About America 2026 with Paul Howard and Kevin Kilbane
This is a new podcast from The Irish Times covering the 2026 World Cup in Mexico, Canada and the United States. Join former Irish international Kevin Kilbane and journalist and host Paul Howard for all the big stories, match analysis and special guests.
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Spain are champions of the world: Malachy Clerkin and Kevin Kilbane on the World Cup final
España son los campeones del mundo.
Argentina’s white knuckle ride through to the final of this World Cup met its match last night with ruthlessly proficient Spanish display. The individual star power of Messi came up against a solid collective set up and though they left it late, there was only ever going to be one winner on the night.
For the last time in the series, Paul Howard is joined by Kevin Kilbane and Malachy Clerkin to chat about what wasn’t a particularly spectacular final despite the amount of star power Fifa attempted to cram into the event.
And with that, World Cup 2026 is in the books.
Thank you for listening!
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19 Jul 2026
BONUS: Roddy Collins’ life in World Cups
Former footballer, manager and full-time raconteur, Roddy Collins has been many things to Irish football.
He's also the star of The Rodfather, his memoir written with our own Paul Howard.
To celebrate World Cup final day, Paul and Roddy take the chance to revisit the tournaments, players and moments that changed their footballing lives.
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18 Jul 2026
World Cup final preview with Ken Early in New York
Lionel Messi’s international football career wasn’t always a litany of heroic victories and dressing room anthems. For most of his time in sky blue and white he looked more likely to go down as a busted flush. An iconic club player who left his home too young and therefore severed the connection he could have had to his national team.
The wheel has well and truly turned and he now finds himself just one game away from back to back World Cup titles in what will be his last tournament at international level, if the song is to be believed.
Standing in his way is the ruthless professionalism of Spain and the man he once washed in a bathtub as a baby, Lamine Yamal.
Ken Early is in on the ground in New York and gives us his thoughts going into the game, how likely it is that we get a finale anywhere close to 2022 for drama and why Spain should win but he’s reluctant to go against Argentina.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.
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Apple Podcasts (US)
4.8 / 5
6 ratings
Spotify
4.9 / 5
23 ratings
Contact America 2026 with Paul Howard and Kevin Kilbane
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