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KALININGRAD, RUSSIA – England and Belgium played a so-called dead rubber in this Russian exclave Thursday night.
A dead rubber is a football match that has no real consequences for the teams involved, and it was the happy one, since England and Belgium had already qualified for the knockout round of the World Cup. Both teams easily dispatched their first two opponents, Tunisia and Panama largely overloaded, without too much stress, or giving a real glimpse of what might be. Then Belgium dominated England, 1-0, in a match that was more of a gentlemen's kick than the World Cup match.
[LIVE: Follow our coverage of England vs. Belgium]
However, there was a challenge: the first place in Group G went to Belgium, which means a match against Japan in the round of 16, but a quarter-final against Brazil on the other side from the the knockout support. Britain's second place gets what appears to be, on paper, a much easier path to the semi-finals on its pair side, starting with a match against Colombia on Tuesday in Moscow
. Colombia's next match "the biggest game in a decade" for England. "We must continue to improve," he said. "We talked about momentum, speed changes in the games and I think we kept squeezing until the end."
England and Belgium sometimes played fast Thursday, but they did not play very hard. The game was largely devoid of contact. Nobody ran across the tackles or elbowed for positions on the corners. England made eight changes to its starting lineup, Belgium nine. For both teams, the spirit seemed to be that the real World Cup would start at the final whistle.
The only goal came in the 52nd minute, when Belgian striker Adnan Januzaj ran a footwork to free himself from Danny Rose. on the right side, just inside England's penalty area, and a shot from the left foot rolled in front of a spread Jordan Pickford. England had some chances but never answered – and did not seem too bothered by that. Marcus Rashford missed a breakaway that could equalize the score in the middle of the second half, then barely shrugged
Coming into play in Russia, Belgium assumed the role of sexy dark horse, a team Starry directed by Kevin De Bruyne of Manchester City and Eden Hazard of Chelsea who had never advanced beyond the quarterfinals. England was seen as a work in progress, a young team trying to change its culture from gloomy, strategically challenged underachievers to intrepid amateurs of the game.
Which one is the best, or good enough to go depth? This remains to guess. Both teams scored goals against Tunisia and Panama, but it was Tunisia and Panama. Thursday's game, played mainly by reserves, offered little clue as to what was ahead of us and what could be possible.
Thomas Vermaelen, the Belgian defender, has always considered his team "an opportunity to win". Southgate said that England could not consider itself "a high level team until we start beating some of these top teams."
In other words, these teams have no idea who they are still. But there is enough hope and skepticism to cross the Dover Strait, which separates their countries.
Here is a sample.
Why England will win the World Cup
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put in pieces . England has entered this tournament without scoring in 72 major tournament attempts, which date back to 2010. Southgate, who took over the team in 2016, had the revolutionary idea of practicing them. – a lot. Until here everything is fine. England has four goals aside from corner kicks, including one that results from a penalty kick earned on a corner against Panama, and a free kick. Defenses are disorganized at major tournaments, where the best players are often gathered for only a few weeks. This makes gold coins opportunities to score. England knows clearly how to enjoy it.
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