 Welcome to ToffeeTV. It is the second of our Whale Cup previews. It's Group B, it's Portugal, it's Spain, it's Morocco, it is Iran. Thoughts on this group, Baz? Interesting. Well, I mean, I think what is good about this group is that two of the heavyweights of the tournament face each other straight away in Portugal and Spain. Friday night, it's going to go off big time. After Morocco and Iran have played the third game of the tournament Friday afternoon. It's, it's, it's, um, exciting. It's, it's a, I mean, it's a stacked group, isn't it? Let's be honest. Portugal and Spain, obviously Portugal, current European champions. They've got Ronnie in there. They've got a handful of household names. Um, Ronaldo's sort of, I suppose it is. It's interesting, isn't it? Because we put all this pressure on Messi to win a, gotta win a, gotta win a Whale Cup. Got to win a Whale Cup if he wants to be considered the greatest. I don't think I've ever heard anybody say Ronaldo's got to win a, win a Whale Cup. I don't think I've ever heard that. But the people put him in the shame. Some people do. Some people say he's the greatest. Now I know, but I think in a, no more round of conversation, I think Messi's compared to Maradona and Pelle. Um, for this dribbling antics and his goals and stuff, antics, antics. Uh, his dribbling ability rather, and his goals and stuff, whereas Ronaldo. I don't think that, I think people think he's a, he's basically a fantastic footballer. I know whether he's actually put in that bracket with Pelle and with Maradona. I don't. No, I don't, but then some people do seem as... Well, people do, and people will say that, but Messi's won the Copa America, I think, hasn't he? No, he has, to be honest. Sure he has. Or if, oh, me, that would be, if he did, that would be the equivalence of what Ronaldo's won. So, you know, it's the same argument for Ronaldo, surely? You know, if he used to be... Well, it's his last, it's probably going to be his last Whale Cup. Yeah. Well, he's 33. And it, it probably is actually, it's not, he's passed, he's passed his peak, isn't he? He's passed his best. But then, you know, the way the Whale Cup is sort of, go back two years to the Euros, no one expected them to win. No. You know, they got to be by Iceland, just made out of the group, and yet went on and won it, and he didn't even play the full game in the final, he played what first 20 minutes and then went off injured. Then coached the team. Attacked by moths, if you remember rightly. And then coached the team, basically. Didn't see Salah doing that. He did score the winner, didn't he? He was fucking gathered at Swansea. So, I don't know, I don't know whether... I expect them to get out of the group, but I don't expect big things from them. Because I don't think, apart from Ronaldo, I don't think they've got a goal scorer, as such. I think they've always struggled with it. I think they've always put just good sides. But never had that goal scorer, and then obviously Ronaldo come to the four. So, that really helped. But I don't know if they've ever had that real goal scorer who could take them up to the next level. No, that's been a problem for them. They've always had good players, like Charisma. They've had some of them, some of them, it was the big thing. And, you know, Ability's been a jam routine, you know, go back, they had huge players like that. But the strikers were always, like, held the posture, you know. They'd come in to top them and got one goal. You know, the odd goal, and they've never had it, like you say it, and now goal scorer, really, with all their ability as being spread around the pitch, but never really, and probably where they needed it, you know, at the peak time. He's the one, but they needed another one with him, because he's only really gone in to be in the centre for, but in his latter years, you know, he was a player, he was a player, he played off the striker though. And I think they needed someone to take the physical elements away from him to allow him to do his thing, and he'd never really had that. Spain are an interesting team because obviously having won, you know, a World Cup, a couple of European championships, and then four and flat, you know, last time out. I don't know how much is expected of them, but because there's not that much expected of them, you know, you look at the side, you look at the players and you think, you know, they've still got a really good team, they've still, they've got, I think they've had to change the style slightly with Costa being up front. You know, but they've still got so much talent in that squad. I mean, the talent they've left out, incredible. So the talent they've got in it, and it'll be interesting to see them in the group stages, to see how they put it all together, and if they can find. I mean, in the past it was, you knew what you were getting, you were getting that, that press and style, but added with the tiki-taka. The tiki-taka, but added with, you know, seeing Vamos there, you know, you added with that kind of a steel, a bit of steel and a bit of directness when they needed it, but it was just such a fantastic football inside. And, you know, the way they, when they beat Italy 4-0 in the Euros, it was just ridiculous how good they were. But so I think the group stage, I think it's an interesting group stage because obviously you're having Portugal in there, I suppose they're in there, in terms of levels in terms of location. And then having two sides that could present challenges because they could shut up shop, or they could be a little bit more, and Morocco, like me as a team, that might be a little bit more physical. Iran, I imagine, probably would be physical as well. So, but they might shut up shop, and that'll be interesting to see if they can break them down, I think they, that gives them all the key ingredients to have, you know, whether they can put it all together. Do you know what I mean? I think that's better than having a group where it's like easy, because I don't think you ever find anything out about yourselves if it's easy. I don't mean to be fair, I don't think you very, you get easy games at this level anyway. No, the groups, you see groups and you go, should be, that's a comfortable group. And the games don't always pan out exactly how you expect to, you know. I think Spain, you're right, they were outstanding in the 0-8. Yeah. You know, they won the World Cup in 10 and the Euros again in 12. You know, that team was just absolutely brilliant, you know. And they were always, I don't want to say they buttered the jokes, but they were always, they've got no battle, they can't put it together, they've got talent to play, they clicked, you know, and they went on and on and on, and they have had to, they have had to change the way they play now, they've got it. The wealth of talent, but at the top end of the pitch, you know, there was Torres and there was David Villa, you know, and Dief. But it was also Javi, and he was still in there. And they had Pedro at times, you know, these smaller, faster players. Now they've got a physical presence of Diego Costa who will cause problems for teams and they flank him with players who can get goals as well. So, but they still got the ability in the midfield. They've got, you know, that level of control that they're technically a brilliant side. But they could go, you know, either way, couldn't they? The ability is there for them to win it quite comfortably, but if they don't, if they're not heavy in terms of the goalscoring. I think, I think they've got, at some point in the group, I think they get off to a good start. You play Portugal, you know, first game, in some respects that's a good thing, but in other respects, if they were to lose the game, you know, to go on up against a brand who broke the record for the 12 consecutive playing sheets in qualifying. So, they're quite... No, that's wrong. It was North Korea who broke the... Was it? Yeah, yeah, they've... They've never lost a game, have they? Never lost a game, have they? Well, I'd be welcome, pardon me, go on to Kim Jong-un. So, they're obviously, defensively, very, very disciplined, you know, and I shouldn't have known they're going to come out all guns blazing against those sides. You know, they probably look and think five points could get us out the group here, and they may, the first game against Morocco, they... Well, that's what's interesting for the flipside of those two, it's those two, because, again, when we spoke about group A and the way that panned out, this is similar, you know, Morocco and Iran. If that's their winnable game. If they can get that win in that first game and then suddenly go into that second game, you know... Especially if the winner of that one plays a deluser of... You know, well, it could, obviously, it could happen. But if the winner of one against the loser of the other, and then all the pressure suddenly is on... It's a pressure game, isn't it? It could be interesting. You know, get a draw in that and you four points up. I mean, both, you know, both Morocco and Iran have got... They've got players to look out for. Morocco have got more household names than what Iran have. You know, you talk and see each other, and Ajax, who's been linked with editing, quite a lot of fantastic player, good ability, you know. Direct, we've seen him being brilliant on the way through the Europa League final last year. You know, he hasn't quite been the same with our David Lassen. No, but, you know, he's a very, very good player. There's Bernatiet at Juventus, the centre-back, so he's obviously playing at a good level. So there's players who we know. We've all so singled out. Seices at Wolves, so people... Morocco are obviously... They're a nation who are... You can see Morocco from Spain for a start. You can. I mean, that's actually... That's two dabbies. Well, technically, Gibraltar's not... Well, let's not get into that. But you can, on a clear day, you can see Morocco from... Oh, well, you're not two dabbies. You can see Morocco. So actually, that's two dabbies. That's two dabbies. But Morocco, because they are right on the tip, it is that mix-up, like a European... You're just thinking of El Hadji. You're thinking of El Hadji. You're thinking of Hassan Khashou. But what's interesting about Morocco is they almost straddle three continents. Because they're right on Europe. They're in Africa, and you've also got... You've got the Middle East. You've got Asia. They straddle from their location. So you get different influences. A lot of their players come to Europe, and you have a lot of players from that area who are... I don't want to say European rejects, but when you look at people, it seems like Algerian and Tunisian and these kind of... They have a mix. They have play... They are the sons of people from Europe and things like that. So there's a lot of different styles. They have a lot of technical plays in there as well. So that'll be a good game. Especially in Spain, that'll be an interesting match-up of different cultures and stuff. You know, picked out a couple, Gem Basque, I think he's broke the record for African player in Europe, I think it is. 21 goals last season for AZ. No, that's Kim Jong-un again. Again, you're right, yeah. He scored 21 goals for AZ, in the Eredivisie, and there's also Tereymi, who's got 11 in 25 at international level, but he's a bit of a hothead. But he's a very, very good player, quick. And there's Gadas who played against Arsenal, for us to undo, who's very good as well. So they've got players that can hate you, but I expect there will be more discipline than what Morocco will be in terms of staff from the defensive point of view. Keep it tight. But the interesting thing is, like you said, the key games are almost the first game. You've got to be brave, haven't you, in your first game? For both of them, although they say never lose your first game in these tournaments, when the next two games are Portugal and Spain, you've got to be brave, because you can get the win, like you said. Because we've seen teams do that. I think New Zealand did it four years ago, didn't even have the tournament undefeated. Three draws. You win the game, you've got the three points. Because if you ever win, you know, if you can win that opening game, essentially, you can make a point and it's off both of those. Five points you threw. I think, anyway, I know, Morocco, sorry, Spain and Portugal, could quite easily be both of them and have six, but you're giving yourself a good chance with the five points on you. So, who knows? Yeah, it looks like a good group, one of the C-stats on the Friday. 15 to 20. So, yeah. Two key games, the key games in the group. The opening game. That's the first day of Group B. Do you hear that? There you go, Group B, sorted, let us know your thoughts in the comments if you have any thoughts. Is there anyone we missed out? Any names that we should be talking about? Who is going to be the star man for each of these teams? Let us know your thoughts in the comments. New Slush fact. Morocco managed the Cambridge United for 25 games in 2004. Did you not believe a slack? I didn't believe it. You're not the first one. I'm the first one. Yeah, I'm the first one. See you later.