World Cup 2026

[bigfluffylemon]

Haaland is unreal.

England match now at 11am Monday morning Oz time. And I have to be at work

[sussexpob]

Beats 3am ...

[bigfluffylemon]

This match is not doing my nerves or workload any good.

3 goals in 4 minutes, now a straight red for England. Big trouble now despite the lead.

[bigfluffylemon]

That last 20 minutes took years off me. Desperate defending. But job done. Norway await.

[bigfluffylemon]

That was one hell of a performance. Even though England were never behind, felt as though they were up against it the entire match.

[sussexpob]

If Quansah hadn't lost his head, then I think we'd have won fairly comfortably. Mexico whipped up a storm before half-time, but as the match went on they ran out of ideas. Can't complain about the red card, nor do I think anyone on either side will have complaints about the penalties. I think he got all three big decisions right, even though he gave a lot of minor decisions to Mexico. England were lethal with their opportunities, and played with great heart backs to the wall with discipline. Maybe a little luck thrown in.

Given the altitude, the home crowd blowing the roof off, and a spirited Mexico team that gave all they have, its a solid win.

In fact, have England had a better world cup win in several decades than this? To beat Mexico at 2500m with no prep and fighting a home side... a historical achievement in my mind.

Bellingham and Rice were superb.

[sussexpob]

Norway await.

Total win-win for me. One of the teams now is guaranteed a semi..... although to be frank, in football I will be going for England.... and will no doubt be outnumbered 3 to 1 at Chez Sussexpob on Saturday night.

[bigfluffylemon]

Norway await.

Total win-win for me. One of the teams now is guaranteed a semi..... although to be frank, in football I will be going for England.... and will no doubt be outnumbered 3 to 1 at Chez Sussexpob on Saturday night.

Watching the second half on my lunch break, all my Australian colleagues were going for Mexico...

[bigfluffylemon]

If Quansah hadn't lost his head, then I think we'd have won fairly comfortably. Mexico whipped up a storm before half-time, but as the match went on they ran out of ideas. Can't complain about the red card, nor do I think anyone on either side will have complaints about the penalties. I think he got all three big decisions right, even though he gave a lot of minor decisions to Mexico. England were lethal with their opportunities, and played with great heart backs to the wall with discipline. Maybe a little luck thrown in.

Given the altitude, the home crowd blowing the roof off, and a spirited Mexico team that gave all they have, its a solid win.

In fact, have England had a better world cup win in several decades than this? To beat Mexico at 2500m with no prep and fighting a home side... a historical achievement in my mind.

Bellingham and Rice were superb.

Agree with this. I think the free kick decision that led to Mexico's first goal was pretty soft though. Gotta give some credit to Mexico as well for a relatively clean game under the circumstances - could easily have started pulling a Paraguay and diving for everything...

Let's see if we can get Trump to write to FIFA about getting Quansah's suspension overturned /s

[Durhamfootman]

Let's see if we can get Trump to write to FIFA about getting Quansah's suspension overturned /s

you took the words right out of my mouth

I mean.... it's now 'a thing'.... right?

[Durhamfootman]

I woke up at 3.45am and figured that there had been plenty of time for extra time and pens, so came downstairs and checked the score

Got a shock when I saw they were still only in the 87th minute, so I'm guessing the expected thunderstorms delayed things by an hour

Crikey.... what a game that was

It was all set up for a 'we wuz robbed' WC exit, only we wuzn't

I thought the boys were brilliant to a man. Bellingham really showed his quality.... tireless!

How different that could have turned out if last night's ref had been allocated to this game instead. This ref was just about strong enough.... a bit Anders Frisk, but he didn't allow the crowd or the intensity to get to him

[alfie]

Quite a match , eh ? Glad it was daylight hours here as sitting through that last twenty minutes in the middle of the night might have done my head in...

After the red card , with altitude effects presumably wearing on the players , that slender lead looked very precarious. And then a penalty each way ... plus 11 extra minutes at the death...phew ! Top marks to England for holding on - and to Tuchel for some very effective defensive substitutions. Bellingham was superb , Pickford had easily his best game when it really counted...but they all contributed. Hope five days enables decent recovery after all that. On to face Norway (and hope you are not too conflicted , Sussex)

As for USA : well I was unlikely to support them anyway but after this corrupt business of Infantino producing a magical "Green Card" for Balogun (what has Trump promised him ?) , I am all aboard the Belgium Bus.

[sussexpob]

The Norwegian press are all of the opinion that the team are playing with house money and have nothing to lose, coming away from the tournament at a minimum with the greatest moment in the nation's footballing history last night. Norway will consider this tournament already an outrageously successful one, and with that will come a huge release of pressure knowing they have already achieved more than people would have given them pre-tournament. That aspect of liberation might be very dangerous for an England team who will see losing as acute failure.

But last night, the main thing that sticks out is just how comfortable England's players looked with going into that furnace of an environment. With the exception of Konza who couldn't hide his nerves, I think everyone else looked like they were up for the game, and Declan Rice and Bellingham at the warm up far from looking daunted, both looked like they were just enjoying the moment and couldn't wait to get stuck in.

Big matches bring big players, and for the first time in a long time one got the sense that England had no fear at all. Go in, get the job done, relish the moment in the process.

And this is what you pay a CL winning coach to bring.

[sussexpob]

Meanwhile, Jordan Henderson wins the prize for the most bizarre injury of all time. Tried to jump over the ad board after celebrating with the fans, and ended up with his arm facing the wrong way. Hope Jordan is ok because arms are not supposed to bend that way.... looked very nasty.

[Durhamfootman]

was very nasty, I believe, although details were hard to come by earlier