Cricket-Match-Special ... A forum for discussion

budgetmeansbudget wrote:I like the fact that Southgate didn't particularly enjoy the England performance today.

me too

and he also cited exactly the stuff that I was highlighting while the match was going on... which shows you how astute he is


Poland are going home, by the looks of it

Colombia giving Poland a football lesson.

Goals by Mina Falcao and cuadrado. James with some excellent passes.

I was trying to work out whether Columbia were just so much better than in their first match, or whether Poland were just that awful

Belgium and England will know which two teams have topped group H, when they take the field. I wonder whether that will have a bearing on the way they play. What happens if Japan top the group with a completely revitalised Columbia finishing second?

normally I wouldn't be worried about England facing Columbia, but this would be a world cup knockout game, which means that England would have to win despite the ref reducing us to 10 men and awarding a ridiculously dubious penalty to the play acting opposition and then later having a perfectly good goal ruled out in normal time for some reason known only to the officials. This always happens when we play against South/Central American teams

I shouldn't be worried, now that VAR is there to cut this sort of thing out, but I can't help myself.... it's happened too many times in the past

I can't believe I'm quite so relieved to see England through to the next round, but I was nervous ahead of this game, despite how poor Panama are on paper. And in practice, apparently. Lord knows how they qualified. Nonetheless, two wins from two and hassle-free progress into the next round, where whoever gets through Group H we will have a reasonable shot of beating - that's as good as it could have been at this stage in the tournament. And given England's last few tournaments, that's better than expected.

Not perfect, but hugely encouraging. Well done lads.

I wonder how England will play against Belgium. Will they go with 2 defensive mids and have Kane up front on his own, or will they trust in this system? The word seems to be that they think this system will work for them, and they have already qualified so they might decide not to change anything other than rest a couple of players... maybe Dier for Henderson and Rashford for Sterling.

Personally I'm not that happy with us defensively, but perhaps Belgium will be a more familiar test and perhaps we will be a bit more switched on for longer. Certainly we need to be better in the early stages of the game. In both matches so far we have gifted opportunities in the first 20 mins and I'm not sure we can afford to do that against more formidable teams. Then again, who do you drop? Both Stones and Maguire are a handful at corners, and they've invested a lot of time and effort shoehorning Walker into the right half position where his pace is a real asset. I wouldn't want to see Jones come into the side if it can be avoided, but maybe Cahill will feature?

bigfluffylemon wrote: that's as good as it could have been at this stage in the tournament. And given England's last few tournaments, that's better than expected.

Not perfect, but hugely encouraging. Well done lads.

indeed!

In the build up to this tournament I felt more positive about England's chances than I have for years. I was pretty sure we weren't going to embarrass ourselves, and we haven't. Starting from such a low base, I think I'd be happy if we won a KO game and didn't go out on penalties

Looking at the bracket and standings, it's still far from impossible that whichever of England and Belgium wins the group will go into the half of the draw that also contains Brazil, Germany, France, Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia and one of Spain/Portugal (more likely Portugal, but could easily be Spain), while the other half will contain Russia, Denmark, Croatia, Switzerland, Mexico, Japan and the other of Spain/Portugal.

Plus by the time England play Belgium, all those permutations will have been played out and we'll know who's in each half.

So if we win we could get Colombia in the second round, which is probably the side I'd be least confident of facing from Group H (for the reasons durham said), followed by the winner of Brazil/Germany, followed by the winner of a possible Spain/France QF.

With all due credit to how Croatia and Mexico at least have played so far, it could be a game neither England nor Belgium particularly wants to win? Time for some tactical 'squad rotation/resting players'?

budgetmeansbudget wrote:Actually looking at the replay the shot was on target, but I guess it had little chance of going in without the deflection.

Don't matter. It's only own goals where a shot on target gives it to the initial shooter. If it's an offensive player the goal goes to the last person to touch it.

There seems to be some optimism around this England team, with supporters enjoying what they are seeing.

Its hard to believe that only 2 years ago this team had Big Sam in charge. I think Southgate should be given a lot more credit for the way he has turned this team into a team the supporters seem happy to follow. Bringing in youth and picking players that he has confidence in and not allowing the media to dictate who should be playing. The players seem to be enjoying themselves and seem proud to be playing for England.

Its rare to see England supporters with optimism.

It won't last

By the way, when they announced the national anthem of Panama before the game, was anyone else expecting Van Halen to start playing?

Just me?

sussexpob wrote:

budgetmeansbudget wrote:Actually looking at the replay the shot was on target, but I guess it had little chance of going in without the deflection.

Don't matter. It's only own goals where a shot on target gives it to the initial shooter. If it's an offensive player the goal goes to the last person to touch it.

You're right I had got confused with own goals.

I can see Belgium and England playing out a draw but seeing who can get the most yellow cards to avoid meeting Columbia, should Columbia finish second in group H.

Obviously players already on yellows will not get involved.

bigfluffylemon wrote:It won't last

By the way, when they announced the national anthem of Panama before the game, was anyone else expecting Van Halen to start playing?

Just me?

No not just you.

A few days ago I placed £20 on Uruguay to win the whole thing at 25-1.

Suarez! Laxalt 2-0!

This is more like the Russia we were expecting.

Cavani makes it 3-0!

Egypt have had a horror tournie. But seems there is problems in the camp. Different people saying different things, but if Salah has accepted and embraced kadyrov he can go to hell.