FIFA World Cup 2026: England Tournament Thread [R]

Skelley

my I phone keyboard is annoying

 

Well barry, now you've gone and done it. I've seen everything now.

As for tonight, really excited. It's time for us to start. It's also our first competitive game against a good team in 2 years (Senegal was a friendly as was Japan) so looking forward to see how fluid we are.

 

With three goals in the qualifiers Eze, was the only one outside Kane that scored more than one goal. And obviously, none of them were penalties.

 

Unfortuneatly all those Saka WC goals were against Iran ...

Apologies. he scored against Senegal. That is an important goal.

 

Supposedly Madueke, Gordon and Stones start.

Rashford, Saka, Guehi on the bench.

 

Have we heard if Henderson is starting yet?

 

Henderson playing at right-back

 

It's funny how Konsa have gone from apparantly being third choice CB, to a certain starter. I mean since speculations are now about who of Guehi and Stones will start ...

 

Would be a mad choice to drop Pickford.

 

The majority of games have been close and competitive in the World Cup so far, including quite a few you'd have expected to be one-sided.

It's probably safe to expect ours to be cagey tonight. A 1-0 win and a decent performance would be very good going for us.

 

Noone particularly, but Watkins had a strong end to the season, so did Rashford. Toney scored a lot of goals but obviously in a poor league. Gordon has had some good games this year especially in the CL.

Agreed nobody has really lit up this season, but if we were to bring Foden/Palmer it totally changes the way we have been set up to play. If they had both been in brilliant form this season I would agree they should go and we should find a system to work. As it is this team is now set up to work for Kane which isn't such a bad thing IMO

 

Just watching the England press conference from yesterday evening, and a Swedish reporter took the opportunity to ask Kane how good Sweden's attack is, while a Colombian one asked if he could pass on a message to Luis Diaz lol. Imagine the shitstorm if an English reporter went into a totally unrelated press conference and asked random players to talk about England.

Sometimes I wish our players were a bit less obliging. Kane should've told them both to ******** off (well, perhaps not in so many words) instead of humouring them.

 

I expect a 2-0 win at least

they are really getting on in age and if we can press them, we should dominate the game

 

Tuchel won’t sing the national anthem ahead of England’s game against Croatia - but he might do if his team reach the final https://t.co/k6Q3eXpySe

— Matt Law (@Matt_Law_DT) June 17, 2026

 

Furthermore, of course Kane has often had one fast forward playing off his left shoulder. But the idea that he needs to be surrounded by touchline wingers to function properly has been completely overblown IMO. And it almost feels like it's a narrative that's been constructed backwards, to justify Tuchel setting up that way during the qualifiers (since taking over Southgate).

Back in the Euros, England did obviously suffer noticeable early issues, namely the left side was dysfunctional and Foden/Bellingham drifting into the same central zone too often. Moreover we were just moving the ball too slowly compared to Qatar. But somehow since Euro24, everyone's latching onto this myth that if Kane is not surrounded by Olympic sprinters, he becomes this ghost.

 

Kane drops deep into the 10 role, so in 24 we had Jude, Foden and Kane all dropping into those areas.

I don't think it's a flawless strategy but we'll be much more balanced

 

They were all mediocre apart from Gibbs White, who ironically is not there

 

Kane probably doesn't mind. Bellingham might be more spikey.

Just shows how all nations have journalists with endless copy to fill with drivel.

They probably turn up at the England conference because they can speak English. Spain might get similar with the number of Spanish speaking countries but I bet Croatia doesn't.

 

Well I wasn't really suggesting for England to revert back to the same team as early Euro24, with Kane, Foden and Bellingham all starting together. As much as I think that England's problems far deeper than that, esp as we played the same team and yet the most cohesive attacking football (in my lifetime) in Qatar, but nobody was complaining about them three getting in each others way.

But my point was to challenge the chain of thought that England needs to select a squad on the basis of surrounding Kane from all angles with vertical runners and with very little Plan B (in the case of when this fails). Its like all roads now with England going into this WC always lead back to this same topic.

For the first time, I'm finding myself agreeing with most of the concerns the ex-players like Neville, Cole et al are saying.

 

We really need Congo to keep the game tight tonight so we don't end up where we risk them or Uzbekistan going out on goal difference

 

What would it mean if they did go out?

 

Jude Bellingham set to start for England in coveted No 10 role in World Cup opener versus Croatia. Declan Rice and Elliott Anderson in line to flank Bellingham in midfield. https://t.co/yKRlDUwXHW

— Sami Mokbel (@SamiMokbel_BBC) June 17, 2026

 

I'm off to the game in Dallas. I'll do my best to bring home three points.

Come on England!