Ken Early joins us from Boston for our weekly check-in, sharing his reflections on the tournament as the endgame comes into view. He also gives his take on the zealous furore engulfing Brazilian media since the seleção's exit.

Closer to home, Malachy Clerkin and Gavin Cooney are in studio to look ahead to the weekend’s quarter finals games. 

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Egypt’s two-goal lead should have been more, but in the end they were made to bow to the sheer weight of inevitability. Was it fate alone at work here? Or was there a human thumb pressing on the scales?

After FIFA's litany of missteps this week, perceived contentious calls are more up for debate than ever. When the game's governing body is torching its own credibility, even the conventional decisions start to look loaded.

Dave Hannigan joins us from New York to run through last night's matches, and gives us his take on the many World Cup conspiracy theories up to this point. 

Produced by Rob Sutton

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Paul Howard and Malachy Clerkin are in studio to review the events of last night and the rolling catastrophe still engulfing FIFA. 

Meanwhile, Keith Duggan was in Dallas to see Spain pip Portugal last night. The defeat also draws the curtain on Cristiano Ronaldo's (not-so) storied World Cup career, forever missing the one prize that eluded him to the very last.

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FIFA has rescinded the red-card suspension of USA star striker Folarin Balogun, clearing him to face Belgium tonight. They did so, primarily, at the request of President Donald Trump. The fallout has been messy: bodies like UEFA have condemned the decision in the strongest possible terms, and things will likely only get stranger from here.

Miguel Delaney, chief football writer for The Independent and author of the superb "States of Play," joins Paul Howard to pick apart the saga and where it goes next. Miguel also reports back from the Azteca, where England marched into the next round by handing Mexico just their third home defeat there in 90 games.

Plus, Kevin Kilbane joins us from Vancouver, where the co-hosts' run at the tournament is over. Though not without another Jesse Marsch zinger or two.

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Fridays tend to run giddy on the America 2026 podcast but make no mistake, this World Cup is barrelling into the serious business end now.

Malachy Clerkin is in studio to keep an increasingly delirious Paul Howard company. Kevin Kilbane joins us from Canada, where the tournament's stay is drawing to a close. Though not without leaving an enduring mark on the country's culture, and on Kevin's star power.

Paul also caught up with Ken Early in New York last night, who shares his reflections on England, hearts of darkness, and the champions-in-waiting: France.

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Congo fought valiantly, but twice they couldn't deny Harry Kane, who now has a high-altitude clash with Mexico at the Azteca to look forward to this Sunday.

Gavin Cooney and Paul Howard are in studio to round up the last couple of days. They can see clean through Harry Kane's dives as well as Thomas Tuchel and Anthony Barry's party line. Unfortunately for Gavin, though, the same can't be said for the little surprise Paul has in store for him.

We also look ahead to Spain v Austria at 8pm and Portugal v Croatia at midnight, before what might just be the loneliest fixture in football: Switzerland v Algeria at 4am.

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Killian Sundermann - comedian, podcaster and crestfallen Germany fan, joins Paul Howard and Gavin Cooney in studio to explain exactly what went wrong for his boys, and to offer a message of hope and direction to his fellow suffering Germans.

Japan, meanwhile, threw everything at their footballing mentors Brazil before falling to a late Gabriel Martinelli winner. They didn't sparkle but perhaps, like a good Ancelotti side, they'll just keep finding a way to win regardless.

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The game itself, though, was… rather less dramatic. Gavin Cooney and Malachy Clerkin join Paul Howard in studio to pick back over a mixed bag of a group phase, one marred by FIFA's baffling choice of format. Iran and South Korea crash out, while ties like Algeria v Austria slid into farce as teams gamed the bracket.

Plus, we look ahead to the rest of the round of 32, kicking off with tonight's slate: Japan v Brazil, Germany v Paraguay, and Netherlands v Morocco.

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Paul Howard checks in with correspondents across North America, starting with Kevin Kilbane in Vancouver, who watched Canada's momentum get smothered by Switzerland. In Miami, Ken Early is in reflective mood, turning over how the Scots made such a mess of it, and why Brazil's fans so desperately want Neymar to have his ‘Messi in Qatar’ moment.

Plus, Jonathan O’Brien unpicks a quirk in this year’s format, one that harks back to one of the strangest and most consequential episodes in World Cup history.

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Howard, Cooney and Clerkin are back in The Irish Times studio to suss out where England’s Premier League 25/26 approach went wrong for them last night, if this really affects anything about the tournament and why we’re waiting on Anthony Barry’s half time interviews like a Tony Holohan Covid case update. 

We also ask if Portugal’s game could be the worst 5-0 win for a team in history, and why Ronaldo and Jordan Henderson might be the actual goats of this tournament. Just not in the way you might think.

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Paul Howard is joined in studio by Malachy Clerkin and Gavin Cooney - the Messi, Mbappé and Haaland of sports podcasting - to unpack the night's action. As well as Luther Vandross, Britpop, and why Cristiano Ronaldo may prove to be the Enoch Burke of this competition.

Plus, Irish Times columnist Dave Hannigan joins us from New York to explore why the United States continues to struggle to produce a footballing phenomenon in the mould of Haaland, and how the Dunning-Kruger effect can apply to the confidence of the USMNT fan.

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Favourites Spain look to be warming up but questions linger over Lamine Yamal’s fitness. Co-hosts Mexico and the USA keep their momentum up, while Cape Verde find themselves knocking on the door of the next round. 

The Dutch, the Germans and the Japanese manage to keep their dark horse status intact but the widely faniced Turkey crash out in what’s been the shock of the tournament so far.

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Kevin Kilbane was at the game in Vancouver on televisual duties, we get his thoughts on what he makes of the co-hosts, the potential fallout of Ismaël Koné’s horror injury and how he reckons the groups are poised going into the second round of games. 

America 2026 lands in your podcast feeds at least three times a week throughout the tournament, free to everyone, wherever you get your podcasts.

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On paper, a 4-2 win over an old bogey side looks like the perfect way to open a World Cup. Add in the fact that this is an England team who have brushed aside everyone in their path en route to the tournament, and the mood should be euphoric. So why are the pundits, and even their own management, so slow to pat the team on the back?

Ken Early is one such sceptic. We catch up with him in Philadelphia after coming fresh from the action at Jerry World. Gavin Cooney, on the other hand, has a different worry entirely: that we may just have seen the tournament's future champions.

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We know it. For better or worse, sport has a way of melting away the woes of the world, and nothing has captured that quite like the last few days of America 2026. 

Mere hours after Iran were ushered out the country at the whistle of their opening group game, our gaze was swung to the twinkling brilliance of Mbappé, Messi and Haaland, who each smacked in a bag of goals to truly bring the tournament to life. Suddenly, all the off-pitch noise felt a world away.

Malachy Clerkin and Paul Howard are in studio and in the mood to revel through last night's action. We also catch up with Keith Duggan, who took in France v Senegal at the Meadowlands, though not before a detour to DC for UFC Freedom 250.

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The Scots are making a name for themselves in Boston, Curaçao caught a fleeting glimpse of greatness before being yanked firmly back down to earth, and tired national stereotypes are turned on their head by Japan's late equaliser against the Dutch.

Plus, we look ahead to today's action, which features our very own Pico Lopez lining out for his ancestral home of Cape Verde against tournament favourites Spain. A baptism of fire if ever there was one.

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Malachy Clerkin and the fresh face of Gavin Cooney join Paul Howard in studio to chat about the opening games, their watch strategies, and how much of a role these new-fangled "hydration breaks" might play in who takes home the trophy. 

Plus, we explore 2026 Derangement Syndrome, where even in our wildest World Cup fantasies, we still cannot imagine the Republic of Ireland as anything other than a gloriously middling team in this tournament.

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From reports of FIFA referees being turned around at the border to the Iranian national team being permitted nothing more than day trips into the country, it's the events off the pitch that have been dominating global headlines.

Irish Times Washington Correspondent Keith Duggan joins us from LA to pick through the situation on the ground, while Kevin runs the rule over what to expect from tomorrow's opening games and how the USMNT are shaping up with the weight of a divided US on their shoulders.

Plus, with so many Canadians having long preferred to back the countries of their family heritage over their own, is this finally the year Les Rouges truly become "Canada's team"?

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Paul, Kevin and Malachy discuss the state of play for both Mexico and Canada, as teams and as co-hosts of the 2026 World Cup. Can Mexico top their group to keep home advantage? Can Canada claim their first ever World Cup point?

We also chat to Andrew Downie, a foreign correspondent for Reuters based in Brazil and the author of a number of acclaimed sports books, including a personal favourite of Paul’s, "Doctor Socrates".

Andrew tells us how the 1986 earthquakes in Mexico City jeopardised the country's chances of hosting the World Cup last time round, how they managed to avoid losing the tournament, and the social and political ripple effects the disaster had on Mexican society.

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The Irish Times will publish episodes of America 2026 several times per week between now and the final on July 19th. Listen for analysis of all the football, digressions into World Cup history and coverage of the big stories happening inside and outside the stadiums.

On today’s episode Paul, Kevin and Mal preview the tournament. Who are favourites to win? Who are the players to watch? Is there any merit to the expanded number of teams competing? And are we allowed to enjoy this World Cup with all the political and ethical baggage attached to it?

Plus, Paul shamelessly name-drops while recounting his last World Cup final experience and Mal recalls his dressing-down by US president Donald Trump. 

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In part one we look at last night in the Aviva and Ireland's campaign as a whole. are we in a better place now? And what is Seamus Coleman's future in the Ireland setup?

In part two we look at the playoff deciders, where there were plenty of surprising results including Bosnia and Herzegovina beating Italy on penalties.

Finally we look ahead to some of the tantalising and not-so-tantalising matchups in the World Cup.

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• Belgium, World Cup 1998
• Turkey, Euro 2000
• Iran, World Cup 2002
• France, World Cup 2010

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• Ireland’s squad
• Handling the pressure of a playoff 
• How Ireland won back to back games against Portugal and Hungary 
• Match fitness and the impact of players not getting regular football 
• The Troy Parrott factor 
• The Czech team 
• Should we practice penalties? 
• Kelleher’s penalty-saving prowess

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America 2026 drops just in time for Ireland’s first (hopefully not last) playoff game against Czechia. To listen to the podcast, follow America 2026 on your podcast app - and look out for us on YouTube.

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