England did not have to do too much to eliminate Sweden at the ongoing FIFA World Cup. The noise of the Swedes being compact in defence didn’t deter the 3 Lions of England in discarding them to make it to the semi-final, an achievement they last attained at the Italia 90 tourney. England faced a Croatia side that seem very organized but hey, I heard same about Sweden and Colombia whom they beat on penalties in the 2nd round. I strongly don’t believe in organization when it comes to football, I have seen teams being organized up until the point of facing the opponent’s goal and still fluffed their lines.
I also maintain that France and Belgium got better with the oppositions they faced from the knock stages, because I was not impressed with France’s performance during the group stages and Belgium had an easy path to the second round. England is a scattered side, yeah the team is set up in a particular way (formation) before kick off but they never follow it through to the end.
I was sincerely itching for a France versus England final but Croatia seemed to have other plans as they pulled off a deserved victory to make it to their first ever World Cup final. England had taken the lead in the 5th minute via a well taken Kieran Trippier free-kick after Luka Modric had fouled Dele Alli.
England though despite taking the lead looked shaky which gave me concerns and when Harry Kane had the chance to increase the lead and didn’t bury it, instinctively I knew it was going to be a long night for England. The English lads managed to take a 1-0 lead into the break.
The Croats were in control of the second half and their dominance paid off in the 68th minute when they grabbed an equalizer through Inter Milan’s winger Ivan Perisic. Game on and it wore on but no goals scored. The game went into extra time and when I was resigning my fate to the dreaded penalty shoot out, the slightly anonymous Mario Mandzukic (not that Harry Kane had an appearance either) finished off a lovely Perisic pass to give Croatia the lead for the first time in the game.
Mandzukic’s goal however proved decisive, ending the tie in Croatia’s favour. 2-1 the game ended. Croatia play France in the final on Sunday July, 15 in Moscow while England and Belgium will battle it out for 3rd place a day before at the St. Petersburg stadium.
France to win the trophy, at least they are one of the 4 teams I backed at this tournament with Brazil, England (my real team) and Nigeria being the others.
Any team that didn’t fight lost………………………….. S.O
I am still mighty proud of the English team, they surpassed my expectations because a quarter final posting was what I had predicted before the tourney. #WePush
Thanks for time guys………….. BLESS!!!
Feature Image: The Australian
The England’s defence for me is to be blamed especially for the second goal and the mistake gifted Croatia the final berth.
Well said. Thanks for reading.
There is always a four years time
Yeah, hopefully they would do well at the Euros in 2020. Thanks for reading. BLESS !!!