MAJOR GARRETT:
00:01:02
And World Cuppers, come on, get excited about tomorrow. England and Norway. Argentina-Switzerland. Come on, it's a great Saturday. I can't wait, I can't wait. Look, I think England and Norway has the potential for some upset.
MAJOR GARRETT:
00:01:17
Who do you think the favorite is? England. All the pressure, I think, is on England. You hear the fans chanting around the country and around the world saying it's coming home. It's been since 1966. Norway haven't made the tournament for 28 years. 1998 was their last timeout making the tournament.
MAJOR GARRETT:
00:01:35
So they're playing with house money. Yeah, and they've got Erling Haaland, who's become the breakout star of this tournament from a sort of non-soccer, football perspective. He's been incredible. Manchester City. One of the best strikers in England, probably the best striker in England. Now maybe the best striker in the world. And this is Messi's moment. It has been this entire tournament. Yes, Haaland has been the breakout star, but Messi has re-established or reminded everyone why he's the GOAT. That's the incredible part. He has nothing left to prove. It's already done and dusted. I watch him every week in MLS. Inter Miami, I call their matches often. It's just incredible to see the voracious appetite that he has, still, at this age, to continue to push forward. Rescuing against Egypt that late goal-- they scored three goals in the last 15 minutes-- just driving them forward and the entire world. This is like The Last Dance with Michael Jordan right now. We're watching it in real time. Calen, give me your eulogy on the Men's US national team. Oh, I knew that question was coming, but it was a really sad ending to what had been a beautiful beginning of this World Cup, with the national team really pushing forward. They had that amazing start against Paraguay, a 4-1 win. Did you believe they were real? I did, yeah,. I know these players. I know the character of the group. I've seen them often begin through the youth academies in MLS. Tyler Adams stands out to me as a guy who grew up here in New York, now playing in the Premier League. He was one of the captains, the emotional leaders of this team, alongside Christian Pulisic and others. In that big moment, they let themselves down. I think that's something they're going to have to live with. But still, I think the impact of what they were able to do, just bringing some hope and that sense of belief to this tournament, will have ripple effects for generations. We've got a little bit more than a minute, Calen. I want to get your sense. VAR has come under tremendous scrutiny in this tournament. Do you think it will be re-examined afterward? I think so. I think it has to be. Because goals have been disallowed that people thought, wait a minute, that's never been a thing before. Yeah. And the--
MAJOR GARRETT:
00:03:29
They've been disallowed before, but under the circumstances that VAR interceded had never been seen before. And it's when they're interceding. I think that's the part that needs to be looked at again, because the original intent of video review was to stop a clear and obvious error. But we found now that's a really slippery slope of, how far back? What's a foul? What's in slow motion? I think that's where we really have to get back to the original intention of, OK, clear red card, or this was given to the wrong person. But once we get down to these little millimeters or freeze frames, I think that's where we go off track. Because the game is a fast-moving, highly physical game. And if you're going to flyspeck every single frame, you're going to be calling fouls relentlessly. Yeah, I think it's too much. We want the beautiful game to have a little bit of that. There's always going to be arguments. There's always going to be controversies. But we don't want to go down into the nitty gritty and take some of the joy away. I think that's the little line we have to be careful of moving forward. And it will be examined post-tournament, but enjoy it while it's going on. Calen Carr, great to have you here. Thank you so much, sir.