ENGLISH STRATEGY COULD BLOW UP IN THEIR FACE QUICKLY
Loss may put England on easier side of bracket, but they face tough Colombia next
Moscow
Watch England rue conceding Group G.
The Three Lions made eight changes to the side that thrashed Panama because, well, they didn’t care what side of the bracket they ended up on.
Most argued England’s chances of reaching a semifinal hinged on losing Thursday night’s Group G decider to Belgium.
Mission accomplished, I suppose. The Red Devils’ 1-0 win sent them into the side of the bracket containing four World Cup winners and Portugal.
Popular opinion entering this fixture described it as a match both sides preferred to lose to avoid meeting Brazil, France or Uruguay in the knockout phase.
Coach Gareth Southgate didn’t bother trotting out Harry Kane, the World Cup’s leading scorer, or most of his starting back line.
His second-choice lineup delivered the result most English fans hoped it would; or at least weren’t concerned it might.
But I’d argue England’s path to the quarter-final is considerably more difficult after watching a Colombia team that has faced real competition.
Southgate essentially surrendered three points in Kaliningrad on Thursday to potentially avoid Brazil in the Elite 8.
Never mind England’s Round of 16 meeting with Colombia will prove far more complicated than Belgium’s tilt with a Japanese side fortunate to still be here.
The Samurai Blue benefited from an aberration on Matchday 1 when Colombia’s Carlos Sanchez earned the second-fastest red card in World Cup history.
Who knows if Belgian coach Roberto Martinez wanted to win Thursday night’s drab affair. I’d argue Belgium’s path to the final is no more difficult given England likely will need to get through Colombia and Spain.
Don’t tell me that path is less complicated than Belgium’s expected meetings with Japan, Brazil and whoever else it could meet in St. Petersburg.
“Honestly, I’m delighted,” Martinez said. “I don’t think at the World Cup you can be successful by trying to hope to get an easy path. If you start thinking any further than that, I think you’re risking a lot.”
The question is whether Southgate will lament resting most of his lineup following a pair of group stage fixtures that didn’t test an England side that has a history of falling short.
There’s something to be said for form and belief and momentum — all things Colombia established following back-to-back clean-sheet wins over Poland and a Senegalese team among the scrappiest in the tournament.
“If we put Harry (Kane) on for 10 minutes and someone whacks him, that would be ridiculous,” Southgate explained. “Everyone knows the most important game is the knockout game.
“Whatever happens next week, that was the right decision as far as I’m concerned.”
But Southgate’s somewhat reasonable explanation veered when he compared England to a Belgian side he labelled as far more experienced. He contradicted himself by essentially saying England is still growing.
England isn’t “a finished article,” Southgate added. “We’ve still got some work to do.”
British TV pundits were certain in their post-game assessments that the Three Lions’ path to the semifinals is easier than Belgium’s.
But those assumptions were based on reputation, not what we’ve seen at this tournament.
“Making predictions in the World Cup can be a little bit difficult,” Martinez answered. “Germany is out of the competition. I didn’t think many people could think that can be a possibility.
“We saw in the last minutes of the game it was decided that Spain finished top of the group. We saw how close Argentina came (to being eliminated).”
The conversation on Thursday’s group stage-ender was all wrong. The Belgians came out winners in more ways than one.
Rules are rules, was Senegalese manager Aliou Cisse’s response.
The Lions of Teranga became the first team in World Cup history to be eliminated due to the FIFA Fair Play tiebreaker.
A 1-0 loss to Colombia saw Senegal finish level with Japan on everything — except for yellow cards. Senegal’s accumulated yellow card total (6) was greater than Japan’s (4), leaving them on the outside looking in.
“This is one of the rules,” Cisse responded post-game. “We have a number of rules that have been established. We have to respect that. We would have preferred to be eliminated in another way.”