MidDays with Gerard Gibert 2026-06-12

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
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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 Alamed wealth studio, guiding you through the middle of your day with facts, fodder, and fine music on this.

**SPEAKER_3** (1:17)
Match day, y'all.

**Gerard Gibert** (1:19)
All right, tell us about that jersey you got on there.

**SPEAKER_3** (1:23)
It's not a jersey, it's just a patriotic polo I picked up. But yeah, if you're not watching, I got one sleeve is the stars on the blue field. The other sleeve is the red and white stripes. I've got my American Outlaws, American flag bandana. I got my red shoes on.
Ready to go.

**Gerard Gibert** (1:40)
Decked out, ready to go. So as far as the schedule is concerned, the US will take on Paraguay, correct?

**SPEAKER_3** (1:48)
Tonight, kickoff scheduled for 8 o'clock on Fox or Tubi or Peacock or Fox One or wherever else.

**Gerard Gibert** (1:56)
Okay.

**SPEAKER_3** (1:58)
Pre-game starts at 5

**Gerard Gibert** (1:59)
Gotcha.
Well, it's a big deal. And I'm kind of pleased to see that a range of media are covering this event, talking about the World Cup, of course. And that's good, because it's a big deal to have that stateside and in this hemisphere, I guess.

**SPEAKER_3** (2:21)
It's the first time it has been World Cup Matchday in America since I was eight years old.

**Gerard Gibert** (2:28)
Wow.
So it's not here very often. No. But the sport has gained in popularity, as you know, in this country. Certainly not to the level that it is in Europe, South America, other countries abroad. But it has gained a lot. And heck, all you got to do is drive around, seems like almost any weekend in any local area and see soccer fields just covered up with little soccer players. It's good for them. It's great exercise because there's a bunch of running involved in it. But they got lots of energy that we old folks don't necessarily have. But it's neat. I think it is. What do you think about the US's chances here?

**SPEAKER_3** (3:13)
I think in an ideal situation, it'd be three or four to one USA. I think realistically, if it were played on paper, it'd be about a two one USA.
It's the World Cup.

**Gerard Gibert** (3:27)
Yeah.

**SPEAKER_3** (3:27)
You never can tell. I'm hoping for the best. I'm rooting for the best. But there have been World Cups where the US has gone home empty-handed, grouped, and didn't get to play another match after the group stage. So I'm hoping. I don't think that's going to happen this time around. It would be really, really tough to get grouped.
I think we have the potential to make it to the round of 16, and then from there, it just depends on where the chips fall as far as how the other groups wound up, who is on the side of the bracket with you, and how you play that day.

**Gerard Gibert** (4:02)
Would you, however, say that the US is more competitive in this World Cup than it has been in the past?

**SPEAKER_3** (4:10)
Oh, easily. That's what I thought. You could make an argument for the 2002 World Cup, because the US made it to the quarterfinals in that World Cup, that that's a really talented group, but if you look man-to-man, this World Cup group from the US is the most talented player-to-player than any other group we've ever taken to a World Cup. And we've got a manager in Mauricio Pochettino, who is world-class, he was a world-class player, he's a world-class manager, he's got the passion, he's got the pedigree.
If there's a time to make some magic happen in America with the beautiful game, it's now.

**Gerard Gibert** (4:52)
It seems like it, and that's what I'm hearing from all the the experts on the matter, both in the normal media and in the sports media as well, the news media and the sports media, saying the same thing, similar analysis. And, you know, on the Business Channel, there's a few Brits, of course, that are anchors and hosts, and this is like Christmas to them, as you know.
And they're all being asked, well, who are you pulling for? You know, you ask their England, these are American citizens, of course, that legally immigrated into this country and were naturalized. But, and they won't answer that question. They say it's a tough one. They really won't say one way or another, but...