REJOICE! ENGLAND HAVE KNOCKED OUT THUGS AND OPPORTUNISTS

SOME countries, and players, out after the first two matches will be missed. We would have liked to see more of Robert Lewandowski (below) and, certainly, Mohamed Salah, for instance. Yet no tears will be shed for the nations that exited England’s group. Panama were thuggish and brutal, which undermined the romantic notion of their first World Cup journey, while Tunisia arrived here having opportunistically parachuted in foreign nationals with familial connections. There were four French players who only signed up in March, while Rani Khedira — brother of Germany World Cup winner Sami — and Wissam Ben Yedder of Sevilla, the striker who eliminated Manchester United from the Champions League this season, turned them down. They lost both games and went out anyway. Better to have stuck with the players who got them to Russia, surely.