I made a great decision to cover the 2026 World Cup for the Phil's Place podcast. Choosing a global focus for this assignment, I will be interviewing supporters from various countries. They share their love and passion of The Beautiful Game. They also capture the cultural impact and vibe when their respective teams are playing.

Dr. Nikos Lambridis joined Phil's Place to talk about the entire structuring of building a national World Cup team. From leadership, to selection of team, to fitness, to strategy, to deciding the Starting Xi, and game management.

Dr. Lambridis is a former professional footballer and coach, who played on the Greek national football team. Dr. Lambridis earned a BS in Biophysics and an MS in Biomedical Engineering from the University of San Francisco. He was also inducted to USF's Hall of Fame.

After working for software companies in the Silicon Valley, Dr. Lambridis earned his PhD from the ICN School, in Nancy, France. He is now an Organizational Psychology professor at the University of York (UK), and an executive coach.

Matt and Ayhan (Buster), two very close mates who support rival teams, Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal, respectively, provided the blueprints for how their teams should fair. Matt is Three Lions and Buster, being of Turkish descent, is pulling for Turkiye. What brought the three of us together, including Matt's wife, Natalie, are the love we share for the Pittsburgh Steelers. We have presented some solid content and fun banter.