Eoin Sheahan and Phil Egan were in the hot seats for the series opener of World Cup Daily on Off the Ball.
Phil was expecting a gentle run into the tournament in Russia but the Spanish FA caught the football world cold when they sacked their manager, Julen Lopetegui, on the eve of the competition.
The Spaniards were apparently furious that Lopetegui agreed to takeover at Real Madrid after the World Cup and made their move on Wednesday.
Marca's Euan McTear gave us the view from Madrid as the Spanish assault on the World Cup became engulfed in chaos only two days before they take on Portugal.
John Duggan patched into studio on the Skype machine from Moscow to give us a taste of the atmosphere building in Russia.
John Brewin took us down memory lane and reflected on other pre-tournament controversies through the years.
Catch up with the full Podcast here:
