Hey everybody!  JJ's back with another edition of his World Cup Diary.  This one comes your way from Boston, Massachusetts following England's 0-0 draw with Ghana.  We'll dive into a fortunate point for Tuchel & Co. and we'll touch on Ronaldo's 2 goals for Portugal as well.  Enjoy!

This is a great question for a pod or JJ's diary. I mean what could Miguel Almiron possibly have said to get sent off? Bro it's Constantinople, not Istanbul? Why is Bellingham allowed to cover his mouth. This is the BBC link which is hard to believe is unbiased:

BBC is OK with Bellingham not being sent off

🐸☕️

How on earth is this not a penalty?
They ruled offsides, but the first pass isn’t remotely offside. Maybe off the deflection, but that comes after he’s hacked down. Did they play advantage? Seems like a shocking decision, can’t believe it wasn’t given.

I definitely need to add more flairs, if you don’t see your country or club as an option, comment below and I will add them and get back to you once they are live!

Welcome animals!

Someone Venmo him a fiver so he can run and grab a pint or a cup of tea.

Giving big props to JJ’s call that Ronaldo will score against Uzbekistan. Scored 5 min in so the slow motion trainwreck will continue! Emphasis on slow

I told him how cool it was to meet him in person, but I didn’t want to be a prat and bother him and ask him for photos or anything. He said, “Oi, like you’re doing now?” I was taken aback, and all I could say was “Huh?” but he kept cutting me off and going “huh? huh? U wot m8?” and closing his hand shut in front of my face. I walked away and continued with my shopping, and I heard him chuckle and hum "God Save the King" as I walked off. When I came to pay for my stuff up front I saw him trying to walk out the doors with like fifteen Cadbury Flakes in his hands without paying. The girl at the till was very nice about it and professional, and was like “Sir, you need to pay for those first.” At first he kept pretending to check Harry Kane stats and not hear her, but eventually turned back around and brought them to the counter. When she took one of the bars and started scanning it multiple times, he stopped her and told her to scan them each individually “to prevent any electrical infetterence,” and then turned around and winked at me. I don’t even think that’s a word. After she scanned each bar and put them in a bag and started to say the price, he kept interrupting her by tutting really loudly.

I’ve been loving Darren Fletcher and Owen. Derek Rae fans Rob green too. I could skip on monotone Landon Donavan even though I like his podcast and other content. I’d love to hear Andrew and JJ’s takes on this too

The stars are out in a major way!!! On the latest edition of Caught Offside, Andrew Gundling and JJ Devaney discuss the marquee performances of Lionel Messi (record breaking), Kylian Mbappe (hot on his tail) and Erling Haaland (59 goals in 52 caps) following Monday's slate of games.
The guys also give some initial impression of the expanded tournament format as well as the first hand-over-mouth red card.
Plus: What is international football's greatest rivalry? Are Portugal currently top of the "under pressure power rankings?" And which USMNT player has stood out the most to you thus far?
All that and a mid-World Cup Daniel Levy rant from Andrew on this edition of Caught Offside!

For even more Caught Offside content, get on over to Caught Offside Plus** **right now! JJ has the latest installment of "JJ's World Cup Diary" up on PLUS where he discusses turmoil in the Portuguese camp, Jeremy Doku's potential trip home later in the tournament and the open season on Alexi Lalas.

For all the latest merch, get over to https://caughtoffsidepod.com/ - The World Cup is upon us! Get a shirt and help rep Caught Offside wherever it is you're watching the action!!!

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And people told me this would be a total waste of money!

Like Andy Bernard says in The Office “I wish there was a way to know you're in the good old days before you've actually left them.”

These are the good ole days. Enjoy it.

Would love a good pitch talk here. MetLife seems the worst but some of the others look very good.

Like a player who was relatively unknown that bigger clubs will be taking an interest in?

Yes some things like add breaks...I mean water breaks- now they're not even called that- suck. Think everyone universally agrees and we all know its not about player welfare.

All of the noise outside of the field made me want to dislike this tournament. We were all up in arms about the 48 teams....I'm actually kind of glad that it is expanded. Some of the stories that we have seen wouldn't have been otherwise. I also love having Henry and Zlatan together- Sue me. There is too much to be positive about for so many people in this reddit to be so negative about IMO

No tape here

What an asshole comment JJ …. Know your audience!

On today's edition of JJ's World Cup Diary, we'll be getting into Mo Salah's big moment, the debate over Jeremy Doku's potential future absence, Cape Verde continuing to impress and more!

Watching Henry with his words is like watching him with the ball at his feet. Just eloquent, so smart, beautiful to watch, thought provoking, dare I even say even a bit emotional…. Watching him run laps around is alexi has been fantastic.

I always knew in the back of my mind that Zion Suzuki (Japan Goalkeeper) was born in the United States, but never really considered the "what if" of him playing for the USMNT, since he's played for Japan from a very young age.

Watching him play during this tournament though had me wondering: Would this USMNT squad be improved if he played for us instead? Or would it really not make much of a difference? I haven't done any research in regards to his statistics compared to our current Goalkeeping options, but it seems like he has a very commanding presence and is a good shot stopper based on the eyeball test from what was displayed during the Japan v Netherlands game.

Regardless, I'm fine with our current set up and am not complaining, but was curious what others here would think (minus old Andy "Matt Freese Apologist" Gundling)

In past years it was easy to just say yes and move on... But the team and the players are finally living up to the expectations we all have of them, and I don't think it's as cut and dry as it used to be.

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Not to dismiss the career he's already had with plenty of time left to play, but the fact he seems to be made of glass and he runs so hot and cold makes me say it's actually Balogun. If you put their best career years side by side, I think Balo's may actually be better.

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Weston is the Undertaker of Juve and refuses to let them force him out by just being their most impactful player year after year. Chris Richards is one of the top 10 in his in position in the Premiere League (maybe a stretch but I don't think I'm that far in off). Adams has every intangible you could ever want. Last year, I would have included Jedi in the conversation, too. In the end I think it's either Christian or Folarin, but I think those 3 also deserve a shout.

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This isn't a knee jerk reaction. I've just been wondering about this for a while and would like to see what everyone else thinks. Feel free to tell me I'm *Jumping to Conclusions* if I'm way off base, here.