MidDays with Gerard Gibert 2026-07-06

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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 Alamant Wealth Studio, guiding you through the middle of your day with facts, fodder, and fine music, with the voice a little under the weather today, Rhino.

**Rhino** (1:19)
Howdy, howdy.

**Gerard Gibert** (1:20)
Good morning. I left Thursday and I hit me after the show. Weird. Better today, but still recovering a bit.
All right, tell the folks what you got on today.

**Rhino** (1:32)
Well, I'm wearing my usual American attire in honor of our Match Day. Today, we will be playing the US versus Belgium tonight in the round of 16 knockout round matchup being played at Sounders Field in Seattle.
7 o'clock kickoff on Fox. I've got my American flag shirt on. I've got my outlaws bandana. I've got my headband on.

**Gerard Gibert** (1:58)
Outlaws. I love it.

**Rhino** (1:59)
American outlaws. Yeah, I even got my American flag shades on, if you're watching on C-Spire TV.

**Gerard Gibert** (2:04)
I love it.

**Rhino** (2:05)
You can see them there. They're hard to see through, so I'm going to take them off while I do my work here.

**Gerard Gibert** (2:09)
What time tonight?

**Rhino** (2:10)
7 o'clock.

**Gerard Gibert** (2:10)
Okay.

**Rhino** (2:11)
I think the pre-game festivities are supposed to kick off on Fox around 5 That'll be right after the Spain and Portugal matchup, which should the US prevail tonight, they'll take on the winner of that early matchup between Spain and Portugal. Spain is considered one of the tournament's favorites to win it all.
Portugal has world-renowned soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo on his farewell tour at the World Cup. So that should be a good match to watch. But yeah, all eyes on the US men's national team tonight after the really surprising news that broke yesterday around lunchtime that US striker Florian Balligan, Flo Balligan, has been allowed to participate. His one-game match suspension from the red card he got against Bosnia has been suspended by FIFA. Lots of gnashing of teeth from the Belgians in the soccer world at large thinking that somehow there was some favoritism played for a host nation.
But the way I see it, it never should have been a red card. There's nothing in the rules that allow you to appeal a red card. But there is Article 27 in the FIFA rule book that allows FIFA to suspend any additional suspensions for foul play such as a red card. And the precedent has already been set at this World Cup by none other than the previously mentioned world renowned soccer star, Cristiano Ronaldo, playing for Portugal. He got a red card during qualifying for the World Cup. And FIFA came along and said, Oh, well, you got a red card, you got these games suspended for it, but we're going to suspend your suspension. So you can play in the group stage of this World Cup. So he hasn't sat out a match. So now, Flo is getting to play tonight, and he's not having to sit out a match.

**Gerard Gibert** (4:03)
And what about Mexico going down?

**Rhino** (4:07)
That was a heck of a match. If you missed it last night, you missed probably the most exciting match of the World Cup so far, which is saying something, because when we started off the lineup with 104 matches in this World Cup, we're down to 12 Wow.
It's getting down to the needy gritty. And England showed a little bit of what the US has to look out for tonight. When you're playing a quality team and you have a mental lapse or a defensive breakdown, they can punish you and they can punish you quickly. England went ahead 2-0 in the famous Estadio Azteca at Altitude in Mexico City last night. And Mexico valiantly tried to fight back, couldn't quite have it, couldn't quite make it against a 10-man England team. They went down 3-2. It's only their third competitive loss at Azteca.
But that means the US is the last host country standing.

**Gerard Gibert** (5:05)
Now, was this a surprise, England defeating Mexico?

**Rhino** (5:08)
Not really. I mean, if you look at the rankings, if you look at it on paper, England has more stars. They've got more top-tier talent than this Mexican squad.