Friday, June 29, 2018

World Cup 2018: looking ahead to the last 16 plus England reaction – live!

Football | The Guardian
World Cup 2018: looking ahead to the last 16 plus England reaction – live!
Live updates as the World Cup enters the knockout stageTen things we learned from the final round of group games
Email or tweet Will your thoughts

12.58pm BST

Something to do at lunch

As suggested to me by my close personal friend Jihong Lee, Professor of Economics at Seoul National University, here is my team of the group stage. What is yours? Post in the comments or email me

12.40pm BST

I see that the England ‘debate’ is still going strong – in the comments, my inbox and on Twitter.

My tuppence worth: England didn’t play to lose that game last night, but they made the result an order of second importance to resting players. Most coaches having one their first two group games would opt to do the same. Our opponents did the same. The reason for doing it was in order to give us the best chance of winning our first knockout game. I don’t think anyone in the England camp has said anything about this tie other than that it would be a real challenge, whoever we played. England, as Gareth Southgate keeps saying, have not won a knockout round game in 12 years. There is no doubt that Colombia will post a real challenge for England, and that we are not favourites to win. Creating a narrative that, if we do lose, it would be because we chucked away momentum is great because it could never be disproved. It’s also pretty arrogant. And yet it seems like the argument against resting is that it was arrogant!

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Wednesday, June 27, 2018

England vs. Belgium: Top spot on the line, but do Southgate, Martinez want it?

ESPN FC News
England vs. Belgium: Top spot on the line, but do Southgate, Martinez want it?
Paul Mariner reveals his grades for England's starting XI vs. Panama and explains why they can't let up despite having already advanced. Free-Kick: Race for Golden Boot heats up as Kane overtakes Ronaldo and Lukaku Group G's winners will be decided on Thursday, but considering the benefits of finishing second, it promises to be an intriguing clash in Kaliningrad. A potentially smoother draw as well as a longer rest could be on offer for the runners-up, but you can't put a price on momentum ahead of the knockout rounds.  Liam Twomey (England) and Sven Claes (Belgium) take a look at the match as the final games in the group stage come to a close. (function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(d.getElementById(id))return;js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src='https://embed.playbuzz.com/sdk.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}(document,'script','playbuzz-sdk')); What's at stake?  Liam Twomey: Top spot...

Monday, June 25, 2018

World Cup 2018: Groups A and B get set for finales, Argentina news – live updates!

Football | The Guardian
World Cup 2018: Groups A and B get set for finales, Argentina news – live updates!
Live updates from Russia before final games in Groups A and BTen talking points from the second round of matchesAny comments? You can email or tweet @DanielHarris

12.53pm BST

I wonder what will happen to Lingard next season, though. If Mourinho is desperate to include Matic every game, with Fred and Pogba also around, there’s no midfield space, so he might need to play from the right. He’s capable of it, but a decent right-back would make it much easier.

12.46pm BST

Jesseh Lingard, then. There’s still plenty of work to do - he has a tendency to disappear from games, and needs more consistency in his finishing of easy chances. But he makes the players around him play better, has excellent pace and movement, can do special things, and isn’t scared. Alex Ferguson, Louis van Gaal, Rio Ferdinand, Paul Scholes, Jose Mourhino and Gareth Southgate all rate him - it might not matter so much that your da/boyfriend/you don’t.

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Sunday, June 24, 2018

Sterling to start for England and reaction to Germany's win: World Cup 2018 – as it happened

Football | The Guardian
Sterling to start for England and reaction to Germany's win: World Cup 2018 – as it happened
Follow England v Panama – live!The Englishman behind Panama’s World Cup dreamWorld Cup Daily: Germany leave it late, Mexico wait
Email John your thoughts or tweet @johnbrewin_

12.03pm BST

Those confirmed teams, and the launch of Rob Smyth’s England v Panama live coverage, with the match kicking off at 1pm BST concludes this blog for the day. Thanks for joining us. We’ll be back tomorrow.

Related: World Cup 2018: England v Panama – live!

12.00pm BST

England team confirmed: Pickford, Walker, Stones, Maguire, Lingard, Henderson, Trippier, Young, Loftus-Cheek, Sterling, Kane.

Panama meanwhile: Penedo, Murillo, Roman Torres, Escobar, Davis, Barcenas, Cooper, Gomez, Godoy, Jose Luis Rodriguez, Perez.

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Saturday, June 23, 2018