Fox wants ESPN to talk more about the World Cup, and Stephen A. Smith is just trying to give the people what they want.<\/p>\n
With the FIFA World Cup underway, Smith and First Take have leaned on Men In Blazers founder Roger Bennett for his soccer expertise in the last week, which is great. But Smith attempted to interject his own opinion on the World Cup Wednesday morning, which wasn\u2019t as great.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cI\u2019m wondering what France is going to do, could this be the year that they finally get it done and they win the World Cup?\u201d \u2013 Stephen A. Smith pic.twitter.com\/IzJXmawAI8<\/a><\/p>\n
\u2014 Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) June 17, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\u201cFor me, it\u2019s about Mbapp\u00e9 for France. He scores two goals yesterday, remember he scores a hat-trick in the finals loss to Argentina in 2022,\u201d Smith said to sort of flex his soccer muscle in front of Bennett. \u201cI\u2019m wondering whether or not this is the year for France\u2026I\u2019m wondering what France is going to do. Could this be the year that they finally get it done and they win the World Cup considering Mbapp\u00e9 and what we saw him do yesterday, and what we know he\u2019s capable of doing because he\u2019s done it before.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mbapp\u00e9 has done it before, and so has France. But as Smith was talking about Mbapp\u00e9 and France as if they needed to get the proverbial monkey off their backs, it seemed like he didn\u2019t realize it\u2019s been just one World Cup since France won their last one. Yes, they lost to Argentina in the 2022 World Cup. But France won in 2018, with Mbapp\u00e9 on their roster, becoming the youngest French goalscorer in World Cup history.<\/p>\n
An anonymous Fox executive reportedly complained to Front Office Sports<\/a> earlier this week about ESPN\u2019s lack of World Cup coverage. Are they happy now?<\/p>\n
Stephen A. Smith and ESPN talking more soccer will help to grow the game in the United States. Taylor Twellman even expressed the importance of having Smith buy into soccer on the Awful Announcing Podcast<\/a> a few years ago. No one is saying Smith can\u2019t or shouldn\u2019t talk about the World Cup on First Take; he should.<\/p>\n
And Smith can talk soccer without being expected to be a FIFA expert. It\u2019s not even a crime that he seemingly forgot France won the 2018 World Cup. But sometimes it\u2019s better to just admit what you don\u2019t know, especially when you have an actual expert on the show. Ask questions and let Bennett\u2019s expertise dominate the segment. To Smith\u2019s credit, that\u2019s what he usually does with hockey. He didn\u2019t do it here, and it backfired.<\/p>\n
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