Sheaf Saint

Yep. Terrible penalty from Minamino.

Superb. You won't see a better headed finish than that.

I doubt they ever will. That kind of trauma stays with people for life. I don't think it even needs to be said that Sterling has done the right thing because his family need him for support and to help begin the healing process, and I doubt he will return to Qatar. I'm guessing these lowlifes were assuming his family would be with him in Qatar and the house would be empty. IIRC there have been a few instances in recent years of footballers getting robbed while they were playing, as the thieves knew they wouldn't be home. I doubt they will ever be brought to justice either.

Sterling has gone home because some armed intruders broke into his house while his family were at home 🥺

Another gem 😗

Brilliant 👏

Walker is playing utter shit.

Where did you read that? I'm told by someone who knows him very well that he might be a little bit cocky but overall is a really great lad who just wants to play and develop. As has already been said, he's still only just 18. I don't know what's happened with his loan at PV but he's got a lot of talent and I'm certain there is much more to come from him.

The last few minutes of this Ghana v Uruguay game has been insane. Never seen such intense end to end action at the WC even in a knockout round.

They're banging on about FIFA not releasing the pictures VAR used to make the decision, but there's only one angle from the shots they have showed that makes it appear to have gone out. All the other angles showed pretty clearly that not all of the ball had crossed the line.

I am writing f*** off the Germans

Huge respect to those Japanese fans 👏

And now Costa Rica have equalised. Germany will finish bottom as things stand.

Lukaku looks like he's been taking coaching tips from Che Adams. He's just missed two sitters in two minutes (although the second one would have been disallowed anyway).

These aged well! 🤣

I distinctly remember this being an issue at the South Africa WC as well, and it was so evident when watching the games. The flight behaviour of the balls was so erratic they were like beach balls. You'd think FIFA would have learned from that.

Fucksake, not them again. Getting pretty boring now. How many times have we drawn them in the last few years now?

Don't know about the second. It was over his head and he wouldn't have got to it even if he had jumped.

Looked pretty certain it would be ruled out on the replay.

SALISUUUUUUUUU!!!!!

Australia and Tunisia look to be taking that crown today, although it's fair to say the referee is playing a significant role in making it such a poor spectacle.

In the knockout stages, yes absolutely. But play at high intensity in all 3 group games and we'll be burnt out by the time we get there. Everyone (almost) is miffed because we should be beating USA, on paper at least. But playing more cautiously and avoiding defeat in the last two group games, having already done the biz in the first, will guarantee progression and seems sensible to me. As another poster has already pointed out, Southgate's remit is results, not entertainment. We're not Brazil. We don't have that kind of flair to play fluid attacking football and breeze past opponents. If we want to win the WC we need to be more like Germany when they have won it, and grind out results instead. It might not be the prettiest way to achieve silverware, but would anyone on here give a shit about that if the end result is seeing Harry Kane lift the trophy?

I think you just have to give credit to USA here. Tactically, they've got it spot on. They've kept a good shape, pressed effectively, closed off the passing lanes and made it very difficult for England to play through or around them. They burned themselves out in the second half against Wales though. I wonder if part of our gameplan involves letting them do that again and then going at them later on.

One of the worst teams I've ever seen at a WC. If this was the women's tournament there would undoubtedly be a few people claiming you couldn't take it seriously with teams this bad taking part.

85% possession for Spain in the first half.