All things English Football & The England Football Team
England have qualified for the semi finals of the UEFA Nations League after a stunning late comeback saw them beat Croatia at Wembley. The precarious position of their group meant both England and Croatia needed to win to qualify for the Nations League finals, whilst a draw would send Spain through. Adding to the tension
Wayne Rooney’s farewell to England turned out to be a game all about dynamic new talent as England brushed aside the USA 3-0 at Wembley. Gareth Southgate opted for a youthful starting line-up who had fewer caps between them than Rooney has to his name, whilst England’s fabled number 10 started on the bench. The
“I can only see a Spain win” predicted the oracle that is Paul Merson. For once most agreed, Spain came into this game unbeaten in 38 straight competitive games at home, a run stretching back to 2003, their last home game being a 6-0 hiding of Croatia last month. England meanwhile hadn’t won in Spain
This morning I took my toddlers to play football at ‘Mini Shooters’ and the crowd watching the tots run around with a ball was larger than the one England played before last night. UEFA’s decided the best form of punishment to the Croatian FA for that infamous Swastika in the grass incident, was to play
It’s strange how a narrative around a football team can change so quickly, back in July Football was coming home but in September all the talk coming into this game was of a record equalling three straight defeats. Gareth Southgate talked in the build up about needing to give his second string players minutes on
Day 23 Summary: Football not ready to go home So England are out, England’s run to the semi-finals has been the best story of this World Cup but it ended last night in Moscow when Mario Mandzukic’s extra time goal sent Croatia to their first World Cup Final. The game at the Luzniki Stadium started
They’ve done it! England have made it to the last 4 of a World Cup for the first time in 28 years and football might just be coming home. Four weeks ago few saw England getting this far in Russia, few fans decorated their cars and homes in St Georges flags as cautious optimism became
If I was being generous I’d describe this match as low key, as I’m being honest I’ll say it was dull. Having both already qualified England & Belgium made a combined 17 team changes, needless to say Kane, Hazard, Lingard, De Bruyne, Mertens and Sterling were not amongst the 5 retained with both managers thinking
It’s fair to say an England friendly went well when the mood an hour after full-time was distinctly more positive than what we experienced in the build up. Pundits have lined up endlessly to point out this is the weakest England squad in living memory with Alan Smith even pointing out it felt like the
England’s draw with Germany last week saw an encouraging all round display but this always looked a sterner test for England’s experimental side. Whereas Joachim Loew used his Wembley friendly to experiment and fine tune his squad, Brazil manager Tite picked his strongest 11 (Jurgen Klopp may take a dim view of Coutinho starting the