Russia 2018

[Stom]

I'm sorry, but the behaviour of those Colombia players for the pen was scandalous. How the hell did the ref not card any of them and, in fact card an English player! Absolutely scandalous.

[Galfon]

Colombia look a good team when they actually play football.

[rowan]

Cool, I'll get to see more than the last 15 minutes tonight

[Galfon]

All from a cheating 10 yard free kick steal by the goalie!

[Adder]

Oh dear!

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[WaspInWales]

Oh dear!

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What a twat.

[Stom]

I thought climbing into the crowd was a yellow card?

The ref has been substandard.

[rowan]

I think England should still win - unless it goes to penalties Their defense is well organized and Colombia are pretty well bereft of ideas up front. They got lucky with that late goal. But England needs to do it in extra time. Shoot-outs just aren't their thing.

[Adder]

English look lost


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[rowan]

Colombia looked better in that first period of extra time than they did during the last 15 minutes of regulation time. Is the heat having an effect on England? Anyway, 15 minutes more football.

[Galfon]

Doesn't look like penalties will be needed at the moment.

[rowan]

Well, penalties are a lottery. 50/50 now. English looked the better team to me during the 45 minutes or so I saw, so will justice be served as it was for Croatia, or will the penalties result in another major shock, the way they did in eliminating Spain?

[Mellsblue]

Cunning plan:

[Adder]

Always the 3rd kick that fails.

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[rowan]

So England finally win a penalty shoot-out! Best team won. Though I was sorry to see Colombia go out. It's Brazil, Uruguay and 6 European side now.

[Galfon]

something doesn't seem right..

[Adder]

England the better team. Clearly need to show up a bit better

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[cashead]

Holy moley, when did we end up in the mirror universe?

[Galfon]

Oh dear!

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Hail The Prophet - Mighty Murfhead!

[Adder]

Indeed

Oh dear!

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Hail The Prophet - Mighty Murfhead!

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[rowan]

England are not a great team but they do have a golden opportunity to get to the final for the first and only time since they hosted the tournament in 1966. Sweden will be another 50/50, as will the winner of Croatia-Russia. But it's hard to see anybody on this side of the draw actually winning it.

A France v England final is as good a bet as any right now, and I'd pick the former by about 3-1 in regulation time.

[WaspInWales]

Thought we were good value in the first half. Organised and in control.

Lost our way a little bit at times and Colombia didn't give up and even looked more likely to win it in extra time. We improved in the 2nd period of ET, but fuck knows how Dier missed that sitter!?!

Pleased for Pickford. That was an outstanding save before they scored and great stop in the shootout.

As far as I'm concerned, the team has met expectations. Anything now is just a bonus. Realistically, England have a very good shout to win a couple more matches, but there isn't much between the teams left in our side of the draw.

Confidence will be high though, and that alone goes a long way in this game.

[rowan]

The only team left I really support is Brazil, but Neymar's antics are just downright embarrassing and the sooner the big powder puff exits the tournament the better. But it's been a great tournament regardless, with some thrilling climaxes and surprising results. I guess I'm just mellowing out in my old age too. There's not much I haven't seen during the dozen tournaments I've witnessed. Plus it's given me a reason to feel really happy about my new flatscreen TV

[Stom]

Despite the appalling spectacle (If football wants to earn respect, it needs to clamp down on players surrounding the ref and arguing. I would have sent players off in that game for sure), some parts of the England team were laid bare...

Kane provides a good focal point for the 3 attacking mids to buzz around, but he doesn't give much help to them in terms of dragging defenders around. They have to do that work for him, so it's no wonder he's scoring 80% of the goals...

Sterling moves off the ball very well most of the time and finds little pockets of space, but he cannot get into the right places often enough. Partly because he's got Yerry jumping all over his back and partly because the defense are not bothered with Kane's movement.

Walker has one major brain fart every game. It's a big problem. His pace seriously helps in defense, but those brain farts are going to bite against better opponents.

When we're on top, but not able to find a way through the defense, Southgate is unwilling to make any changes to shape. I feel like the addition of another attacker should have happened earlier, with Sterling still on the pitch. A change to a front 3 would have seriously helped give service to Kane and given the Colombian wide defenders (not particularly good on yesterday's showing) a lot to think about.

Against Sweden, whose CBs are extremely solid and disciplined but lack pace, it would be really useful to have players peeling between the CBs and FBs. In the current system, Ali and Lingard come from too deep and the midfield will just pick them up, especially as Henderson is pretty much an irrelevance going forward in this system. That means the FBs and wide mids can double up on England's wing backs, meaning we get no width.

[twitchy]

This succinctly sums up my feelings on the game.