World Cup: Day 7

Watching Australia. Half time. A group of "average players" playing like a team. Playing forward with drive and commitment and defending with courage. It's not difficult, is it?!!

Great penalty save by the Polish keeper.

I dislike the law that says the keeper can't take step forward off the goal line.

Here the keeper clearly takes a step forward off the goal line to deceive the penalty taker. VAR checked this and has allowed it.

So what's the rule now for keepers ? Is taking if a step off the goal line within the law now?

All keepers in the tournament will need to know.

I wonder if by some miracle Everton had the opportunity to sign Lewandowski, some Everton supporters would complain about buying a 34 year old past his best?

Saudi very lively mind.

Tony #2, watch that replay again and you'll see the keeper's left heel still touching the goal line when the shot was taken. Szczesny got it exactly right. Great play, too, and great scouting... he obviously knew how the SA striker shot penalties, so he bluffed to his left and dove right.

Dived Mike, dived... Doves have wings. :-)

France totally different level to how they were in the nation league

Mbappe, a lot of players would have went down under those 2 attempted hacks. He kept going.

Separate move, but gets his goal.

France might not be Brazil or Spain, but they are strong.

Andreas Christensen with the equaliser.

FFS Danny, why is it being done there? Or is it because they are the holders?

Imagine if we had Mbappe.

Kenwright Out!

Surely we refused him when he was 17, Kieran?

Kenwright Out!

Funny, Kim.

'merican English, ya know

Nah, Kieran. Championship at best.

Is this the warm up for Tuesday night……………….

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUuWvXoaa2w

Jeff,

It was Mbappe or the return of Jose Baxter.

Well, the teary one would've always gone for the basket case, more kudos for him for giving out second chances... twat.

K'n'ell, I'm starting to believe my own sarcasm and it really happened!

Kieran, we should have signed Harry Kane when he was being loaned out to various clubs!

That was a fun game. Denmark really got after France right from the start.

Hoping Mexico - Argentina just as good.

France looking strong. They are reminding me of German teams of the past. Organised, disciplined and strong, if not the best in terms of flair.

You can never tell with competition football as, when it comes down to the knock -outs, anything can happen over 90 minutes.

But I think they will take some beating.

Doddy Weir the great Scottish rugby player has passed away age 52 from motor neurone disease. Very sad news. Terrific player, apparently a good bloke too

Gonna be red cards in this one.

Montiel will be first red this tournament…

I just feel like this World Cup is playing out as I suspected it would.

Most players look in club mode due to the time of year, games very slow, ponderous and only flashes of any real quality here and there.

Argentina and Mexico been a hugely disappointing affair thus far.

Jeff @26,

Yeah... unless there's already been one…

Jim the players should be fit and up for it, it's only 15 odd games into a new season, its not like its the end of a gruelling season including cup and European campaigns, like it usually is in the summer.

MK, got me, just remembered History Channel Hennessy got one yesterday, soz

Lozano - another member of the should-have-played-for-us Xl - captain, coach and honorary president, of course, JR Riquelme.

Looking ahead to World Cup: Day 8, and it's Spain v Germany, with every chance that Spain can beat Germany and knock the Germans out. Also if Japan can beat Costa Rica, then Group E could be done and dusted tomorrow.

Cometh the hour.

That old bloke seems to know how to hit the freakin ball properly.

Rob,

Should that happen, that's two World Cups in a row with a first round exit. Almost as bad as Italy missing two in a row, though they did win the Euros.

Basically Spain and France are like Italy and Germany of old in terms of major tournaments.

Mexico compete but they don't seem to have a goal threat.

Kieran 35, remind you of any other team?

Bournemouth?

Jeff,

No kidding. My Italian mate was upset about us as he's worried France will win if we don't. Also, he said Everton are the Torino of England!

This is the 24th game so far, so exactly halfway through the group games, and still no sign of any useless Premier League referees.

There's even been a female referee in one of the games, so it just shows what Fifa think of our crap lot!

Kieran, I wish, 9th with 21 points!

Poor quality game this.

Rob 36, I hope our refs have a serious look at themselves and ask, why?

Well that was a pearler by Fernandez.

Poor old Mexico. Every time they lose a big game, the score seems to be the same.

Dos-a-zero.

Hee-hee!

Bizarrely based on games so far Alexei Lalas now reckons Belgium are the third best team. The man is a genius of football as his career shows …

Mike, this Dosazero, is he worth a bid?

Concacaf played 6, won none, scored 1 goal. They need to improve before hosting in 2026

Kevin Kilbane on TSN panel here saying Messi is the best player of all time in his opinion. Even in modern times I'd give the nod to Ronaldo over Messi because he's done it in multiple leagues more difficult than Spain or France... never mind Pele etc. One thing's for sure Kevin Kilbane is definitely not the best pundit of all time, and that's a pretty low bar.

Kieran, Canada will score and win tomorrow, keep the faith.

How is qualification decided?

If teams are level on points after the three group games, progress is decided by goal difference. The full tiebreaker criteria are:

Points accrued
Goal difference

Goals scored

Head-to-head results

Fair play: the team that has accumulated the fewest indiscipline points wins (a yellow card equals one point, a red card shown for two yellows equals three points, a direct red card equals four points and a direct red card shown to a player who was already on a yellow equals five points)

Lots drawn

Rob @36,

Good point and it shows the benchmark for referees and the Premier League referees, on this tournament call-up don't cut the Fifa grade.

Refs and VARs, the scourge of football.

Neil,

I hope so. They had 23 shots v Belgium so they're doing a lot right. Just need that one good finish.

Would you believe it, Paul, Michael Oliver has been assigned the Japan v Costa Rica game tomorrow. As yet, Anthony Taylor has not been assigned any game.

Watching the games today, and I noticed plenty of female fourth officials. Now I wonder if that's all they do, be the fourth official, or will they be assigned a game to referee?

I've yet to see either of our two representatives be the fourth official in a game? Do Fifa really think that bad about our Premier League referees?

Rob,

Three female refs and three female assistant referees were chosen for this World Cup. If any are actually assigned, I would expect to see them in the 3rd round of group games, specifically the ones that don't mean much.

Fifa is gonna dip their toe in the water on this issue.

Pretty abject stuff from Mexico.

Mind you, playing for the scoreless draw made some strategic sense, but watching Lozano take on five defenders by himself and just try to reach the goal line and manufacture a corner kick was rather painful.

Fascinating article in The Athletic on the players spotted by KRC Genk who are in the Belgian World Cup squad:

“Thibaut Courtois, Kevin De Bruyne, Yannick Carrasco, Leandro Trossard, Timothy Castagne, Koen Casteels and Arthur Theate.

“Not bad. And that's just the Belgian squad. You can also throw in Senegal's Kalidou Koulibaly, Serbia's Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, young Moroccan playmaker Bilal El Khannous, Mexico's Gerardo Arteaga, Joakim Maehle (Denmark), Angelo Preciado (Ecuador), Danny Vukovic (Australia) and Junya Ito (Japan). Then there are players like Leon Bailey, Dennis Praet and Wilfred Ndidi, not at the World Cup but who have made it to the top of the game. It's quite a production line.

“It would be one more if Divock Origi had been selected. They recruit young from across the globe, with adaptability (they learn 3 positions on the field) and hunger to improve the pre-requisite. It is amazing what a well-designed, stable and professionally run recruitment system can achieve.

“The Head of Recruitment also had a comment on Charles De Ketelaere, who we were linked to in the summer. He went to Milan instead.

“Everybody was like ‘Wow, what a player'. But €30million? I would buy seven De Ketelaeres for €30million. He's a good player but please don't put them next to De Bruyne. He cannot even tie his laces.”

We have been chumps like Milan since Moshiri bought the club.

I like that point about 3 positions, Steve.

The Dutch have done it for generations. They don't fix kids into positions and rotate them. The theory being that as they grow physically and are developing as footballers, you just don't know where their best position will end up being.

But trying to convert a 20-year-old is more difficult than if they already have an understanding of those positions from their development.

Makes sense that Genk, being in the culturally Dutch (Flemish) part of Belgium follow that pattern.

From an international football perspective, Imagine today if Belgium and the current Netherlands had never separated and remained as the original Netherlands that incorporated both?

Danny (#52);

A lot of Everton players fell into that category. Ray Wilson started out as a left winger, Tommy Wright and Hibbo both started as midfielders, as possibly did Connor Coady, and John Hurst was a converted centre-forward.

There's probably a lot more but, at Everton anyway, it seems to have become a thing of the past and, in the case of Rodwell, may have worked the opposite way.

Totally agree with you on Rodwell, Alan. He could have been a Coady type of centre-back.

I think historically though, the Dutch have experimented from a much younger age rather than pigeon-holing players into positions.

Maybe we are getting better now? I've been out of the coaching scene for too long now.

Rob on the FIFA assignment of officials, it will be interesting to see who and how this allocation of officials was devised.

On football merit basis, it may be, but it's not been transparent in the criteria for assignment.

It adds fuel to the festering rumours on this tournament.

But good to see some good football today by all the teams in today's games.

Hopefully Everton can take some inspiration into the next game v Wolves.

UTFT!