Welcome to the Total Soccer Show and our review of Saturday's 2020 World Cup quarterfinals.

Now, we're going to get to the action shortly, but first, we wanted to take a moment to talk about some tragic news the US soccer community received last night, as we were recalled, in the

passing of Grant Wall. He was a friend of the show, he was a friend of ours, and his work, as

you all know, did so much to elevate the status of the beautiful game in the United States.

Now, the quality of his work, it speaks for itself, but for me and the TSS group and countless others, it was the quality of his character.

It was the quality of his kindness. It was the quality of his compassion that truly shone through.

Now, it's been a very strange day, but the internet today has been full of stories from countless people of his kindness, of his helping

colleagues and friends when he didn't have to and when most people wouldn't. And that's

something I've certainly experienced firsthand from him as well. So I feel a loss to the game,

but mostly the loss to the community of a thoroughly decent and selfless person. We saw tributes in the press box during the England

France game on today's broadcast and some very emotional tributes on the broadcast itself today.

It's been a Taylor Rockwell. It's been a very tough day. It really has. When the news broke last

night, it felt like it couldn't be real. It couldn't possibly be real.

Grant is a great guy. He was 48. He was young and fit and very vibrant. And I really hoped that it was a very, like, horrific hoax in the end that was not to be. And so I found myself today, like, it's just one of those things that keeps kind of coming back, even when you're, like, playing with my daughter or watching soccer, eating pizza. It's like all these happy moments and that it just keeps coming back that here's this person who meant so much to so many people who isn't with us anymore. And Grant is a guy who got me into, like, wanting to cover soccer. I remember reading the Beckham experiment and it was this sort of

sort of salacious tale of the LA Galaxy and why it wasn't working with David Beckham. It obviously

did then go on to work, but it was a sort of insight into you can cover soccer but make it

interesting and make it approachable. And I remember getting to meet Grant for the first time in the

lead up to the 2010 World Cup.

And I sort of like very hesitantly handed him a business card because I thought, like, that's how you get your foot in the door.

And he was very gracious and very kind.

And he has always been that.

When he left Sports Illustrated, we had the privilege of working with him and helping him launch football with Grant Wall.

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