MidDays with Gerard Gibert 2026-07-02

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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 Friday Eve. I'm surprised you're not adorning some sort of celebratory attire today, man. What about it?

**Rhino** (1:26)
The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
Oh, man. That was exhilarating. That was infuriating. That was overwhelming at times. And I might have drank a little too much. I'm feeling it this morning.

**Gerard Gibert** (1:44)
I love it. Well, you're entitled to it, because the American soccer team prevailed last evening. And so I share with the folks the stats the last time they were in an elimination match.
How many years ago? Only happened one time, right? This is number two. The US.

**Rhino** (2:03)
Men's National Team has only ever won one other knockout round match. And that was way back in 2002 against Mexico.
And oddly enough, it was the same score line, two to nothing. So this was our second knockout round match in history. Second with a two nothing score. And we're moving on to the round of 16 Monday night against Belgium.

**Gerard Gibert** (2:25)
Right. They took down, of course, Bosnia and Herzegovina. That's pretty cool.
And without a player, right, for a part of the game.

**Rhino** (2:34)
Yeah, that was the infuriating part, is because Flo Balligan, our star striker with three goals, who is also breaking records because we haven't had somebody score three goals in a tournament since 1930 We haven't scored this many goals in a tournament as a team ever. But he got sent off with a red card in like the 65th minute. After VAR called down to the ref and said, hey, go look at it. And he looked at it in slow mo. And yeah, in slow mo, it looks bad. But if you talk to anybody with half a brain, that's not a red card. It's a yellow card. He fouled him. But it's not a red card. It never should have been a red card. But once the ref goes to the monitor, they're watching it in slow mo. And they're going to see it. And it's going to look awful. And he's going to give the red. So, Baligan's out for the next match. It's a bit of a blow. But I have to give a lot of kudos to Mauricio Pochettino and the way he's coached this US men's national team. Because the second that red card was announced, you could see the maturity and the professionalism in the players on the pitch. They didn't freak out. They didn't lose their minds. They didn't start screaming at the ref.
They were stone-cold killers, just stone-faced, gave their props to Baligan telling him, we got your back. As he walks off the pitch, they're reorganizing and setting up to play 10 on 11
They had to bunker down and play defense in a match where they were on the front foot, where they were playing offense and controlling the ball for most of the match leading up to that.
But that level of maturity and professionalism to see out the game, and then to get the foul right outside the box later in the match and have Malik Tillman, the son of a service member, step up with a bloody foot. He had to replace his cleat on his right foot at half time because he got stomped on. But no, that wasn't a foul, Mr. Brazilian Ref.

**Gerard Gibert** (4:42)
And as you know, it sparked quite the conversation world wide. I mean, that's the thing about this particular sport, you have to recognize, we all in this country, we watch a football game and we see a bad subjective call.
And it's the subject of discussion in the country. But this is getting attention across the globe because it's the World Cup. And they're all discussing this.

**Rhino** (5:05)
And I gotta go back to Malik Tillman. He scored a free-kick goal in the World Cup for the USA that's like spotting a unicorn. That's only ever happened once before, too. And that was way back in 94, that was Eric Winalda. So we've now got two free-kick goals at the World Cup, two knockout round wins at the World Cup. Both of the knockout rounds were 2-0. So I'm feeling good, I'm just a little exhausted, and I'm not yet antsy for Monday. I'm sure that'll come over the weekend. Because Belgium is a good team. They're ranked 9th in the world in the FIFA rankings.