Saturday 04 July 2026
Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer, Micah Richards, Christopher Eccleston, Joe Cole – The Rest Is Football
The Rest Is Football finally found its shooting boots again. Hurrah!
Christopher Eccleston was an excellent guest today, bringing something a little different to the usual football conversation. Add Alan Shearer back in the studio and, suddenly, the programme felt like itself again.
More of that, please.
Unfortunately, VAR has also rediscovered its form.
And not in a good way.
I’d suspected it would become increasingly involved as the tournament progressed.
Sure enough, it’s started sticking its nose into situations where it has no business being.
Poor Croatia were robbed.
Stay the fuck out.
The endless saga over whether England’s match against Mexico would or wouldn’t be moved was another glorious FIFA farce.
Move it.
Don’t move it.
Move it again.
Football’s governing bodies really do have a remarkable talent for making simple things unnecessarily complicated.
Then, of course, came the inevitable wall-to-wall England coverage.
Every outlet desperately offering us “the latest from the England camp.”
No.
Perhaps I’d quite like the latest from the Belgium camp.
Or Colombia.
Or anybody else for a change.
England remain the centre of the football universe, at least according to English broadcasters.
One thing I did have to do was remove Alex Aljoe’s contribution from the podcast.
As usual.
I simply cannot listen to her for more than a few seconds before reaching for the skip button. Sorry, but I find her irritating. And, I’m sure she would find me irritating!
Meanwhile, Messi eventually edged past the wonderful Cape Verde.
Trust me to stay awake through the rather drab first half before giving in and heading to bed.
Naturally, the second half turned into a World Cup classic.
The highlights the following morning confirmed I’d managed to miss all the good bits.
Typical.
Cape Verde, though, have been one of the stories of the tournament.
They’ve won plenty of admirers, me included.
I’m still waiting for Alan Shearer to utter his traditional line that England have “nothing to fear” from the remaining teams.
Then again, based on England’s performances so far, perhaps the remaining teams have very little to fear from England either.
I dread to think how they would react should Kane and/or Bellingham get injured.
For all the hype, this has become one of the most open World Cups in years.
Which makes it all the more frustrating whenever VAR decides it wants to become the main character.
The football is entertaining enough.
It doesn’t need the help.
WORLD CUP LOG #7
Manchester, England
The Listening Log 