[Views expressed here are purely independent, I hope you find something of interest to read here].
This World Cup is crazy indeed. Another dramatic game – a last minute equalizer, Colombia leading in penalty shootouts and ultimately losing -- that’s the beauty of this World Cup.
Well played Colombia.
But who would have given England a chance of going this far?
With the draw opening up nicely, England now looks totally convincing that this is their time.
England may never get a better chance to get to the final. Question is, how good are they? Tunisia and Panama were not serious opponents and when they did come up against a test (Belgium), they lost.
SUSPICIOUS PENALTY
Beating an average Colombia (and taking a lead with a dubious penalty awarded by the referee), does not mean England are as good as the hype created by the English media.
Shocking to see the referee did not consult the VAR team. The decision was so doubtful, even replays of the incident were hardly shown or the England commentators (Bein Sports – the official broadcasters) discussed or debated about it. The world is watching, it is embarrassing for FIFA.
England are seriously not the best or have the finest team in the world, they have only beaten teams who anyone would expect England to beat.
TO BE THE CHAMPIONS...
World Cup champions are usually known to have midfield maestros - controlling their teams -- midfielders who are the engines of any team – a link between defense and attack – of the likes of Zidane, Lothar Matheus, Iniesta, Xavi, Paul Gasgoigne, etc.
Neymar and Philippe Coutinho do this for Brazil to some extent, England does not seem to have any player of that level in the middle.
With England striker Harry Kane leading the race for goalscorers (6 goals), and England having done the business against Colombia with some luck in penalties, now seem to have a relatively easy run-in to the semi and final.
I think England can think of the final, but like Japan, England’s opponents will have no intention of handing it out to them.
WORLD CUP CLASS?
The Sweden-Switzerland match was perhaps the worst that I watched at this World Cup. I did genuinely fall asleep in the first half, it was that bad - so many misplaced passes. If England won’t beat this lot then they should go home.
Sad when you think that attractive sides like Argentina, Germany, Portugal and Japan have been knocked out.
If anybody wants more evidence of why the number of teams competing at Qatar 2022 should never be increased to 48, that says it all – you lose that quality of World class.