desperado

Of course he’s not. But plenty of sports genius’ are plagued with a history of misdemeanours. His latest one is pretty small fry. On the sports field he’s been immense, you’re not hearing anyone say a bad word about his captaincy, his leadership and his contributions to the game. As a coach, a governing body, a club, an establishment, you try to do find a way to navigate a way around this, so that we see these sports stars entertaining us. Sounds a bit “do-gooderish” to me that we are seeing Stokes fucking off as some kind of pivotal move that is needed for the good of English cricket

Hope the decision is a good one for him. But, IMO, it’s a shit one for English cricket. I think he’d still have a lot more to give. I mean he’s just done it again, there’s nobody had moments in cricket like he has. Of course there’ll be more, but if he doesn’t break a midnight curfew would he be announcing this today? Hounded out - by whom yet, it’s not quite clear, but IMO certain elements of the press, the ECB hierarchy and social media twerps should be embarrassed by this.

Most cosmopolitan half of the draw too. I like it. Only 3 Europeans (Us, Norway and Switzerland), as opposed to 10 in top half of draw.

Well, Austria and Algeria played out a thriller despite the claims that this format could have seen a damp squib. Very much in the balance whether this format has been a success and created more or less excitement. Think I’m just on the side of it being a success.

Corners let you down?

England look to be nailed on to face either Senegal or DR Congo now in last 32. It will be DR Congo if they beat Uzbekistan, if not Senegal.

Yep that’s it. But this isn’t a victim of the 48 team 8/12 third places. This would have happened anyway and always will in tournament football.

That’s likely to change. Group K and Group I is more likely if one of them qualifies as a best third place.

Brilliant that.

Where have this Ecuador side been? Great game this one. While I’ve offered criticism for the 8 third places qualifying for knock-out, surely this game offers a bit of balance in its favour? These Ecuadorians are giving it large here. Hope they hold out.

Aye. Despite my claim of a good World Cup so far, In these 2nd and 3rd group games, we are going to see some tactical bore fests because of this format. We were a victim of that tonight. They came to completely shut up shop and get a point to get themselves into the last 32 We went relatively risk averse because a draw makes us favourites to win the group whereas losing would have created a bit of a problem.

Diouf

I’m trying to keep my appraisal in check due to opposition played, but the qualities he’s developed in his latter years have turned him into a completely different player, but still someone who can do it on the world stage. I listened to Pep’s review of him - it’s a fantastic insight. His in-game intelligence is off the scale. It means he can spend 80% of the time strolling about! But that change in tempo when he does get involved is proving (so far) to be impossible to deal with. I’ve been reticent to put him above Pele and Maradona, but I think it’s more than well deserved. He’s the GOAT

TBF, Duberry’s efforts and CBT’s cracker made it a great season for goals outside the box!

Agree with all Of the above. Hard to add to.. JJ’s v Villa Gardners v Preston SKDs v Bayern Munich Anelka’s v Arsenal Rickets vs Man U. Lofthouse v Man U Geoff Hursts 4th in 66

Absolutely- I’m not getting this lame World Cup that some are seeing. I think some are struggling to differentiate between the chaos, poor decision making and low expectation pre World Cup, to what has actually been on offer so far. Of course it could change in the 2nd and 3rd round of matches, but I’m not sure how anyone can be critical of the football on offer so far. It’s been really entertaining.

Me too. Really enjoying it so far

Great post. Fantastic first performance. When I think back to some of our really poor and/or uninspiring first games, it puts it in perspective how good that was. Really enjoyed that opening England Game 👏

Good highlights from the Argentina and Norway games. Welcome to the party Messi and Haaland.

No mention of Temple as a replacement there.

🤣 Aye last thing you want is someone else telling you some home truths 😊

I now don’t have to write my response. Perfectly put @Eddie 👍

You can see why folk get argumentative with you though can’t you? I’ve got used to you now, but when your first post about a signing is this, (example on Ben Davies) you have to accept folk coming back at you and disagreeing and questioning your opinion against that of our recruitment team?

I think Stephenson sees his future as a right back. Stephenson grew up playing in midfield but has since found success at right-back or in a more advanced wing-back role. When asked where he sees his future in terms of positions, the youngster replied: “It is right-back, or right wing-back. I’ve played under a few different managers now and they’ve always seemed to like me there.”