Group G Discussion

England
Belgium
Tunisia
Panama

Wouldn't be surprised if England drew or lost to Tunisia. They have a lot to prove to their fans!

Panama happy to defend in numbers, Belgium looking very much like England at a big tournament - not doing things fast enough to break down the defence

Mertens has scored an absolute beauty to give Belgium a slightly undeserved lead. Perfect dipping volley

Good win for Belgium. But not a great performance.

Alli plays that early and its a tap in.

Good opening few minutes though.

Sterling haha

Good start, should be 2 up. Sterling's miss poor.

This is so easy. Tunisia are utter garbage

Well that was coming. Tunisia look awful defensively

This is the first time Panama have qualified for the world cup.  They qualified in third place (final qualifying spot) in the North, Central American and Caribbean section of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification (Concacaf) and only qualified on a disputed "goal" that replays showed later never crossed the line.  In their friendlies in preparation for the World Cup - they  had a dreadful record, and got hammered 6-0 by Switzerland.  They are surely one of the worst teams in the competition.  

Belgium winning 3-0 against them doesn't tell us much about where Belgium is in terms of performance level.  However, on paper Belgium are a good team (#3 in the FIFA rankings) and this is likely to be a good confidence builder for them.

Great save by the keeper, but Kane on his own tap in 1-0.

Tunisia look dire, could be a case of how many.

Sterlings movement and positional play is generally excellent but he is rubbish as a striker - he needs too many chances to score.

Everyone left that ball in for each other

England looking good though, regardless of opponent

Need a second before they ease off.

To qualify for the world cup these are the matches Tunisia played:
Tunisia vs Mauritania: 2-1
Mauritania vs Tunisia: 1-2

Then came top in a round robin group:
Tunisia: 4 wins 2 draws: 14 points
DR Congo (war torn): 4 wins 1 draw 1 loss: 13 points
Libya (war torn): 1 win 1 draw 4 losses: 4 points
Guinea: 1 win 5 losses: 3 points

In the friendly matches before the World Cup they got some decent results:
Friendly: Tunisia 1–0 Iran
Friendly: Tunisia 1–0 Costa Rica
Friendly: Portugal 2-2 Tunisia
Friendly: Tunisia 2-2 Turkey
Friendly: Spain 1-0 Tunisia

Some silly mistakes creeping into England's play. Still looking comfortable though.

Walker haha u clown

What a crock

That's a really soft penalty.

1-1.

Never a pen

Walker can’t defend and Maguire already looking woeful.

Alli injured

Umm...... what glasses are you guys watching this game through? It's a clear penalty. Walker shouldn't have thrown his arm out like that.

Delph coming on for injured Alli. Baffling choice

Pr4wn wrote:Umm...... what glasses are you guys watching this game through? It's a clear penalty. Walker shouldn't have thrown his arm out like that.

His arm is up and he’s run into it for a ball he was never getting.

Sitters just missed!

Some misses of the tournament in this game

Kyle Walker has been criticised before the match as someone who can't really defend (poor positional play when defending) - whose speciality is bombing forward to turn defence into attack.

Dolphin Ziggler wrote:Delph coming on for injured Alli. Baffling choice

Alli seems now to be staying on.

How Kane hasn’t had that given?!

Dolphin Ziggler wrote:

Pr4wn wrote:Umm...... what glasses are you guys watching this game through? It's a clear penalty. Walker shouldn't have thrown his arm out like that.

His arm is up and he’s run into it for a ball he was never getting.

Sitters just missed!

If that's a penalty, then England should just have had a penalty for the rugby tackle on Kane.

Dolphin Ziggler wrote:

Pr4wn wrote:Umm...... what glasses are you guys watching this game through? It's a clear penalty. Walker shouldn't have thrown his arm out like that.

His arm is up and he’s run into it for a ball he was never getting.

Sitters just missed!

.... and I'm sure you'd be saying exactly the same thing were the boot on the other foot. It's a clear penalty, Walker is just a bit rubbish in defence.

Kane should have had a penalty there though.

Pr4wn wrote:

Dolphin Ziggler wrote:

Pr4wn wrote:Umm...... what glasses are you guys watching this game through? It's a clear penalty. Walker shouldn't have thrown his arm out like that.

His arm is up and he’s run into it for a ball he was never getting.

Sitters just missed!

.... and I'm sure you'd be saying exactly the same thing were the boot on the other foot. It's a clear penalty, Walker is just a bit rubbish in defence.

Kane should have had a penalty there though.

I’m not wildly partisan, I want England to finish second as I’m at a work do on a knockout night if they finish first. Lazy man’s argument to just say it’s bias.

This ref doesn't like any kind of collision under a high ball

Ok... fine..... please revert to my original argument then? Walker shouldn't have raised his arm like that. It's a clear foul.

Dolphin Ziggler wrote:

Pr4wn wrote:Umm...... what glasses are you guys watching this game through? It's a clear penalty. Walker shouldn't have thrown his arm out like that.

His arm is up and he’s run into it for a ball he was never getting.

Sitters just missed!

You could argue that Ronaldo's and Griezemen's were given for exactly the same thing (ie them running into players chasing balls they weren't getting).

How many chances are we not going to take, should be out of sight instead of drawing.

Plenty of creativity and pace up front but only one goalscorer in this lineup

Surely England just need to maintain their energy levels and more goals will eventually come? Belgium scored all their goals in the second half.

I guess Southgate should consider bringing Vardy on at some point.

As long as England don't panic, they will cruise home here. They've smashed Tunisia all half, it is only a matter of time as long as they stay calm.

Don't think I'd bring on Vardy for a while yet. Tunisia can't pick anyone up with the movement up front, he makes it more predictable.

Encouraging half, Tunisia can't live with us, but with a fragility that probably gets exposed by a good team.

Pen was soft at best even if Walker was stupid.

Absolute nonsense that VAR looked at that Kane rugby tackle and a penalty wasn’t gicen

Pr4wn wrote:Ok... fine..... please revert to my original argument then? Walker shouldn't have raised his arm like that. It's a clear foul.

I don’t think he’s fouled him. Arms are allowed to be up, it’s a contact sport, and he’s run into it and thrown himself to the floor for a ball he was never getting. It’s beyond soft. Let’s just say - if that had not been given, no way would VAR have then given it.

Must be on course to smash the number of pens given in a WC.

Refs either happier to give close calls and use the delay to sort it on VAR or VAR overruling I guess.

But yeah I'm with Dolph, he realises the ball is nowhere near him and throws himself to the floor. Then Kane basically gets rugby tackled off the ball. Walker is stupid to have his arm up sure but that doesn't automatically make it a foul.

JDizzle wrote:As long as England don't panic, they will cruise home here. They've smashed Tunisia all half, it is only a matter of time as long as they stay calm.

Agreed. Only fear is : recent England teams have tended - after being frustrated like that - to rather lose their focus as the game has gone on.
Don't think this outfit will. I do like the way they've played , with the reservation that the defensive frailties are apparently still there.
Just keep attacking and more goals will come.

They need to stay brave and not go sideways and backwards.

30 mins and no change and I’d be worried. Rashford is a direct runner and I’d want him on. Loftus-Cheek would have to be on for Alli if he’s worried he needs more in midfield, but I’d be tempted to use Rashford anyway

GSC wrote:But yeah I'm with Dolph, he realises the ball is nowhere near him and throws himself to the floor. Then Kane basically gets rugby tackled off the ball. Walker is stupid to have his arm up sure but that doesn't automatically make it a foul.

Ok, this has nothing to do with the Kane incident. That was a clear penalty.

Arms are allowed to be raised but not when they come into contact the the face of an opponent. It was a clear foul.

terrible offside flag... lucky for England

Think Tunisia have done ok in parts.
You’d fancy if England get the second, they could get 3/4/5

Allis pretty obviously not fit, time for a change