FRANCE vs SENEGAL 3-1*** Maignan 5, Kounde 6, Hernandez T 6, Upamacano 7, Saliba 7, Tchouameni 5, Rabiot 7, Dembele 5, Doue 6, OLISE 9*, Mbappe 8 Subs: Barcola, Cherki MENDY 8*, Diatta 6, Diouf 6, Niakhate 6, Koulibaly 5, Gueye I 6, Camara 6, Gueye P 6, Sarr 7, Mane 5, Jackson 6 Subs: Mbaye 8, Diarra, Dieng, Ndiaye, Ciss MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: MICHAEL OLISE IRAQ vs NORWAY 1-4*** Hassan 4, Ali H 6, Doski 7, Tahseen 4, Hashem 5, Ismail 6, Al-Ammari 7, Bayesh 6, Jasim 7, HUSSEIN 7*, Al-Hamadi 7: Subs: Farji 5, Iqbal 6, Sadoon, Quasem, Ali M Nyland 6, Ryerson 7, Wolfe 7, Heggem 6, Ajer 6, Berge 6, Odegaard 6, Aursnes 6, Sorloth 5, Nusa 7, HAALAND 9* Subs: Bobb, Schelderup, Thorstvedt, Ostigaard, Berg MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: ERLING HAALAND ARGENTINA vs ALGERIA 3-0*** Martinez 7, Montiel 6, Medina 6, Romero 7, Lisandro 8, Mac Allister 7, Enzo 7, Almada 6, de Paul 8, MESSI 9*, Lautaro 5 Subs: Molina 6, Gonzales 6, Alvarez 6, Paz, Otamendi Zidane 4, Belghali 6, Ait Nouri 6, Mandi 7, Bensebaini 6, Benteleb 5, Boudaoui 6, Maza 7, Hadj Moussa 6, CHAIBI 7*, Gouri 5. Subs: Aouar 6, Mahrez 6, Amoura, Zerrouki, Boulbina MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: LIONEL MESSI AUSTRIA vs JORDAN 3-1** Schlager 6, Posch 6, Mwene 6, Lienhart 6, Alaba 6, Seiwald 6, Schlager X 6, SCHMID 8*, Sabitzer 7, Laimer 7, Kalajdzic 5 Subs: Arnautovic 6, Chukwuemeka 7, Wanner 6, Danso 7, Wimmer Abulaila 5, Haddad 6, Abu Taha 7, Nasib 6, Al-Arab 6, Abualnadi 6, Al-Fakhouri 6, OLWAN 8*, Al-Rawabdeh 6, Al-Rashdan 6, Al-Taamari 7: Subs: Obaid 7, Al-Rosan, Al-Mardi, Al-Dawoud, Al-Azaizeh MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: ALI OLWAN
RANKING PROVISIONAL 1.- Messi (Argentina): 9,63 2.- Haaland (Noruega): 8,67 3.- Ayari (Suecia): 8,44 4.- Balogun (Estados Unidos): 8,32 5.- Hwang In Beom (Corea): 8,29 6.- Isak (Suecia): 8,18 7.- Just (Nueva Zelanda): 8,12 8.- Mbappé (Francia): 8,12 9.- Vozinha (Cabo Verde): 8,12 10.- Rezaeian (Irán): 8,01 11.- Beach (Australia): 7,99 12.- Diomande, Yann (Costa de Marfil): 7,98 13.- Nmecha (Alemania): 7,97 14.- Quiñones (México): 7,89 15.- Diallo, Amad (Costa de Marfil): 7,87 16.- Al Owais (Arabia Saudí): 7,84 17.- Olise (Francia): 7,78 18.- Gyokeres (Suecia): 7,77 19.- Pulisic (Estados Unidos): 7,74 20.- Ali Olwan (Jordania): 7,72 21.- Havertz (Alemania): 7,70 22.- Brown (Alemania): 7,59 23.- Schlotterbeck (Alemania): 7,57 24.- Schmidt (Austria): 7,53 25.- Kang In Lee (Corea): 7,47 26.- Diney Borges (Cabo Verde): 7,44 27.- Undav (Alemania): 7,43 28.- Wood (Nueva Zelanda): 7,43 29.- Irankunda (Australia): 7,39 30.- Tillman (Estados Unidos): 7,38 31.- Kimmich (Alemania): 7,38 32.- De Paul (Argentina): 7,35 33.- Metcalfe (Australia): 7,29 34.- Nakamura (Japón): 7,28 35.- Al Amri (Arabia Saudí); 7,28 36.- Raúl Jiménez (México): 7,28 37.- Singo (Costa de Marfil): 7,26 38.- Saibari (Marruecos): 7,26 39.- McGinn (Escocia): 7,25
I'm struggling a bit to understand some over-the-top positive media reaction (commentators, journalists) to England's game. 4-2 looks good as a scoreline but they're framing it like a great performance, and the first half wasn't much different to vs Iceland in 2016 for example I thought honestly (Tuchel's comments seem to indicate it wasn't really down to his tactical instructions though as he wasn't satisfied with how the team was playing in that 45 minutes). The 4-2 goal was very nice (and shows what happens when starting to play some proper quality football), but even the 3-2 goal relied on lack of pace of Croatian number 22 to be honest, so it was somewhat lucky rather than brilliantly constructed. Early in the second half there was more momentum and a bit more cohesion, but some plays being called 'brilliant' by England didn't really look like that to me (they just applied some pressure and had some shots on goal). In the first half Croatia were much better in possession and scored two nice goals. The England win is 'fair' in the sense that the goals were legit (although one a re-taken penalty after a faux pas by Modric), but some of the comments make it seem like a display such as vs the Netherlands in Euro 96 or something.
In this World Cup, there are two teams that have caught my attention, and I think they're making history. It's said that Brazil in 1970 played with five attacking midfielders, or "number 10": Pelé, Jairzinho, Rivelino, Tostão, and Gerson. While acknowledging the differences in quality, Argentina does the same. Alexis Mac Allister began his career as an attacking midfielder, as did Rodrigo De Paul. Thiago Almada and Lionel Messi play in that position, and Enzo Fernández at Chelsea sometimes fills that role as well. France's forward line includes names like Mbappé, Olise, Dembélé, Doué, Barcola, Cherki, Akliouche, Thuram... Can anyone tell me if, in the history of the World Cup, a team has ever fielded so many talented forwards together? I'm not just talking about the starters, but also the substitutes.
PORTUGAL vs DR CONGO 1-1** Costa 6, Cancelo 6, Mendes 6, Veiga 6, Araujo 5, Vitinha 6, NEVES 8*, Silva B 5, Neto 7, Fernandes 6, Ronaldo 5 Subs: Conceicao 7, Leao, Semedo, Ramos Mpasi 6, Mbemba 7, Tuanzebe 7, Kapuadi 7, Wan-Bissaka 7, Masuaku 7, Moutoussamy 7, Mukau 6, Kayembe 6, Bakambu 7, WISSA 8* Subs: Sadiki 7, Pickel, Kayembe, Kalulu, Banza MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: YOANE WISSA ENGLAND vs CROATIA 4-2 **** Pickford 5, James 6, O´Reilly 6, Konsa 5, Stones 5, Anderson 8, Rice 7, Madueke 7, Gordon 5, Bellingham 8, KANE 8* Subs: Rogers, Rashford, Saka, Spence, Guehi LIVAKOVIC 8*, Stanicic 5, Perisic 6, Sutalo 6, Vuskovic 5, Gvardiol 5, Modric 5, Pasalic Mario 6, Susic 7, Baturina 7, Musa 7 Subs: Kovacic 6, Pasalic Marco 6, Matanovic 6, Vlasic, Kramaric MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: HARRY KANE
To be honest, I think you're being far too harsh in your assessment. It wasn't at the level of England vs. the Netherlands in 1996 — I agree with that. But look at what the other major nations have done so far. None of them have been better than England. Maybe Germany, but I'm convinced England would have looked at least just as good against Curaçao. Even France were completely off the pace in the first half of their match. If I were English, I'd be perfectly satisfied with what I've seen so far. What would concern me, however, is the team's goalkeeper and defence. Quite a few fairly average nations have better players in those positions. On top of that, England would be in serious trouble if Kane got injured. Players such as Guehi and Konsa in defence, Pickford in goal, and Kane's potential replacements up front, such as Watkins, are hugely overrated in the eyes of most people outside England.
RANKING PROVISIONAL 1.- Messi Argentina: 9,31 2.- Ayari Suecia: 8,44 3.- Haaland Noruega: 8,42 4.- Kane Inglaterra: 8,37 5.- Balogun Estados Unidos: 8,32 6.- Hwang In Beom Corea: 8,29 7.- Isak Suecia: 8,18 8.- Luis Díaz Colombia: 8,14 9.- Just Nueva Zelanda: 8,12 10.- Vozinha Cabo Verde: 8,12 11.- Mbappé Francia: 8,11 12.- Rezaeian Irán: 8,01 13.- Beach Australia: 7,99 14.- Diomande, Yann Costa de Marfil: 7,98 15.- Nmecha Alemania: 7,97 16.- Quiñones México: 7,89 17.- Diallo, Amad Costa de Marfil: 7,87 18.- Al Owais Arabia Saudí: 7,84 19.- Gyokeres Suecia: 7,77 20.- Yirenkyi Ghana: 7,77 21.- Olise Francia: 7,77 22.- Pulisic Estados Unidos: 7,74 23.- Havertz Alemania: 7,7 24.- Brown Alemania: 7,59 25.- Schlotterbeck Alemania: 7,57 26.- Ali Olwan Jordania: 7,47 27.- Kang In Lee Corea: 7,47 28.- Diney Borges Cabo Verde: 7,44 29.- Bellingham Inglaterra: 7,44 30.- Undav Alemania: 7,43 31.- Wood Nueva Zelanda: 7,43 32.- Schmidt Austria: 7,39 33.- Irankunda Australia: 7,39 34.- Tillman Estados Unidos: 7,38 35.- Kimmich Alemania: 7,38 36.- Metcalfe Australia: 7,29 37.- Nakamura Japón: 7,28 38.- Al Amri Arabia Saudí: 7,28 39.- Raúl Jiménez México: 7,28 40.- De Paul Argentina: 7,28
I just thought that kick-off (passing back to Pickford who launched an aimless long ball to nobody) set the tone for most of England's first half display to be honest (Kane played one very good pass, and individually I wouldn't say he was playing akin to vs Iceland 2016 I should clarify, but cohesive build-ups and promising moments were few and far between). For the second half, I wondered if I'd missed something popping out of the room where the TV was a couple of times, but nothing else of significance/brilliance appeared on the highlights video I reviewed. We get on great since you got involved on Big Soccer though mate, and I think in general it's not like we enjoy/appreciate totally different styles of play or players, so we can just agree to differ a bit here. Germany yes for sure, but it's true the second half got away from the opposition and the scoreline was inflated a bit in the latter stages. I didn't see all games in full to be honest (for example not the France game). You're doing well to be able to do that and continue your ratings tradition (with your friends in Denmark)!
That said, you and your mates kind of agree on the balance between England and Croatia performances not being extreme in England's favour I suppose anyway - 3 points overall between the totals given to the starting XIs (I remember obviously you use the old Match magazine 1980s tradition so relatively generous ratings, or open to high ones quite regularly at least, and with late and late-ish subs not rated). Albeit the 3 points advantage to Croatia's goalkeeper skewed that a bit I suppose (I don't know whether I felt he impressed me a little less than previously somehow though - maybe in terms of not quite reaching some of the shots - he is over 30 years old though now, even though not clearly less mobile generally). One of the low ratings for Sucic had surprised me (from an Italian source - like with other players there is variation among the sources though) so your ratings are probably more in line with how I'd see that one (even if in theory reviewing a Sucic vs England video if it existed would be necessary for me to give my own rating maybe!).
I think that's a bit harsh and partly comes from a number of these players featuring for less fashionable clubs. Guehi is a starting CB for Manchester City whose profile has been hurt by playing for Palace but captained them through their most successful ever period. Konsa is a starter for Villa who have now finished in the top 5 multiple times in the PL, gone deep in the CL and won the EL. Pickford has been one of the best keepers in the PL for mutiple seasons, has generally been excellent for England for the last 10 years, keeping 11 clean sheets at major tournaments. If these guys played for other countries or other clubs, they'd be better regarded than they are.