by the Netherlands, who are in my top ten, and I think justifiably so, but it was enough to get the three. To get the three points. Seeing books score and thinking, oh my goodness, could this possibly be an upset? Because again, no.

Lewandowski for Poland. It was nice. I know my feed got filled up with MLS references because of his past with the New England revolution, but ultimately not enough to hold off a Netherlands team that I don't think anybody is surprised. Beat Poland. It's interesting on Wood Wegher.

David Mossey
Some players just have this knack for scoring off the bench. Seven of his last nine goals for the Netherlands have come as a sub. And we've talked about how sometimes the worst thing you can do as a player is be very good off the bench. Ronald Corman talked about this afterwards, how Woodwegers wants to start. He's not happy about this role, but Ronald Corman keeps in there because he's so effective.

Remember, he scored two goals off the bench against Argentina in that epic World cup quarterfinal scores here. So he's going to maintain him in that role until, you know, it doesn't work for him because so far, he'd be a fool to not bring him. Off the bench because, you know, players are simple, uh, in the best possible way. In that if you go and try to explain something like that, something nuanced to them that. That their best position is not starting.

Alexi Lawless
Because we equate starting with being good. And in many instances it. It is. But, you know, for a goal scorer, the more you're on the field, the more chance you have of scoring, the less, obviously, the less chance you have of scoring. And I completely get it from boot Vaykhorse.

Cause it's not just goal scores, it just does. It's impossible for that to compute that. Well, first off, you don't want any player to be fine with it, and I don't think that he is. But I would love to just be a fly on the wall when that conversation has. And to see the wheels spinning in Vuitton courses as he tries to come to terms with that.

And I don't think any player ultimately ever does. Last point on the Netherlands. They've long played in a back three. In this tournament. They're playing in a back four.

David Mossey
I still think their personnel is suited to playing in a back three, and they got to try to get Frimpong in there. Coming off the season he had with Leverkusen, seeing him on the bench today was a bit jarring, so I think Ronald Corman might need to rethink that one moving forward. Okay, so should we move on and talk a little bit about what so far has happened? Still plenty of games to play, but if I asked you right off the top of your head, the most impressive team so far, what would you say? It's either between Germany or, if you factor in the equality of opposition, perhaps Spain, because they beat Croatia, three.

No, Germany. It was against Scotland. So if I had to pick between the two, I'd actually lean Spain, you'd lean Spain. I'd probably pick Germany. But I think those are far and away the two premier types of performances.

Alexi Lawless
They were dominant, and I think they justified all of the praise that goes on. Can I circle right back around to where we kind of started, uh, talking about Jude Bellingham a little bit more? I just. I think one of the reasons why he is this star is that he is so different from a classic stereo. I know it's stereotypical british player, England player, in that we know that he took that road that is less traveled.

And I do think that it's made all the difference going to Germany and now, obviously, starring in Spain. You heard on air talk about how he can speak Spanish now, and that he has immersed himself in the culture. And when you just hear him speak, there is a wisdom beyond his years. There is a maturity, I think, and a culture that obviously comes from his experience. But also, I just think that this is a really smart human being who also happens to be an incredible star, and maybe it's to be expected.

And I know I'm stereotyping a little bit when it comes to England players, english players, and let's be honest, I can expand it out to a lot of players around the world, but especially England. When you play in the EPL, it can be very insular. Right. And so I get how that can be a kind of a warm bubble that's very difficult to break out of. But this guy is, like I said on air, he is a man of the world, and he has the world at his fingers.

Or I guess in this case, he has the world at his feet. I couldn't agree more. He's the oldest 21 year old I watch, obviously, an inordinate amount of Real Madrid. And you have your veterans on that team, the Cruz, the Modrich, the carvajal. And then you have your youngsters, the Vinnies, the Valverdes, Camavingas, and Jude.

David Mossey
The look and feel of him is as if he belongs in the Cruz Modric group more than he does with the youngsters. Right? I mean, jeez, it's wonderful to see, and I don't know if you can manufacture it, maybe it's just innate. And it comes. His dad's a policeman, evidently, and he comes from a household where he's disciplined.

Alexi Lawless
And obviously that's translated into the way he goes about not just his life as a player, but the way that he goes out about his life as a young man. It's pretty impressive. And again, already starring in this tournament. All right, what are we looking forward to tomorrow, Mossi? Well, if you needed any more evidence that Kyla hates Fubo, it didn't even crack the rundown.

David Mossey
But the first game tomorrow is Romania. Ukraine on Fubo. And then we move on to our two games. Belgium Slovakia on fs one, Austria. France on Fox.

Alexi Lawless
Okay, well, I'm obviously interested to see both of these games for a number of different reasons. Not the least of which is arguably the best player in the world in Kilean Mbappe with France and this generation that we've talked so much about. When it comes to Belgium for the first time, this tournament, and Austria, who are, I think, sneaky good and are in the. The low end. But in my top ten when it comes to the power rankings.

Can I just say something about the Fubo thing, too, before we finish this up? Sure. I've been on the old x machine and people screaming and yelling. Nothing brings out the mean words more than a summer tournament, I have found. We've already had one game on Fubo.

And for those that don't know, there are five games that are exclusive to Fubo. Okay. Feel free to yell and scream at me, but let's preemptively get it out here, okay? As Mossi mentioned, tomorrow, we've already have one game that has happened on Fubo. Tomorrow on the 17th, Romania versus Ukraine.

Tuesday on the 18th, turkey versus Georgia. Friday on the 21st, Slovakia versus Ukraine. And Saturday on the 22nd, Georgia versus Czechia. If you would like to scream and yell at me, okay? And call me names, that's fine.

I made an executive decision. I made a strategic business decision. All right? And I take full responsibility for it. Get it out of the way so we don't have to have it every single day coming in.

And then suck it up, buttercup. You're going to be just fine. And what you want to do when you're watching a game on Fubu is also followed on your phone. So you know the score and the time. Hey, look at you.

All right. Should we finish this up? Mossy? Can I give a couple of thoughts? Of course you can.

David Mossey
Yeah. First up on Belgium, Lukaku was the runaway leading scorer in qualifying with 14 goals. We'll see if he can find the back of the net tomorrow. He's going to have the likes of De Bruyne, Doku and Trossard setting him up. And then, obviously with France, our eyes are going to be on Mbappe.

But also, Angolo Kante was brought back into the mix for this tournament. He seemed to be out of the picture, having moved to Saudi Arabia, going up against a pretty good Austria midfield with Sabitzer, limer and guys like that, Ralph Rangnick, I'm sure will have a pretty good game plan. So this is an interesting test for the French. Keep in mind, we've had 22 different goal scorers in this tournament, including Rudiger's own goal. We have not had a multi goal game yet.

We've got some guys like Lukaku and Mbappe who could perhaps achieve that tomorrow. Did you see? It might have been strategic. Maybe I'm being cynical, but the articles that came out about Ngolo Kante's return to the lineup and re emerging as a star and all of his teammates keeping praise on him and kind of pumping him up and look, if he's even close to what he once was out there, that's a pretty nice addition to any team that you would want. Absolutely.

Alexi Lawless
All right, listen, when it comes to my one for the road, which we will finish this up with, as we mentioned, we are recording here today, on Sunday, and it is Father's day. So happy Father's day to all of the fathers out there, whether you're involved in soccer or not, and to all the people that, in name or not, do things that you would want a father to do that are nurturing, that are supportive, that are there for you, that are teaching and doing all of those different things that we need all adults to help us with. But certainly in this case, it comes to father, believe it or not, mossy, I have a father. People have asked me at times about, you know, the influence of my father. You know, I.

I grew up in a household that I played soccer in, but it was not a soccer household. My father was a professor and my father did not do sports. So I have no memories of playing soccer with my father or my father teaching me anything about. But that is not to say that he didn't support me and wasn't always there making sure that this was something that I had in my life, because he, from a very early age, when I was young, recognized that this was something that I loved to do. This is something that I was good at, and this was something that ultimately kept me out of trouble.

And so in that sense, he was incredibly supportive in me moving along when it came to sports. And I think he was smart enough to recognize that even though that was not his thing, sports provided an opportunity to learn. Sports provided an opportunity to have experiences that you could then take into the quote, unquote, real world. And so he recognized that there was a value to having his son, in this case his eldest son, involved in sports. I hope that you have, whether it's your father or anybody in your life, somebody that is supporting you or has supported you over the years, and if you haven't talked to him in a while, reach out.

Believe me, they might not say it, but they love to hear it. And they love to hear that you did benefit from as big or little amount of support as was given. Mossie, you have a father over there, too, out on the east coast? Yes. In any pod we do, where we're going to have a discussion where I'm not completely sure what my take should be, whether it's debating a VaR decision or a managerial move in the car on the way here, I always call my dad.

David Mossey
I ask him what he thinks, and it's always very reassuring when he thinks what I was going to say or if he says something different, then I completely rethink my opinion. Wow. That's awesome. That's awesome. Well, I'm glad that you have a relationship and you're, in a certain sense, lucky, because not everybody has one.

Alexi Lawless
So if you do have one, you are fortunate and make sure that you foster it and make sure that you protect it. Because I will tell you from experience, it is incredibly important and it is incredibly informative and don't undervalue how important it is to spend time. And ultimately, I hope that a lot of you are spending time either today, but don't just have one day. Make many, many days. I do want to pay this off if Aaron Schechter's father is listening.

David Mossey
Your daughter was a good girl last night. She was responsible. She planned it out well. She took an afternoon nap, then did a little partying, but then went back to sleep again. From what I'm told, made it here in reasonably good shape and was her usual competent self.

So it all worked out in the end. Yeah. With these. With these early games in euros. There are some, you know, 02:00 a.m.

Alexi Lawless
types of call times for a lot of the people that are in front of the camera, and more importantly, behind the camera. And hats off to all of them, but there are some bleary eyes and some zombie esque type of folks that are walking around. So right now, I'm sure that they are fighting, going to sleep, but I hope that they get the rest that they need, because again, they make us all look and sound so good. All right, we'll be back again tomorrow. As Machi mentioned at Masi mentioned with the Belgium Slovakia game and the Austria France game on Fox.

And yes, the Romania Ukraine game over there on Fubo. Keep downloading, keep rating, keep subscribing. And when I say subscribe on all the different things, including our State of the Union page over there on YouTube, please subscribe over there. You're doing a great job, and we could not be more thankful and happy that you are joining us each and every day as we give you the State of the union live on all the different platforms out there. We'll talk to you again tomorrow as this euro 2024 rolls along.

And until then, and as always, my friends. Sighs the day.