Reflections, re-rankings, and the James Rodriguez award! | World Cup Retrospective

It's our very last World Cup podcast of the summer! It's a bittersweet moment as we look back on 7 weeks of non stop football. Thank you to everyone who's listened! We use this show as an opportunity to reflect on the tournament as a whole, beginning with a wide ranging discussion on the future of international football, including whether Spain and France are destined to dominate future tournaments and a potential crossroads for South American nations. We also discuss whether the Premier League is actually bad for the English national team and how USA and Mexico take another step in 2030. We then address the tournament awards – do we agree with the winning players? Next, we give out our highly prestigious James Rodriguez award to one lucky fella. We also reexamine and update our pre-tournament James 11-man lineup and go through some tournament superlatives. Finally, we re-rank all 48 teams that competed at the World Cup. We're headed on a brief holiday until August, when we'll be back with our regularly scheduled Europa/Conference League programming, more Club Spotlights, and some surprise content to be announced soon. See you soon, and cheers to you all! Chapters: 00:00 – the start 02:49 – how are we feeling? 04:52 – tournament reflections, will Spain and France continue to dominate? 07:47 – is the Premier League bad for English team? 14:35 – state of South America 21:31 – USA and Mexico 31:14 – pros and cons of expanded tournament 38:57 – tournament awards 43:33 – James Rodriguez Award 01:01:17 – superlatives 01:10:18 – re-ranking teams