Andres Cantor is heading into his 15th World Cup and this one is unlike anything that has come before it. One hundred and four matches, 48 teams, 39 days of competition, and Telemundo carrying nearly double the hours of coverage that Fox will broadcast in English. Baker Machado asks the legendary announcer whether an expanded field this size dilutes the intensity of the tournament, or whether the group of death phenomenon can even survive a format this large.
Ticket prices are drawing outrage from fans and FIFA president Gianni Infantino has essentially told critics to stop complaining. The sporting director of the US Soccer Federation just left for Saudi Arabia two and a half months before the tournament begins. Baker gets Cantor’s unfiltered take on both, including what the timing of Matt Crocker’s departure actually signals about the state of US Soccer heading into a home World Cup.
Then there is Messi, who Cantor called a before and after moment for MLS when he chose Inter Miami over a $400 million Saudi offer. With 75,000 fans packing a Denver Broncos stadium just to watch him play, Baker asks what MLS has actually learned from the Messi era and whether any of it translates when he is eventually gone.
