Dec 4
That was quite comfortable in the end despite a rather tricky first half hour when Senegal shouldāve or couldāve been ahead. Jordan Pickfordās one handed save was pivotal.
There was no better time to score that first, and Kane getting a second allowed us all to relax and enjoy a half-time cuppa.
Please click for moreYou have to love the World Cup. What an incredible day it was yesterday.
Group E had to be the easiest group to predict pre-tournament, yet for five minutes yesterday Japan and Costa Rica were headed to the knock-out stages in Qatar.
Please click for moreHappy Thanksgiving to my American friends.
Thereās a lot to like about Thanksgiving – eating, drinking, the complete removal of pressures to buy gifts and sport, a lot of it, and this year the added bonus of World Cup soccer football.
They will be dancing in the streets of Newcastle Riyadh tonight. What an incredible and deserved win by Saudi Arabia. The tournament has properly started now.
Unofficial but if true devastating news from African sports journalist Gary Al-Smith that Joe Wollacott has fractured his finger and will miss the World Cup.
I mean we have some dreadful luck with injuries, but this takes the biscuit. Joe was expected to make Ghanaās final 26 and travel to their training camp on Monday.
Please click for moreLiam Millar came on as a 70th minute substitute and crossed for Wolves prospect Theo Corbeanu to finish the rout of Bermuda 5-1 in last night’s first Group B CONCACAF World Cup qualifier.
It was a home game for the Canucks, but the game was held in Orlando due to Covid restrictions in Canada. It did not stop Canada’s best players travelling to Florida including Bayern Munich’s Alphonso Davies and 7 others that play in Europe incluidng Millar, Cardiff’s Junior Joilett and hat trick hero Cyle Larin, who plays for Besiktas.
I was up early this morning like a lot of Englishmen, women and children west of the Atlantic Ocean to watch more sporting disappointment in a major event. It makes how Ben Stokes and England won the Cricket World Cup even more mysterious.
The best day on the couch. Ever!
A severe case of RSI tonight flicking between channels like a mad person as both the ICC World Cup Cricket Final and the Wimbledon Menās Final concluded within minutes of each other.
The first few weeks after a football season always feel a bit empty as I adjust my schedule and attempt to find things to fill the void. A little bit different this year as I’m still singing myself to sleep though with a smile as wide as the Wembley Arch.
It is an adjustment though but there’s normally something to occupy me, and oddly I always get a bit miffed when the whole pre-season circus starts. Clubs who moan the loudest about too many games appearing in pedestrian exhibition games in far flung places. You know who you are.
A World Cup Final to bless the best month of football in my lifetime. I felt for Croatia, and my mate out in Moscow, but after three exhausting games their continued chasing of the ball when they were out of possession and their lust to get forward and make chances when they had it was extraordinary. The Croats were admirable finalists.
But the best team should win it, and they did. As in the semi-final, France seem content to sit and counter, and they do it with such pace and effectiveness. This team is young as well, and have many good players on the bench and in reserve. Whilst Brazil, Argentina, Spain, Germany, Portugal and Italy all lick their wounds and plan for the future, France already have the future and a superstar in Kylian Mbappe.
A traditional 3rd Place humdrum affair yesterday. In truth both sides put out strong sides and it was reasonably fast paced, but Belgium are irresistible on the break, and we failed again to make the most of our possession around their penalty box, specifically in the second half.
Oh well.. still, it was a very enjoyable journey and there is plenty of hope for the future with youngsters like Joe Gomez, Ryan Sessegnon, Jadon Sancho and Phil Foden amongst others still to come. Loftus-Cheek and Eric Dier were good today, and Trippier, Pickford, Maguire, Stones and Henderson all return home with their stock high. Kane appeared to try too hard after the group games, but it is hard to knock a Golden Boot winner, which he is sure to be. Lukaku got no closer to him yesterday.
That was tough to swallow last night wasn’t it? In the end the experience and brilliance of Modric and Rakitic, and canniness of Mandzukic was too great for our young lions. If Kane or Lingard had got a second, and Kane should have, then that might have been too much for a tired Croat side to come back from.
There was Trippierās perfect free kick to get us going, yet Croatia led by Modric, rallied in the 2nd half and started to dominate the midfield, and as we started to lose momentum, Croatia grabbed the initiative and made the kill with just 11 minutes of ET left.
Another way to exit a big tournament game, and I think we will for a while all feel that after over half a century we missed such an opportunity to contest a World Cup Final. Nonetheless like millions of other Englishmen and women this group of young men representing us has made their way into my heart.
My brother and I have just got off the phone, we have worked out the visa system and have looked into hotels and flights. Problem is Iām talking about the Final, he is talking about the Semi, and to do that I have to seriously ditch some long planned work stuff this week. We will see.
Todayās game was as I had hoped more straight forward than the Colombia game, and was like watching a Premier League match at times. We always looked better, and should have long put the game to bed, Sterling culpable but he was a constant handful for the Swedish defence.
Just to make sure I never dreamt it, I woke and overdosed on video clips of delirious Englishmen and women this morning. It happened didnāt it. Itās coming home.
Our office is shut today, itās Independence Day somewhere, so bleary eyed I put the TV on, and the American news shows talked that whilst the English lost 242 years ago, we won a World Cup match last night. Sorry, American friends, it is much more than that.
This World Cup just keeps on giving, and Iām loving it. Two outstanding games of football yesterday, and whilst todayās 2nd Round matches lacked the same quality, the excitement was palpable as both games went the full distance and were settled by penalties.
The two keepers were unbelievable in the Denmark v Croatia game. After a dramatic start the game lacked quality. The Croats were nowhere near as good as they were in the groups and I felt Denmark had the upper hand as the game meandered into extra time. The competition will be worse off without Kasper Schmeichalās passion and ability, but it was Subasic that won it for Croatia saving three pens. Modric showed nerves of steel to get back up to the spot to score in the shoot-out after missing a last minute penalty. Anyone know why the final defender wasnāt send off for the foul?
Chicago Addick 