Is this the first time that in the event of a tie, group places are to be decided on a team's disciplinary record?
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Is this the first time that in the event of a tie, group places are to be decided on a team's disciplinary record?
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It is true, and all England had to do was hang on to their six goal advantage to be ahead on actual GD. Not only did they fail to do that but they pretty much gave up trying to restore it. Call me over critical but I think Southgate was pissed off about it too.
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It's weird to think that if the game against Belgium is level it could go down to who gets the least yellow cards as to who tops the group. The tables at the moment suggest it might be better to finish second, and Belgium have one more yellow than us as it stands.
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Allardyce just said the same.Originally Posted by Elite_Pie
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So if we are drawing in the last minute of injury time, one of our players has to do a Noble? I nominate Sterling for the job.
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Scrub that, if Columbia are top of that group, we've got no chance. They are the new Brazil.
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With Poland being so shockingly poor you'd have to expect Japan to top that group. Colombia should beat Senegal and finish 2nd.
Colombia are a far better side than Japan and would have beaten them had they not gone down to 10 men in the first 5 mins, which potentially makes England v Belgium a very curious game indeed. There could be a very clear advantage for the losers of that match. Pundits will spout the usual rubbish about "You always want to play to win and top the group", but in this case you really don't if Japan finish top.
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I’d agree I reckon Gareth Southgate is like Kevin Nolan in that a clean sheet means a lot which it does. I guess the half time team talk would have been more about keeping the clean sheet as we had no issues with scoring goals. Also it probably would have been about trying to top the group in the second half.
We are in a tournament so I think we just need to approach the Belgium game with the aim of beating them. Keep the momentum going. I can understand the merits of squad rotation, but with a core of a team working together they can grow with every game. Plus beating Belgium would be a massive confidence boost going into the knockout stages.
On paper it might seem easy to play those who are deemed lesser teams in the knockout stages but at the end of the day we are at the World Cup finals knockout stages so no game is going to be easy in my opinion no matter who we play.
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I don't get this easier route nonsense. All teams in the next stages are there on merit, there are no easy teams.
People would rather play Mexico than Germany ? But Mexico have already beaten Germany so would it be any easier?
Croatia stuffed Argentina. Portugal or Spain which is easier. Brazil haven't been exactly great.
Who ever we face will be up for it and it will be a tough match. Don't forget that easy game we had against Iceland.
Just get behind England and let's see how far we can go
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The qualifying rounds are more strategy than out-n-out footie....trying to avoid injuries, rotating a few players and trying to avoid bookings....the next round is knock-out football and it's a Cup Final for everybody...one of the dangers of playing someone like Japan instead of say Spain or Germany, is the tendency for players to mentally assume that they have an "easier" game...IMO, it doesn't work like that....a 100% "up-for-it" Japan is just as dangermouse as an 80% Spain, Germany or Brazil who are probably still trying to save a few tricks for the final.
Personally, I think that's what happened in the Mexico-Germany game where Mexico came out all-guns-blazing and Germany tried to pace the game....by the time Germany got serious mid-way through the 2nd half, it was too late and Mexico clung on.
I personally don't care who we get in the next round, as long as we don't prove to be a damp squib
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