Man United players to shine at the World Cup?
Talk of the Devils: The Athletic FC's Manchester United show
The Athletic
4.6 • 771 Ratings
🗓️ 4 June 2026
⏱️ 74 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
As Talk of the Devils heads toward our well-earned end of season break (albeit we've one more fun treat for you before we do), it's time for us to take a look at the 2026 World Cup.
Man United players would usually be headline acts but this renewal, hosted by Canada, Mexico, and the USA, looks a little different. There's plenty of interest, of course, but it's unclear how central the club's players will be to their national teams beyond Bruno Fernandes and one or two others.
Will Kobbie Mainoo force his way into the England XI again? Can Mazraoui's Morocco outdo their 2022 semi-final? We look at every group through an MUFC lens before picking teams in a draft game we'll be tracking throughout the tournament.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Athletic F.C. |
| 0:24.7 | This is Talk the Devils, The Athletic Show dedicated to Manchester United. |
| 0:29.1 | Coming up today, we're going to look ahead to the 2026 World Cup finals. |
| 0:34.4 | Obviously, with a Manchester United perspective, we're going to preview what the players are going to be up to. We're also going to take a look at what else to look out for for Manchester United fans as well. |
| 0:39.3 | Because actually this World Cup, as we'll talk about, hasn't got huge ramifications necessarily for United. |
| 0:46.0 | But obviously that will then have an impact on planning for next season, on the transfer window. |
| 0:50.2 | And we'll talk about all of that as well. |
| 0:52.2 | Right. |
| 0:52.5 | In the studio here in Manchester, we've got Carl, we've got Critch, we've got Andy joining us at home as well. We've got a little game which you can join in on as well coming up later on in the show. It's a World Cup draft which should be a bit of fun, so that's something to look forward to. but first of all, first of all, sorry, Carl, this is the biggest World Cup ever |
| 1:13.3 | in terms of |
| 1:14.0 | the number of teams, |
| 1:14.9 | the number of, fun so that's something to look forward to but first all first of all sorry Carl this is the biggest |
| 1:12.6 | world cup ever in terms of the number of teams the number of games how long it lasts for um |
| 1:18.2 | and you've all got lots of different things planned aren't you basically you're all going to be here |
| 1:22.7 | there and everywhere yeah yeah so i'll be headed out to chicago for the first two weeks of the |
| 1:26.7 | tournament making a show with a bunch of our other very talented workers at The Athletic. I think you can see the show on Amazon when it eventually gets launched if you're based in North America. So any tips, recommendations for the seat of Chicago, please let me know. Then after that... |
| 1:41.1 | Musicals are good. |
| 1:42.3 | Thank you. That's a very good joke. |
| 1:44.5 | Yeah, go. |
| 1:44.9 | Thanks. |
| 1:46.6 | After that, I'm joining Critch with for some... |
| 1:50.0 | And I'm joining you as well for a couple of shows in London. |
... |
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