America 2026: A World Cup podcast

España son los campeones del mundo.Argentina’s white knuckle ride through to the final of this World Cup met its match last night with ruthlessly proficient Spanish display. The individual star power of Messi came up against a solid collective set up and though they left it late, there was only ever going to be one winner on the night. For the last time in the series, Paul Howard is joined by Kevin Kilbane and Malachy Clerkin to chat about what wasn’t a particularly spectacular final despite the amount of star power Fifa attempted to cram into the event. And with that, World Cup 2026 is in the books. Thank you for listening! 

Former footballer, manager and full-time raconteur, Roddy Collins has been many things to Irish football.He's also the star of The Rodfather, his memoir written with our own Paul Howard.To celebrate World Cup final day, Paul and Roddy take the chance to revisit the tournaments, players and moments that changed their footballing lives. 

Lionel Messi’s international football career wasn’t always a litany of heroic victories and dressing room anthems. For most of his time in sky blue and white he looked more likely to go down as a busted flush. An iconic club player who left his home too young and therefore severed the connection he could have had to his national team. The wheel has well and truly turned and he now finds himself just one game away from back to back World Cup titles in what will be his last tournament at international level, if the song is to be believed. Standing in his way is the ruthless professionalism of Spain and the man he once washed in a bathtub as a baby, Lamine Yamal. Ken Early is in on the ground in New York and gives us his thoughts going into the game, how likely it is that we get a finale anywhere close to 2022 for drama and why Spain should win but he’s reluctant to go against Argentina.

England led midway through the second half of last night's World Cup semi-final in Atlanta. Thomas Tuchel, seemingly satisfied with his evening's work, made the fatal error of hauling off his attacking options to cram the box with central defenders. In doing so, they handed Argentina the lion's share of possession with Leo Messi still prowling the pitch. You tend to get exactly what you deserve in these situations and England were picked off, beaten 2-1 inside 90 minutes.Gavin Cooney took the game in at an establishment just outside Liverpool, and reports back, a little bewildered, from amid a surprisingly fervent pocket of pro-English support.Kevin Kilbane joins us from Toronto to unpick Tuchel's baffling tactics, how to heal his fractured relationship with Bellingham, and what it takes to see out a slender lead late in the biggest games. 

Spain haven't lost a competitive game since Scotland beat them in March 2023. Tonight's win leaves them just a single match from breaking Italy's record unbeaten run of 38 games. Oh, and from lifting a World Cup trophy too, of course.In the end, Spain's structure and patience proved far too much for France. They were ruthless in midfield, picking apart the soft spots in the French line-up and doing the unglamorous things well. You'd be forgiven for thinking they wore the look of the rightful favourites. A title they’ve been quietly holding onto all along while our attention was pulled elsewhere.Malachy Clerkin and Paul Howard took the game in from the studio, while Keith Duggan joins us from the stadium in Dallas, Texas.

England are through to the World Cup semi-finals, and still nobody can say quite what they're good at, or what they're trying to do exactly. Now that Jude Bellingham has established himself as the squad's main man, will his clashes with Thomas Tuchel and his coaching staff prove England's undoing? Or is it precisely the kind of kinetic charge that carries a side all the way?Miguel Delaney has the inside track, having shadowed England throughout the tournament. Kevin Kilbane also knows more than a thing or two about dressing-room scuffles between big personalities.Elsewhere, Argentina looked leggy but ground down Switzerland after another draining slog through extra time. Spain, meanwhile, might just be peaking at exactly the right moment with France waiting for them tomorrow night.Produced by Rob Sutton 

France thumped Morocco with relative ease last night, laying bare just how wide the gulf still yawns between the plucky underdog and the ruling classes of world football.Ken Early joins us from Boston for our weekly check-in, sharing his reflections on the tournament as the endgame comes into view. He also gives his take on the zealous furore engulfing Brazilian media since the seleção's exit.Closer to home, Malachy Clerkin and Gavin Cooney are in studio to look ahead to the weekend’s quarter finals games. 

Yet another moment, yet another highlight reel, yet another memory for us all - courtesy of Leo Messi's remarkable football career.Egypt’s two-goal lead should have been more, but in the end they were made to bow to the sheer weight of inevitability. Was it fate alone at work here? Or was there a human thumb pressing on the scales?After FIFA's litany of missteps this week, perceived contentious calls are more up for debate than ever. When the game's governing body is torching its own credibility, even the conventional decisions start to look loaded.Dave Hannigan joins us from New York to run through last night's matches, and gives us his take on the many World Cup conspiracy theories up to this point. Produced by Rob Sutton

The American Dream is over. The United States, perhaps laden down with the sheer weight of the swirling situation, limped to a 4-1 defeat in Seattle. A result which ends their campaign and potentially the administration’s interest along with it. For all the strings pulled to drag Folarin Balogun back onto the pitch, their exit was a quiet, deflating end to the loudest week of the World Cup so far.Paul Howard and Malachy Clerkin are in studio to review the events of last night and the rolling catastrophe still engulfing FIFA. Meanwhile, Keith Duggan was in Dallas to see Spain pip Portugal last night. The defeat also draws the curtain on Cristiano Ronaldo's (not-so) storied World Cup career, forever missing the one prize that eluded him to the very last.