World Cup — Day 15

Imagine! Kieran Dowell, Jonjo Kenny, DC-L and Lookman's faces just popped up on the TV screen here in Brazil during the morning national news broadcast, previewing the Belgium-England game.

Interesting and well-researched piece it was too, demonstrating how more than half the players representing their nation at the WC ply their trade in one of the five major European leagues; that the overwhelming bulk of those play in the PL; and that this is one reason why arguably the strongest (certainly financially) league in the world, the English PL, fails to produce a strong national side: because young English talent has no opportunity to blossom as cheaper ready-to-go foreign players block their development path.

The piece went on to demonstrate how that could be changing, showing a quick reel of England's recent international successes across different age groups, thus the 'flash image' of our Blue Boys on Globo TV's early morning news bulletin.

Nice fillup to start the day on...

That flash image is our future. Fingers crossed.

Best of luck today to England! Yesterday I thought they were kicking off at 10 EST, only to realize this morning it's not until 2 pm EST. I've been kind of ramped up for this England - Belgium game for a bit, and was disappointed I have to wait four hours!

This is a real test against Belgium. We're about to find out how good this England team is.

The team that finishes second in this group will have a big advantage. Belgium are believed to be making wholesale changes to their side.

The conundrum is what does Southgate do? Does he go for the win?

Ohhhh! Cruel world – again! – at the 2018 World Cup.

Senegal has been a joy to watch. Losing out to Japan on Fair Play and yellow cards only. Tough to take.

Being selfish, it gives Gueye more recovery time for us.

Now...later today, do England want to face Japan or Colombia in the first phase of the knockouts?

I thought Senegal were brilliant and a joy to watch in their first game but showed nothing tonight in a very poor game to watch.

I think a lot of teams have given so much in the group stages that burnout is taking place.

Not bothered who we get in the quarterfinals. It's coming home.

Jay, its Colombia NOT Columbia. Columbia is an Oasis tune.

And I think England will want Colombia next round, the Japanese are in a tough half of the draw.

They were two dreadful games to watch. Is the heat sapping the players too much, the Colombia game was played at walking pace.

Teams that get forward at speed look the dangers in this World Cup. Belgium can move the ball like nobody else, and the Brazilian and Mexican counter-attacks look devastating. Croatia get forward quickly as well.

Is it the weather, Jay?

Quarterfinals Colin? Do you know something we don't?

Columbia is America, well kind of.

Wholesale changes for both Belgium and England.

Either this will be a tepid draw like the France-Denmark game, or the fringe players given a run-out will go at it hard to challenge the manager to keep them in the side for the knockout phase.

Belgium the better side; if they are not careful they will win this game.

They have thrown a couple of naughty ones in to secure the yellow cards, putting England top of the group on a disciplinary score. Expect a few more yellows from Belgium if any English players get booked.

England will struggle against the better sides if they continue with this formation.

Dembele is the best player on the pitch.

Tepid draw. Andy Crooks reckons one of these two will win the World Cup. I have to be honest... I am not seeing it.

Is it some sort of law on English telly that every Everton player who plays for England has to be picked out for criticism?

Tonight it's Pickford's turn. I imagine the media won't be happy until he is replaced by a top 6 favourite. Oh wait, they don't have any English goalies. Poor media.

Agree, Col. Wright suddenly comes out and claims he always had misgivings about Pickford.

Wankers the lot of 'em.

Shithouses all of them, Bri.

It was Neville who had a pop at Pickford. Wright said it as it is, he is full of mistakes you can't afford at this level. But I'm happy for him to learn from his mistakes and develop into a top keeper with us.

Let's hope Rashford gets the same stick for missing that one-on-one...

What mistake did Pickford make?? He saves a vicious dipping shot and then has the ball kicked out of his hands, Not much chance with the goal but got fingertips to it.

Watch him...

I did.

Pickford should have tried to save the shot with his right hand rather than reaching across his body with his left. Should have done better.

Have you ever played in goal, Terry?

Yes, Pickford was at fault for all those mislaid passes and shite defending.

As it happens, Geoff (#21), Yes!

I did by the way for 20 years never tried to save a rising ball to my right or left with my lower arm!!!

Pickford wasn't at his best, but neither were a few others. No real harm done.

Yep, Pickford is now a target.

Giggs telling it like it is.

Geoff,

Did you parry / punch everything back into the danger zone or did you put it out of harm's way to regroup?

Well finally a bit of reality, Belgium are just superior in pretty much every department, even without their stars.

No harm done, Darren, I bet you that the England players who never played tonight will be absolutely buzzing.

Colombia is a harder match than Japan but, if they can get through that, then it's a much easier passage to at least get as far as you predicted, and maybe even further.

So does Trent Alexander-Arnold get slated because he couldn't clear the first man or is he excused because he's a newcomer or redshite! It really boils my piss. Jordan had 10 players in front of him who need to ask questions of themselves.

We still think England are going far? 🤣

Pundits acting like they've just discovered gravity or that the world is round. Every man and his dog knows that Pickford has an achilles heel when he parries stuff, it's something he needs to work on but did he make as many mistakes as some other players did?

I hope Southgate replaces PIckford for the Colombia match and the rest of the tournament because we already know who'll be shouldering the blame if England exit earlier than the Semi-Finals. Gueye barely merited a mention in the earlier game despite being pretty effective for his team, whereas Mane who had a stinker was constantly hyped up as this that and the other.

With or without Pickford, England won't win the tournament the winners will come from the other half of the draw.

I don't take much notice of the pundits, they earn a living for giving their opinion, a good living. I'd rather take notice of certain football fans on here, to be honest.

My opinion on Pickford trying to save that goal tonight was he reminded me of Richard Wright, both left-handed keepers, I think Jordan is definitely much better than Wright but I thought he could have done better with the Belgian goal and he is still pushing the ball back into danger zones rather than pushing them out for a corner.

He's very ambitious so he will learn to change his game. He could lose his place for the next game, which might appear harsh but tat'sh football and I hope he keeps the shirt for the next game.

Pickford had to dive across to his right to a rising ball and this put his left hand higher than his right so how was he supposed to get it with his right hand. On the replay it showed his left hand closer to the ball.

Tony

Steven Sturm on the live forum just said England's chances of reaching the last eight have just gotten slimmer while their chances of reaching the semi-final have just increased.

A bizarre statement on the surface, but he is basically saying the same thing as you. I think you are both right.

Dave (#34),

I wouldn't take any notice of the pundits if they were less influential, it always surprises me how many folk regurgitate what they've just listened to rather than what they have actually seen.

There is also an underlying financial element to the pundits comments if for example they are talking about one of the big six teams players they tend to overlook their deficiencies and promote their abilities whereas players who play for clubs outside of those elite clubs the opposite is true – Lukaku is a case in point as too was Stones, seems like Jordan is Everton's only high value asset and once again his value will be lowered by the media highlighting his short-comings rather than his abilities.

Neville Southall had issues in his early years at Goodison but he worked hard to eliminate those and went on to become one of the best ever – I'm hoping that Jordan does the same but only if he stays at Goodison.

Danny Rose was at fault for the goal end of story, end of story Lee Dixon. Suspect he wasn't as quick to slag off David Seamen for his howlers

Rashford wasted a load of chances.

Dier and Jones looked poor.

Pickford the scapegoat... What a surprise.

Pickford is a young keeper but he needs to start learning lessons, my criticism of him last year was this habit of pushing shots back out into the danger zone.

He did that a lot last season and got away with it but now its been highlighted he will need to change or teams will make him pay. The goal was a terrific effort but again he should have gone with his right hand not his left. Seems a lot of mainly left-handed goalkeepers try to save with their strongest hand. I have to be honest and say, for me, Butland is a better keeper.

Listening to the commentary, it sounded like Southgate, has already been preparing his first eleven on the training field.

They will have had 8 days rest when they take to the field again, so they should be fresher than the Colombians, who have already played some tougher matches?

Tournament football, is all about winning when it matters, and tonight wasn't one of them nights!

Pickford has been great thus far. Anyone singling him out, never mind the fact Janasai should have never been given that much space to curl one in, is delusional! And he saved a swerving cannon managing to blast it away to his right, he's always showing for the ball, and Southgate has seemingly fixed my biggest gripe with him in his distribution too!

This is exactly why England won't win anything. The media over there make sharks to blood look like child's play.

The media literally eats their own in England. There's no bastion of free speech or protector of the truth cries in your country. It's just sensationalistic shite or the "pile on the poor fucker" eat your young mentality from your press.

It's amazing really.

I am honestly not exaggerating when I say that I played with and against better players than Phil Jones in the Business Houses league.

He really is the most agricultural player I have seen.If he was still playing for Blackburn do you honestly think he would be anywhere near the England team?

And don't get me started on Dier.I have never seen a player give away so many free kicks .

So the BBC website asks fans to give each player marks out of ten, and Alexander-Arnold gets the highest average. What a crock of shit. What exactly did he do?

Every corner kick he took didn't clear the first defender. Any free kicks with a chance of a shot on goal, he blasted into the wall. Any breaks down the right wing he blasted the cross either behind for a goal kick or too deep, causing no trouble for the Belgian defence whatsoever.

Typical BBC, manipulating votes in order to make any RS player MotM.

I honestly don't know what to read or take from that game and whether it is good or bad for England.

We didn't deliberately throw the game, but – with the selections and tactics – nor did we 'deliberately' try to win it!

Momentum and particularly winning momentum is a good habit to get into in sport, particularly in a condensed tournament like the World Cup. We've just broken that.

We have also conceded in every game – even against 'weak' opposition. Not good. It is usually the teams with the best defence (and keeper) that are the eventual winners.

And on the keeper front, I don't understand the criticism of Pickford, either by the studio pundits as being reported, or TWers posting here.

He made one serious gaff that I recall when, having seemingly gathered in the ball on the floor, it squirmed away from him and crept towards the goal line before Cahill whacked it away. Still not sure if he lost control of the situation, or whether a Belgian kicked it out of his hands.

I don't recall any saves he made in which he punched the ball directly in front of him and the goal to the opposition. I certainly don't hold him culpable for the goal. That was mostly down to Danny Rose getting skinned by Januzaj and allowing him too much room, rather than any failing on Pickford's part.

As for how the draw has panned out, Japan I would've bet on England to beat. Colombia is most definitely more challenging – the only Latin American team in an otherwise exclusively European half of the draw.

The one good thing I saw in the Colombia-Senegal game today was seeing James Rodriguez substituted early in the first half. As he didn't start their first group game, he clearly isn't 100% fit and is unlikely to be so in 5 days time. Falcao is playing well again, though.

Ah well, all will be revealed soon enough I guess...

Yet another failure to keep a clean sheet. Pickford had no chance with the goal.

Delph failed to back Danny Rose up and the whole defense was a shambles.

How Phil Jones gets into the squad let alone the team is beyond me.

What a lineup 6 defenders, 2 MF players and 2 forwards who were totally anemic.

You have to believe we wanted to lose.

The "gaff" made by Pickford when that ball squirmed out of his grasp and Cahill cleared it off the line?

I thought (?) their striker kicked it when Picks had gotten his arms around it?

I'd not classify that as a gaff, but rather a chaotic situation with a "loose-ish" ball. It was a crazy couple of seconds where I thought Pickford did the right thing diving out to wrestle it in, only to have it kicked out of his hands and drift to the line.

The kid's played very well.

Jay, you are absolutely loving this World Cup. So am I. My natural cynicism has disappeared like it did when I took my daughter to Disney World.

I remain convinced that Belgium will win the World Cup. If that happens, I hope that no-one will ressurect my comments on Martinez.

I said that he was the worst manager at any level in the history of football. If Belgium win the World Cup, I guess there will not be enough humble pie in the world for me to dine on. Come on, England!!

Jesus H Andy, me old dear could manage Belgium with the talent they have to burn. Get a grip!

Don, I take comfort from your post. How did he get the job? It is what I call the John Toshack syndrome. Any manager who is sacked will get another job and his sacking will never be mentioned again.

There is a managerial rehabiltation of offenders act. No one is ever unemployable. Even the lamentable Martinez.

If we get past the Colombians, as we should, let's hope the Swiss beat the Swedes, because, as everybody knows, our record against the latter is absolutely dismal.

As for today's game, I'll quote the immortal words of the philosopher S.G. Eriksson: "First half good; second half not so good".

Andy @ 47.

I am 'absolutely loving this World Cup'. It helps being in Brazil! They go 'all-in' as I've already described. I imagine the North were 'Brazilian-like' in their enthusiasm when they appeared at the 1982 and 1986 finals.

I was working in Holland with a bunch of Northern Irish lads for the 1986 World Cup in Mexico. I hope it's not too 'sensitive' a subject to recall, but this was at the time of Ian Paisley's 'Ulster Says NO!' campaign...and me and the boys cracked up at one game NI played in Guadalajara and a banner appeared in the crowd: 'Guadalajara says NO!'

Great craic!

I think this World Cup is a wee bit different from earlier versions in which, typically, there were a high number of drawn games (as you gambled on!) with teams playing it cagey so as not to start the first game with a defeat.

This time, most teams have given it a right good go from the off and the inverse has happened: previously, teams playing 'catch up' went hell for leather in the final group games. In Russia, a good number of teams had already qualified or just needed a draw and the games have been more tepid or more cagey than the earlier games.

Like you, I think Belgium have a good shout and the overall winner may well come from the likely quarter-final between Brazil and Belgium.

As I wrote earlier, as for England, I really don't know how to read today's selection, tactics, performance and result, or whether it is 'good' for England to face Colombia in the half of the draw they are.

It's curious how it has panned out with a near all-European half of the draw (with the exception of Colombia) on one side and a predominantly South and Central American half on t'other side. Within England's side of the draw, I really like how Croatia have performed. They could be the dark horse.

On simple maths, there are ten World Cup titles held by the teams in the Belgian half of the draw, only two in England's half – one each for England and Spain.

And Andy... I've already wondered to myself how you square your total contempt for Martinez with the job he is doing with Belgium!

Happy (and lucky!) punting!

Andy, surely Koeman has surpassed Roberto as the worst manager ever.

I hope Belgium win it. And imagine if Holland go on to win the next Euros.

Now that would be hilarious.

Belgium clearly have strength in depth and, to be fair, England will not find the chances they did create as easy to come by against their preferred back four.

Martinez would not have learned much; If he didn't know the depth of talent available to him, he would be the only man in football who didn't.

I think Southgate will have learned more. One or two of his second string had their limitations well and truly exposed last night. He will be praying people like Kane and Stones stay healthy. He will also have learned about some of his youngsters. I'm a huge fan of Loftus-Cheek, but both he and our boy Jordan had their inexperience exposed, both are having to learn top-class international football on the job.

I said before I have been very pleasantly surprised by Southgate, the way he speaks and his fresh approach to the game have made me sit up and take notice. Is his squad good enough?

I think we can all see his stars are going to have to be well and truly aligned, but I'm not throwing me betting slip away just yet.

Perfect summation, Darren.

With a possible quarter-final against Sweden or Switzerland, they have a good chance of progressing if beating Colombia.

Jamie @41, top marks for your description of some of the most vile, phoney, sycophant, contradictions on this planet mate!

Just leafing through the press online today makes me want to puke. Yesterday they were all going on about how finishing second might actually be a good thing (easier route to semis) now every gobshite journo and two-bit pundit are talking like we are a pile of shit.

I hope England go far. I hope we win it. But the British media make me sick with their hypocrisy. And don't give me that, “they're paid to opine” bullshit. They are a bunch of fucking tossers who deserve fuck all. C'mon England.

On Pickford I think he didn't have his best game – mild criticism is justified. But I agree that he seemed to be singled out on the TV.

More than half the team played poorly – Alexander-Arnold was dreadful with his delivery, Dier ponderous, misplacing passes etc. So I agree it was unfair on Pickford.

To me, the most important thing is how he plays for Everton. I hope his confidence is not damaged for next season.

Colombia, then Sweden or Switzerland. England can beat or lose to any, depending on the day.

Cant believe that some Liverpool supporters are slagging off Pickford, when you look at the example they had in goal in the Champions League Final.

With no games today (BORING!) I figured I'd have a solid look at the brackets and take a shot at the prediction game.

Round of 16:
Portugal over Uruguay, France over Argies, Brazil over Mexico, Belgium over Japan, Spain over Russia, Croatia over Denmark, Sweden over Switzerland, England over Colombia

Quarters:
Portugal over France, Belgium over Brazil, Spain over Croatia, England over Sweden

Semis:
Belgium over Portugal, Spain over England. Sorry. English press eat Southgate & Co alive for breaky the next morning. Everton pay $100 million for a carthorse central defensive midfielder from Portugal.

Final:
Belgium over Spain. Bobby Brown Shoes hailed a genius. Belgium riot and burn down everything. Germany invades Belgium out of spite. England remains undefeated in World Wars in the end.

We'll see how it all pans out.

A few twitter comments from the other side of the park relating to Jordan

@LFC please don't sign Pickford. Thanks — gregfarmer (@gregfarmer001) June 28, 2018

Don't worry Greg, Jordan won't be joining you anytime soon, as he's witnessed your support of your current number one, following his errors in the Champs League final.

No way should Pickford be the goalkeeper after this. Put Pope in.
— LFC Fans Corner (@LFCFansCorner) June 28, 2018

Hmmm that's right bring in an even less experienced keeper you know it makes sense.

There are literally loads of examples of this current campaign to remove Pickford as England's number one, at least Jordan is safe in the knowledge that Neville Southall supports him and if he's good enough for Neville then he's good enough for me.

I'm not sure whether the media feeds this type of pro-Liverpool and almost by default anti-Everton stance or if the fans from over the park are so organised that they set the media agenda but it certainly doesn't help Everton FC or its players and I'm sure that I'm not the only Evertonian who is getting tired of it.