FIFA World Cup 2022

[Gingerfinch]

Yet to get the Grelish fandom.

He gets fouled.

But what else.

And there it is!

[Gingerfinch]

He's done it again. Have a bang man!

[yuppie]

I mean England fans have to be happy right?

Done well today.

Senegal next. I guess the problem is that the starting 11 is not an easy selection.

US are doing well against Iran. I think US will be a tough team in the next round.

[Durhamfootman]

I'm claiming that. Rashford different again in the second half. I have a feeling that is the first goal scored from a direct free kick in the tournament. Players have complained that these balls balloon if you hit them too hard, but Rashford had no bother with that. Both Rashford and Foden looked better once they switched sides

Senegal on Saturday. They'll be better than Iran and Wales and will play differently to USA. They've looked a bit more attacking minded when I've watched them, so there might be more in the way of chances for England

[yuppie]

Iran players surrounding the referee asking for a VAR referral might just explain the problems VAR will cause in the knock out stages.

[Gingerfinch]

Iran players surrounding the referee asking for a VAR referral might just explain the problems VAR will cause in the knock out stages.

Desperate wasn't it.

The USA should give the Dutch a decent game. I'm hoping a Mane less Senegal won't have enough for England but it will be a toughie.

[yuppie]

Feel it will be a tough game for England. Contrasting styles. I mean is there a best starting 11 for England? I guess after this Saka and Sterling dont start. But what about the midfield. In fairness to Englands defence, they are doing well.

Holland vs USA could be a huge upset.

[mikesiva]

USA won a hard fought contest with Iran 1-0.

[Durhamfootman]

just realised that England play on Sunday and not Saturday

[bigfluffylemon]

Job done, I didn't watch it (2am where I am at the moment), but sounds as though Wales were pretty poor, and England weren't much better in the first half until they finally woke up. Still, wake up they did, and won the group, so can't complain too much (although complaining is the default position of the England fan )

I reckon that QF would be 'par' for this England team. It's hard to judge performance in tournaments solely by where you were knocked out, as it depends who you played and how you played the games, but England are in the top 10 teams in the world by any reasonable measure, so should make the QFs, but aren't realistically in the top contenders.

A last 16 loss to Senegal would be an underperformance IMO - England should win that game, but there are no easy games once you get to the knockouts of a major tournament - anyone who is there is good enough to have got through qualifying and the group stage so has earned the right to be taken seriously. Overall, while there have been some blowouts, it seems as if the gulf between the best teams and the rest is not as large as it has been in the past, as witness the number of 'upsets'. Quality is likely to out in the end, but anyone can have an off day, and in knockout football, an off day means you go home.

[bigfluffylemon]

Consensus seems to be that Bale is past it, which is sad.

[sussexpob]

Amazing how Rashford was marked out of existence for 50-55 minutes, but to use Alan Shearer's tagline, "finally found his belief and inner confidence"..... I mean, call me a Skeptic, but this personal transformation obviously had nothing to do with the fact that both Wales competent Premier League level full backs, who had reduce Rashford to a smoking pile of ashes for 60% of the game, went off injured and was replaced by a guy who can't sniff a game at a league one mid-table side, being played out of position.

Wonder how many average players would suddenly look amazing if I shoved a Burton Albion attacking midfielder to man mark them out wide..... guessing quite a lot.

And let's be honest. I'd guess the vast majority of goalkeepers would have saved the free kick. Ward took an inexplicable step the wrong way and turned what should have been an easy save down the middle of the goal into 1-0.

Then the second goal, the aforementioned legendary League one player gets caught 5 meters out of position running the wrong way, Rashford gets in behind, and puts a terrible shot straight at the keeper..... who misses the ball and gets nutmegged. If this is France, neither of those efforts are goals, and we would be talking about Rashford missing two sitters, not just one.

Rashford is nowhere near the best winger we have in the team, but I fear after yesterday, he's going to now play every game.

[sussexpob]

I think you can assess the quality of English punditry very well on last nights post-match assessment.

Grealish beat a man, cut inside, and put a shot straight at the keeper..... terrible.
Rashford did exactly the same, but the keeper fell over the ball and megged himself..... comparable to Maradona in 1982

Hmmmm

So not exactly the same, just in one case the keeper makes a horrendous error?

[sussexpob]

Consensus seems to be that Bale is past it, which is sad.

Its weird, but when he went back to Spurs a year odd ago, he surprised me with how good he was. But then he left to get money in MLS, and I think he flopped there..... cuts the figure of a guy who has totally given up. At the very least he used to run his socks off for Wales, but there was nothing in the tank in this tournament at all

[Durhamfootman]

Bale has said he wants to keep playing for Wales. On the evidence from this tournament, perhaps he should re-think that a bit. I have no idea how old he is now, so maybe this is as simple as playing MLS football. Wales for their part shipped 6 goals and the only one they scored was from the spot

Ramsay looked poor too. Not long ago he was on 400k a week.... maybe he still is