{"podcast":{"title":"America 2026: A World Cup podcast","slug":"america-2026-a-world-cup-podcast-7773210","podcast_index_feed_id":7773210,"rss_url":"https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/69ab015a6ffdcd8188961ba6","website_url":"https://shows.acast.com/irish-times-sport","image_url":"https://assets.pippa.io/shows/69ab015a6ffdcd8188961ba6/1780681462154-fc175257-2434-4578-a2bd-b3fd5a9937f0.jpeg","author":"The Irish Times","episode_count":32,"summary":"This is a new podcast from The Irish Times covering the 2026 World Cup in Mexico, Canada and the United States. Join former Irish international Kevin Kilbane and journalist and host Paul Howard for all the big stories, match analysis and special guests. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-21T08:19:10.403868+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/america-2026-a-world-cup-podcast-7773210"},"episode":{"title":"World Cup final preview with Ken Early in New York","slug":"world-cup-final-preview-with-ken-early-in-new-york","published_at":"2026-07-18T04:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/america-2026-a-world-cup-podcast-7773210/world-cup-final-preview-with-ken-early-in-new-york","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/america-2026-a-world-cup-podcast-7773210","url":"https://shows.acast.com/irish-times-sport/episodes/world-cup-final-preview-with-ken-early-in-new-york","audio_url":"https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/69ab015a6ffdcd8188961ba6/e/6a5acd7c78e0412bc6495b05/media.mp3","summary":"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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.","meta_description":"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 wh…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2888,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/america-2026-a-world-cup-podcast-7773210/episodes/world-cup-final-preview-with-ken-early-in-new-york/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/america-2026-a-world-cup-podcast-7773210/world-cup-final-preview-with-ken-early-in-new-york.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}