Best of The Ben Maller Show

The 2026 World Cup is underway, and Ben Maller is wrapping himself in the flag—but not without a few pointed complaints. On a recent episode of The Ben Maller Show, the host waded into three distinct topics connected by the tournament: the U.S. men's national team's controversial approach to a group-stage match, a broadcast graphic he considers useless, and the spectacle of Dutch fans taking over Kansas City. Along the way, he also graded a major NBA trade and dismissed a former number-one overall pick. The throughline is a skepticism toward what he sees as gimmicks, softness, and misplaced priorities in modern sports.

Load Management at the World Cup

Maller's first target was the U.S. men's national team's 3-2 loss to Turkey, a match that eliminated the Americans from group play. The U.S. had already secured advancement to the knockout round, and head coach Mauricio Pochettino made nine lineup changes, resting key players. Maller was incensed. "This is not the NBA," he said. "It's not a February game in the NBA. It's supposedly the global Super Bowl." He accused Pochettino of treating the match like "a cactus league game or a grapefruit league game" and called the approach "load management at the World Cup." The host framed the decision as a betrayal of the tournament's supposed sacredness. "You all tell me how sacred this event is," he said, "but if I don't treat it t