MidDays with Gerard Gibert 2026-06-11

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Get ready to go beyond the headlines and join a meaningful conversation with people from around the state. You're listening to MidDays with Gerard Gibert here on SuperTalk Mississippi.

**Gerard Gibert** (1:01)
Good morning, everyone, and welcome to MidDays, SuperTalk Mississippi. I'm your host, Gerard Gibert, along with Rhino in the Element Wealth Studio, guiding you through the middle of your day with facts, fodder, and fine music on this World Cup Day.

**Rhino** (1:20)
We have less than four hours until it kicks off.

**Gerard Gibert** (1:23)
Seeing all the news reports about it this morning, it kicks off at various venues and stadiums across these United States.

**Rhino** (1:32)
In fairness, it's Mexico kicking off in less than four hours. They get to kick off the tournament. We're having our first match tomorrow night.

**Gerard Gibert** (1:39)
And who is Mexico playing?

**Rhino** (1:41)
Mexico will be playing South Africa.

**Gerard Gibert** (1:43)
South Africa. Good programs. Good teams. Yeah, should be good. I know you're a big soccer fan. And soccer has certainly gained in popularity in this country.
But we have to be honest, from a global perspective, this is the biggest sporting event in the world, right?

**Rhino** (2:03)
Yeah, because if you've heard me talk about my soccer fandom on the air in the last decade and a half, I've talked about how one of the main selling features I use to get people on board is that if you're a soccer fan and you just want to watch the beautiful game, there's usually a soccer match on somewhere in the world that you can watch. It's not like college football or the NFL or the NBA or the NHL where you got to wait for a specific period of time to watch your sport.
No. Soccer is year round, except every four years when the World Cup comes around and there's pretty much no other top level soccer anywhere else in the world except for this tournament with all the top players, all the top teams, all eyes on it, it's time.

**Gerard Gibert** (2:59)
And that's exactly what's going on. There are some who were kind of raining on the parade saying that this may not be the economic boom expected and also lots of griping, shall we say, about the cost of tickets at various venues. It depends on which of the stadiums.
So, is the first game, where is it being played? It's not LA, is it?

**Rhino** (3:24)
No, the first match kicking off at two is in Estadio Azteca in Mexico City.

**Gerard Gibert** (3:31)
Okay. All right. And then, but is an LA schedule for today?

**Rhino** (3:36)
The first match for the US will be at SoFi Stadium, although we're not calling it SoFi Stadium, because FIFA doesn't allow any sponsors that aren't their sponsors, so it's LA Stadium or whatever.

**Gerard Gibert** (3:46)
Oh, gosh, okay.

**Rhino** (3:47)
But yeah, USA versus Paraguay in LA at 8 o'clock tomorrow night on Fox, and Fox One, and Peacock, and Tubi, and everywhere else.

**Gerard Gibert** (4:00)
So we'll be widely watched. I've talked to a lot of people that are pretty fired up, pretty excited about this.

**Rhino** (4:06)
And it seems like the, I don't remember if that was the last day you were here, or if it was when Mandy was on with us, the first day you were off.

**Gerard Gibert** (4:15)
Yeah, Tuesday.

**Rhino** (4:16)
But I was talking about really getting into finding these people from around the world that have come to America for the tournament, sharing their experience on social media.
And there's one dude from Germany, Freddie. I think Thomas just texted in about Freddie. He's been just going viral. He started out in Georgia, went to Tennessee, scooted over to Alabama. I think he spent the night in either Florida or South Alabama on the coast. He's making his way to Texas for the Germany match, but him experiencing America that isn't New York or LA or Chicago, or the typical things that you have TV shows set in that city. You have movies set in that. They've seen those places. So they come to America and they get to experience America that isn't that. They get to experience the South. Like Freddie went to the Argentina-Iceland match at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn. Then it was funny because everybody kept saying, you got to go to Tumors Corner because it's in Auburn. Yeah. Well, it's after the match, after they've been out partying, they go to Tumors Corner at like one in the morning. They're like, yeah, we went to this ice cream place, but it's not open. Just that cultural misunderstanding is hilarious. But he's not the only one. You got people from every country involved in the World Cup, some of them that aren't involved in the World Cup that are just covering it.