Editor's Note: "Fútbol y Soccer" is a bilingual podcast. Listen in Spanish to start, or jump ahead 4 minutes and 32 seconds for the interview in English.
The World Cup is a couple of weeks away, but this week on "Fútbol y Soccer," we're rolling back the clock with a legend of the game, and looking at what the tournament in Qatar means for one of the biggest clubs in world soccer.
In the first half of this episode, famous Colombian goalkeeper René Higuita talks to Jesús Quiñónez about the Colombian national team failing to qualify for Qatar 2022 and his memories as a soccer legend in South America. The mastermind behind the famous "scorpion" kick hasn't lost faith after Colombia was eliminated in the qualifiers, and says he trusts the decisions of coach Néstor Lorenzo despite the harsh criticism he's received.
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"He knows what he has to do, and we are going to support him because [the Colombian Soccer Federation] are not going to bring someone who doesn't have the knowledge and ability to manage a national team," Higuita said in Spanish.
On the second half of the podcast, we have Elliot Smith, cohost of the ArsenalVision Podcast, who shares his deep knowledge about the many Arsenal players to keep an eye on at the World Cup.
For Smith, holding a World Cup in the middle of most clubs' soccer season will have an effect on the players.
"We have seen World Cup failure really impact players almost permanently...I've seen players have their careers really damaged by World Cup disappointment. I think, while it can also lift you if you perform well — then the question becomes, you know, if you scale the mountain", Smith said.
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