WORLD CUP THREAD

[gezkc]

Good half from England.
Colombia should be down to 10 men though. Can't understand why that headbutt in the line only warranted a yellow card!

Behave, that was never a red!

Definitely a Red Card, but it doesn't matter cause we dumped a bunch of cheats out of the World Cup. Nobody is gonna miss them.

you're having a laugh. Bunch of pussies.

the difference between Belgium/Japan and england/colombia regarding play acting and fouls was immense.

Are all the pundits and ex refs pussies? It was a red card, deal with it. Maybe you're not English but the majority of us are and we're bloody happy. This never happens to us so how about let us enjoy it?

Eh? Piss of hahahaha

Classy post. I'll enjoy the victory even more knowing it's made you this upset. Good night!

It's not, I was just saying both sets of players were acting like children in compared to the Belgian or Japanse players, that's all.

Judging by your poor command of the language and strange denial of a clear headbutt, I'm assuming you're not English and your comments are merely sour grapes.

England are through, and I hope whoever you support for the rest of the tournament do well too... until they meet us.

[SWSixer]

Congrats England.
As a member of a half Colombian household we are gutted!!
I won't comment on a couple of flashpoints as I have jusssst enough self awareness to know that I am completely biased.

Good luck against the Swedes. They are looking like a tough nut to crack.

[SWSixer]

By the way, it really isn't difficult to spell Colombia correctly.

[FortCollinsFulham]

I would not want to be a ref. It's tough in general (especially with all the acting) and getting absolutely swarmed after every foul call would be awful. It was ridiculous after the (100% correct) PK call.

[YankeeJim]

I think the Colombians were taking their cue from Neymar. Whine, cry and fake it. That being said, I'm sorry to say the English lads did some, some, of the same. I thought the head butt was a great piece of acting. Yes there was a head butt, but the replay clearly showed the shorter Colombian hit the Englishman in the chin. Mt first impression was why would a tap like that knock down a strapping young man in his prime. Then I noticed he was holding his eyes not his chin. Yea, he was head butted but he made a meal out of it. There were enough cheap fouls & play acting by Columbia to warrant more then the six yellows they got. I especially got a kick out of them protesting the penalty. What they did to Kane on that play would have fit better in the bull dogging competition of a western rodeo.

[HatterDon]

I think most of you would NOT appreciate a View From South Texas on the Colombia v. England match.  Here's a snippit or two

a. 120 minutes of Harry Kane on the pitch and the attack seemed to be all about feeding Jessie Lingard. Not once did I see a pass designed to put England's most lethal striker in 50 years in a position where he could score.

b. dozens of free kicks and corners ALL to Harry Maguire. Nothing lateral, nothing surprising, nothing even hidden, just constantly repeating deliveries to the head of one player. I like Maguire, mind. He's one of the best performers in this squad, but it's a lot easier to defend set pieces if you know where EVERY DAMN ONE OF THEM IS GOING.

c. you fielded a strong XI -- well, a strong X and Lingard -- against a team missing its only world class player -- and could only score on a penalty. Yes, Colombia's players were disgusting and maddening, but England should have won by two or three goals.

Congratulations, though

[PaulUMD]

Geiger has a reputation in MLS for flashing cards and penalties and chaos, we call it the Geiger Show.  This game was already a mess because the Colombians turned it into the type of match we see in CONCACAF countries, diving all over, faking injuries, complaining about everything.  Then England began to match them to a degree. 

Credit to him, I think Geiger got the big decisions correct.  100% penalty.  Legit head butt but also lots of acting from Henderson, so I think a yellow was the right call.  And in the end, all those cards did calm the game down and the best spell of play from both sides was in the final 10 of regulation and much of the 30 in extra time. 

Anyway, well done to get off the penalties curse (hell, even the Spurs guys were 3-3!). 

[love4ffc]

I know I sound like a broken record but I have to say it.  Gentlemen this is a forum that is mainly opinion based.  You don't have to respect each others views or opinions but we do ask that you remain civil in your responses and post.  As I reminder of the forum rules use of certain words can get you a temporary or permanent ban. 

[HatterDon]

Mark Geiger is usually a very good ref but that should have been a red card for headbutting.  How the Colombian only got a yellow is seriously disappointing.

It was certainly a red card offense ... having said that, you hardly ever see a red in the first 20 minutes of ANY match, never mind one as big as this. Refs are terrified of making an early decision that de facto determines the result.

[love4ffc]

Mark Geiger is usually a very good ref but that should have been a red card for headbutting.  How the Colombian only got a yellow is seriously disappointing.

It was certainly a red card offense ... having said that, you hardly ever see a red in the first 20 minutes of ANY match, never mind one as big as this. Refs are terrified of making an early decision that de facto determines the result.

Agree.  Still think it was dirty and another point in the game could have been a red. 

[_Putney_]

The ref didn't do MLS any favours.

[toshes mate]

I think most of you would NOT appreciate a View From South Texas on the Colombia v. England match.  Here's a snippit or two

a. 120 minutes of Harry Kane on the pitch and the attack seemed to be all about feeding Jessie Lingard. Not once did I see a pass designed to put England's most lethal striker in 50 years in a position where he could score.

b. dozens of free kicks and corners ALL to Harry Maguire. Nothing lateral, nothing surprising, nothing even hidden, just constantly repeating deliveries to the head of one player. I like Maguire, mind. He's one of the best performers in this squad, but it's a lot easier to defend set pieces if you know where EVERY DAMN ONE OF THEM IS GOING.

c. you fielded a strong XI -- well, a strong X and Lingard -- against a team missing its only world class player -- and could only score on a penalty. Yes, Colombia's players were disgusting and maddening, but England should have won by two or three goals.

Congratulations, though

It is always good to read the less partial analysis and thoroughly agree with it.  England were largely responsible for allowing the game to drift after the penalty success.  Players must know they cannot change the mind of any referee, weak, strong or indifferent and getting involved breaks the professional habit of getting on with the game.  One voodoo seems to have been temporarily dispatched but many other self inflicted no-no's  persist.  Well done Southgate and company but could do better, much, much better.

[Tabby]

The worrying thing about the game looking back is that, other than the penalty, there was only one effort on goal from England in 120 minutes. I doubt Sweden will give away the kind of pen that Colombia did, so the attack needs to sharpen up.

[VicHalomsLovechild]

I think most of you would NOT appreciate a View From South Texas on the Colombia v. England match.  Here's a snippit or two

a. 120 minutes of Harry Kane on the pitch and the attack seemed to be all about feeding Jessie Lingard. Not once did I see a pass designed to put England's most lethal striker in 50 years in a position where he could score.

b. dozens of free kicks and corners ALL to Harry Maguire. Nothing lateral, nothing surprising, nothing even hidden, just constantly repeating deliveries to the head of one player. I like Maguire, mind. He's one of the best performers in this squad, but it's a lot easier to defend set pieces if you know where EVERY DAMN ONE OF THEM IS GOING.

c. you fielded a strong XI -- well, a strong X and Lingard -- against a team missing its only world class player -- and could only score on a penalty. Yes, Colombia's players were disgusting and maddening, but England should have won by two or three goals.

Congratulations, though

It is always good to read the less partial analysis and thoroughly agree with it.  England were largely responsible for allowing the game to drift after the penalty success.  Players must know they cannot change the mind of any referee, weak, strong or indifferent and getting involved breaks the professional habit of getting on with the game.  One voodoo seems to have been temporarily dispatched but many other self inflicted no-no's  persist.  Well done Southgate and company but could do better, much, much better.

Have to agree with all of that. However some games form leaves you temporarly and you just need to get through it. They're young and apart from England fans, nobody's favourites to win the thing. Both of which are a help and not a hinderance. I hope their next game is a better one. Personally I'd like to see a couple of the players we saw in the second game. I thought Loftus Cheek played well and caused problems. He seems pretty adept at drawing a foul as well. Which had he played last night may have negated the need for penalties.

[toshes mate]

Have to agree with all of that. However some games form leaves you temporarly and you just need to get through it. They're young and apart from England fans, nobody's favourites to win the thing. Both of which are a help and not a hinderance. I hope their next game is a better one. Personally I'd like to see a couple of the players we saw in the second game. I thought Loftus Cheek played well and caused problems. He seems pretty adept at drawing a foul as well. Which had he played last night may have negated the need for penalties.

Cannot disagree with you.  But one of points made in the US critique was duplicity at set pieces.  There was one corner in the first half where an entire quadrant nearest the taker was empty with an England player (Young?) hovering as if for a short corner but failing to signal to the taker that there was oceans of space in front of him.  The point being they didn't change or adapt the game plan.   Is it poor coaching or just players who have no vision or minds of their own?

[Holders]

I thought that England controlled the game very well without showing too much threat. Set-pieces seemed to be aimed at Maguire who doesn't seem much of a header of the ball. Colombia seemed to be overawed (why?) for the first 80 minutes then found that they were a skilful team who could play and might have won if they'd played like that from the start. Both teams missed clear chances to win in ET.

There was no need for England to have stooped to some of the dirty tactics, far better to highlight them up by refraining themselves. On the whole, I thought the ref did a decent job in difficult circumstances but should have booked a lot more of those protesting about the penalty, that would have calmed things down a bit.

In the end, in my impartial opinion, the best team won - but made hard work of it. For me, Alli and Lindgard didn't do much and I'd consider changing them next game. I was left thinking that England could have done with Sessegnon (or Kamara).

[Mitch]

It's coming home.

A few points -

The referee got everything right in terms of decisions, but wasn't able to control the game or players. Quicker yellows for dissent would have ended the whole situation after the penalty much sooner. The Colombian players knew it was a pen, they were just dragging it out as long as they could in order to put off Kane.

Colombia were a good team; their defence will be their backbone for long to come. Let's not knock England, but respect the Colombian's strength here. Sanchez from Spurs was MOM by a long way in my opinion.

Minor gripes - Lingard was quieter than normal, but does a lot off of the ball. Same for Sterling. I don't think Sterling has found any sort of relationship between he, Kane and Alli yet. He did play in Lingard twice however - a lot of the first half play went through him.

Second half Kane dropping deeper wasn't how I would have played. I prefer my main striker to be the target and men to drop off of him, rather than him playing the ball for other to run on to.

Dier wasn't great, but the position he comes into with two pivot DM's means the team sit much deeper. If we're going to make a change, I would change Alli or whomever in that front midfield three for a like for like change. If we continue to press high we win the ball back much more often than when we have Dier sitting deep.

Fair play to all the penalty takers. Especially Rashford who showed some balls at his age, and Trippier for scoring a massive penalty after the save.

On to the Quarters!

[Mitch]

There was no need for England to have stooped to some of the dirty tactics, far better to highlight them up by refraining themselves. On the whole, I thought the ref did a decent job in difficult circumstances but should have booked a lot more of those protesting about the penalty, that would have calmed things down a bit.

This was one of my favourite parts of the game. We've whinged about other nations for decades. Well, lets mix it with them. We can keep calm heads and play the dark arts and benefit. Lets stop being the victims and have that nasty little schnide winners mentality.

[Milo]

The diving extravagantly is clearly embarrassing when slowed down in front of 18m Brits let alone the 100m watching around the world etc etc. However this is merely an indication of how when players don't go down then decisions aren't given! We've all seen the penalties not given when strikers stay on their feet.. you don't get any reward for honesty in this game.

I actually seem to remember Henderson then head butting someone himself later in the game. Then he missed a penalty. Actually all round when the going got tough he seemed to disappear and not want the ball. Personally I was not impressed by him at all tonight and wish we had an alternative but I believe Delph flew home.

[Holders]

What upsets me is England players going down at the slightest touch that wouldn't even fell a child when they could stay on their feet and maybe get a scoring opportunity. If it's a foul the ref should blow anyway.

It isn't cricket where you call have to call "owzat?" but it seems as if it's coming to that.