{"podcast":{"title":"The Game","slug":"the-game-1066443","podcast_index_feed_id":1066443,"rss_url":"https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/0fc6a233-bbae-4ba5-b882-c075544353a8","website_url":"https://www.thetimes.co.uk/podcasts/the-game","image_url":"https://assets.pippa.io/shows/61ba0e501a8cbe71d83cf13e/1781622185758-e35264ad-4a4c-4124-b920-75949a523cf7.jpeg","author":"The Times","episode_count":1380,"summary":"The thinking fan's football podcast, providing previews and reviews of all the action - every Monday and Thursday. Listen to the best of The Times and The Sunday Times journalists as they cover the biggest sport on the planet; from winners to losers, who's in and out on the transfer roundabout, tactical developments, data analysis and the dreaded VAR. Hosted by Tom Clarke and Gregor Robertson alongside special guest appearances, the team bring you the latest on the Premier League and the EFL, as well as a front-row seat to international tournaments including the Champions League, European Championships and World Cups. We know football isn't life and death. It's much more serious than that. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.","last_synced_at":"2026-08-01T06:20:51.825312+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-game-1066443"},"episode":{"title":"WORLD CUP 2026: THE CONTENDERS","slug":"world-cup-2026-the-contenders","published_at":"2026-06-05T10:30:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-game-1066443/world-cup-2026-the-contenders","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-game-1066443","url":"https://shows.acast.com/timesthegame/episodes/world-cup-special-the-contenders","audio_url":"https://sphinx.acast.com/p/acast/s/timesthegame/e/6a21a0c017f169d643ed16fc/media.mp3","summary":"If England don't win it who will? France, Spain, Portugal are all among the favourites, but only one European team has ever won in the Americas...can they change that? Lionel Messi will be at his sixth World Cup, can he lead Argentina to defend their crown?   Brazil have gone twenty four years without a World Cup, can ageing talisman Neymar and the experience of manager Carlo Ancelotti guide them to the final? Who are the dark horses - Senegal, Japan, Norway, Ecuador... And lastly what of the rest, the first timers, the romantics choice and the rank outsiders.  Tom Allnutt, James Gheerbrant and Paul Hirst join Tom Clarke to asses the best of the rest. We're here with our daily update show from Friday 12th June and we'll have a USA and the hosts special next week. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.","meta_description":"If England don't win it who will? France, Spain, Portugal are all among the favourites, but only one European team has ever won in the Americas...can they…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3456,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-game-1066443/episodes/world-cup-2026-the-contenders/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-game-1066443/world-cup-2026-the-contenders.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}