World Cup: a “superbly coached” England
It was hard to know what to make of England’s 6-1 thrashing of Panama, said Martin Samuel in the Daily Mail. After all, it came against a team ranked No. 55 in the world, competing in their first World Cup. And there are “considerably harder tests” ahead: a final group match against Belgium, on Thursday, will test England’s sometimes shaky defence. Still, “six, against anybody, is a rare dividend” – before Sunday, England had never won a World Cup tie by more than a three-goal margin. Once again, Harry Kane was at the heart of the match, said Henry Winter in The Times. His hat-trick put him top of the tournament’s scoring table, with five goals. Manchester United midfielder Jesse Lingard, “all quicksilver movement”, scored the finest goal of the bunch; Kieran Trippier, the Tottenham wingback, was “marvellous”. It was the best football England has produced at a World Cup since 2002 – if not 1998.
What’s unusual about this team, in contrast to so many of their predecessors, is that they actually seem to be enjoying themselves, said Jason Burt in The Daily Telegraph. And for that they can thank Dr Pippa Grange, England’s first in-house psychologist. Her work – namely encouraging the players to “share their own personal stories, often talking in small groups” – has made them less inhibited. But there’s more to this side than camaraderie, said Jonathan Northcroft in The Times. In their first two matches, they were “superbly coached”. The possession drills carried out at every practice are bearing fruit: the sixth goal against Panama was the culmination of 25 uninterrupted passes, the longest passing sequence for a World Cup goal since 1966. And England’s set pieces have been outstanding. Before this World Cup, none of their previous 72 corners at international tournaments had led to a goal; in Russia, thanks to Gareth Southgate’s preparations, they scored from three of their first eight corners.
It’s not just England, said Jonathan Wilson in The Guardian. Set pieces have produced an “outlandish” number of goals. Thirty-six of the first 85 goals scored came from free kicks or corners, and a further 13 from penalties. Teams are struggling to score from open play because, with limited time to prepare players for the tournament, many managers focused on defence over attack – on the grounds that an “under-drilled defence” is more easily punished than an “under-drilled attack”. It’s no surprise, then, that attacking players are finding it hard to penetrate defences. And it’s all the more difficult when opposing teams “pack players behind the ball” – as Mexico did in their 1-0 win over Germany and Iceland in the 1-1 draw with Argentina. That can be effective, but it doesn’t make for beautiful football.