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*Official* Road to 2022 World Cup

wpdavid

Hall of Fame Member
My immediate response to last night's match was it was England's worst performance since Southgate took over. Probably not true, but being dominated by this Hungary side isn't a great look; even allowing for Hungary playing far better than when we won 4-0 over there. And we were incredibly sloppy. Too many heavy touches, which is pretty embarrassing at this level, and far too many over-hit or under-hit passes. I'd guess that the player whose reputation was most enhanced was Kalvin Phillips. Southgate must be concerned about the performances of several big names, especially as they reflected their performances or non-selection at club level. Mind you, none of the regular starters were as bad as Jordan Henderson looked in his, er, cameo.

My one gripe, which isn't a mitigating factor at all, is the cowardly performance of the referee at set plays. Back to the bad old days of penalising forwards who make even the slightest contact with their markers, but allowing said markers to do pretty much whatever they wanted. The outstanding example was in the first half when he simply made England retake their corner to see if the defenders could do better second time around, instead of doing the decent thing and giving a penalty against the guy who was rugby tackling one of our players.
 

wpdavid

Hall of Fame Member
Second one is suspended
Ah, fair enough. One can't help feeling that there's a certain amount of resentment in some quarters about having to be seen to take action when our boys are abused for having the temerity to celebrate scoring in those places, and especially for taking the knee. Hence, maybe, what we've heard today. That being said, any concept of English football occupying the moral high ground was always an accident waiting to happen given the minority of knuckle draggers who follow the national team.
 

speirz

State Vice-Captain
England have to play one match behind closed doors because of the unrest before the Euro Final.
Honestly, I'm surprised it wasn't more. I thought the Champions League final that Wembley is due to host in a couple of years would've been in jeopardy as well.
 

Uppercut

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The FA aren’t a security contractor. It was the Met Police’s fault, just like everything else that goes wrong in London these days.

I guess you can’t embarrass UEFA like that and not expect them to hit you however they can.
 

BoyBrumby

Englishman
They'll probably still make it through the play offs but not unamusing to see yer Eyeties held in Belfast and jibbing automatic qualification.
 

wpdavid

Hall of Fame Member
fwiw I reckon that Maguire's 7th international goal last night made him England's highest scoring defender, overtaking Jack Charlton on 6.
 

Howe_zat

Audio File
They'll probably still make it through the play offs but not unamusing to see yer Eyeties held in Belfast and jibbing automatic qualification.
There's only room for one of them and Portugal in the tournament owing to the draw today. Also true of Wales/Scotland, though they've got a more proper first round to contend with as well.

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So, a not unreasonable chance of Italy becoming the fourth European champion to miss out on the immediate next tournament. Internet points if you know the other three.
 

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