[laughs]

... 'cause it was so obvious.

Like, everybody.

But they got your tactical new.

You know, they always speak about tactical new.

Um, you know, anybody, um, watching that game play out, uh, uh, the last half hour of that game play out would've been screaming at their television saying, "What are you doing? What are you doing here?" You know? Like, you, the, the, England takes a, you know, you know, a beautiful goal.

Exactly the thing they played.

Like, what? His slugging percentage is down over 100 points from a season ago.

Mm

... to see a little bit of this firsthand, which was, uh, a spectacular experience in a lot of ways, and one that I...

Look, I, I never thought in my lifetime I'd see a World Cup game in Canada with Ca- you know, Canada, in a World Cup game in Canada.

That, um, that, that seemed impossible when they put in the bid originally.

I thought, you know, I remember when people started talking about Canada as a host, I said, "You know, they're delusional.

I mean, we can't qualify for the World Cup, really.

We're gonna host it?" But, you know, you think of, you know, where things have come.

But, uh, here on the ground in Canada, what do you think this tournament and this performance by the Canadian national team did for the sport going forward?

This is a truly great moment, and yet there's, people are, who are very down about what went down last night.

Yeah.

It, well, it, it felt, you know, well, it felt like there was an opportunity there for sure.

Now, look, the way things have broken and with South Africa beating South Korea last night, Canada ends up in a very winnable game in the round of 32.

Now, it's not at home, but it, you know, could've been way worse.

Like playing South Korea in Los Angeles would've been way tougher than playing South Africa in Los Angeles.

So they've, they've got a really good shot to get through to the round of 16, but boy, there, there's a lot of, a lot of questions [laughs] that came out of that game against Switzerland about the lineup and about coaching and about injuries.

Do you think that that becomes grating at some point for people who either follow the national team or just casual soccer fans?

Preset the station so it's always one tap away.

Yeah.

Well, it was just, you know, it, it was just the kind of that, that whole sense of intent going into that.

I, like, you know, like, you put all the qualifiers out there, right? Like, Qatar's not very good.

We, we know that, right? But they qualified for the World Cup.

You know, they've, they, they, you know, came...

They weren't...

I know all the, you know, the women, but on the men's side.

[laughs]

Like, a whole lot of nickels.

But, um, I, you know, I don't know that I've ever paid more for a ticket for anything, uh, than for that game.

But, you know, it was, it was very cool.

Um, it, the, the atmosphere around that match, the, the atmosphere inside and outside the stadium, um, you know, the Bosnian supporters were awesome and, you know, brought a, you know, kind of brought their own thing and, you know.

But the place was pretty much, you know, about 80% red, and, uh, it, it felt, you know, it felt like a World Cup game.

Like, I, you know, and I've been to a lot of World Cup games, but it, it felt like a, you know, like a, a home team being cheered on by a really good home crowd.

Yeah

Steven, how difficult do you think it'll be for Jesse Marsh to balance, you know, playing guys that are in form, at least with Team Canada, and then, you know, playing guys that have, you know, established themselves a bit more? Like, you know, you look at Uzbekistan in the first half, the guys that are established that have been there for a while didn't look as good as the guys like Nathan Saliba, for example, who came on in the second half.

Yeah, 100% true.

And it's a great point because it's a tricky pivot.

I think one of the mistakes that John Herdman made going into the Qatar World Cup in the end was that he was incredibly loyal.

Now, he didn't have the depth to work with that they have now that Jesse Marsh has.

He did not have the depth of talent.

So let's just establish that.

He said the luxury tax system has failed.

It does seem odd to me that this contract extension is being thrown out there before we ever see a kick of a competitive ball, essentially in 18 months for the men's national team.

Yeah, well, I was talking to some folks in and around Canada soccer last week, and I asked a question about whether they thought he was going to extend or they were going to extend him.

And, you know, people were kind of coy about it, but I certainly felt like they thought this was going to happen.

Look, there's a calculation on both sides here.

Because, you know, if Jesse Marsh goes in and Canada gets out of the group and wins a knockout game and, you know... you know, kind of defies even the kind of the more optimistic expectations for this side, Jesse Marsh could write his own ticket in a lot of different places.

And, you know, look, soccer coaches at that level are mercenary.

That's what they do.

I guess, do you think it'll kind of play out? where it's a game-by-game basis in the sense that if Canada wins their opener, then it's okay, like Alphonso, there's less pressure for him to need to rush back and they can kind of wait it out and wait until he's as close to 100% as possible.

How much, is there any estimate on how much, um, uh, how much, um, the, having the World Cup here will actually generate?

Well, there're, you know, those multiplier numbers that they always throw out, right? Like the economic impact numbers.

Now, the one thing where this is a little different, you know, they usually make up those phony numbers to justify putting public money into a stadium or an arena or something and saying, "Well, there's all this, you know, this new money." But, you know, and that's just generally, that's money that's just recirculating in the local economy.

It's like, you know, people take it out of their left pocket and put it in their right pocket.

It's not like they take it out of their savings account generally to buy tickets.

So you can redirect economic activity.

But with one like this that, like look, there will legitimately be a lot of people coming to Canada from other places who will stay in hotels and eat in restaurants and spend money for the time they're there.

What do they have, six guys on the disabled list right now?

of events here has

been has been strange and the, you know, and the kind of organizational pyramid is a little foggy right now.

Like I'm still not quite sure who reports to whom.

So that's one reason maybe why, you know, it wasn't dead obvious.

And the other one is, you know, again, it kind of depends on how you look at this stuff, but you know, let's say next season for the Toronto Maple Leafs isn't great.

You know, you need, you probably need somebody to throw over the side of the boat.

a certain point, you know, I know it's, it's super cynical, but you're paying the guy anyway.

Could you see any of this coming a few years ago, the popularity of women's sports?

... and try to make sense of it for us.

Well, where do you wanna start? Um, so yeah, so the, the, the Maple Leafs, uh, announced, uh, I guess on Sunday that they, that this was coming on Monday, that they, that, that was news came out that they had hired Cheka and they'd hired Mats Sundin.

And, um, and, uh, uh, they're gonna have a press conference.

They, the last Keith Pelley press conference, I believe we spoke about at length because it, it didn't go so well.

Um, and, uh, but he, uh, like, uh, uh, before we get to, say, Simmons and whatever happened there, here's the thing.

Um, if you're gonna announce those two hirings, the, uh, the John Cheka and Mats Sundin, you know, y- there's a couple questions that are coming, right? One is, you know, that whole thing about Cheka being suspended by the NHL and having not worked in the league since then, um, you know, you, you kinda have to have kind of a, a story about, you know, how you feel about the fact he was suspended and, you know, in a league that, you know, doesn't tend to suspend front office guys almost ever, right? Like, you, you know, with the Blackhawks they did w- 'cause they covered up a sexual assault.

But generally this is not something that happens.

Two.

... and try to make sense of it for us.

Well, where do you wanna start? Um, so yeah, so the, the, the Maple Leafs, uh, announced, uh, I guess on Sunday that they, that this was coming on Monday, that they-- then there was news came out that they had hired Cheka and they'd hired Mats Sundin, and, um, uh, they're gonna have a press conference.

They-- the last Keith Pelley press conference, I believe we spoke about at length, because it, it didn't go so well.

Um, and, uh, but he, uh, like, uh- uh, before we get to, say, Simmons and whatever happened there, here's the thing.

Um, if you're gonna announce those two hirings, the, uh, the John Cheka and Mats Sundin, you know, y- there's a couple questions that are coming, right? One is, you know, that whole thing about Cheka being suspended by the NHL and having not worked in the league since then, um, you know, you, you kinda have to have kind of a, a story about, you know, how you feel about the fact he was suspended and, you know, in a league that, you know, doesn't tend to suspend front office guys almost ever, right? Like, you know, with the Blackhawks, they did w- 'cause they covered up a sexual assault.

But generally, this is not something that happens.

It was pretty extraordinary that they, you know, tried to throw him out of the league, or threw him out of the league for a while.

Two.

Every day you listen is another chance to win

Best, he is a storyteller.

Uh, Stephen's a master storyteller.

The story last night in Tampa Bay with Brendan Gallagher coming out of, well, what would you call it, John? Purgatory.

Purgatory.

I knew the Catholic among us would come up with the word sooner than I.

[laughs] And to do what he did and get the Canadians going in a pivotal game five is almost beyond belief.

Uh, but, um, but Steven, it, it, it does feel like with what just happened with the Ottawa Senators and what's happened with the Leafs and maybe what's about to happen with the Oilers, that things are gonna get even more precarious in the days, weeks, months ahead.