World Cup: Group G: England vs. Panama, 6/24/2018

[Stray Wasp]

A bit of a throwback, Panama, what with their mixture of ambitious limitations and nasty stupidity. Torres, their captain, set the tone with his alpha anger and inability to defend properly- enjoy his work on the first goal especially, where he ends up leaving the bloke he should mark to attack the ball for no logical reason, and succeeds only barging into a teammate.

Whether it's possible to praise England for that performance without being accused of being carried away I don't know. But this was a marked improvement upon their turgid past displays against so-called no-hopers. Mind, even in this game the left side of defence managed to make itself look iffy.

Apart from his nice contribution to the third goal Sterling didn't do much, but I think it would be perverse if Southgate dropped him now we've reached the stage of the tournament where England will lean on the counterattacking game that suits him.

 

[TheMoreYouKnow]

Pretty embarrassing on concacaf’s part that a side of this level represents them in the World Cup

Specifically, the U.S.'s part.

 

[GKJ]

Specifically, the U.S.'s part.

Especially so

 

[philip]

I don't know.

If all the good European teams make the World Cup every time, it kind of takes a lot of the intrigue out of the qualifying.

I kind of agree and I get you want to be inclusive of the whole world in a WORLD cup, but I'd still like to the best teams there I think.. It's like having a Champions League where only 1 team from each top league can go, then the rest come from the lower leagues.

 

[PanniniClaus]

Panama were pitiful - I would like to think Canada would give a much better effort but until Canada can come to grips with Concacaf road games through Honduras, El Salvador, Jamaica, Panama, T&T etc...we will continue to go out early. The USA should rightfully be watching this in disbelief. 5th in the Hex.....that is an amazing failure ...far more stunning than Italy or the Dutch not getting here.

 

[TheMoreYouKnow]

A bit of a throwback, Panama, what with their mixture of ambitious limitations and nasty stupidity. Torres, their captain, set the tone with his alpha anger and inability to defend properly- enjoy his work on the first goal especially, where he ends up leaving the bloke he should mark to attack the ball for no logical reason, and succeeds only barging into a teammate.

Whether it's possible to praise England for that performance without being accused of being carried away I don't know. But this was a marked improvement upon their turgid past displays against so-called no-hopers. Mind, even in this game the left side of defence managed to make itself look iffy.

Apart from his nice contribution to the third goal Sterling didn't do much, but I think it would be perverse if Southgate dropped him now we've reached the stage of the tournament where England will lean on the counterattacking game that suits him.

These types of games don't prove a team is a great team, but at least they don't do anything to disprove that notion either. And in group stages that's about as much as you can hope for.

 

[KrejciMVP]

lol

 

[robertmac43]

England's year... confirmed

 

[Eisen]

lol

That's offside.

 

[canuckster19]

Are there any specific rules for how the game should start after a goal? I mean obviously a team should be allowed to celebrate but is there some sort of referee prerogative involved?

 

[Evilo]

Yes Panama is awful, but just like Russia, kudos to England and Belgium for scoring at will against small teams.
Lots of teams, and biggers ones, have been unable to do so.

 

[Bondurant]

Pretty embarrassing on concacaf’s part that a side of this level represents them in the World Cup

Not really. They nearly qualified for '14 at the expense of Mexico. In their first ever World Cup they were placed with 2 strong teams and lost composure.

 

[Nalens Oga]

England lineup is still off imo, I don't know what the point of Ashley Young is if you have a fluid formation and go with 5 at the back when defending, he can't cross either. Loftus-Cheek is too important and needs to be in the team so the guy I'd remove when Alli is healthy is Sterling. He's not strong enough or clinical enough to be playing in the middle of the pitch, maybe on the wing but Rashford would be a better choice of Young on the wing.

I also worry about Maguire constantly getting out of position and if Walker is good enough as a RCB against stronger opposition, still uneasy about Cahill not starting.

 

[TheMoreYouKnow]

Not really. They nearly qualified for '14 at the expense of Mexico. In their first ever World Cup they were placed with 2 strong teams and lost composure.

They're a good level below the rest of the teams at this tournament. Their relative success in CONCACAF qualifying is more indicative of the overall quality level among the small nations in the region and the failure of Mexico and the U.S. to always approach qualifying matches against these minnows with the required professionalism.

 

[cgf]

Not really. They nearly qualified for '14 at the expense of Mexico. In their first ever World Cup they were placed with 2 strong teams and lost composure.

Tunisia isn’t a strong team...

 

[hatterson]

Are there any specific rules for how the game should start after a goal? I mean obviously a team should be allowed to celebrate but is there some sort of referee prerogative involved?

The team that scored has to be in their own half of the pitch to prevent sprinting to kick off while they’re celebrating.

Other than that there’s no official timing, up to the ref to give cautions for time wasting if he feels it’s excessive and to add stoppage time.

 

[hatterson]

Also, the scenarios for match day 3 are pretty simple.

If either team wins they top the group. I’m the case of a draw it’s fair play, and England has a 1 point lead there. If they are level on fair play (draw, 1 England yellow, 0 Belgium yellows) it’s random draw.

 

[IamNotADancer]

Are there any specific rules for how the game should start after a goal? I mean obviously a team should be allowed to celebrate but is there some sort of referee prerogative involved?

Why Portugal, England left one man out of celebrations

I remember reading a similar article after seeing Portugal telling one of his players to stay on the pitch.

They could have legally scored here, which would have been pretty funny.

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

England lineup is still off imo, I don't know what the point of Ashley Young is if you have a fluid formation and go with 5 at the back when defending, he can't cross either. Loftus-Cheek is too important and needs to be in the team so the guy I'd remove when Alli is healthy is Sterling. He's not strong enough or clinical enough to be playing in the middle of the pitch, maybe on the wing but Rashford would be a better choice of Young on the wing.

I also worry about Maguire constantly getting out of position and if Walker is good enough as a RCB against stronger opposition, still uneasy about Cahill not starting.

I agree regarding Young. Question is if Danny Rose is fit. Putting Rashford there sounds ludicrous.

Loftus-Cheek showed flashes of brilliance, but Alli should take his place when he gets back. The player I'd bench Sterling for would be Rashford.

Maguire and Walker get minutes because they are better ball-playing CB's than the others, something that is seen as rather crucial to England's system. I personally find it rather impractical and question why we are using a back three in the first place. I think England would look significantly better as a 4-3-3 (althought I'd feel bad for Trippier who has been class so far).

Kane
Lingard--------Sterling

Alli Loftus-Cheek
Henderson

Rose-Cahill-Stones-Walker

Pickford

​

 

[Shrimper]

I do find it funny when reading comments online about the England team. How, when we struggled to beat someone like Tunisia we'll be "ridiculed" or something along those lines. Yet, when we play well and beat someone like Panama it's "only Panama". Even some people in England saying we shouldn't be celebrating scoring against Panama as much as we were (fans). f*** off. We've struggled in the past and had three shit tournaments in the last 8 years, we'll have anything we can get. I do think though that whilst we played well we would struggle against Columbia or Senegal should we win the group. I hope we come second in it anyway so we can avoid Germany/Brazil in the QF should we get that far.

 

[N o o d l e s]

I do find it funny when reading comments online about the England team. How, when we struggled to beat someone like Tunisia we'll be "ridiculed" or something along those lines. Yet, when we play well and beat someone like Panama it's "only Panama". Even some people in England saying we shouldn't be celebrating scoring against Panama as much as we were (fans). **** off. We've struggled in the past and had three **** tournaments in the last 8 years, we'll have anything we can get. I do think though that whilst we played well we would struggle against Columbia or Senegal should we win the group. I hope we come second in it anyway so we can avoid Germany/Brazil in the QF should we get that far.

There’s something to be said for beating teams you should beat. A lot of teams in this tournament aren’t doing it. So good for England.

 

[bluumax]

We aren't a top 10 team according to fifa rankings and past TO performances and were basically written off before the tourney started, so the fact we've played the same two teams as the current 3rd ranked team in the world and ended up with the same GF/GA id say we have reason to celebrate, just like Panama's fans have reason to celebrate their only goal in a 6-1 defeat, its still an achievement.

We've beaten the teams we needed to beat. Belguim will be a fun game, but the pressure is on them, simple as.