Games 5 & 6
Group G
Match 5 : England 0-1 Belgium
Match 6 : Panama 1-2 Tunisia
After all the speculation Southgate decided to rest his first team the same as Martinez. Probably a sensible decision, but one that will only be judged in retrospect - there were cases to be made either way so please don’t let’s jump on this if England end up going out at the next phase. The other theory going around is the idea that it is better to finish 2nd in this group - I know I’ve fuelled this myself earlier on the IBO forum, but I think it has been overplayed to some extent and while the potential QF is easier, the last 16 game will be tough against Colombia.
Anyway, was there evidence that either side was trying to engineer a 2nd place finish? I don’t think so. Both teams were trying to win, in the way that they always try to win international friendlies, which this was effectively. England in particular looked like a side unfamiliar with one another, understandably so. Belgium had the better of the first half, but it all looked a bit half paced and few players made a case for a starting place in the 2nd round. Particularly disappointing were the 2 England players with real opportunities to displace the slightly underperforming first choice players, namely Rose and Rashford. Rose was caught out and too easily beaten by Januzaj who rolled back the years to 2014-15 in scoring a nice goal. Then Rashford was put through with a great chance to equalise but his shot was probably going wide although Courtois helped it around the post. One player we surely won’t be seeing for a while is Alexander-Arnold who did a poor impersonation of Trippier, with a series of weak set pieces and crosses.
So chances are it’ll be the same starting lineup as was seen against Panama when England get to play Colombia. Belgium should stroll it against Japan and their tie against presumably Brazil could actually have made for a decent final, so hopefully it comes to pass.
Elsewhere, ITV didn’t even show the goals from the Tunisia-Panama game. I did see the 2 Tunisia goals as they came from behind to win 2-1 on Twitter though, both from low crosses turned in to give them something to cheer about.
The only other memorable moment from the night was everyone going crazy when Batshuayi picked the ball out of the net in celebration of Belgium’s goal and trying to boot it back in the goal only managed to smash it against the post and had it rebound smack into his face. Most amusing. Generally, a night that was always likely to be forgettable with no certainty about what was the right thing to do. The night’s true winners will only emerge in the next couple of weeks.
Match 5 : England 0-1 Belgium
Match 6 : Panama 1-2 Tunisia
After all the speculation Southgate decided to rest his first team the same as Martinez. Probably a sensible decision, but one that will only be judged in retrospect - there were cases to be made either way so please don’t let’s jump on this if England end up going out at the next phase. The other theory going around is the idea that it is better to finish 2nd in this group - I know I’ve fuelled this myself earlier on the IBO forum, but I think it has been overplayed to some extent and while the potential QF is easier, the last 16 game will be tough against Colombia.
Anyway, was there evidence that either side was trying to engineer a 2nd place finish? I don’t think so. Both teams were trying to win, in the way that they always try to win international friendlies, which this was effectively. England in particular looked like a side unfamiliar with one another, understandably so. Belgium had the better of the first half, but it all looked a bit half paced and few players made a case for a starting place in the 2nd round. Particularly disappointing were the 2 England players with real opportunities to displace the slightly underperforming first choice players, namely Rose and Rashford. Rose was caught out and too easily beaten by Januzaj who rolled back the years to 2014-15 in scoring a nice goal. Then Rashford was put through with a great chance to equalise but his shot was probably going wide although Courtois helped it around the post. One player we surely won’t be seeing for a while is Alexander-Arnold who did a poor impersonation of Trippier, with a series of weak set pieces and crosses.
So chances are it’ll be the same starting lineup as was seen against Panama when England get to play Colombia. Belgium should stroll it against Japan and their tie against presumably Brazil could actually have made for a decent final, so hopefully it comes to pass.
Elsewhere, ITV didn’t even show the goals from the Tunisia-Panama game. I did see the 2 Tunisia goals as they came from behind to win 2-1 on Twitter though, both from low crosses turned in to give them something to cheer about.
The only other memorable moment from the night was everyone going crazy when Batshuayi picked the ball out of the net in celebration of Belgium’s goal and trying to boot it back in the goal only managed to smash it against the post and had it rebound smack into his face. Most amusing. Generally, a night that was always likely to be forgettable with no certainty about what was the right thing to do. The night’s true winners will only emerge in the next couple of weeks.
