England Forum - FIFA World Cup 2026: Other Teams Thread

and Tunisia I guess

 

Can't stand Danny Murphy

 

DR Congo look really quite decent, well organised in defence but they have a decent threat going forward.

Certainly a much better side than some i've seen at the world cup so far, and regardless of how today finishes I won't be surprised to see them making it out the group (or even potentially finishing ahead of Colombia).

 

Portuguese play acting is making me sick

 

Portugal must surely have more ideas than lobbing endless crosses into the box for Ronaldo to get on the end of. Very one dimensional.

 

Congo stopping them well and hitting them on the counter

dropping 5 deep and making Portugal look for crosses or clever passes

I think the ball to Ronaldo from conceicao was a huge chance. Such a poor pass

 

Strange to take off wan bissaka

 

They've been very good DR Congo

 

Portugal dropping points against DR Congo renders yet another group wide open. Interesting for England as it is likely we will meet someone from this group in the first knock out (if we qualify).

 

What a boring match through. Hardly anything of note except the shock result. Portugal didn’t even seem to be trying for parts of that match,

 

Too bad England could not call up VanBissaka as Livramentos replacement.

 

First time I've watched Vitinha closely outside of a CL game with Paris. Or rather tried to watch because I simply didn't notice him for most of the game. Thought he was much more impactful against Spain in the NL final although I didn't watch him closely back then though.

Congrats to D.R. Congo, a very passionate display! Feel like they might have won it had Kalimuendo switched to them as their attack's a weak point for them (let's be honest he'll never play for France with Kroupi emerging so really should have taken the invitation imo). Also inreresting what'll happen to Duranville and Lavia after Mokio commiting.

 

I wonder if the Portugeese coach has the balls to drop Ronaldo.

 

Apparently he's off after the tournament anyway so no reason to try to please Ronaldo's ego really

 

I actually thought Iraq had the better of the game for long periods but made some basic errors that cost them. Norway are a big problem because if you sit back they are deadly aerially and if you push up Haaland can run in behind. To be honest the latter seems more manageable from what I saw.

 

Ronaldo has 1 goal in his last 10 major tournament appearances at this point, and that was a penalty.

He'd be less of a problem if the rest of the team wasn't so subservient to him. Mind you today he was very far from their only problem. The wingers offered absolutely nothing one on one, and the midfields passing was painfully slow.

Which should also take nothing away from DR Congo who deserve a lot of credit and are far from the pushovers a lot of people thought they'd be. I won't be too surprised if they finish top 2 in this group (Uzbekistan are very much a mystery mind you).

 

Wow I cant believe how old Paul Robinson looks. Feels like yesterday that he was in goal for England.

 

Watching this Pickford performance makes me wonder whether his instincts on the ball might annoy Tuchel enough to try Trafford at some point.

 

Time for Watkins I think.

 

Kane has been 2x the international forward Ronaldo has been in his career. Ronaldo fans like to throw Portugal under the bus as a nation to make sense of it but it's not logical.

 

Ghana will feel like they have to absolutely batter Panama so this could be a good game.

 

I think that every time Portugal have been eliminated in the last four tournaments (since their Euros win) I have had a sense that they haven't hit top gear. It's hard to avoid the conclusion that Ronaldo has something to do with that.

 

Yes it's clear as day for anyone with eyes. You don't have to be a Ronaldo hater to see he is increasing his odds of winning a world cup by sticking around and lowering Portugals.