Morning all.
Arsenal’s England contingent are through to the Round of 16 after a 2-1 win over DR Congo yesterday. The first half of this game was, for me at least, one of the most entertaining of the tournament so far. England went behind early on, the defending from Jedward Spence wasn’t great, and Jordan Pickford was beaten far too easily at this near post. I didn’t really understand why Trent Alexander-Arnold wasn’t included in the England squad when two quite injury prone right-backs were, and that’s leaving aside the fact that if you’re gonna pick a guy like Spence who ticks most of the same defensively weak boxes as TAA, at least the Real Madrid man has unbelievable quality in the other half of the pitch. Weird one.
Anyway, England had chances, Jude Bellingham twice forced keeper Lionel Mpasi into excellent saves, Aaron Wan-Bissaka cleared one off the line, and Harry Kane rightly got pulled up for the kind of dive he’s been getting away with his entire career. He was lucky not to get a yellow card in my opinion, it was so egregious. I’ve seen a lot of talk about how it was a ‘stonewall’ penalty, but if you ask me, that because we’ve become used to officials in the Premier League giving them, when the reality is if a player throws himself through the air before any contact is made, he’s cheating and it’s not a penalty.
DR Congo could have been 2-0 up at the break but somehow Newcastle’s Yoan Wissa hit the post from inches out. Bukayo Saka came on around the hour mark after another hit and miss performance from Noni Madueke, Declan Rice ended up playing right back for a bit, and eventually England found the goals to qualify for the next round. That sets up a very tasty tie with Mexico at the Azteca, a real challenge for England not just because of how well the co-hosts have been playing, but there’s also the altitude to take into account. 7000+ feet above sea level, that’s gonna be tough to deal with.
Now comes my customary bit about how concerned I am about Declan Rice. He looked absolutely shattered throughout this game, not just towards the end either, and he had to come off late on because it looks like his body is falling apart. He is the human equivalent of driving with a cracked windshield – it’s a tiny thing at first, but the longer you go without fixing the issue, the bigger that crack becomes. The picture of him holding an ice-pack to his hamstring might be seen as precautionary by some, but I think the alarm bells have been ringing for a few months now. I know England need him, but there’s only so much he can physically do, and it feels like he’s reaching the limit.
Later on, I watched the first half of Belgium’s win over Senegal. It didn’t really capture me, I was tired, so decided to go to bed after posting a message in our Discord (which you get access to you if you’re an Arseblog member on Patreon).
You’re welcome! Senegal were 1-0 up at the break, doubled their lead early in the second with a great goal from Crystal Palace’s Ismaila Sarr, and it looked like they were on the cusp of qualification. Then Romelu Lukaku got one back, Leandro Trossard provided an assist for Youri Tielemans (a player he’d been scrapping with earlier) to equalise 2 minutes later, a goal which sent the game into extra-time.
It appeared as if penalties were going to decide it, instead it was just one penalty. Tielemans got his foot ahead of the defender as he was going to clear the ball, there was contact, and after a VAR check a spot kick awarded. It’s one of those that’s soft and a bit unlucky, there’s no intent to make a foul. But if you kick the man and not the ball, chances are you’re going to be penalised, regardless of much contact there is and the fact the opponent is going nowhere dangerous. Would I want it if it happened to an Arsenal player? Absolutely.
Tielemans himself stuck it top corner to cap a remarkable comeback and to send Belgium through where they’ll face co-hosts USA who beat Bosnia and Herzegovina 2-0. Former Gunner Flo Balogun put them ahead in the first half after the ball fell kindly for him in the opposition box. Then, after also hitting the bar, he then picked up a straight red card in the second half for an unintentional, but nasty looking, foul on a Bosnian player. This is one of those that will divide people – if it’s your man, you’re asking where he’s supposed to put his feet as the two players challenge for the ball?! If you’re the opposition you’re absolutely calling for a red card as the studs come down the back of the Achilles and make the ankle fold in a horrible way.
For me it’s not deliberate, but it’s red. If that foul had been carried out on Bukayo Saka in a Premier League game, I think there would be almost 100% agreement in that on here. I can see why US fans would be disgruntled, not least because Lionel Messi got away with something similar in one of the Argentina games so the lack of consistency is maddening. However, despite the lack of intent, it was a challenge that could have resulted in a very bad injury, and on that basis I think it’s the right decision. It’s a shame for Balogun who now misses the next game at least, and weakens the US when they face Belgium.
Today, the Arsenal interest sees our Spanish lads take on Austria (20.00), then Portugal face Croatia (00.00), and Switzerland play Algeria (04.00).
So lots going on. The ad-breaks remain a big issue for me and I was glad to hear the booing continue, especially in light of Infantino’s comments about how they’re being used by coaches to make adjustments. This tacit admission that these breaks go beyond ‘player welfare’ (not something most of us bought into anyway) means this is something that is fundamentally changing the game that has existed for so long without the malign influence of this pencil-necked ghoul who looks like someone brought a skeevy toad from a Chernobyl pond to life. Why should we accept this when we all know the motivations are, first and foremost, financial? Wanker.
I’ll leave it there for now. We’ll have an Arsecast for you a bit later on today, so stand by for that. Until then, have a good one.
