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OK, England have dropped into the apparently easier half of the draw and this may all turn out to be for the best but they first face Colombia, and their 30,000-strong feverish fans who will make Moscow feel like Bogota, in the last-16.
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immediately there was no disguising the fact it was a flat performance
from England who still need something more sustaining.
If the intent from the shadow team, with eight changes having been made, while Belgium went one further with nine, was to give Southgate food for thought, then he will go hungry.
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Hopefully, Southgate’s master plan will pay off while he could argue that the whole world appeared to be telling him that it was smarter to finish second and it would show the kind of streetwise approach that is so often lacking.
Except that was not the strategy at this World Cup where England were all about winning hearts and minds and attacking the tournament. There is a sense of momentum being checked.
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| Belgium's Adnan Januzaj scores the only goal of a muted, curious game |
We already knew that Gareth Southgate is an England manager not afraid to be bold. Now we know he is a gambler.
For all the talk of England needing to play football without fear they have put themselves under immediate pressure by making wholesale changes and losing their final Group G fixture to finish runners-up to Belgium.
OK, England have dropped into the apparently easier half of the draw and this may all turn out to be for the best but they first face Colombia, and their 30,000-strong feverish fans who will make Moscow feel like Bogota, in the last-16.
If England lose that then much of the sense of progress from the
tournament will wash away and they would return home having only beaten
Tunisia and Panama and yet again failing to claim a big scalp.
That is the worst case scenario. On the flip side they are only games
against Colombia and either Switzerland or Sweden away from reaching a
World Cup semi-final and that is a tantalising prospect.
You can tie yourself in knots on permutations but it was Belgium
coach Roberto Martinez who summed it up.
“We have to focus on Japan,” he
said of his side’s next opponents. “England will focus on Colombia and
if you look further than that you are risking a lot.” England have taken
that risk, whatever arguments Southgate puts forward on the need to
rest and rotate.
If the intent from the shadow team, with eight changes having been made, while Belgium went one further with nine, was to give Southgate food for thought, then he will go hungry.
Tweet to @worldnowtrend
Hopefully, Southgate’s master plan will pay off while he could argue that the whole world appeared to be telling him that it was smarter to finish second and it would show the kind of streetwise approach that is so often lacking.
Except that was not the strategy at this World Cup where England were all about winning hearts and minds and attacking the tournament. There is a sense of momentum being checked.
 |
| United we potter about: Marouane Fellaini, Danny Welbeck and Phil Jones played out a strange, tension-free game |
For
England it was only goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, John Stones – who was
replaced by Harry Maguire at half-time as planned – and Ruben
Loftus-Cheek who played against Panama which meant Southgate had named a
different starting team for the 21st consecutive time and, by the final
whistle, had used all 20 outfield players at this World Cup.
Eric Dier was captain and the midfielder was one of several who struggled but, again, this forgettable match, the first time England lost to Belgium since 1936, will be forgotten if England beat Colombia.
Eric Dier was captain and the midfielder was one of several who struggled but, again, this forgettable match, the first time England lost to Belgium since 1936, will be forgotten if England beat Colombia.
