# You have to respect the football: Gavin Cooney and Malachy Clerkin on the start of the knockouts, history for Canada, and 'Peak Ball'

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/america-2026-a-world-cup-podcast-7773210/you-have-to-respect-the-football-gavin-cooney-and-malachy-clerkin-on-the-start-of-the-knockouts-history-for-canada-and-peak-ball
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/america-2026-a-world-cup-podcast-7773210/you-have-to-respect-the-football-gavin-cooney-and-malachy-clerkin-on-the-start-of-the-knockouts-history-for-canada-and-peak-ball.md
Podcast: [America 2026: A World Cup podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/america-2026-a-world-cup-podcast-7773210)
Published: 2026-06-29T11:41:18+00:00
Episode link: https://shows.acast.com/irish-times-sport/episodes/you-have-to-respect-the-football-gavin-cooney-and-malachy-cl
Audio file: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/69ab015a6ffdcd8188961ba6/e/6a4259de81f451b905e27643/media.mp3
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Duration seconds: 2763

## Resource

Jesse Marsch's team stand as Canadian heroes to rank alongside Céline Dion, Justin Bieber and Tim Horton after last night's win over South Africa in Los Angeles - the nation's first-ever World Cup knockout victory, and perhaps the dawn of a brave new world for Canadian soccer. The game itself, though, was… rather less dramatic. Gavin Cooney and Malachy Clerkin join Paul Howard in studio to pick back over a mixed bag of a group phase, one marred by FIFA's baffling choice of format. Iran and South Korea crash out, while ties like Algeria v Austria slid into farce as teams gamed the bracket. Plus, we look ahead to the rest of the round of 32, kicking off with tonight's slate: Japan v Brazil, Germany v Paraguay, and Netherlands v Morocco. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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