Sterling really does divide opinion doesn't he. Personally I don't think he scores enough goals or create enough chances. But i will be the first to say I'm wrong if he scores and helps us beat Sweden.
We've won all 3 games in which he played, and lost the one he didn't. While he wasn't the star man in any of them, he's definitely made a contribution
Drop Sterling. You can't have an attacking midfielder who has scored twice in 45 games. Sorry but that just isn't good enough. Marcus Rashford to play with the first team or Vardy who created more for himself and others in 32 minutes than Raheem did in 88.
If you can't see how England looked more dangerous with Sterling on the pitch, I don't know what to say. He had a poor game but he's so much better than the alternatives
If he can just get a goal I think it will open the floodgates for him and be very timely. One goal and he'll go on a run
Before the penalties started the TV was saying here that England had only won one out of eight previous shootouts (beating Spain in 96). Without looking it up I can only remember six times we lost previously - 90, 96, 98, 04, 06 and 12 (grim reading eh). Am I missing one or was the TV wrong? Doesn't really matter anyway as we finally won!
West Germany (1990) Spain (W) | Germany (L) - (1996) Argentina (1998) Portugal (2004 / 2006) Italy (2012) Colombia (W) - (2018)
So its two wins in eight shootouts
They meant in the World Cup. They weren't counting Euros
Pickford Trippier Walker Stones Maguire Rose (assuming Young is injured - if not would leave that one unchanged as think Young looked ok) Henderson Lingard Sterling Rashford Kane
Alli looked unfit last night and could do with the break and would like to see Rashford start with the other first team players around him.
I loved the way when they were bundling Pickford and Dier that Trippier is bounding around like a 12 year old (52 year old?) so excited that he is not sure what to do other than bounce.
Thought Henderson's pen was telegraphed from the moment he started his run up, very readable. Ospina did well to get across but would've been disappointed if he hadn't kept that one out.
Watching this just makes you realise how many Colombians were in that stadium last night. Also love the fact they put 'it's coming home' literally as soon as the goal went in.
Watching this just makes you realise how many Colombians were in that stadium last night. Also love the fact they put 'it's coming home' literally as soon as the goal went in.
Vardy came on to provide a long ball / target man outlet as by that point In the game Kane was physically spent. The only reason Kane stayed on is because he is our best penalty taker.
I've always thought that Tim Vickery has his finger on the button when it comes to South American football. Here is his view from the Colombian perspective. Worth a read ... but hey, we still won
Before the last of the second-round matches, legendary former Colombia striker Faustino Asprilla tweeted his prediction that "with the happy and beautiful football that has always been our characteristic, today we will beat cold England."
But Colombia's team selection made that a nonstarter.
There had indeed been some happy and beautiful football from Colombia in this World Cup. In their second game, they produced one of the most impressive performances so far to see off Poland 3-0. It was, sadly, the only time they had Juan Quintero in tandem with a fit James Rodriguez. The two left-footed attacking midfielders make the ball fizz, generating ideas and creating chances, bringing into the game the flying right winger Juan Cuadrado and the predatory striker Radamel Falcao.
But Rodriguez, to the enormous misfortune of the quality of the spectacle, was not fit to face England. For a man named after James Bond, it was a case of from Russia with frustration.
Colombia coach Jose Pekerman was clearly terrified of the prospect of facing England without his star player, so he set up his team with three purely defensive midfielders. Aware that Falcao offers little when isolated, he pushed Cuadrado close to him, advancing right-back Santiago Arias, with Carlos Sanchez covering the vulnerable space down that flank. Wilmer Barrios played the holding role, and there was also a place for Jefferson Lerma to complete the midfield block. This was a strange option. A far more logical choice would have been Matheus Uribe, sufficiently dynamic to get up in support of the strikers, offer Quintero a positive pass and carry out marking duties as well. Lerma could supply none of this, and his selection rendered Colombia impotent with the ball.
It was reminiscent of the bad old days of Colombian football, before the mid-1980s, when coach Francisco Maturana took over and built a fine side around the midfield talents of Carlos Valderrama. Maturana complained that before he took over, he was watching "Valderrama on the bench while [defensive midfielder] Pedro Sarmiento was playing, based on a starting point that the opponent is more important than one's own team."
By choosing Lerma, Pekerman was announcing that England were more important than Colombia and that he did not have the resources to go toe-to-toe with Gareth Southgate's team. This was also the starting point for the many antics of the Colombia side, the most noticeable being the constant attempts to surround the referee, all aimed at slowing the game and breaking up the rhythm at the moment when England were in the ascendency.
This made for a very poor spectacle -- and was doubly depressing given that Pekerman has traditionally been associated with fine passing football. But it was surely counterproductive. Because one of the lessons from Tuesday night in Moscow would seem to be that the current England side are not worthy of such respect and that even without James Rodriguez, Colombia still possessed the resources to play a more ambitious game.
There is no shame in being eliminated from the World Cup -- only one team gets to take the trophy home. But there should be disappointment in Colombia and from a coach with the CV of Pekerman with the manner in which the team approached the game. A country whose tradition stresses, as Tino Asprilla put it, "happy and beautiful football" deserves better.
Great write up from Vickery. Colombia offered absolutely nothing for 75 minutes and were more intent on fouling and trying to get reactions out of us. If they'd actually gone for the win, they may well have beaten us.
Columbia looked dangerous when they started playing football
It was a very one sided stadium, there were a lot of Columbians there, indeed Europeans have generally been heavily out numbered in the crowd this tournament, the Putin and Russian Hooligan factors clearly putting people off, whereas in other parts of the world it doesn't seem to have made any impact
For all the warnings beforehand, I haven't heard of a single incident of violence on foreign spectators during the World Cup
Well, I think we are all confident that the Russian state ordered/arranged the violence at the Euros. I think we are also aware that Putin put out an instruction, that no one should cause trouble at this World Cup.
Pickford Trippier Walker Stones Maguire Rose (assuming Young is injured - if not would leave that one unchanged as think Young looked ok) Henderson Lingard Sterling Rashford Kane
Alli looked unfit last night and could do with the break and would like to see Rashford start with the other first team players around him.
Alli had a lot of work to do defensively, he did a lot of tracking back, agree he looked tired but with good reason. He wasn't turning it on in the final third but I think bringing Rashford in will mean we over commit and allow any half decent opposition time on the ball in midfield. Wouldn't mind seeing RLC come in for him as he's looked sharp, but on his day Alli has the ability to win a game on his own.
I've always thought that Tim Vickery has his finger on the button when it comes to South American football. Here is his view from the Colombian perspective. Worth a read ... but hey, we still won
Before the last of the second-round matches, legendary former Colombia striker Faustino Asprilla tweeted his prediction that "with the happy and beautiful football that has always been our characteristic, today we will beat cold England."
But Colombia's team selection made that a nonstarter.
There had indeed been some happy and beautiful football from Colombia in this World Cup. In their second game, they produced one of the most impressive performances so far to see off Poland 3-0. It was, sadly, the only time they had Juan Quintero in tandem with a fit James Rodriguez. The two left-footed attacking midfielders make the ball fizz, generating ideas and creating chances, bringing into the game the flying right winger Juan Cuadrado and the predatory striker Radamel Falcao.
But Rodriguez, to the enormous misfortune of the quality of the spectacle, was not fit to face England. For a man named after James Bond, it was a case of from Russia with frustration.
Colombia coach Jose Pekerman was clearly terrified of the prospect of facing England without his star player, so he set up his team with three purely defensive midfielders. Aware that Falcao offers little when isolated, he pushed Cuadrado close to him, advancing right-back Santiago Arias, with Carlos Sanchez covering the vulnerable space down that flank. Wilmer Barrios played the holding role, and there was also a place for Jefferson Lerma to complete the midfield block. This was a strange option. A far more logical choice would have been Matheus Uribe, sufficiently dynamic to get up in support of the strikers, offer Quintero a positive pass and carry out marking duties as well. Lerma could supply none of this, and his selection rendered Colombia impotent with the ball.
It was reminiscent of the bad old days of Colombian football, before the mid-1980s, when coach Francisco Maturana took over and built a fine side around the midfield talents of Carlos Valderrama. Maturana complained that before he took over, he was watching "Valderrama on the bench while [defensive midfielder] Pedro Sarmiento was playing, based on a starting point that the opponent is more important than one's own team."
By choosing Lerma, Pekerman was announcing that England were more important than Colombia and that he did not have the resources to go toe-to-toe with Gareth Southgate's team. This was also the starting point for the many antics of the Colombia side, the most noticeable being the constant attempts to surround the referee, all aimed at slowing the game and breaking up the rhythm at the moment when England were in the ascendency.
This made for a very poor spectacle -- and was doubly depressing given that Pekerman has traditionally been associated with fine passing football. But it was surely counterproductive. Because one of the lessons from Tuesday night in Moscow would seem to be that the current England side are not worthy of such respect and that even without James Rodriguez, Colombia still possessed the resources to play a more ambitious game.
There is no shame in being eliminated from the World Cup -- only one team gets to take the trophy home. But there should be disappointment in Colombia and from a coach with the CV of Pekerman with the manner in which the team approached the game. A country whose tradition stresses, as Tino Asprilla put it, "happy and beautiful football" deserves better.
Great write up from Vickery. Colombia offered absolutely nothing for 75 minutes and were more intent on fouling and trying to get reactions out of us. If they'd actually gone for the win, they may well have beaten us.
Columbia looked dangerous when they started playing football
It was a very one sided stadium, there were a lot of Columbians there, indeed Europeans have generally been heavily out numbered in the crowd this tournament, the Putin and Russian Hooligan factors clearly putting people off, whereas in other parts of the world it doesn't seem to have made any impact
For all the warnings beforehand, I haven't heard of a single incident of violence on foreign spectators during the World Cup
Well, I think we are all confident that the Russian state ordered/arranged the violence at the Euros. I think we are also aware that Putin put out an instruction, that no one should cause trouble at this World Cup.
I think we can safely say that behind the scenes the word went out that anyone caught up in any kind of hooliganism whatsoever would end up in a Siberian Gulag and the key thrown away for a very very long time.....possibly 20 + years. As Russian football hooliganism is very well run and organised, it would take little or no effort on the part of the authorities to convey this to the various clubs gang hierarchy, who are well known to them of course. I wouldn’t mind betting they would have pulled them all in and read them the riot act a while back.....in fact, it’s quite possible some of them have been detained during the tournament. Let’s face it, The Ruskies could have rounded up the ringleaders and detained them without recourse to anyone whatsoever.....indeed, who would dare complain, not even those detained!
I love Charlton but nothing comes even remotely close to England going places in a major tournament
I was saying to my mate last night that I've never celebrated goals at a game as much as when England score an important one.
I was in Poznan when Lineker scored a late equalizer against Poland that took us into the 92 Euros, which was pretty special.
The one I remember most though was when we went 1 0 up against Sweden in the last group game of the 92 tournament.
We ended up losing 2 1 but it was absolute mayhem when we scored.
Would love to agree, but then I remember how much I celebrated:
Powell's goal in his last game for us. Sasa Ilic's save in the play off final. Seeing us get promoted from the championship as champions Seeing us get promoted from L1 as champions Andersen's save from Huth Hughes penalty after Huth's poor penalty Jackson ruining both Sheffield sides with identical precision free kicks.
Comments
Love this. Columbia have just missed. Next up, Eric Dier.
Trippier
Walker
Stones
Maguire
Rose (assuming Young is injured - if not would leave that one unchanged as think Young looked ok)
Henderson
Lingard
Sterling
Rashford
Kane
Alli looked unfit last night and could do with the break and would like to see Rashford start with the other first team players around him.
Maguire and Stones giving it to Barrios as Dier buried the last one...
Reckon's a qualified referee
“will know a lot about baseball, but he has no idea about football" based on nationality.
Nasty piece of work.
Also love the fact they put 'it's coming home' literally as soon as the goal went in.
If I had been in the stadium when that started playing that straight alongside the emotion of victory......
I would have been a total blubbering mess.
I think we are also aware that Putin put out an instruction, that no one should cause trouble at this World Cup.
I was in Poznan when Lineker scored a late equalizer against Poland that took us into the 92 Euros, which was pretty special.
The one I remember most though was when we went 1 0 up against Sweden in the last group game of the 92 tournament.
We ended up losing 2 1 but it was absolute mayhem when we scored.
Genuinely don't think ive seen a better save in my lifetime just a shame I think it will get forgotten due to us finally winning a penalty shootout!!
As Russian football hooliganism is very well run and organised, it would take little or no effort on the part of the authorities to convey this to the various clubs gang hierarchy, who are well known to them of course.
I wouldn’t mind betting they would have pulled them all in and read them the riot act a while back.....in fact, it’s quite possible some of them have been detained during the tournament. Let’s face it, The Ruskies could have rounded up the ringleaders and detained them without recourse to anyone whatsoever.....indeed, who would dare complain, not even those detained!
Powell's goal in his last game for us.
Sasa Ilic's save in the play off final.
Seeing us get promoted from the championship as champions
Seeing us get promoted from L1 as champions
Andersen's save from Huth
Hughes penalty after Huth's poor penalty
Jackson ruining both Sheffield sides with identical precision free kicks.
How much I'll celebrate when Roland has gone.