Search results

Well, 7 points, top of the group, 9 goals scored, 2 clean sheets, no defeats, through to the round of 16. In a World Cup where many big guns have struggled, you can’t argue with that. So far, so good.

Well we’re 20 minutes in and I’m not sure Wales have touched the ball outside their own half yet. Has anyone told them they need to win?

I’d be prepared to go as far as “moist cuttlefish”.

Pitch not looking great.

No daft red cards tonight please, England.

It was always unlikely we would have a repeat of our run at the 2018 - to reach the semi-final having only had to beat Tunisia (just), Panama, Colombia and Sweden was a remarkable stroke of luck, and I say that purely as an observation, not to undermine the achievement. Assuming we go onto win...

For me this outlook slightly underestimates how easy it is to simply “win against the USA”. They’re 16th in the world, well above a good number of even less fashionable footballing nations to have beaten or held the established elite - Saudi Arabia, Japan and Morocco just off the top of my head...

Genuinely hadn’t realised that anything better than a 4-goal defeat sees England qualify tomorrow night. Granted, with the Dutch almost certain to win Group A (we’ll know for definite before we kick-off) top spot is what we really need to be aiming for, to avoid them in the last 16, but even...