France through to the quarter-finals - can England overcome Mexico and join them?

James Richardson (0:00)

America Football is The Totally Football Show from Los Angeles, and on July the 4th, and to our American hosts, we say happy birthday. 250 years old, looking pretty good. Where are the breaks?

Today, all you say, can you see broad stripes and bright stars as France beat Paraguay 1-0 in Philly, while in Houston, Morocco's red glare, Jesse's F-bombs bursting in air, as the North Africans put Canada at 3-0. Next, Morocco will meet France, talk about Independence Day. We'll discuss that, plus more countdown to Sunday at the Azteca.

Woohoo! Yep, it's Saturday, the 4th of July still for us. Possibly Sunday the 5th for you, where you're joining us, but many happy returns America. Happy 4th of July. Tom Williams and Felipe Cardenas here with us.

Tom Williams (0:56)

Happy 4th of July, James.

James Richardson (0:57)

Thank you so much, Tom.

Tom Williams (0:58)

Happy birthday, America.

James Richardson (1:00)

Yeah. Maybe one or two differences we've had, England and America over the years.

Tom Williams (1:05)

Not forgetting where Scotland and Northern Ireland. Yeah. Them too.

James Richardson (1:08)

But at the end of the day, it's a big happy birthday. Happy 4th of July to you, Felipe.

Felipe Cardenas (1:14)

Thank you, thank you.

I mean, again, like I said earlier, I couldn't think of anyone else to celebrate the 4th of July, but this crew, the production crew as well, it's been great to be in Los Angeles with everybody. Huge moment, 250th anniversary birthday of this country.

James Richardson (1:28)

It's gone by like that, hasn't it? Yeah. And what a magnificent tournament they've been putting on. Mexico, Canada, but we're here in the States and it's been incredible.

Felipe Cardenas (1:37)

I think there were questions coming into this tournament. Would the country care enough? And the entire country here in the US is captivated by the tournament. They love the tournament. They love the drama. And the US is playing well. They're still alive, so that means a lot.

James Richardson (1:49)

They are. This was the scene in Philadelphia, a significant place, of course, for the birth of this nation, on Saturday, where France were taking on Paraguay on a big pregame show with the Roots, Philly Banda, of course, playing, Idina Menzel doing the Star Stangle banner, almost as well as I did on the way in. And yeah, there's the Roots. It was glorious.

Tom Williams (2:12)

Yeah, the Roots was a nice addition.

Felipe Cardenas (2:13)

Yeah, it was fun.

James Richardson (2:15)

Excellent. Excellent. Well, happy Fourth of July then to America. What followed that performance? We'll get on to very, very shortly, but we'll have a quick run through the results then, because France against Paraguay finished very much 1-0.

2 France in terms of goals, 3-0 to France in terms of yellow cards, which is kind of extraordinary if you saw the game. The earlier match saw Morocco ending Canada's run at this tournament, 3-0. We'll get on to that match as well because, of course, as mentioned, Morocco will be facing France next up. Let's get a quick moment of the day, Felipe.

Felipe Cardenas (2:55)

My moment is Jesse Marsh, Canada's head coach, the American head coach, which is quite proper today.

One of the most polarizing, I think, managers in global football today, very outspoken, and today in this 3-0 loss, as you can see there, he didn't want the cameras, and this is a manager that certainly loves the cameras. He won't admit it. He has told everyone that he doesn't care what people think. He didn't use that language. It was a bit spicier before. But today, a bit of, I think, humble American apple pie, perhaps.

After a good 45 minutes, in which I admit Canada really did punch Morocco in the mouth, the second half was just a completely different tale. Morocco, just really stylish, counterattacking football. They read the game well. And in the end, one of the quotes that has gone viral from Jesse Marsh is what that he said. He gave a lot of praise to Canada and what they've accomplished. But he said, I would rather be us than them pointing to Morocco. Morocco is a great team, but I would rather be us. Now, not a lot of people thought that was very, I don't know, cordial, if you may, but the Canadians love him. The Canadians love their American coach.

James Richardson (4:07)

I guess my take on that is he means he was talking about what they've achieved and the prospects going forward. The place where they are, the prospects that they have, he would rather be there to enjoy that going forward, I guess, than be an established team already.