Michael Kenrick 17/06/2026 78comments  |  Jump to last

The first week of the 2026 World Cup ends with the last of the 48 national sides getting started, including Portugal and England.

Jordan Pickford is expected to start in goal for the Three Lions, as he starts on a path that might just see him become only the second Everton player to win the World Cup.

Wednesday 17 June 2026

18:00 Portugal v Congo (Group K) — BBC 1
21:00 England v Croatia (Group L) — ITV 1
00:00 Ghana v Panama (Group L) — ITV 1
03:00 Uzbekistan v Colombia (Group K) — BBC 1

At ToffeeWeb, we will follow the England v Croatia match live on this thread and on the Live Forum. 

 

Reader Comments (78)

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John Collins
1 Posted 17/06/2026 at 17:34:36
Two of the games are on the 18th
Andrew Ellams
2 Posted 17/06/2026 at 18:01:52
They all are US time John
John Collins
3 Posted 17/06/2026 at 18:24:54
👍
Liam Mogan
4 Posted 17/06/2026 at 19:02:15
Ronaldo doing his best impression of Brian Glover in Kes
Andrew Ellams
5 Posted 17/06/2026 at 19:40:57
As always Liam. If he doesn't score I fear Danny Murphy might actually cry.
Andrew Ellams
6 Posted 17/06/2026 at 19:43:06
Maduake starts for England. What is Tuchel on?
Liam Mogan
7 Posted 17/06/2026 at 19:44:51
The grass?
Liam Mogan
8 Posted 17/06/2026 at 19:45:17
Um Bongo
Darren Hind
9 Posted 17/06/2026 at 19:45:22
DR Congo not settling for a draw.

A throw back to the days when both teams wanted to win. Enjoying this
Christy Ring
10 Posted 17/06/2026 at 19:59:47
Personally I think Ronaldo has more say than the manager of Portugal, Martinez should have hooked him at half-time. Portugal were fancied with the squad they have, unless they drop Ronaldo, they're going nowhere.
Keith Harrison
11 Posted 17/06/2026 at 20:00:05
Liam.
Old Bridge Inn round 5ish tomorrow pal if you want a meet before the gig.
email kwh2001@btinternet.com to message me.
Darren Hind
12 Posted 17/06/2026 at 20:04:18
Two great headers.
Jack Convery
13 Posted 17/06/2026 at 20:06:55
Well in DR Congo. Ronaldo, instead of looking around wondering what happened - Retire. The shot of the DR Congo fans, in the square in Portugal, surrounded by a multitude of Portugese fans - marvellous.
Liam Mogan
14 Posted 17/06/2026 at 20:24:53
Sound Keith - will drop you a message mate.
Michael Kenrick
15 Posted 17/06/2026 at 21:06:08
Well, struggling to play footie so far...

Lots of backwards shite.
Michael Kenrick
16 Posted 17/06/2026 at 21:12:24
Very fortunate penalty call.

Very lucky call on the goalie moving.
Jim Bennings
17 Posted 17/06/2026 at 21:23:02
I can't get my head around these hydration breaks to be honest, it's pathetic unless the temperature is completely stifling, interfering in the game and having some bird talk us through a blackboard.
Jeff Armstrong
18 Posted 17/06/2026 at 21:23:29
The penalty stutter should be banned, goalkeeper is bound to react to it, also encroachment is always going to occur if the taker stutters his shot.
Liam Mogan
19 Posted 17/06/2026 at 21:24:23
These hydration breaks are an abomination
Christy Ring
20 Posted 17/06/2026 at 21:28:30
Hydration break completely ridiculous, roof closed air conditioning on, it’s an advertisement break
Liam Mogan
21 Posted 17/06/2026 at 21:28:34
They look so disjointed to me England
Michael Kenrick
22 Posted 17/06/2026 at 21:29:46
Is Bellingham really that good? Surely that has to be a goal.
Liam Mogan
23 Posted 17/06/2026 at 21:31:26
Refs a bit of a Dick
Michael Kenrick
24 Posted 17/06/2026 at 21:31:39
How many hoofs is that now from Pickford?
Liam Mogan
25 Posted 17/06/2026 at 21:35:39
That was coming. Too much space between the lines of the team
Jim Bennings
26 Posted 17/06/2026 at 21:36:06
1-1 can't really argue with that, Croatia look more than capable.

England to me have too many individuals.

Still struggling to catch the Bellingham hype I'm in agreement, I seena good player but nowhere near the greats of the past or even present.
Michael Kenrick
27 Posted 17/06/2026 at 21:36:28
Too many mistakes by Madueke.

He has been poor.
Christy Ring
28 Posted 17/06/2026 at 21:39:03
Michael he wasn’t even a regular starter for Arsenal.
Jim Bennings
29 Posted 17/06/2026 at 21:40:26
Kane is England's best player by some distance in terms of being a match winner, and there we see it again.

Fucking lethal centre forward
Liam Mogan
30 Posted 17/06/2026 at 21:40:33
Some header that
Michael Kenrick
31 Posted 17/06/2026 at 21:40:47
That was a lot better.

Brilliant header.
Bill Gall
32 Posted 17/06/2026 at 21:40:51
Harry Kane special
Paul Griffiths
33 Posted 17/06/2026 at 21:43:26
Kane is a phenomenon - 13 in 13, leading English WC scorer now, butCroatia gave him so much space, criminal
Christy Ring
34 Posted 17/06/2026 at 21:44:56
Brilliant header by Kane, but totally free
Jim Bennings
35 Posted 17/06/2026 at 21:49:34
England are all over the place defensively, no pressure on the ball
Paul Griffiths
36 Posted 17/06/2026 at 21:49:49
Everton deep defending
Paul Griffiths
37 Posted 17/06/2026 at 21:51:19
Let's see what Thomas the German has in his tank.
Liam Mogan
38 Posted 17/06/2026 at 21:55:23
'midfields too open, trying to force it out the back and too many players wide..if Croatia just went driect through the middle they can carve us open'

My 18 year old pissed up in Benidorm sent me that 5 mins before the equaliser.

Tuchel is a clown
Kunal Desai
39 Posted 17/06/2026 at 21:55:26
Someone has cloned Tarky and Keane in that England defence. Horrific defending.
Paul Griffiths
40 Posted 17/06/2026 at 22:01:46
Which one is Bellingham?
Tony Hughes
41 Posted 17/06/2026 at 22:03:41
Centre halfs are abit ropey and i'm another one who seems to be missing something with Bellingham
Paul Griffiths
42 Posted 17/06/2026 at 22:03:44
Get Henderson on.
John Collins
43 Posted 17/06/2026 at 22:03:59
A poor partnership selected at centre halves.
Jim Bennings
44 Posted 17/06/2026 at 22:09:28
Bellingham has shut us knobs us anyway haha
Tony Hughes
45 Posted 17/06/2026 at 22:09:37
Nice to be proven wrong Jude
Jim Bennings
46 Posted 17/06/2026 at 22:10:21
Reckon Pickford has said at HT "get on ToffeeWeb Jude lad"
Michael Kenrick
47 Posted 17/06/2026 at 22:10:22
That was a bit better from Bellingham.

Jammy shot though.
Paul Griffiths
48 Posted 17/06/2026 at 22:11:12
Ah that one is Bellingham. Great run by Madueke
Jim Bennings
49 Posted 17/06/2026 at 22:14:18
Croatia now seem to be doing the standing off and watch them shoot, this half.
Michael Kenrick
50 Posted 17/06/2026 at 22:14:23
Really poor forward pass by Gordon.
Stan Grace
51 Posted 17/06/2026 at 22:14:34
I'd say Croatia's defence is more like Everton's than England's. The weel-taken but gifted goals aside I'm not impressed with Modric's boys.
Liam Mogan
52 Posted 17/06/2026 at 22:16:19
What a coach Tuchel is. England on fire since ht
Liam Mogan
53 Posted 17/06/2026 at 22:17:26
And that assistant scouse coach who looks like every lad in the North End in the 90s had a proper cob on
Jim Bennings
54 Posted 17/06/2026 at 22:19:26
Tuchel must have given them a rocket at HT
Mark Ryan
55 Posted 17/06/2026 at 22:21:10
Commentator. Modric has been out with a broken draw ! ha ha, what his kitchen draw
Paul Griffiths
56 Posted 17/06/2026 at 22:21:15
5 saves in 2 minutes.
Michael Kenrick
57 Posted 17/06/2026 at 22:25:52
Really surprised to see so many long hoofs from Pickford. How many times have England retained possession? Such a lottery.
Michael Kenrick
58 Posted 17/06/2026 at 22:30:35
xG for Gordon: 0.41
xG for Croatia: 0.41

That is just bizarre!
Paul Griffiths
59 Posted 17/06/2026 at 22:33:44
Ad break. Where do Engerlaund find all these bald middle-aged beer guts doing their knobhead jigs?
Liam Mogan
60 Posted 17/06/2026 at 22:34:54
Its like the darts with these songs during the breaks
Les Callan
61 Posted 17/06/2026 at 22:35:31
Liam @53. That assistant coach was on Everton’s books as a kid.
Paul Griffiths
62 Posted 17/06/2026 at 22:35:52
Good subs
Paul Griffiths
63 Posted 17/06/2026 at 22:36:35
Horrible Liam, just horrible.
Liam Mogan
64 Posted 17/06/2026 at 22:38:13
Looks like every lad who played for Kirkdale in 1991, Les.
Paul Griffiths
65 Posted 17/06/2026 at 22:41:53
Vlasic
Neil Tyrrell
66 Posted 17/06/2026 at 22:50:24
This has been more entertaining than the last 50 England matches I've watched put together. It will not do. Bring back waistcoat and drab one nils, Tuchel out!!!
Paul Griffiths
67 Posted 17/06/2026 at 22:52:24
Hannibal Spence has not been very good.
Michael Kenrick
68 Posted 17/06/2026 at 23:00:51
Croatia were really a tough test.
Tom Bowers
69 Posted 17/06/2026 at 23:10:25
This was a good win and showed all the other teams England have the offence to beat anyone,

Having said that, Croatia have a few aging veterans who started the game which surprised me.

They should now win the group as I cannot see Ghana or Panama beating the Three Lions.

Many fancied teams have stumbled a little against minnows but you just know Germany, France, Spain, Argentina with the Dutch, the Belgians and Brazil are going to be stiffer tests in the knockout stages.
Michael Kenrick
70 Posted 17/06/2026 at 23:38:11
"We made some decisions where the energy was not free in our mind"

Who let Marco Silva out to play?
Paul Griffiths
71 Posted 17/06/2026 at 23:45:25
To be fair MK, the full quote was:

Wir haben einige Entscheidungen getroffen, bei denen wir nicht mit der nötigen Besonnenheit gehandelt haben. Damit meine ich, dass wir schlechte Entscheidungen gefällt haben – Entscheidungen, die viel zu überstürzt und ohne jegliche vorherige Überlegung getroffen wurden. Absolut keine.
Andrew Ellams
72 Posted 18/06/2026 at 09:30:33
A good performance by England but can anybody enlighten me as to why Elliot Anderson is being put in the same price bracket as the best midfielders in the world? He just seemed to run around like a yappy dog.
Dave Abrahams
73 Posted 18/06/2026 at 10:16:07
Michael (68) Michael, Croatia were a tougher test because England played a very cautious defensive first half, don’t know what was said at half time but once England went on the front foot they looked a completely different team and could have scored a couple more in that first twenty minutes of the second half but then in the last fifteen minutes they went back to the defensive mode and they could have paid the penalty for that only for Kane to block the equaliser close to his own goal, that’s how defensive they were with Kane that far back.

England deservedly won the game but lessons can be learned if they trust more of their attacking ability instead of being ultra defensive.
Steve Brown
74 Posted 18/06/2026 at 10:39:04
England looked very impressive going forward in the second half, and we need to maintain that level of intent and intensity.

Liked Tuchel's line that if we lose we do so playing our preferred game.

But there should be some changes for the next game.

1) Stones did not look sharp or fit - Guehi needs to play.
2) Saka is different gravy compared to Madueke.
3) James looked 6 months pregnant and made Spence look good in comparison.
4) Gordon did not affect the game compared to Rashford.
Andrew Ellams
75 Posted 18/06/2026 at 11:33:55
Steve, I think what you'll see with some of those players, particularly Rashford is that their role in the squad is as finishers to come on later in the game against tired defences.

It's a tactic that has been very successful for the Lionesses in tournaments.
Andy Meighan
76 Posted 18/06/2026 at 14:23:22
Andrew 75.

I hope you're not comparing women's football to the so called biggest tournament in the world.
Jack Convery
77 Posted 18/06/2026 at 14:30:50
Kane spends time in Germany and is now, even better than he was at Spurs or England, in the past.
Andrew Ellams
78 Posted 18/06/2026 at 14:37:51
Andy @ 76, you can't deny winning tactics and mentality.

There's more to winning major tournaments than just footballing ability.

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