Italy’s heartbreak, Potter’s redemption - and City v Liverpool in the FA Cup
The Totally Football Show with James Richardson
The Athletic
4.5 • 4.4K Ratings
🗓️ 2 April 2026
⏱️ 65 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Jimbo is back in the chair and joined by Duncan Alexander, Adrian Clarke, Natalie Gedra, with special guest Frida Fagerlund as the final six teams to play at this year’s World Cup are confirmed.
It’s disaster yet again for Italy after penalty heartbreak in Bosnia & Herzegovina. The Azzurri become the first ever former winners to miss three World Cups in a row. Where do they go from here?
There’s shootout joy for Czech Republic though who beat Denmark, Sweden see off Poland and Turkey are heading to the World Cup for the first time in 24 years after winning in Kosovo.
DR Congo and Iraq are also through to the group stages, and there’s another disappointing performance from England at Wembley.
Plus, it’s FA Cup Quarter Final weekend with Man City hosting Liverpool as domestic football returns.
RUNNING ORDER:
Part 1: World Cup Qualifying results (2:45)
Part 2A: Bosnian bliss and Italian misery (7:00)
Part 2B: Czech ecstasy and Turkish delight (18:30)
Part 3A: Potter's wizardry for Sweden (27:50)
Part 3B: DR Congo & Iraq (35:00)
Part 4A: England v Japan (42:20)
Part 4B: USA & Brazil (51:30)
Part 5A: De Zerbi at Spurs (58:00)
Part 5B: FA Cup preview (1:01:30)
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Athletic FC |
| 0:03.3 | Totally football show |
| 0:12.0 | World Cup ready |
| 0:13.4 | with finally all 48 nations |
| 0:15.7 | confirmed and Graham Potter too. |
| 0:18.3 | Today we're talking Turkey. |
| 0:19.9 | Are they dark horses? |
| 0:21.4 | It's never gone wrong before. |
| 0:22.8 | Sweden. |
| 0:23.6 | How? |
| 0:24.4 | Joy in the Balkans and are kicking them too for Italy after their Zenitsa knockout. |
| 0:28.7 | Plus, England, Japan, deserbiate spurs, FAA Cup quarterfinals and much more in this totally football show. |
| 0:43.9 | I'm going to say. on this totally football show. Thursday the 2nd of April. |
| 0:48.0 | It's a big hello to you listener on the show today from SkySport, Natalie Jedra. |
| 0:53.7 | Hello. |
| 0:55.0 | Hi to you, Natalie. |
| 0:56.3 | Duncan Alexander of The Athletic. |
| 0:58.6 | Hello. |
| 0:59.9 | Indeed. |
| 1:01.0 | Adrian Clark of the Handbrake off podcast. |
| 1:04.4 | And are we calling it the Breakdown YouTube channel, Adrian? |
| 1:08.2 | Well, yeah, the videos that I do are called The Breakdown. |
... |
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