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The Afterword Official World Cup Blog

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Great start fur Russia but they might scrape through with a draw with Egypt.

Portugal v Spain was marvellous.

Over to you…

0

Comments

  1. Russia might struggle against a team who don’t seemed determined to let the opposition get three nil up before making any attempt to score any themselves. I’d be surprised (but delighted) if I see a better game than Spain Portugal all tournament.

  3. Russia and Saudi Arabia are the lowest ranked sides in the tournament. There does seem some gulf between the two, and Russia will come unstuck against anyone else.
    Spain do not seem phased by the loss of their coach, and Costa is looking a bit hungry. Still not convinced by Portugal – a one man team?
    I still believe (for no logical reason) that Peru may be the surprise package of the tournament

  6. Spain Portugal was genuinely one of the most enjoyable World Cup matches I’ve ever seen. If we get many more like that it’ll be a great competition. Can’t see either of them winning the thing though.

    Looking forward to France v Australia at 10.30 tomorrow morning….

  7. I enjoyed the game too but it so happens that a high scoring draw suits both teams rather well. It is now highly unlikely that either of the other two teams will progress by parking the bus and progressing by a single goal at the squeaky bum stage of the third game. They now have to score goals. I hesitate to inject a smidge of cynicism because it was very entertaining – but Spain let in 3 goals in all of their qualifying games combined and Portugal 4. But for this game it’s open sesame for both Iberian onion bags.

    • Interesting.

      I always imagined the bung to a goalkeeper to deliberately pull off a fumble like de Gea would have to be astronomical. From ‘best in the world’ to ground swallowing humiliation. He’s already on a decent wage, I believe.

      • It was interesting to hear Guillem Balague saying on 5 Live that there is a strong body of opinion in Spain that de Gea shouldn’t be in the team at all – apparently that was his third big error in at least four Spain games.

        Talking of 5 Live, once agin their coverage and commentary is so much better than the TV channels; people like Waddle, Nevin, and indeed Balague, are just so much more enjoyable and interesting to listen to. May be radio is a more relaxing and free flowing medium to work in.

      • I’m not suggesting any money changed hands. The two sets of players know each other quite well – lots of friendships among them. This scoreline means that both teams can be deal with the next two games more easily.

    • Very un-De Gea like performance from De Gea. I thought his positioning for Ronaldo’s third goal was pretty eccentric. He must have had a lot of confidence in the wall, because he left a huge target to aim for and I was surprised that he did nothing other than get a good view of it on the way in.

    • I think it unlikely that any team would expect either Nacho or the “narcissistic nobhead” (thanks Rotherhithe Hack) to score with their respective strikes – however poorly positioned De Gea may have been – so find it hard to buy into this particular conspiracy theory.

      If we see a better goal in the World Cup than Nacho’s (never mind a better one by a defender) I’m looking forward to seeing it.

      • It was an unbelievable strike. However, I like goals that are substantively created. The ball fell to him kindly after a bit of a ricochet.

        My favourite World Cup goal is Bergkamp’s. The ball to him was long with more than a smidge of hope but it was at least classifiable as an assist. The control and finish was out of this world.

  8. Great game,marred a bit by the inane babbling from the commentators. Particularly impressed by Murphy’s claim that Ronaldo could not score from the free kick by bending it around the wall but would have to blast it or hope the wall jumped.

  9. I still can’t believe I watched the spain game. Normally I watch hours and hours of tedium and go out and miss the one game that everyone talks about for the rest of the tournament. Not this time! I can join I the conversations in the office pin Monday morning……. let’s hope we’ll still want to talk about football on Tuesday morning as well!

      • Agreed. I can’t understand how a player of his calibre is so underused at Everton.

        Oh. Wait. Allardyce. Yes, I do understand.

        I though the keeper had a blinder as well (obv.) But what I really liked, and what makes me like teams in general, is that the whole team played as a team and as good subunits. They knew they were going to have to work hard and they did. No-one slacked off unlike, say, Messi.

  12. Apart from England’s games it’s the recorded highlights for me up until the KO rounds after that shyte tonight (Croatia v Nigeria). After the banquet of Spain v Portugal I suppose any game would be slim pickings. I may watch the Brazil opener live….

  13. Argentina v Iceland was great today. Iceland played a classic defensive organised underdog game brilliantly. And for all it was a disappointing result on paper, I thought Argentina showed real promise. They took the game to Iceland, and showed commitment and desire to the end. Messi didn’t have a great game but was still involved and looking for any opportunity to have a go at goal throughout. Every chance they’ll both go through.

    Lowlights in the commentator stakes were Lawrenson’s miserable and completely uninformative cynicism in the France Australia game and the ITV’s commentators’ really terrible prepared comment for a save by the Iceland keeper against Argentina ‘we’ve just seen the Hand of Cod’. Oh for pity’s sake….

  14. Anyone watch the France – Australia game.

    Media going nuts down here about that penalty, claiming he touched the ball and ref shouldn’t have reversed decision. Interested in the view of the cognoscenti.

    Many sports fans down here follow other codes, Aussie rules, Rugby league and union so there is general derision for the diving and writhing on the ground that some players carry on with. Hernandez is being cited as a serial diver. Is that the case?

  15. Nigeria – bright kits, joyous support, invariably the underdogs … but, be honest, has there ever been a game involving an African side at a World Cup that hasn’t been truly awful?

  16. Awful? Bit harsh.
    There’ve probably been no pure football classics but plenty of thrillers – as recently as the last World Cup you had the mad Ghana v Uruguay game. Ghana had an other thriller against Germany four years earlier. Cameroon v England in 1990 was a redeeming rollercoaster ride in a mostly dismal World Cup. In between, Nigeria, Senegal and Ivory Coast have produced some scintillating moments of football (remember this gorgeous goal?)

    but wilted under pressure later, which makes them no different to past exciting East European sides – U.S.S.R. Yugoslavia etc – or Mexico (great in the groups, lousy in the knock out).
    In contrast, other countries (*cough* England included) have frequently done the latter round crumbling without leaving too many exciting memories..

    • Hmm, OK, I do remember that Germany-Ghana game being a good match.
      I don’t hold out too much hope for the remaining Nigeria games though.

      Re: that Ghana game … and this was true for the 2006 WC as well … if an England team, not obviously the one that was picked, had been “at it” at the 2010 WC they’d have had a route of …

      United States
      Algeria
      Slovenia
      Ghana (NOT Germany)
      Uruguay
      and Holland

      … to a final v. Spain.

      I honestly think that a reasonable, not even exceptional, Championship side could have negotiated those teams.

      You don’t have to be Brazil ’70 to triumph – something that is ALWAYS lost on the “experts” – despite the glaring evidence of recent finalists and winners of the World Cup – but you DO have to turn up.

    • What a great game that was. Germany looked like England on so many occasions in the end – desperately knocking on the door but somehow never looking like they were going to do it. Brilliant result for Mexico, and for the competition as a whole.

  18. Mexico V Germany – wow!
    What a great game- haven’t enjoyed a match so much since , ooh must be Friday!
    I confess I’m loving this WC, & despite myself am looking forward to seeing Southgate’s England play in a real tournament.
    In the meantime, Viva Mexico!

  21. After saying I was only going to watch the highlights I ended up watching all three games live today.
    Costa Rica v Serbia, Serbia made hard work against a team nowhere near as good as 4 years ago.
    Mexico v Germany, great game, Hernandez ran his bollocks off, the German defence ran off and were a shambles which is good if they stay that way. Mexico might even get the ‘quinto partido’ they hope for this time.
    Brazil v Switzerland, enjoyed this, enjoyed Shaqiri who was 6′ 4″ when he started the match but ran so far… Neymar must have been tired because he spent 62 minutes sat on his arse, overrated loofah headed twit.

  22. It’s shaping up nicely. None of the big guns have hit the ground running, feels a very open tournament right now. Ronaldo was awesome, but the rest of the Portuguese team looks average, and for all the celebrations over Russia’s opening victory no-one really thinks they’ll be contenders. Germany to go out in the group stages? Probably not, but stranger things have happened…

    I’m going for France for having demonstrated an early ability to grind out a win without really clicking.

  24. Exciting so far. Looking quite brilliant going forward, lose their cool in front of goal and start being daft at the back. Lingard should have a hat-trick. Pickford a smidge away from saving the penalty. Tunisia know all the tricks, rolling over, breaking up play, nudges, delays, obfuscations. How come we can’t handle it?

  26. That was the first time I’ve watched England for 90 minutes since the Iceland debacle. I was pleasantly surprised.

    There will be tougher tests. But Kane will threaten any team, Trippier is really very good, and we can string passes together. I’m optimistic.

    • Yes Trippier was England’s standout player I thought. Good result, and deserved, but too much evidence of England’s old inability to avoid giving the ball away cheaply. Still, like France they’ve got a win against tricky opposition without being particularly impressive, and that’s an art you need in a competition like this.

  27. Alli clearly unfit and a passenger in the second half. Rashford should have been on a lot sooner. He is more direct than Sterling and makes better decisions in and around the penalty area. Trippier looks a player alright. The better teams will target Walker. A left footer instead of Young?

    Win against Panama and anything could happen.

  28. “Composure,” a factor infinitely important than the much heralded “pace” or “experience” at a World Cup.
    Just a bit of composure, and the game would have been won after 20 minutes.

    That said, England thoroughly deserved their win, and, regardless of what it would do to their chances to win the group, I sincerely hope that the truly appalling Tunisian team gets beaten 8-0 v. Belgium.

    Oh, and well done to the ref … don’t give two blatant penalties, but do give one that wasn’t a pen in a month of Sundays! … fantastic that the England team didn’t retaliate.

    He’s an absolute cert to referee the final.

    • You’ve got Your England blinkers on, DD! Blatant penalty, made all the more appalling by the fact that
      1. there was absolutely no need to foul the attacker, and
      2. Tunisia could have played all night and were never going to score unless you handed them a goal..

      • Having hated beckhamrooney for 20 years, believe me I haven’t got blinkers on.

        Of the 3 incidents, I suspect the majority would agree the weakest case for a penalty, by a considerable distance, was for the one that was given.

        Either way, I’m delighted that awful team lost, and I would be if they’d been playing Germany, Brazil, France etc.

        • Certainly three penalties. Thing is, England scored the goals they needed anyway, but Tunisia almost nicked your points without coming within a mile of scoring from play. And Walker will still be in the centre of your defence against better teams. And if you can’t keep the ball from Tunisia…
          (Sorry to be a negative Nelly – there were loads of positives to build on!)

    • ‘Composure’ in front of goal and ‘nouse’ in defence are required if we are going to get anything against Belgium. Walker was naive. Lingard only fluffed his first chance. The next two were unlucky, a deflection and the path under the goalkeeper to goal was blocked.

  29. I enjoyed the game – so much so that when it was looking like 1-1 I thought that wouldn’t be the end of the world. Based on that performance, England will beat Panama. That first 20 minutes was exceptional, I thought. It’s the first game – perhaps a bit rusty – but once they hit their straps and do more of the same, more of those will go in. Impressed by Henderson and Trippier.

  31. ….but England have yet to face the mighty Sutton-in-Ashfield Sunday Pub Amateurs….

    (Sorry, I’ve wasted a lot of hours of my life watching mediocre group games involving England. No more)

  34. Anyone see this evening’s BBC documentary about Scotland’s World Cup in 1978? Brought back many schoolboy memories.

    The Tartan Army set off for exotic Argentina by any means possible, having persuaded themselves they stood a chance of winning the whole tournament. Massive UK media hysteria. Rioch, Dalglish, Robertson, Jordan, McQueen, Macari.

    Team based in Cordoba, with a poor training pitch, rubbish accommodation and a dry swimming pool. The dreams turned sour. Thrashed by Peru, drew with Iran, Willie Johnston sent home for taking a banned stimulant, Ally McLeod pilloried in the papers, photographed with his head in his hands. Little Archie Gemmill restored a nation’s pride with his trusty left foot in the 3-2 defeat against Holland. A legend was born.

  35. So how is everyone watching/keeping up? Down here on the bottom of the world it all takes place overnight, except Australia’s games which are on in our evenings

    I’ve been watching a daily one hour highlights package at 5.30pm, but I’ll be watching the whole Australia v Denmark game tomorrow night (Thurs)

    • The games are on at a time convenient for idle Europeans (FIFA getting their priorities right, unlike the awarding of the 2026 WC to North America over timezone appropriate Morocco). The problem has been fitting in Twitch TV’s Doctor Who streaming marathon (Tom Baker starts tomorrow!) – how will I ever finish my unfinished novel?
      Australia were very unlucky against France, so hope the luck’s with you tomorrow!
      (Can’t take sides, obvs, lest there are Danish Afterworders)

  36. The football has been by and large far better than expected, teams appear to be mostly trying to win rather than scrap around for a draw (with some obvious exceptions like plucky old Iceland).
    Being a wishy-washy old liberal however I can’t help but be slightly queasy at how pristine and friendly everything appears in Russia, anyone would think it was an open democratic society….

  39. Surely the most pressing questions of the World Cup so far are:
    1 . Who gave the green light for ITVs ‘ inside a Faberge egg’ studio set design?
    2. How many hair wranglers does Cesq Fabregas have?
    3. Where does he get THOSE shirts?
    ( apologies to overseas AWers unable to see the sartorial joys of UK TV football presention).

  40. It’s all getting a bit Lionel Messi for Argentina.

    The bloke who scored Australia’s penalty has a remarkably shit beard.

    I think these are the most pressing topics from today.

  42. Last night’s defeat for Argentina summed up for me the reason I believe Ronaldo is better than Messi. Ronaldo appears to get Portugal performing through sheer force of will (although he is still a narcissistic nobhead), and usually runs the game. Messi is a different personality, and just does not have the same force as Ronaldo. He disappeared into the background last night, completely unable to influence the game., I do accept that this is a pretty ropey Argentina squad, and overall Portugal have better players, but Portugal look less than half the team without Ronaldo.

  43. Exciting day today. Belgium have laid down the gauntlet. Beat that. M Xisco through. Germany on the brink but just doing enough, as ever. I can’t see their defence holding out against the better teams.

    Fingers crossed for tomorrow.

  44. This is becoming a bit interesting – No Italy, Germany and Argentina facing possible early exit, outside chance of Iran qualifying for Round 2.

    No doubt by next week normal service will have been resumed – England will go out in the Quarter Final (probably on Penalties), a surprise nation in the semi-final (Senegal?), and Germany will lumber into the final, suddenly find some inspiration and walk away with a fifth win

    (Cynical – moi?)

  47. Don’t we ALL hate Germany?? Plucky Wonderful Sweden on course for the next round and then in the 45th minute of extra time Germany somehow conjure a free-kick out of nowhere and, bastard bastard bastards, they score. Feel the pain, feel the PAIN!

  49. On another day I think England would have got a score like that against Tunisia. And besides, if Belgium do thunder through their next few games convincingly (including against England) that doesn’t mean they will go all the way.

    • I think you are right. Martinez said that Tunisia’s loss in the first match meant they had to attack in the second. This stretched play and left holes for the Belgians to exploit.

  50. Belgium manager Roberto Martinez has injury concerns over Chelsea forward Eden Hazard, 27, and 25-year-old Manchester United striker Romelu Lukaku and could rest a number of first-team players for Thursday’s Group G game against England.(Sunday Telegraph)

    Translates as: “we’ve already qualified, why put a full strength team out”

  52. Great start!

    These Panamanians are a bit rough, aren’t they. Rodriguez looks tasty and we need to stop giving the ball away. Belgium would have scored two against us already.

  54. Amazing first half. So pleased Jesse got his goal and it was a beauty. Anyone seen Sterling? Apart from the *assist* and the header directly at the goalie?

    Remember, if their forwards had managed to keep a cool head in sight of goal, they could have scored three themselves. We were sloppy defensively for the first twenty-five minutes.

    Bring Rashford on and let’s get eight.

  57. Very satisfying performance. Are we top of the group on fewer bookings? Defence still a worry. I’d start Rose instead of Young and Rashford instead of Sterling. A fit Ali would replace Loftus-Cheek.

    I’ll stop talking to myself now (thanks Mike & ip33) and watch the Grand Prix.

    • Not convinced with Young, but equally unconvinced by Rose.
      He is a better defender, but didn’t look properly comfortable in a 3 / 5 defender system.
      As qualification is done, could Terence Trent D’Arby do a job there?

      Sterling needs a massive boost to his confidence to be assured a start – but (another but …) Kane and Barry are probably too similar, and Rashford could really only work as an impact sub (last 30 mins)

  58. A happy day, but worth noting that – as satisfying as as it was to convert all those set pieces (spesh the clever free kick) – Belgium created seven goals from open play against these ordinary teams but England (despite missing some sitters in the first game) created only one.
    I cannot believe Southgate will play only one midfielder against Hazard and Mertens.

    • Precisely. It was good to see an England team making the set pieces count but just one goal from open play suggests tougher opposition will shut us down easily. The TV pundits were quick to call Panama a “non league” standard side but seemed blind to what that said about England relying on set pieces and penalties. Sterling still incapable of finding the net (for the love of God, please play Rashford) and a defense that gave up a real simple goal. Kane’s penalty taking was masterful but all the fanfare over his hat-trick overlooks that he barely had a decent shot on goal.

      • Lingard’s goal is one of the best of the tournament so far. Beautifully created & executed. Easily on a par with Modric.

        Kane’s third was from open play. In fact, it is the World Cup goal with the record highest ever number of passes in the build up. The fact the finish was a fluke is neither here nor there.

        I don’t understand. All goals are worth the same. Why is an open play one valued more highly than a set piece? Try saying that to Ronaldo.

        • I wrote a long reply, then deleted it by mistake.
          Short version: England may have several players who can score better goals than Modric’s, but their BIG PROBLEM is no-one in their squad (or left out of the squad) can do all the other stuff that Modric does*
          On the evidence thus far, all your best players get ahead of the ball, so what happens when the supply gets cut off? Meanwhile your defence is guilty of regular unforced errors (as we say at Wimbledon), so precious clean sheets seem unlikely.
          Of course, if you ride your luck early on, you could improve (many teams do in these tournaments – England have in the past).
          (*And they have Rakitic too!)

          • There is no doubt Modric is a world class player. However, Lingard’s goal was just as skilful as his and more beautifully crafted, I’d say.

            The defence has not been tested yet and, yesterday, Panamanians too often got in the clear, especially down England’s right. Is Walker a good enough central defender? Will Young break under close scrutiny? Doesn’t Stones regularly make a bad mistake? Maguire gives the ball away too often, doesn’t he? The goalie is inexperienced.

            We await a thorough examination on Thursday. I’m looking forward to it.

            • I’m looking forward to Thursday too – I hope England play for the win. I know my comments seem a bit bleak but I think the almost unprecedented sight of England grabbing a hateful means some warning signs are being overlooked.

              Our defense has barely been tested – and yet we’ve given up 2 goals to two teams with the weakest attack in the tournament. It doesn’t bode well.

              Lingard’s’ goal was an absolute beauty and I hope he plays on Thursday. But that said, I read (I think in the Guardian but now can’t find) that Lingard, Alli and Sterling have one of the worst goal rates per total games played at the World Cup. Sterling doesn’t merit picking (2 goals from 40 caps compared to Vardy’s 7 from 23 and Rashford’s 3 from 20) and I’m doubtful about Alli. Stones has more shots on target so far than Lingard and Sterling combined.

              Open play goals seem to me to be more valuable than set pieces because the odds are more even. Free kicks and corners are more of a threat and it’s where you’d expect the difference between a team like England and one like Panama to show the most. That’s one of the reasons Lingard’s goal was so good – a world class goal that wasn’t rehearsed and planned. If he does it again Thursday I’d be delighted.

  61. The goal that came from the free kick was really quite exciting because it showed that England had rehearsed the scenario, which involved most of the team, and it worked beautifully. I am not sure previous England teams have had this level of (sorry about this) interpersonal engagement.

    I am a bit Pollyanna when it comes to England but I think they got that 6-1 result in a fairly pedestrian way. This is why I am not worrying about what will happen when they come up against better teams, because I don’t think we have seen the full kettle of bananas from the lads.

  62. I just feel relieved that we should have stuffed Panama and did. I’ve seen England play plenty of teams they should have stuffed and drew or ground out a 1-0 win. What this means for better teams we will see but plenty of people didn’t expect them to get out of the group and I bet there are many hands frantically booking flights to Russia now.

    • Was watching the Spain game. Felt sorry for Morocco losing their victory with the last kick of the match. The goal was disallowed and then allowed after VAR. that was the right decision but Moroccos beef was that they should have had a free kick earlier in the move that led to the corner, and also thought the ball had gone out before the cross that led to the free kick from which the goal was scored. Or something like that.

      Terrific match mind you. Spain not impressive at all and I can’t see them winning it. With every major team’s struggle to beat supposedly lesser teams, England look more and more credible as a genuine contender. With the possible exception of Croatia, I haven’t seen anyone play like potential winners yet….

    • Seriously. That referee. Why wasn’t Ronaldo sent off? David Beckham was sent off for far less. I would have never given the Iranians a penalty. I wasn’t sure about Portugal’s either but I’m glad it was given.

      • Yes and what about the wrestling in the box in the Panama game. Why aren’t those guys sent off? They would very rapidly knock it off if it became clear there is a zero tolerance policy. Let us also remember that the Beckham/Argentina game, which went to penalties, saw an England goal disallowed as Alan Shearer felt it necessary to elbow the goalie in the side of the head as Sol Campbell knocked it in. We could have avoided penalties and won 3-2 had he not been an arse. Stupid.

  64. Looks like Denmark France might be playing out a snore draw to suit the pair of them. They should make a rule that the first two teams involved in a 0-0 can only play with ten men in the next match. That’ll liven them up.

  69. Sorry to see Nigeria go out; they’d have been worthy qualifiers. Somehow you always thought Argentina would squeak through. Could be a right match with France.

    Can’t believe Drogba and Ferdinand arguing that the Argentina handball incident should have been a penalty; it clearly wasn’t deliberate.

    • I dunno. He lost the flight of the ball and raised his arm so that if he didn’t get a good contact with his head, the ball wouldn’t get past him. Still, I wouldn’t have given it. The kick in the head is another matter. That was dangerous.

      • Interestingly (although I didn’t watch that match) USA coverage has a FIFA Match Commissioner on hand to explain interpretations.

        He clarified, for example, that when a defender is sliding along the floor in the box, if the ball hits his lower arm – no penalty. If it hits the upper arm, raised up or away from the body, then penalty.

        I wonder if there is a similar thing going on in your example?

  71. You may remember my shell-shocked Swedish friend , Young Uffe (last seen quietly sobbing in a dark room)? He has had rather a lot of sherbets this evening and has just been awarded Happiest Man Alive Award.
    That was the most nervy 30 minutes I have ever endured (apart from that time with Dr Who in Holland Park) when I was convinced Germany was going to do what Germany always does ie score in the last minute of extra time.
    I believe Young Uffe and I had a wee tonguie when the best goalkeeper in the world was dispossessed a mere 70 yards from his goal and Korea snatched their second goal. Oh Happy Days!!!!

    • Yes – before Son Heung-Min, no Korean player had scored 10 league goals in an English Premier League season. He’s now done it twice – 14 league goals in 2016-17 and 12 league goals in 2017-18.

      • Tottenham’s player of the season IMHO; skilful, creative, prepared to take risks, and an incredible worker and team player. Sorry for him that S Korea slightly underachieved but delighted he got two goals and finished on a high.

  73. That Saudi keeper…. this is the last WC where there will be a single player who is older than me.

    Still, at least the Prime Minister’s older than me, until Gavin “Shut Up!” Williamson takes the reins.

  74. Manuel Neuer should never have been in that Germany Squad. He hadn’t played all season, so what’s he doing as their number one? It’s not as if there’s a drought of decent German ‘keepers plying their trade at the moment.

  75. All of the World Cup finals in my lifetime have been contested by just seven teams. Italy and Holland failed to qualify this time. Germany are out. France play Argentina in the last 16. The winner of that game might play Brazil in the quarter final.
    We might not get a new name on the cup, but a new finalist would be nice.

  76. YOU are Gareth Southgate.

    England are through to the last 16 with one group game to go. You face Belgium who are on equal points, equal goal difference.

    Assuming (and I appreciate it’s a big assumption) that England get through the Round of 16 match…

    Finishing top of the group means that you will you will face Brazil or Mexico. This side of the draw also features France, Argentina, Uruguay and Portugal, one of which you could play in the Semi.

    Finishing second will mean a QF game against Sweden or Switzerland. It will be Spain, Croatia, Russia or Denmark in the Semi.

    Would you play to lose?

    My theory (which is mine) is that England would make a mistake if they adopt this tactic. It would backfire if it turns out the Round of 16 opponent is better than we thought – and we lose.

    What if Belgium do the same thing? Before long we will see the ball being thrown into their own nets by goalkeepers or one team getting 4 of their own players sent off, thereby forfeiting the game. Or even not turning up to play at all! That’s an instant 3-0 loss. As the Numberjacks rightly say, anything could happen. Really entertaining, but even ethics-free weasels like FIFA will be rightly very cross indeed and this will have consequences.

    A dream scenario is that Belgium lose on purpose tactically and allow England to win 10-0.
    I honestly don’t know why I’m not a TV pundit.

    • Funny old world, feeling a bit relaxed at the thought of England losing tonight. On the other hand, if we can’t beat Belgium there’s no guarantee we can beat one out of Japan, Senegal or Colombia either. And then there’s penalty shootouts to look forward to…

      We have to record the match and start watching when the babies are asleep. So no phones, and hope not to hear any spoilers in the form of roars from the neighbours. Mind you, in London’s cosmopolitan Leyton, they could easily be Belgian roars…

      • Whatever the ramifications of the result, I think it would at least carry on the good vibe about Southgate’s team (and the Belgium team) if this match entertains.
        Another France 0, Denmark 0 would temper the enthusiasm and general good will.

        Here’s hoping for a high scoring match.

        • Lineker speaks.

          • Indeed. And if this World Cup has shown us anything it’s the folly Of the notion that anyone can be assumed to be strong or weak opposition based on historic reputation.

            • The lesson should have been learned from Brazil in the semi-final last time. “We’re Brazil! They’ll see these yellow shirts an’ crap themselves! We don’t even have to play!”

              …er….

  77. Looks like both teams are playing their B sides. Still, I’m properly excited. Gives a few of the fringe players a chance to stake their claim. I’m thinking Rashford and Rose in particular, even Dier and Jones.

  78. So far a bit dull. Too much long ball without tricky-dinky Lingard and Sterling. Apart from Stones, the central defenders don’t look comfortable with the ball. Pickford has already had a tricky moment cancelled out by a good save in the credit column. Rose looks good in defence.

  87. We played better after they scored but Belgium didn’t try until the last few minutes when they nearly got a second. Rashford is most definitely not a wing-back. Dier looks off the pace. Lotus-Cheek looked OK but only OK. No-one else had any authority.

    Bring back Trippier, Kane, Lingard et al and bring on Colombia.

    • Tchuh. The only England match I’ve been interested in since 2006 and I’m at work. when do I normally get in on a Tuesday? About 9.00pm. Fucking perfect.

      Do I try and “do a Likely Lads”?

      • Update: I did indeed do a Likely Lads. I managed to get home at about 9 with my ignorance* intact, having avoided so much as an “England F” newspaper hoarding or Brian Glover singing in church. I even managed to buy bread on the way. Thank god for earbuds, self-service checkouts and a pathological aversion to eye-contact.

        (*which is considerable )

          • The Light, who is English, had hopes of doing that on Saturday when we went to a West End Show. I promised to play along, but said the chances of not getting the vibe from the street was slim.

            Then one of the cast came out for the curtain call with a St George’s Flag on his chest, people started switching their phones back on and shouting the score, and Charing Cross Road was completely blocked by a huge crowd singing 3 Lions. We didn’t buy any bread, but if we had I wouldn’t have been surprised if the score was baked into the crust.

            We’ll be in Manchester on Wednesday night, but don’t have any evening plans other than watching the match. Incidentally, any suggestions from Mancs? There’s a big screen a Castlefield Bowl, but that’s in the other side of the city centre and it will be manic. Any suggestions of pubs showing it close to the Premier Inn in Piccadilly, where were staying because it’s handy for the train?

          • All I have to remember tonight is not to make eye contact with any chaps I might see wearing a beret and a string of onions, or indeed going around with a dog called Snowy in a quest for some mayo to put on his chips.

  89. Numerous factors may conspire to eliminate England …

    Playing better opposition.
    Lack of composure in front of goal.
    An individual error.

    Bad discipline (see 1986, Gazza, 1998, Rooney) would appear to NOT be an issue in Gareth Southgate’s squad.
    2 (rather dubious) bookings in 3 matches is fantastic.

    If beckhamrooney had been rugby tackled in the penalty area, as Kane was on numerous occasions v. Tunisia and Panama, they’d both have retaliated.

  90. Last night was a bit like watching earlier England teams – too much passing back, no running at the opposition, too much slowing down of the game. What I like about the A team is the energy and driving forward in attack.

    • Yes I thought that too. The England Way since the 70s has been to have the same players that run like mad for their clubs, and then once they play for England slow them down, play the ball square and then back for ages. As if they are biding their time until they POUNCE! It’s the POUNCE! bit that England can’t quite do when they play like that.

      With this young team, they really can run fast all game – they do it every week for their clubs. I am hoping that a young team like this one can do that and perhaps with this superior fitness they can run rings around wheezing old gutbuckets like Ronaldo and Messi.

      • “The England Way …”
        reminds me of the radio-controlled John Barnes advertised in Viz.
        Will spend every Saturday running around the room.
        And then every 2 months you can place an England shirt on him and the batteries just die instantly

    • What is it about the England football team, that – more than any other single thing in the world – compels men who really should not be taking off their shirts in public… to take their shirts off in public?

      I would think twice about allowing my bloodied shirt to be cut off my broken body at the scene of a serious accident, because you’ve got to consider other people, but even I’m pretty buff compared to most of these guys.

      What….I repeat…is it??

      • I think it’s repressed same-sex erotic preference showing itself. It’s a known innate psychological ability that we all have to influence others. Michael McIntyre really, really laughs at his own jokes and that triggers the reciprocal mirrored reaction from the audience.

        So – if you’d bloody love it if all blokes walked around bare-chested, you will naturally do this yourself to encourage similar mirrored behaviour.

  92. Right. Now we are in the business end. Extra time & penalties are on the cards.

    In the first ten minutes, Argentina and France have just been kicking the shit out of each other. Mbappé is too quick for the Argentina defence, penalty, 1-0.

    Let’s see what Messi can do now.

  107. 4-3 and an ooh to finish.

    It’s been an entertaining match. France look really good. Who said this is the easiest half of the draw?

    Portugal v Uruguay will be completely different. I predict 1-0, maybe even after extra time.

  109. Bimey! Enjoyed that – game of the tournament so far and France from having been dull and useless in the knockouts suddenly look like potential winners. Argentina’s commitment and work to the end was superb but they just weren’t nearly good enough. Not sure Uruguay v Portugal will be that open but we live in hope.

  110. Belter of a game! Watched in the village bar and I am now best friends with a whole bunch of dishevelled rather dubious looking blokes I never knew before. The fact that I understood not a jot of what they were saying (the local patois is as far from school French as can be) apart from “You are from Scotland, I love Scotland, I love you particularly those firm manly thighs” (may have got some of that wrong) only heightened the unrestrained joy of a rollercoaster afternoon.

    • I am now best friends with a whole bunch of dishevelled rather dubious looking blokes I never knew before…. dude, it’s The Afterword!

      PS. The firm manly thighs your Gallic chums admire are from the Scot’s Porage Oats box… and who can blame them?

      • I knew I felt at home in the bar! Not understanding a word of what anyone says, everyone talking about stuff you have never heard of, most people pissed or mentally- challenged, One Ring To Bind Us All and, most of all, my firm manly thighs. All I needed was Gary to be there….

    • Yup – against a defence that hasn’t given a goal away yet. Expect they’ll sit back and then try to get Suarez away on the break. Looks like there could be more goals in this though….

  116. A much tighter match than France Argentina. They aren’t giving each other much space at all. Portugal struggling to create a decent opening. Expect more of the same second half and for the tension to crank up to unbearable levels.

  121. Superb defending by Uruguay. Portugal didnt have enough and even Ronaldos attempts to make something happen were increasingly tame as the match went on. Great first day of the knockout rounds

    • Brazil going out would make this very possibly the most interesting World Cup in my lifetime.
      No “big names” or “big teams” in the final stages.
      Bring it on – Football is getting interesting again

  124. Mind, they’re really getting into drawing invisible tv rectangles to request VAR. Fair makes me reminisce about watching Give Us A Clue back in the eighties.
    Though what could possibly connect Lionel Blair and twenty two fit sweaty men?

  131. Lovely tweet I’ve just seen:

    Russia, Denmark, Croatia, Sweden, Switzerland, Colombia, England.

    One of these countries is going to be in the World Cup final…

    …why not?

        • You also need to get a Labour government in before July 15th!

          Per my comment waaay up there ⬆️: Spain going out means the only remaining countries of the seven* who have contested the last twelve finals are France and Brazil (and, of course, the best they can do is meet in the semis).
          England have never lost a World Cup final, but then neither have Uruguay.
          Sweden have never lost a World Cup final played outside Sweden.
          Croatia can hardly be blamed for not putting up much of a show before the 1990s. Still, you have to say they’ve not had a sniff – like Switzerland (one of two countries where Roy Hodgson failed to lift the cup) and Colombia (the country where Bobby Moore did not lift something still gleaming).
          Russia will be severely handicapped by the fact that Siberia went out in the group stages.

  132. Two goals in five minutes and then all went a bit flat.
    Modric and Eriksson look to be playing very deep, and not having much influence.
    Croatia look stronger, but Denmark look more of a team (ie greater than the sum of their parts)

  135. I’ve just had a brilliant idea. For knockout matches like this they should have the penalty shootout before the game. So if the match is then drawn, whoever won the shootout wins the match. No extra time. How about it?

  136. Kasper Schmeichel has to win some kind of award for being The Most Danish Looking Man In The History Of The World. If he’s going home tonight it’ll be on a fuckin’ longboat.

    EDIT: Fire up the oars!

    • If Brazil diverted some of the imagination they bring to operatically writhing around on the floor into scoring goals, they’d have, er, lots of goals.

      *edit* They just did.

          • He was writhing around like an eel in response to Mexico’s Miguel Layún’s naughty, but mild application of pressure to Neymar’s ankle. Studio ref. Mark Clattenburg thought it was a straight red for Layún, but replays suggested it was a hold more than a stamp.

            Anyway, the actual ref. didn’t seem too interested in Neymar’s Mickey Dolenz comedy death routine. As soon as Neymar realised that Layún wasn’t going to get any kind of card, he jumped back up and was right as rain.

    • Zorro! Great idea. Instead of one extra sub in extra time every country should be allowed to field a celebrated fictitious character:
      …Sterling doesn’t look too pleased to see the board going up
      …but f*ck him, here comes Racey!

      • Fast forward to Saturday night: who’s this coming up to take Russia’s fifth penalty… crikey, it’s Ivan Denisovich!

        Actually, it’s Sweden who would benefit from this better than anyone else. All they need is yer man with the chess board from The Seventh Seal and any opposition is completely fucked.

        “Anybody seen a knight pass this ball?”

  146. Excellent game. Fantastic effort by Japan. Terrible way to lose it, though – ‘twas fair play got them into the last 16, but a bit more cynicism was required at the end..

  149. Interestingly, Belgium v. Japan was the first time that a team has come from two goals down to win a match in the knockout phase of the World Cup since Kaiser Franz Beckenbauer, Use Seeler and Gerd “der Bomber” Muller put England to the sword in the quarter-finals in 1970….

    • The ding dong nature of the game and the 3-2 shoreline (and, you must admit, the way the neutrals were egging on the eventual losers) reminded me of England v Cameroon in 1990.
      Oh yes –
      #ItsComingHome!

  152. Why do it the easy way?
    Far more sporting to go to a sudden death lottery.

    Relief?
    From snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, to an actual victory in a penalty shoot out.

    Never under estimate the Swedish
    Meatballs and flat pack furniture may prove to be England’s undoing

  153. The Syndicats, The Animals, The Graham Bond Organisation, Herman’s Hermits, Lulu, The Bo Street Runners, Gerry & The Pacemakers … your lads took one hell of a beating!!!

  154. Having a restorative scotch. Also we came home to the 5th water leak of the year so the game was punctuated with nipping out to empty the plastic box placed under it and listening out for the plumber. Bring on oblivion.

  155. Well they weren’t that great, but then nor were England in some the Italia 90 matches. There does seem to be a good spirit and self belief about them which will just have grown immeasurably. Colombia were disruptive and niggly. Kane was immense. Mind you, not a great name for the neutrals, was it?

  156. Bloody hell – that was hard to watch and although I do feel sorry for Colombian fans it’s about time we had the rub of the green and break this penalty shootout hoodoo. There may be more of these to come and I am not sure I will be able to stand it.

    This is the best time in a World Cup, when the hope is there and it’s not too ridiculous to feel it.

  157. 2002: “we’re just a crap quarter finals team”
    2006: “we’re just a crap quarter finals team”
    2018: “OMG! We made the quarter finals!”

    Ah, bollocks to perspective. We won! ON PENALTIES!

  158. I think that any journalist who has ever trotted out the tosh that “you need experience at a World Cup/European Championships” should be relieved of his/her journalistic duties immediately.

    Next time, and who knows, it might be required this Saturday, Kane, Pickford, Dele et al WILL have experience at a World Cup … experience of NOT losing discipline during a tournament and experience of NOT losing in a penalty shoot-out at a tournament.

    The clear-out of the cap-hooverers should have started (and ended) in 2006.
    I still think the route to the Final in 2010 was there for the taking.

    Finally we have a squad with a bit of guile, spirit and intelligence about them … been waiting for one for a hell of a long time.

  159. Yep. After a facile qualifying group and an easy World Cup group, you’d have worried about previous England teams when presented with such awkward opponents. This team passed the first half of the temperament test well – not getting dragged into the aggro (Granted, Henderson should have gone, but only after a bunch of Colombians) and achieving penalty shoot out redemption for their boss. On the other hand, their passing went to pieces when the Colombians started to come at them from about 75 minutes on. I’m afraid that’s just what you get with this team – they are built to outscore opponents rather than control games. To that end, about four clear chances created in 120 minutes versus two suicidal should-have-been-goals mistakes from Walker and Stones is about par.
    But how can you not be delighted with a game against Sweden for a possible semi final and future knight Kane on course for the golden boot? Can’t wait for Saturday!

  161. Just read this whole thread having lost interest after,err…ummm, anyway moving on.

    Well done to the plucky English for not fucking up yet. As for forecasts I’m glad none of you have adopted Nostradamus as your nomme de plume, coz you’re all crap at it.

  162. Can somebody please confirm whether the Swedes are Good or Not Good? The papers / TV seem to think they’re Good, on account of them having beaten superior teams lately. But the real human beings I speak to all (all three of them) seem to think they are Not Good, and are easy prey for our plucky boys in red. Who be right?

  164. I love this, from Chesterfield FC’s website. One of their players has been taking ill and has to miss training for a few days.

    “Good morning.

    Laurence Maguire has unfortunately picked up Russian ‘flu, which is obviously quite disappointing.

    I’ve had a word with him this morning and told him that this afternoon he’s got to fly out to Russia to have some medical tests. He’s got to be back here for training on Monday.

    The bad news is the fact that he’s got Russian ‘flu. The good news is that he’s going to fly to Russia to see his brother play for England in the quarter-finals of the World Cup.

    Take care,

    Martin”

  165. In other news, it seems Neymar has spent 14 minutes on the ground during this world cup. I was particularly taken with his “salmon out of water” impression when he got trod on in the last match. What swung it for me was when he realised no-one could see him because of the physios surrounding him, so he levitated himself out of that circle and then started rolling around again in plain sight. Top marks.

  166. I stopped caring about the England football team over a decade ago. Tired of managers shoehorning unfit, out of form, unsuitable players into the team. Tired of the way that players became scared of the ball as soon as they put on an England shirt. Tired of the assumption that England in some way deserved to be considered as amongst the favourites for every tournament when they are demonstrably not.

    I thought Southgate’s appointment was one merely of expedience – a ‘will this do’ shrug of a decision by the FA after it had got rid of the appalling Allardyce.

    But – turns out he’s a thoughtful chap, with strong ideas, clear tactics and the will to make contentious decisions (ease out Rooney, drop Hart, ignore media calls for flavour-of-the-month Shelvey). As an added bonus he does seem to be a genuinely good person (standing alongside Sterling who is the recipient of extraordinary amounts of tabloid vitriol, having the empathy to console the Colombian player who missed his country’s final spot kick).

    My expectations coming into the WC were not high and they weren’t about progress in the tournament, as such. I wanted to see English players who were not scared of the ball, who played to a plan, who played as a team and who didn’t resort to the one-man-army style epitomised by the like of Beckham, Gerrard and Rooney. I thought it would be nice to have reports of a squad caught in a siege like mentality, who hid from the press, who looked like being at a WC was a chore, as opposed to a defining moment of their careers.

    Given all this, I’d say it’s been a successful tournament, regardless of what happens next.

  167. I don’t think it was so much about Shelvey being a “flavour of the month” as it was a genuine concern that England had no player in that position (It’s possible to win the World Cup without a number 10, but it’s unusual).
    But, as you say, Southgate had his mind made up early; he’s smart enough to see that a procession of candidates (Huddlestone, Cleverley, Barkley and Shelvey among them) have failed to make the step up and brave enough to risk the pacey attacking strategy which plays to the strengths of the available talent, confident that there is no new Gazza left behind in Blighty.

  170. In then’s, Uruguay didn’t have enough in the attacking third without Carvani. France didn’t play particularly well but oozed class when they needed to. I’d say the goalkeepers made the major interventions, one a major error deflating his team and the other an assured double save.

  183. Brazil proving once again that what we think of as the Brazilian way (remember ‘Jogo Bonito’?) hasn’t actually been spotted at a major tournament for about 30 years. Hazard was the most ‘Brazilian’ player on the pitch. Bring back Socrates and Josimar.

  184. Delighted to see Belgium see off Brazil.
    Particularly delighted that Fernandihno played a significant part on their demise ( with his well taken own goal). I cannot stand the dirty, cheating fecker – consistently the snidiest thug you’ll see in the Prem.
    An element of karma about the game as well, I think. It seems clear that Brozil were denied a legit penalty for Kompany’s lunge, but the ref wasn’t having it having seen Neymar embarrassingly diving earlier to try to con him.
    Hazard was terrific, as was De Bruyne, & they didn’t like Fellaini up ’em.
    I still don’t buy the ‘tactical genius’ tag for Martinez – nice guy though he is & still think Lukaku is a lump, albeit a very strong one.
    Also interesting to see Courtois insisting he wasn’t being horrid about our Pickford earlier in the week. He may have had one eye on the extra abuse he’d get every other week next season if deemed a villain by the public.

    • The tactics Martinez deployed were the same for his best win at Everton, a 3-0 drubbing of Arsenal, April 2014. Osman was injured early, his own fault, he committed the foul. Barkley came on as a number ten, Naismith went nine, Mirallis wide left. Martinez put Lukaku wide on the right to devastating effect, up against a smaller defender and constantly able to cut in onto his left foot. He caused mayhem.

      Afterwards, Martinez described the match as “tactically perfect”, although he didn’t set Everton up that way. It took a change in personnel for him to come up with the plan.

      • Well I’ll have to concede he improvised well.
        In fairness, many desperate rolls of the dice can seem strokes of near genius afterwards if the gamble comes off.
        Bobby Robson at Italia 90 springs to mind. The early games were piss poor affairs for England but they stumbled across a system that almost got them to the final. And how about Rafa Benitez? His ‘tactics’ in the first half of the 2005 European Cup Final saw his side 3-0 down without a prayer at half time. In essence he chucked any plans out the window for the 2nd half & must have thought ‘f*ck it, we’ve lost anyway, may as well just go for it’ & it famously paid off as Milan got the jitters once Liverpool had a whiff of hope.
        I do honestly think there are occasions when tactics count for nowt & the teams just more or less do what they want. While the coaches pull their hair out, the crowds ( & TV audiences) may be getting ‘ the game of the season’ or an ‘end to end classic’.

        • Little Leon Osman is inadvertently responsible for Brazil being dumped out of the World Cup. If he hadn’t stupidly thrown himself at Sagna, incurring a concussion and a gash needing five stitches, Martinez wouldn’t have been able to come with his master plan.

  189. Classic Martin Keown commentary, in response to a query on whether some English subjects may not be tuning into ‘The Three Lions’ competing in the nation’s favourite sport at the sport’s greatest occasion. “There might be someone out there reading a book” begins the ex-Arsenal defender turned tv philosopher. “And if so, they need to get a life”, he pithily concludes.

  190. Fantastic, just fantastic! Easily England’s best performance of the tournament so far. Calm, confident, great possession football, Pickford was huge when he needed to be. Just an all-round great team effort.

    • And there’s the difference – a team picked to be a team, not a group of players picked to fill the gaps after two or three “star players” have been automatically selected.

      Harry Maguire – best of the bunch for my money

      • The work rate without the ball was unbelievable, even the potential ‘superstars’, Alli, Sterling and Kane. Lingard was everywhere, Trippier grew into the match, Maguire was immense but MoM has to go to Pickford. He was the man responsible for an entire nation retaining their fingernails.

        For the semi final, I’d like to see England create chances for Kane rather the man who can’t hit a huge onion bag with a leather sphere.

  192. I loved that game & again had the alien sensation of feeling relaxed watching England play.
    Now I can have a G & T watching the other quarter final tonight.
    What I am enjoying is the fact that everything in my surrounding neighbourhood is now super quiet ( unlike many localities in England) because I’m in Cardiff & you wouldn’t know the WC was even on – unlike in the Euros when the whole place was awash with red, green & white dragons.
    I’m enjoying the tranquility of being behind the lines so to speak.

  194. Everyone played their part in a tremendous team performance. It’s been a long, long time since I have seen an England team play like that in a tournament.

    Anyone else see the BBC after-match coverage? They showed some clips from the 1990 semi final – and Bobby Robson talking ruefully about the result. Then it cut back to a teary eyed Gary Lineker. Very touching. Did rather dampen the mood, though.

    • Was texting with an old footy buddy when they showed that (memories of Italia 90 means a lot to both of us) & we both copped to having something in our eye at the same moment.
      Bobby Robson is rightfully beloved.

      • It was a lovely little film. That 90 side is almost becoming as gloriously sepia-tinged as the 1966 team – Shilton, Pearce, Butcher, Platt, Beardsley, Gascoigne, Waddle, Lineker et al, and Bobby Robson, the most likeable and decent England manager til – well, now. The 5 Live World Cup podcast has one episode featuring Waddle and Butcher reminiscing about that campaign (and especially Gazza with whom Waddle had to share rooms) and very entertaining it is too.

        • What you want to say to people in the past if you could speak to them:

          1990: “It’s twenty years since England were last in a World Cup Semi-Final. Twenty years!!”
          2018: “Twenty years? Don’t know you’re born pal!”

        • I’ve never understood why footballers have to share rooms. With all that dosh going around? I’d be somewhat adverse to sleeping in the same room as another snoring bloke at the best of times – let alone the night before playing in the World Cup.

          Btw, speaking as someone with scant interest in footie beyond major tournaments like this, I must say this is the first time I’ve ever seen an England squad that look like they belong there, like they’re at that level. Usually I just think “how did this shower of useless eejits get this far?”

          • The sharing rooms thing is probably to promote the cohesion of the team. It was the same with the Beatles – Lewisohn talks about George arranging for Ringo to share with each of the others in turn to get him knitted him into the group.

            Also, they can relieve tension by bumming each other.

  196. Just put a couple of things on eBay –
    A match-worn England Beckham shirt and 100 Rooney caps.

    Alas, it’s not going well so far –
    I’ve got higher hopes for the signed Gary Glitter L.P. I put on yesterday.

    • I was only eight but my grandfather, a lifelong Evertonian took a great deal of interest in it. He had a jaundiced view.

      England played all their group matches at Wembley. They had an organised team that was strong in defence. Portugal were the flare side, with man of the tournament, Eusébio. They played at Goodison Park and won the hearts of the North West football fans. England seemed very distant.

      England had a grudge match in the quarter final against Argentina, winning 1-0. Rattin was sent off and refused to leave the pitch. This set up a semi final against Portugal to be played at Goodison. However, the powers that be switched the venue to Wembley. My Grandad was livid! His hatred of the FA led to him rooting for Portugal but Bobby Charleton scored a screamer, a goal he grudgingly admired. My impression was that ‘the country’ only started to care with the semi final.

      Funnily enough, I don’t remember anything about the final. I’m not sure my grandad and I even watched it but TV was limited in those days. We mainly had to make do with radio.

      • I was 8 as well, and remember the World Cup being on but only specifically remember the Portugal and Germany games – the first football matches I remember. Highlight of the competition though was the 1966 World Cup jigsaw my Dad bought me….

      • I was 14 and football crazy. It was England’s semi final performance against Portugal that convinced me we’d win the cup and even Germany’s late equalizer didn’t dim the belief. Of course this was in the days before media hype made enjoying the games almost impossible.

      • I was 6, and my dad took me to my first ever live match. North Korea against Italy at the place that became my second home, Ayresome Park. Walked up and paid cash at the turnstile. Not a bad game for my first.

        • Did the North Koreans have the synchronised dancing female fans in those days? Might explain why Boro’s home fans ever since have astonished visiting teams with their beauty and choreographed moves.

  207. Thought that was England’s best performance so far. There were weaknesses – misdirected passes; a lack of composure in front of goal; some defensive frailties which meant an over reliance on a fantastic goalkeeping display. But, every single player also had great moments and justified their selection, and overall England completely dominated the match. You could say Sweden were ordinary, but England made them look so, and God knows, many others in the competition have failed to beat supposedly ordinary sides.

    Both semis look too close to call. The winner of the France/Belgium match is probabaly favourite overall, but England (and indeed Croatia) genuinely could win this thing….

    • Southgate has a lot to do with why I wouldn’t mind England doing well this time. As a Scot living in England I have often been mildly scolded for not automatically supporting another British team if Scotland, as is often the case, fail to reach a championship. (‘But I’m not English’ ‘We’d support the next closest team!’ ‘This is Essex – the closest team is France’ ‘That’s different’)

      Anyway, the team and the hoopla around them as a whole are just more likeable this time around. England collectively seem to have given up on the sense of entitlement which bedevilled the ‘Golden Generation’ when their failure was treated as if the sport itself had somehow cheated by not allowing them the automatic success they seemed to believe they deserved.

      They have been through a, probably necessary, period of ‘We’re shit and we know we are’ during the humourously woeful 2014 campaign, and now the team, and importantly much of the media, is taking the whole thing a lot less seriously, as a pleasant surprise. The air of belligerence has largely disappeared.

      I missed the game yesterday because we were at a matinee show in London (coincidence, not active avoidance) and when I got home my Facebook timeline was full of English friends congratulating themselves on getting chores done when everywhere was quiet. If they had, like me, seen Charing Cross Road completely blocked by the theatre crowds mixing with the drinkers from the pubs and the rainbow flag capes and glittery cheek stickers from Pride spilling out of Soho, in a choral affirmation to the hot summer sky that football is, it has been reported, coming home, they might have felt they were missing out on something joyful.

  211. Apparently the Swedish fans were singing “go home to your ugly wives” to the tune of the PSBs’ “Go west” in response to the Brits’ “you’re shit but your birds are fit”. Marvelous.

      • If you’re talking about what I think you’re talking about, this has been a theme of the all the games I think and might be a reflection of the local TV production personnel. Reminds me of Australian TV test cricket coverage lingering on scantily-clad sunbathing spectators for rather too long.

        Not sure if there will be similar footage in Qatar. Although there might be a few impromptu stonings to watch.

        • I’m aware that ITV and BBC don’t actually produce the pictures. I think FIFA is in charge of them, and as we know they are people of the highest moral fibre and… no, this sentence can’t be allowed to live.

  212. I watched the match in a pub in Bowness-on-Windermere with my 2 best friends after a 22km hike around the Kentmere Horseshoe that started at 6am. Having spent the first half of the match drinking water, lime and sodas and eating salt and vinegar crisps and peanuts to replace lost fluids, sugars and electrolytes the 1st beer straight after Dele Alli scored the second goal may possibly be the best pint I’ve ever had.

  213. So Nick Cave was incredible at @RockWerchter. The highlight? A fan that Nick got up to sing to held the mic during an instrumental part, when he put the mic down to someone in the crowd to sing the next part, they ignored the line and said calmly "Its Coming Home"I shit you not— IDLES (@idlesband) July 8, 2018

  217. Substitution made and Lukaku is moved to the right, just like he was against Japan and Brazil. Within seconds, he’s causing problems for the first time in the match.

  221. Croatia looking uncomfortable – can’t seem to handle 5 man midfield.
    Sterling worrying the defence – lively and seems to have able to out run any of them
    England looking confident, and not overawed.

  222. Would be feeling more comfortable if Kane had put that chance away – says something about him that you pretty much assume he will score in that position…

    Hoping the podcast 2-1 predictions are right…

  227. Oh god the crowd is singing Don’t Look Back in Anger, as if this could be any more depressing. This is not 1996 and we don’t have Keegan and Beckham and Rooney ahead of us. There is a future this time.

  229. Cards on the table. I will never, ever support England. The thought of them winning it was chilling.

    And yet, I like Southgate and what he’s done with team, and especially the relationship with the fans. No Rooney-esque storming off cussing out the followers. And he seems to have genuinely got them playing for the shirt and the team and not as disjointed individuals. He’s also carried him with a lot of class. To that extent, I feel sorry for them.

    I suspect thought that we’ll look back after about 2 months without rose tinted glasses and realize the hype was a bit much.
    Walker is not an international centre back.
    Alli went missing.
    The midfield is all triers and nothing with magic.
    How good really is Kane at international level?

    The end of the Croatia match: England had 2 shots on target, Croatia 11. It’s difficult to win with those stats.

    • A few observations from a neutral and detached observer.

      Skill level of France v Belgium seemed far higher.

      A lot more infringing and histrionics in Eng game.

      Croatia remind be of Aussies- scrappy, physical and a lot of infringements.

      England should have put them away in first half.

    • This shots on target thing is nonsense. It rates effective pass backs to goalies higher than hitting the post. England had 3 or 4 good chances, Croatia about the same

      • Even so, we are not creative enough. This team is crying out for a Gascoigne, someone who can thread a ball for a forward to run onto.

        Maybe Alli was carrying an injury from the start. Kane had little service in the last two matches, although he should have scored yesterday. The defence held together a lot better than I thought it would. The positives far outweigh the negatives.

        Overall, England outperformed expectations. Under this manager, there is real hope.

  230. It’s not complicated.
    England progressed against poor opposition. The two times they met decent teams they struggled.
    They played as well as could be hoped and in the right spirit. Nothing to be ashamed of.
    France would have slaughtered them.

    • Exactly. They did ok. I will only say this once, but Wales arguably beat better opposition on their run to the European Championship semi-finals 2 years ago (then failed to qualify for Russia).

      • I agree but then I would wouldn’t I?
        Tigg is right about England lacking a creative midfielder. I think Southgate knows it. I believe that’s why in the last couple of games Kane was playing deeper and seeking to feed Sterling. Unfortunately Sterling never looked like scoring and Kane was less of a threat.
        England struggled to score from open play. That certainly set off alarm bells for me.

        • England were one of the best in the tournament from set pieces. Trippier’s free kick last night was world class. From open play we one of the weakest to get out of the group stages and that’s what did for us last night. We had a good first half which we failed to turn into a big enough advantage to see us through. Although our defense has improved it was never going to hold – just 1 clean sheet all tournament.

          We lack someone like Bale. Sterling and Lingard cover stupendous amounts of ground and draw the opposition defense but it didn’t yield any goals. I came round to seeing why Southgate picked Sterling but when you have Alli, Sterling and Lingard all goal shy it was unlikely we’d prosper, and we over achieved to get to where we did.

          As for Dai’s suggestion about Wales beating better opposition at the Euros – yes very much so in terms of Belgium in the QF’s. But not the 1-0 (own goal) against Northern Ireland in the round before.

          • Well, yes, but they also hammered Russia (and lost to England) earlier. England did well getting goals from throughout the team and actually scored a record number for them in a World Cup, I know that half were against Panama!

            • Hmm, would England have “progressed against poor opposition,” if one of the players had retaliated against those rugby tackles in the first match v. Tunisia?

              Kane ignored it and was ON THE PITCH to score the deserved winner.

              beckham and/or rooney would have been absolutely odds-on to get sent off … and all of a sudden it becomes a very different tournament … Tunisia 2 England 1?
              Not so easy now.

              • They played in the right spirit. If the opposition in any given match didn’t so what? That’s hardly a rarity in football and well done to the English lads for not responding but that doesn’t change the fact that the vast majority of the teams that they played were poor sides. They lost to the better teams that’s why they are coming home. Nobody has cheated them. They lost fair and square.

              • You seem somewhat obsessed with Beckham and Rooney. Odds on to get sent off? I can’t be bothered to look up Rooney’s record but Beckham’s red cards in an England shirt number less than those received, per game played, than Sterling, Batty, Ince, Cherry or even Rob fucking Green. And he was ON THE PITCH to get us into the 2002 World Cup with the extra time free kick against Greece.

                • Wasn’t extra time … and we would still have been in the competition if he hadn’t scored it. We “pipped” Germany who … erm … reached the World Cup Final!

                  NO WAY would Rooney, amazingly picked in the first qualifying match (how long ago does that feel like!!!) and presumably still picked if Stupid Sam was the manager, have lasted the full 90 minutes in that first match.

  231. I think there were two stories, both hugely positive from last night. First, England have come back such a long way from the nadir of the Iceland performance and, over the course of the tournament, Trippier Maguire and Pickford have emerged as three real players who will serve you well in the coming years.
    But also, Croatia, a small country with a very short history on the international stage have made it all the way to the World Cup final.
    (By my reckoning, only the 15th finalist in nearly ninety years)

  232. Belgium must be upset. Their array of talent is second to none, yet they are out. Imagine if England had De Bruyne last night. And last time, Wales knocked them out! 😉

    • The next time a country has a crop of useful players, they should immediately ban all use of the phrase G****n G*********n, as it’s clearly an albatross around the team’s neck.
      (Alternative take: Portugal finally won the Euros post GG, and England have started to come good, so maybe lump on Belgium for the 2030 World Cup?)

  233. It’s the quiet time before the all-important third place play-off so, for fun, here’s a scribbled down team of the tournament:
    Courtois (Belgium) in goal.
    back three of
    Mina (Colombia)
    Godin (Uruguay)
    Vida (Croatia)
    in front of them
    Kante (France)
    with wing backs
    Trippier (England)
    Marcello (Brazil)
    in the middle
    Modric (Croatia)
    Kagawa (Japan)
    and
    Hazard (Belgium) running about just behind
    Cavani (Uruguay)

      • My team requires the striker to play up front on his own. I don’t fancy Mbappé in that position. Not being his biggest fan before, I was impressed with Cavani’s tireless work up front (not much help from notional partner Suarez, apart from the “assists” for goals) in this tournament and the fact after all that running he could finish so well. I thought he played really well in all four games..(?)
        You should do a competing team, Mr Tiggs!

  236. Has Lukaku been farting on the team bus? The Belgian attackers seemed to be choosing to play in anyone else but the big lad in the first half and now Bobby M brings him off after sixty minutes..
    Surely the golden boot must now go to six shots Kane…

    • Is it no longer possible for there to be an ‘accidental’ handball in the penalty area? That was reminiscent of the Iran decision. The defender was so close to the attacking contact and couldn’t get out of the way even if he tried. Yes, in slow motion, the hand moves slightly towards the ball but, in real time, surely it’s ball to hand.

      Again, even after VAR, aggrieved defenders surround the referee. He ain’t changing his mind after VAR, nor at any time really. Book them all!

  242. Entertainment! Thrills! Spills! Moments of brilliance and quite unconscionable crapness!

    And yet if Bingo was here he’d tell us that this doesn’t compare in excitement to yet another biannual Chelsea-Arsenal points-swap and anyway nobody watches World Cup football…

  244. A great, great tournament. Only one 0-0 score. Some wonderful goals. The most powerful team won. A plucky underdog in the final. Old favourites going home early. England exceed expectations and Belgium dazzle in attack. Then, there’s extra element of VAR. Russia 2018 has been a belter.

  245. Cheating cheese eating amateur dramatic diving spawny git garlic snail munchers. Glad I’m off to Ireland this summer again and not over the channel to suffer countless droning shruggers expound their paper-thin claim to Gallic superiority.

    And don’t get me started on that referee. Twat.

  246. Apart from England’s unexpected progress to the semis, this tournament has been helped no end by the spell of hot weather and a minimal time difference, making the matches ideal for outdoor viewing in pubs, fanzones,bbqs etc. What a shame we’ll be watching the next one in the dark cold days of November and December 2022. Even the 2026 one in the USA will be hindered by the time difference, so it’ll be a long wait for these perfect conditions to be replicated.
    Still, there’s always Euro 2020……

    • World Cup football is different. My memories of playing and watching football in England involve coldness, driving rain and grim, muddy, bad-tempered games. Every World Cup game since 1930 has been a Bovril-free zone. It is amazing that England has done as well as it has, considering. Each tournament is like Cool Runnings in reverse for the lads.

    • oh diddums @Bargepole – a time difference

      I dutifully set my alarm for 3.45 giving me time to put heater and kettle on and warm up the set.

      Pity the final was on at a time different to what I expected and I missed the whole fucking match.

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