meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
Alexi Lalas’ State of the Union Podcast

BEST BITE: John Strong on calling Messi vs Mbappe in the best FIFA Men's World Cup Final of all time

Alexi Lalas’ State of the Union Podcast

FOX Sports

Soccer, News, Sports, Sports News

4.41.1K Ratings

🗓️ 24 May 2024

⏱️ 6 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This week, John Strong joined Alexi Lalas and David Mosse to chat the 2022 FIFA Men's World Cup Final, his relationship with Stu Holden in the booth, and much more. Make sure to check out the full podcast in your feed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

I want to take you back to December 18, 2022, Lucille Stadium, Argentina, France.

0:06.0

I know you're focused on your job, but at any point during those 120 minutes,

0:10.0

can you take a step back and process the fact that you were calling one of the momentous sporting events of all time?

0:16.0

And a hush over 88,966 stands at the sale stadium.

0:21.0

Gonzalo Montreal can win the World Cup for Argentina with this kick.

0:29.2

Yes! You know two ways I'll answer that Stu fairly recently texted me it was one of our

0:41.4

late night texts and he said he had just watched

0:44.9

back the highlights for the first time of that final. I said oh I've watched them

0:48.2

a good hundred times. Whenever I get bored or need a mental reset I'll watch

0:51.6

back the highlights and remind myself, oh my gosh, how incredible was that?

0:56.3

But what you're saying there is something I've gotten a lot better at, and it's something I struggle that really in my career

1:00.8

is I would get so tense and I would just twist myself into this

1:05.2

nod of anxiety of I have to be perfect to prove myself tonight and I got a lot

1:09.3

better in the spring of 2018 of doing exactly that gosh this is amazing and I get to be here and I get to do this.

1:15.6

And if I make a mistake and they take it away from me, well at least I got to do it.

1:20.4

And trying to enjoy and soak in those moments more and that's been a very

1:24.8

intentional thing I've done and so absolutely going into the game we knew this is going to be great

1:29.9

one way or the other I have a distinct memory of in the second half it was

1:34.4

two-yel Argentina and they cut to I forget who precisely it was but it was one or

1:38.8

two of the guys who had won an 86 up in the VIP tribunal and in my my head I'm going, okay, 15, 20 minutes left.

1:45.0

Argentina is up 2-0.

1:46.1

Let's start shifting towards big picture storytelling

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from FOX Sports, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of FOX Sports and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.