Joe Bell

Ah, too good.

But yeah, uh, 3-all, great result for Joe Bell as well, who played 85 minutes of that game, Daniel.

But listen, we should get into the A-League.

Uh, it kicks off Friday night with Sou- uh, Sydney FC versus Western Sydney Wanderers.

And as you mentioned earlier, uh, we've got Champions League action on this morning, uh, round two of the group stage.

And there is a massive upset boiling in Norway where Viking, uh, or Viking if you like, uh, with Joe Bell, the All White in central midfield-

Yeah

... two-nil up over Bayern Munich.

Rick?

Yeah, and it was a big game in Norway.

As I mentioned earlier, Viking, featuring Joe Bell and Gianni Stensness, were 2-0 up at half time.

Bayern came back and were 3-2 up, had a man sent off, and then on the 90th minute, Viking equalized.

Now, it's not to say that he can't do it, but if he is one of these guys that could arrive late into the box on a run, he will do damage as well.

Another guy to know is New Zealand's Joe Bell.

He plays an important role in Viking's midfield as well.

He helps connect the defense to the offense.

But Bayern Munich's pressure is a whole different level than what he is used to seeing.

[laughs] You know, I think Bayern's press is probably gonna look to try and cut off his passing lanes, because most of Viking's attacks do start with him.

If Joe Bell can get going, if he can get in motion, and he's able to get confident, it could be a, a very tough time for the Bavarians.

W- Another guy to know, I think, is another forward, Erik Botheim.

I would think, uh, he would be a, a, a nailed on starter, wouldn't he? Um, I think they've just got to work on their structures and defensive midfield to try and get players back.

Again, Joe Bell, I think probably goes into the starting line-up as a holding midfielder, which gives them a bit more solidity there.

So I think there's, uh, enough playing strength around if they can get their systems and structure right.

As you mentioned, a few players given different opportunities that maybe they wouldn't have otherwise.

But the one thing that he does do is because he's the, he is the distributor for the Phoenix, right? The ball tends to go through him, is that he always takes one more touch than he needs to, and you've got time to do that at A League level.

You don't have time to do that at international level, and he's been found out.

But that said, I think if Joe Bell and Ryan Thomas are available, then he's not gonna be on the park.

Well, the, the one who, and I'm glad Chodi mentioned now, he probably has to be starting, is Behn Old.

No, sorry, not his uncle, his father.

I thought it was his uncle actually, but... we will uh i'll check into that anyway he's related to that player uh alex roofer was selected for the squad we also had a likely candidate in joe bell or joseph bell and he also was selected for the squad and then uh one other candidate here seemingly off the squad uh fin roa conchi or fin conchi uh on the uh ofc nations 2024 squad, but not selected for this Cup.

In fact, that was his last appearance for the national team.

We'll come back and introduce Rufer and Bell there, but let's populate the central midfielder list.

And we begin with Marko Staminic.

He is a definite candidate and is selected.

So his participation does merit a definite candidate and he is selected.

but again it can be a bit deceptive in terms of thinking of him as a starter.

You talk about some of the players, you talk about Dane Ingham coming back and you're like, wow, there's a name that you'd sort of forgotten about a little bit.

There's a team with no Crocombe, no Joe Bell, no Ryan Thomas, no Tim Payne, no Michael Boxall, no Sarpreet Singh, no Matt Garbutt, no Chris Wood, no Costa, no Tommy Smith and no Finn Sermon.

I mean, there's about two thirds of a squad there that you would probably expect to be there or thereabouts.

And, I mean, all due respect to those guys, it didn't feel like you missed too many of them in this game.

You probably wouldn't get away with that in a game that you're not going to dominate.

Probably want another Joe Bell or someone like that in there or Ryan Thomas in there to give you some extra defensive coverage.

But it wasn't a problem against China because we're able to control the playing, especially after scoring early.

So just to see them winning away from home, not in a neutral venue, but away against a crowd of entirely, it wasn't actually a very big crowd, but entirely Chinese support what was there.

Because it's usually player loading and management stuff that's the consideration here.

It's not just like the clubs are being mean.

No, Joe Bell is exhausted because he hasn't had a break since the World Cup.

So let's just...

That's one part of it, right? Yeah.

a lot of athletes listening to this want to be professional athletes they want to go and compete at the highest levels what traits did they have that you could just pick up from a mile away and say I get it like the boxers the Joe Bells these guys what did they have was it like trading without ego was it what was it

Yeah, good.

I think like you can use like I didn't work with Joe Bell, but I remember very vividly Joe Bell like he was a Herman Trophy finalist.