Belgium 3-0 Panama - Tunisia 1-2 England
I only got to listen to the start of Belgium’s game against Panama on the radio- it sounded quite raucous there, but after a bright start Belgium became sluggish and struggled to make many chances against the supposed whipping boys of the group. It took until early in the second half for them to make the breakthrough, Mertens hitting a lovely controlled dipping volley from the corner of the box that the Belgians would have hoped would open the floodgates. That didn’t really happen though and it took another 20 minutes before they got their second, great work from Hazard down the left and then De Bruyne who jinked to make some space and played a beautiful teasing cross with the outside of his boot for a Lukaku diving header. Then a few minutes later Lukaku was played in again and finished clinically. 3-0, but not the most convincing of performances from the Belgians, the quality of the goals though was very high and considering how some other group favourites have started this tournament they’ll be happy enough with that.
England in contrast flew out of the traps against Tunisia, Lingard should have scored inside 3 minutes but snatched at the shot- it was a feature of England’s first half that we were wasteful when the ball fell kindly for them inside the box and it might well have cost us. Still, it didn’t take long for England to go in front, Stones’ header from a corner parried by ex-Saint loanee Hassen (who shortly after departed in tears with an injury) and Kane stuck it away like the poacher he is. England continued to press Tunisia and might well have gone further in front, perhaps we were aided in this by what Martin Keown described as a 1-5-4 formation for Tunisia which sounds a bit ambitious to me. But around 25 minutes England started to become sloppy and give Tunisia half-chances. On 35 minutes England were punished when Walker left a trailing arm in Ben Youssef’s face- penalty given, it looked soft perhaps because you hardly ever see penalties given like that, but it’s technically a foul, and Sassi stuck it away, although Pickford got close to it.
But if that was a penalty then England should definitely have had 2 of their own either side of half time, Kane twice cynically wrestled to the ground but nothing awarded. I’m not a fan of VAR, but if it’s in use then it has to be able to pick up obvious fouls like those. In the second half England became a bit becalmed and it was more like watching Roy Hodgson’s side in tournaments. The heat perhaps didn’t help, although Tunisia’s coach Maaloul resolutely stuck to wearing his body warmer on the bench to keep himself toasty. As time ticked away, 2 positive substitutions worked from Southgate- Rashford and Loftus-Cheek both made impacts to put Tunisia under pressure in the closing stages and that pressure paid off when another corner fell to Kane at the far post. He turned in what looked a simple header but was actually very precisely placed to win it in stoppage time. Unlike England to end the game in such a feel-good manner, but perhaps this team can continue to do things differently.
Tunisia got what they deserved after a cynical and niggly performance.
Overall for Group G, the battle to finish 2nd and plot a path to the semis is on.
England in contrast flew out of the traps against Tunisia, Lingard should have scored inside 3 minutes but snatched at the shot- it was a feature of England’s first half that we were wasteful when the ball fell kindly for them inside the box and it might well have cost us. Still, it didn’t take long for England to go in front, Stones’ header from a corner parried by ex-Saint loanee Hassen (who shortly after departed in tears with an injury) and Kane stuck it away like the poacher he is. England continued to press Tunisia and might well have gone further in front, perhaps we were aided in this by what Martin Keown described as a 1-5-4 formation for Tunisia which sounds a bit ambitious to me. But around 25 minutes England started to become sloppy and give Tunisia half-chances. On 35 minutes England were punished when Walker left a trailing arm in Ben Youssef’s face- penalty given, it looked soft perhaps because you hardly ever see penalties given like that, but it’s technically a foul, and Sassi stuck it away, although Pickford got close to it.
But if that was a penalty then England should definitely have had 2 of their own either side of half time, Kane twice cynically wrestled to the ground but nothing awarded. I’m not a fan of VAR, but if it’s in use then it has to be able to pick up obvious fouls like those. In the second half England became a bit becalmed and it was more like watching Roy Hodgson’s side in tournaments. The heat perhaps didn’t help, although Tunisia’s coach Maaloul resolutely stuck to wearing his body warmer on the bench to keep himself toasty. As time ticked away, 2 positive substitutions worked from Southgate- Rashford and Loftus-Cheek both made impacts to put Tunisia under pressure in the closing stages and that pressure paid off when another corner fell to Kane at the far post. He turned in what looked a simple header but was actually very precisely placed to win it in stoppage time. Unlike England to end the game in such a feel-good manner, but perhaps this team can continue to do things differently.
Tunisia got what they deserved after a cynical and niggly performance.
Overall for Group G, the battle to finish 2nd and plot a path to the semis is on.
