US Soccer plays Netherlands Sunday in World Cup, and other sports news
Christian Pulisic of the United States is helped off the pitch after suffering an injury during the World Cup group B soccer match between Iran and the United States at the Al Thumama Stadium in Doha, Qatar on Tuesday.
Manu Fernandez | AP
It's time for sports! Let's turn to experts Wally Langfellow and Eric Nelson. Wally is the founder of Minnesota Score magazine and the cohost of "10,000 Takes" sports talk show. Eric is the other host of "10,000 Takes" and is also the Minnesota Vikings reporter for CBS Sports Radio "Eye on Football."
This week, Wally and Eric tackle the World Cup, Vikings and the Wild among other topics.
Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.
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Audio transcript
CATHY WURZER: Time for sports-- Wally Langfellow, Eric Nelson. Wally's the founder of Minnesota Score Magazine and the cohost of 10,000 Takes sports talk show on radio and TV. Eric's the other host of that show and is also the Minnesota Vikings reporter for CBS Sports Radio's Eye on the NFL. Guys, how are you?
WALLY LANGFELLOW: Good, how are you, Cathy?
CATHY WURZER: I am fine. Thank you. Eric how are you?
ERIC NELSON: Happy December, Cathy.
CATHY WURZER: And thank you on the very 1st of December. We appreciate hearing that. Let's talk Vikings. Wally, it looks like they are still moving forward. They-- I'm kind of excited now. I'm on the bandwagon.
WALLY LANGFELLOW: You jump back on after that horrific game against Dallas, huh?
CATHY WURZER: [LAUGHS] I did.
WALLY LANGFELLOW: Yeah, that was a disaster against Dallas at US Bank Stadium, but they bounced back on Turkey Day, beating the Patriots. And now with a 9 and 2 record, they will play the New York Jets on Sunday. A couple of injury notes. Defensive back Andrew Booth, second-round draft choice out for the season with a knee injury.
And left tackle Christian Darrisaw is still out with a concussion. He left the game early against Dallas, did not play on Thanksgiving, and will not play again this Sunday. So the Vikings a little bit shorthanded, but they seemed to overcome it against a very good Patriots defense. We'll see if they can do the same thing against a revived Jets team.
CATHY WURZER: Eric.
ERIC NELSON: Yeah, Cathy, the other thing about the Vikings-- right now, they have the second best record in the NFC behind Philadelphia, although they trailed by 1 and 1/2 games because Philadelphia knocked off Minnesota in week two. So even though the standings would say they're one back, they're actually 1 and 1/2 back based on the head-to-head game.
But the Jets, as Wally said, are much improved. They're 7 and 4, and they're right in the thick of things in the AFC East. So this game has huge meaning to the New York Jets. It'll be the third straight home game for Minnesota at US Bank Stadium, the house of noise, as I call it.
And it's a rare appearance for the Jets in Minneapolis. They only play here once every eight years. And of course, a lot of the focus will be on Justin Jefferson of the Vikings. He's had a fabulous season. He's in MVP conversations, and he continues to garner attention. [? J-Jeffs, ?] as they call him, is the cover story on espn.com today. They have a huge takeout feature on Justin Jefferson. So if you want to read more on the young electric receiver, there's a plug for espn.com.
CATHY WURZER: [LAUGHS] He's great. Say, Wally, should I worry about the T Wolves now that Karl-Anthony Towns is injured?
WALLY LANGFELLOW: Well, not if you watched last night. I mean, they seemed to play with some extra energy. They win 109-101 over Memphis. Memphis, of course, is a team that they lost to in the postseason last year.
But something that Eric and I talked about earlier this week on our show, that Anthony Edwards and some of the other players, this opens the floor for them and maybe an opportunity for Anthony Edwards to show his talents, the same talents we saw a lot of last year, have not seen quite as much of this year.
He had 29 points last night, 17 of them in the fourth quarter. It's not to say they won't miss Karl-Anthony Towns, but they will have to adjust. They adjusted last night with some high energy. They still were missing a couple of guys last night. And they did not get much out of Rudy Gobert, their big trade acquisition in the offseason. He got into early foul trouble, only had 9 points and one rebound.
As you mentioned, Karl-Anthony towns out for six to eight weeks with a calf injury. They're back in action again on Saturday against Oklahoma City. The Wolves with that win last night snap a three-game losing streak, so they are back to .500 again, which they're going to have to be over .500 if they're going to make the postseason. That much we do know.
CATHY WURZER: Exactly. Say, Eric, I don't know if you've gone to any of the watch parties, but we have a bunch of listeners who love soccer. What about the World Cup?
ERIC NELSON: Yeah, and folks in the US, they're basically giddy right now, Cathy. They are in the knockout round, of course. The United States got that 1-0 win over Iran the other day. So they've advanced, and Team USA plays the Netherlands Saturday in Qatar.
Now, a lot of the concern centers around Christian Pulisic, who had that game-winning goal against Iran. He got injured. He's got a pelvic injury, and it's a contusion. And he said today he's going to do everything in my power to be out there on the field Saturday against the Netherlands.
And he's a fabulous player. He's in the English Premier League, which is the highest level of soccer. He plays for Chelsea. He's the face of the US team. And they're going to need Pulisic if they want to keep on winning and advancing in the World Cup, which would be something that I think would really excite people from coast to coast, especially if they win on Saturday.
CATHY WURZER: Yeah. We'll see what happens with that. And you, of course, Wally, have a soft spot for high school sports. We have the Prep Bowl, what, tomorrow?
WALLY LANGFELLOW: Starts tomorrow. There's four games tomorrow, three more on Saturday. It all starts at 10:00 AM tomorrow in Class A. That's class 1A, Springfield in Minnesota. It winds up tomorrow night, the first day of action winds up with Maple Grove and Rosemount. That is the class 6A. So we have the smallest 11-man game at 10:00 AM and the largest 11-man game at 7:00 PM, Maple Grove and Rosemount playing for the 6A title.
CATHY WURZER: I love those small schools. Before we go, I know my listeners are going to be upset if I don't mention Gopher women's volleyball-- go for it.
ERIC NELSON: Yeah.
WALLY LANGFELLOW: Yeah
ERIC NELSON: Well, there's a lot--
WALLY LANGFELLOW: But go ahead, Eric.
ERIC NELSON: --to talk about. Well, I was just going to say they host an NCAA regional Friday and Saturday. The Gophers are the two seed. It's their 27th NCAA tournament appearance in school history. Minnesota plays Southeast Louisiana and the Gophers. Then if they can advance, they'll play the winner of the number seven, Florida State versus Northern Iowa match. That's Saturday night.
And Taylor Landfair of Minnesota, redshirt sophomore, outside hitter, is the Big Ten Player of the Year. And she is the sixth Gopher in the last eight seasons to win that award. So Taylor Landfair is having an incredible season. We'll see if Minnesota can keep advancing.
CATHY WURZER: All right. All right, you guys did a great job. Thank you so much.
WALLY LANGFELLOW: Glad we could fill it up for you.
ERIC NELSON: Thank you, Cathy.
CATHY WURZER: You did. You did. You just-- it's like a smorgasbord with you guys when it comes to what's happening in the sports world. Hope you guys have a good weekend. Thanks so much.
Wally Langfellow, Eric Nelson have been with us. Wally's the founder of Minnesota Score Magazine, the cohost of 10,000 Takes sports talk show. Eric's the other host of that show. He's also the Minnesota Vikings reporter for CBS Sports Radio's Eye on the NFL.
WALLY LANGFELLOW: Good, how are you, Cathy?
CATHY WURZER: I am fine. Thank you. Eric how are you?
ERIC NELSON: Happy December, Cathy.
CATHY WURZER: And thank you on the very 1st of December. We appreciate hearing that. Let's talk Vikings. Wally, it looks like they are still moving forward. They-- I'm kind of excited now. I'm on the bandwagon.
WALLY LANGFELLOW: You jump back on after that horrific game against Dallas, huh?
CATHY WURZER: [LAUGHS] I did.
WALLY LANGFELLOW: Yeah, that was a disaster against Dallas at US Bank Stadium, but they bounced back on Turkey Day, beating the Patriots. And now with a 9 and 2 record, they will play the New York Jets on Sunday. A couple of injury notes. Defensive back Andrew Booth, second-round draft choice out for the season with a knee injury.
And left tackle Christian Darrisaw is still out with a concussion. He left the game early against Dallas, did not play on Thanksgiving, and will not play again this Sunday. So the Vikings a little bit shorthanded, but they seemed to overcome it against a very good Patriots defense. We'll see if they can do the same thing against a revived Jets team.
CATHY WURZER: Eric.
ERIC NELSON: Yeah, Cathy, the other thing about the Vikings-- right now, they have the second best record in the NFC behind Philadelphia, although they trailed by 1 and 1/2 games because Philadelphia knocked off Minnesota in week two. So even though the standings would say they're one back, they're actually 1 and 1/2 back based on the head-to-head game.
But the Jets, as Wally said, are much improved. They're 7 and 4, and they're right in the thick of things in the AFC East. So this game has huge meaning to the New York Jets. It'll be the third straight home game for Minnesota at US Bank Stadium, the house of noise, as I call it.
And it's a rare appearance for the Jets in Minneapolis. They only play here once every eight years. And of course, a lot of the focus will be on Justin Jefferson of the Vikings. He's had a fabulous season. He's in MVP conversations, and he continues to garner attention. [? J-Jeffs, ?] as they call him, is the cover story on espn.com today. They have a huge takeout feature on Justin Jefferson. So if you want to read more on the young electric receiver, there's a plug for espn.com.
CATHY WURZER: [LAUGHS] He's great. Say, Wally, should I worry about the T Wolves now that Karl-Anthony Towns is injured?
WALLY LANGFELLOW: Well, not if you watched last night. I mean, they seemed to play with some extra energy. They win 109-101 over Memphis. Memphis, of course, is a team that they lost to in the postseason last year.
But something that Eric and I talked about earlier this week on our show, that Anthony Edwards and some of the other players, this opens the floor for them and maybe an opportunity for Anthony Edwards to show his talents, the same talents we saw a lot of last year, have not seen quite as much of this year.
He had 29 points last night, 17 of them in the fourth quarter. It's not to say they won't miss Karl-Anthony Towns, but they will have to adjust. They adjusted last night with some high energy. They still were missing a couple of guys last night. And they did not get much out of Rudy Gobert, their big trade acquisition in the offseason. He got into early foul trouble, only had 9 points and one rebound.
As you mentioned, Karl-Anthony towns out for six to eight weeks with a calf injury. They're back in action again on Saturday against Oklahoma City. The Wolves with that win last night snap a three-game losing streak, so they are back to .500 again, which they're going to have to be over .500 if they're going to make the postseason. That much we do know.
CATHY WURZER: Exactly. Say, Eric, I don't know if you've gone to any of the watch parties, but we have a bunch of listeners who love soccer. What about the World Cup?
ERIC NELSON: Yeah, and folks in the US, they're basically giddy right now, Cathy. They are in the knockout round, of course. The United States got that 1-0 win over Iran the other day. So they've advanced, and Team USA plays the Netherlands Saturday in Qatar.
Now, a lot of the concern centers around Christian Pulisic, who had that game-winning goal against Iran. He got injured. He's got a pelvic injury, and it's a contusion. And he said today he's going to do everything in my power to be out there on the field Saturday against the Netherlands.
And he's a fabulous player. He's in the English Premier League, which is the highest level of soccer. He plays for Chelsea. He's the face of the US team. And they're going to need Pulisic if they want to keep on winning and advancing in the World Cup, which would be something that I think would really excite people from coast to coast, especially if they win on Saturday.
CATHY WURZER: Yeah. We'll see what happens with that. And you, of course, Wally, have a soft spot for high school sports. We have the Prep Bowl, what, tomorrow?
WALLY LANGFELLOW: Starts tomorrow. There's four games tomorrow, three more on Saturday. It all starts at 10:00 AM tomorrow in Class A. That's class 1A, Springfield in Minnesota. It winds up tomorrow night, the first day of action winds up with Maple Grove and Rosemount. That is the class 6A. So we have the smallest 11-man game at 10:00 AM and the largest 11-man game at 7:00 PM, Maple Grove and Rosemount playing for the 6A title.
CATHY WURZER: I love those small schools. Before we go, I know my listeners are going to be upset if I don't mention Gopher women's volleyball-- go for it.
ERIC NELSON: Yeah.
WALLY LANGFELLOW: Yeah
ERIC NELSON: Well, there's a lot--
WALLY LANGFELLOW: But go ahead, Eric.
ERIC NELSON: --to talk about. Well, I was just going to say they host an NCAA regional Friday and Saturday. The Gophers are the two seed. It's their 27th NCAA tournament appearance in school history. Minnesota plays Southeast Louisiana and the Gophers. Then if they can advance, they'll play the winner of the number seven, Florida State versus Northern Iowa match. That's Saturday night.
And Taylor Landfair of Minnesota, redshirt sophomore, outside hitter, is the Big Ten Player of the Year. And she is the sixth Gopher in the last eight seasons to win that award. So Taylor Landfair is having an incredible season. We'll see if Minnesota can keep advancing.
CATHY WURZER: All right. All right, you guys did a great job. Thank you so much.
WALLY LANGFELLOW: Glad we could fill it up for you.
ERIC NELSON: Thank you, Cathy.
CATHY WURZER: You did. You did. You just-- it's like a smorgasbord with you guys when it comes to what's happening in the sports world. Hope you guys have a good weekend. Thanks so much.
Wally Langfellow, Eric Nelson have been with us. Wally's the founder of Minnesota Score Magazine, the cohost of 10,000 Takes sports talk show. Eric's the other host of that show. He's also the Minnesota Vikings reporter for CBS Sports Radio's Eye on the NFL.
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