00:01
Welcome to Kevin's English Room Podcast.
Hello.
Hey, guys.
So, the World Cup first match versus theNetherlands.
Yes.
This morning.
I couldn't wake up until 5am.
But I saw the highlights.
So, spoilers for the people who haven't watchedit.
But I'm sure the episode is going to be out like amonth from now.
So, everybody knows what the results are.
But we're going to talk about it.
Yes.
So, 2-2.
Yes.
What do you think?
Well, not bad. Honestly.
Not bad?
Not bad at all.
Shouldn't we be celebrating a win?
I mean, I see all these people, even the team andall the commentators are like,
Yes, 2-2. That's great. That's great.
To me, I don't understand what's so great about a2-2.
What's so great about that?
So, first of all, the Netherlands opponent wasvery, very strong team.
So, even like draw against them is like...
It's a great thing as a result.
I see.
They're one of the greatest individuals in thewhole tournament.
I see.
But not giving him a win was like a huge success.
And we also got one point.
So, if you win, you got three points.
And you draw, you got one point.
And you lose, you got nothing.
I see.
Oh, that's what they meant by...
I don't understand what that meant.
I see.
So, we're not in the group stage.
So, we're in the group F against the Netherlands,Sweden and Tunisia.
And Japan.
And top two countries will be able to qualify tothe tournament.
And even like third one has a possibility toqualify to the tournament.
So, you don't have to win all games.
All you need is just get those points and don'tlose.
That's very important.
I see.
So, out of the group F, there's four countries.
So, two gets to go to the final tournament.
Yes, automatically.
What do you mean by maybe three?
So, we have eight groups.
No, 12 groups.
We have 12 groups.
And every top two countries from each 12 groups
will be automatically go to the next stage.
And you have like third countries.
03:00
You have 12 third countries, right?
Yes.
So, from 12 third countries, eight of them will bequalified to the next stage.
It's how many goals you get.
How many goals you lose.
It's very complicated.
So, eight of the 12 countries will be able toqualify to the next stage.
So, yeah.
So, that means more than half of the countries,
just a little more than half of the countries thatare competing right now,
gets to go in the final tournament.
Yes, yes, yes.
So, we are 48 countries in the World Cup finalsright now.
And the 32 countries will get into the next stage.
Oh, I see.
Okay, so I guess I understand.
I guess right now the goal is to be in thetournament.
So, when you get in the tournament, the pointsreset?
Yes. When you get into the tournament, it's goingto be just a simple battle.
If you win, you win. You lose, it's done. It'sover.
I see. That's why in draws, sometimes there's akind of, you know, the kick.
Yes, penalty shootout. Yes, yes.
You know, one by one, they kick.
That's why sometimes they have that and they don't.
Oh, I see.
So, in like group stages that we're in right now,it's okay to draw.
You've got one point.
I see.
And that's okay.
Oh, I understand.
Yeah. But when you're in the tournament, you haveto decide which one is the winner.
Oh, gotcha.
So, you have to do the overtime, you have to dothe PK penalty shootouts.
Oh, gotcha.
There has to be like, you know, an actual winner.
Yes, yes.
I see. So, one point for, you know, theNetherlands as well.
Yes.
Wait, is that...
Are we the first people, country to compete withinthe team map?
Yeah. It was at the same time they did... So, wedid Japan against Netherlands.
And at the same time, they did Tunisia versusSweden.
And Sweden won.
Yes.
So, as it is right now, Sweden is the number one.
They got three points.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
06:00
Yes.
Yes.
We have to win this game.
Okay. If we don't, we can't draw.
No, no, no. We have to.
If we draw, we get two points.
Yes.
And Holland...
Sweden.
One of them versus Sweden?
Yeah. So, if Netherlands will win the game againstSweden,
Netherlands will get four points.
Sweden, three points.
And Japan, two.
Sweden won. Tunisia won.
So, then you definitely have to win the final gameagainst Sweden.
Then you'll be all right.
Okay. All right.
So, yeah.
I understand.
But in Group F, the Netherlands is the top, thehighest-quality team.
And the second is Sweden and then Tunisia.
So, against Tunisia, you have to win.
Got it.
What about the ranking? Is there a ranking of thecountries?
Yeah.
Is Japan higher than Tunisia?
I think so. I think so.
Okay.
I see.
And, yeah.
So, Netherlands, everybody knows Netherlands isone of the very, very strong team.
So, for us, like for Japan, draw is like decentresult.
It's okay.
I see. It would have been a shocker if we'd won.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like, yes, you did it, kindof.
It's like a huge...
Like a giant killing.
It's like that.
But against Sweden and Tunisia...
Is it winnable?
Yeah.
It's winnable and we have to win.
Yes.
Then it's going to be a tough game because youhave to win.
It's like it's difficult.
If it's okay to draw, you can just like kind oflike chill.
You don't have to have to like go and get goalsand everything.
And take on like the physical risks of injury.
Right, right, right.
I understand.
So, next two games will be like you have to winthese games.
So, it's, you know...
I see.
Stressful.
And yeah, you know.
High pressure.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I saw an interview of the team of like...
Taisho no...
Oh, captain? Yes.
Endo-san.
Really? He wasn't there?
So, he got injured.
Right before the game?
Yes.
I guess three, two, three days just before thefirst match.
Very unfortunate.
Yes.
And so, he left the squad.
Okay.
And we invited a new player.
Okay.
Could that be...
Could the new replacement be Mr. Matoma?
No, no, no.
Is that impossible?
No.
We got Machino-san.
The striker.
Ah, I see. I understand.
So, that's...
09:02
That's a very...
It's a shocker.
That Taisho-san.
Yeah.
Endo-san.
Yeah.
Why?
Because...
So...
You know, injuries...
It happens.
It happens every time.
It's a natural thing.
It's something...
It happens.
Yeah.
But the thing is, he left the team.
And at the same time, he informed through hissocial media
that he retired from the national Japanese team,Japanese player,
日本代表引退
and captain引退
at the same time.
That's something very...
Not normal.
And he didn't, like, did any speech in front ofall the players.
But he just left quietly.
So...
Yeah.
So, are people speculating something?
Yeah, yeah.
We don't know what was happening inside the team,but...
Yeah.
I don't know.
But people are worried that something terrible ishappening on the inside.
Is what people are kind of speculating.
Because something like that is very irregular.
Maybe the manager and the captain wasn't in a goodrelationship, maybe.
Or, like, they fought with each other, maybe.
I see.
Yeah, that's what people are, like, saying.
And that's why he got, like...
He went to, like, a big news shocker.
But...
I mean, honestly, nobody knows.
Nobody knows.
But my guess is just...
The manager, he has to do the decision.
If one player isn't, like, available, like, fullyavailable.
Then you need somebody that can play fully.
Instead of him.
So he has to do those kind of decisions.
Like, very, you know...
Stressful, like, decisions, I guess.
And I understand at the same time that Endo-san'sside, that he's been a captain.
The captain.
For the Japanese team for a very long time.
And he's been the captain.
And then, like, just injured.
I think he could...
I don't know how many percentage he could playfully, but...
But, you know, it's a once-in-a-lifetime thing.
And you suddenly, like, know that you cannot play.
And coach told you that you have to, like, go outfrom the team.
And I can imagine, like, how tough it is.
I see.
The decision made by the coach kind of was, youknow, a little bit something that he couldn't...
12:02
You know, wasn't mentally ready for.
And kind of ended up in a really big kind of outlash or something.
I see.
But, like, both sides, the coach did something heshould do.
As a coach, as a role.
He made a manager decision.
But at the same time, I understand the other side's side.
He's been with the team for a long time.
I see.
Because he can stay.
Even though he's out from the squad, he can staywith the team and do some, I don't know, whatever.
But he left.
I see.
There had to be some sort of a friction there.
But he's not some type of guy that, like, become apanic and, like, you know, those, like, emotional...
Very calm.
He's, like, always calm.
So that type of guy, like, did that.
It must be very, very tough for him.
I see.
You know, the jersey that I have of the Nihon Daikyo?
That's Endo-san's.
Oh, really?
I love Endo-san.
So it's tough for me, too.
Right.
It sucks that you can't see him on this World Cup.
I see.
And, like, imagine what's inside of his mind andstuff.
I see.
Man.
So we lost Mitoma-san and now Endo-san.
It's getting kind of tough now.
Yeah, we lost Minamino.
What happened to him?
He's injured, too.
Oh, he's injured as well?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So we've got plenty of injured players, actually.
Oh, my God.
So we couldn't imagine we don't have Endo, we don't have Mitoma,
we don't have Minamino in this World Cup a yearago.
We couldn't...
When we said we have Rekidai Saikyou no Member...
Then we're all included.
Yeah, obviously they were in that name.
I see.
We don't know what's going to happen now.
But still, we did 2-2 against Netherlands, whichis crazy.
It seemed we could have won the game, actually.
Honestly, from my point of view, we could havewon.
I think we lost the point from, like, an easy, youknow,
disconnection, easy miscommunication with amember?
Oh, yeah.
Something?
Yeah, yeah.
Maybe I was looking at something else.
But yeah.
So the coach, Moriyasu-san, after the game, he hadan interview
on the pitch, you know?
どうでしたか?
And he said,
いや、勝てなかったのは非常に残念ですが
まあ、引き分けで勝ち点1が取れたのでよかったと思います。
That's what he said.
That's, I guess, honest opinion, like, honestfeeling of that game.
15:03
We were against Netherlands, like, one of the topcountries
but, like, we could have won, like, 勝てなかったのは残念。
It's like, it's very high level.
OK, OK.
Yeah.
Maybe 10 years ago, we, in the World Cup,
we did 2-2 against Netherlands, we will be like,
よし!勝ち点1がゲットできてよかったです。
Should be the comment.
But right now, like,
いや、勝てなくて残念でしたね。
We could have won.
Yeah.
Wow.
So, yeah.
I see.
Even though we don't have those, like, starplayers,
with a scant, but,
not bad.
Not bad. Not bad at all.
Oh, man.
Yeah.
And one serious worry is Kubo-san.
He's got injured in the, during the game.
Oh, fuck. What happened?
The knee, I guess, left knee.
Someone step on it or something?
Yeah, tackled it.
Kicked it? Oh, man.
And he was replaced
in the game.
He was like, you know, with the huge ice,
and he was like, walking slowly.
I see.
Oh, my God.
Another injured player?
Oh, my God.
When is our next match?
19日だったかな、I guess.
So we have about 4 days.
Yeah, for 5 days, yes.
No one fully recovered from that.
Yeah.
God, my pimple doesn't recover in 4 days, man.
God damn.
OK.
Yeah.
I hope he'll be OK.
Yeah, honestly, honestly.
Do we still have a chance that Mr. Mitoma iscoming to the game?
I don't know.
You don't know?
I don't think so.
OK.
Because, yeah, I don't think so.
I see.
Yeah.
Oh, man. Tough shit.
Yeah.
Tough shit.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Man.
Yes.
All right.
But this is what it is.
This is what it is.
You were talking about this like several monthsago.
Right now they're good, but you never know.
Their conditions might change, right?
Well, here we are right now.
All injured.
Yes.
Man.
But, you know, we have great, you know, fresh newstars.
Yeah, you would, you know, like, I forgot thename, but the guy who's very, you know, very like...
Oh, yeah, Shiogai.
Yeah, Mr. Shiogai.
And Mr. Nakamura.
Mr. Nakamura.
He is playing the left wing.
Uh-huh.
Mitoma's position.
Yeah.
And he scored a goal.
Yeah.
This morning.
So...
Oh, and the goalkeepers.
Yeah.
I heard very well with the...
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Mr. Suzuki.
Yeah, Suzuki.
Yeah, Zion Suzuki.
Yeah.
That's a great player.
I heard a joke on, you know, the world was talkingabout the Japan's goalkeeper
18:01
who was really doing well.
His name is Suzuki.
I mean, they thought it was like the Suzuki car.
You know how the Suzuki...
Yeah, like, you know, big and strong.
Right, big and like protecting.
Yeah, yeah.
Is that like a Suzuki car right there, you know,protecting the goal?
I heard a joke like that.
That's a good joke.
All right.
Thanks for listening, guys.
Bye-bye.
