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Originally Posted by demonrail666

Er, no. I was actually expecting them to start playing football before the last 10 minutes of the 90, when they were on the brink and had no choice. I was expecting more from them than mere cynicism and last minute desperation. Of course, I was also expecting England to lose their heads the moment they came under pressure, and that bit did live up to expectation, but fortunately the better team over the 120 minutes won.

i think you’re going to have a bias and be in a media bubble that sees colombia’s fouls as “dirty tactics” and england’s fouls as “manful challenges”. there were no holy saints on the pitch today, and when colombia was dirty they got cards and a penalty against them. so did england (minus the penalty), and so the game was shit for a good chunk.

as for the disappointment with colombia’s form: yes, they were too deep on defense for my taste, created too few opportunities and squandered most of the precious few they had. but with that, the only goal they allowed was from a penalty, so consider that in advance of the swedish match cuz they could really park the bus today (i’m sure southgate will).

you’re saying england was rattled— i don’t know their faces but i didn’t see them rattled to me. i just saw them tired. at that point in the game colombia had (briefly) gained control of the game already. it was bacca coming in for quintero that started to changed things. then uribe, then muriel— pékerman waited too long. mistakenly.

for me it was colombia that seemed rattled most of the game. all the set pieces and corners they conceded were, to me, a sign of nerves. been saying so all day. so was their fouling and cealess delay of the game. that’s who was rattled. especially at the end of the first half, shit.

but the game lasted 120 minutes not 45 or 60, so by the end when england was tired, the threat of speed was no longer there, and then colombia had better control of the ball and better chances, and could have flipped the tortilla at any moment. there was even a corner that the ref missed near the end, but we’ll never know. also—vardy couldn’t do shit.

colombia sure played a shitty game, but england wasn’t great even when they had the upper hand. colombia wasn’t panama.

kane was great though. he doesn’t just score, he creates chances, im thoroughly impressed with the guy.

your team as a whole—not so much right now. but their initial speed! playing like that, they need to close it early of they will suffer. the other thing is, this is their first serious challenge since probably the last euros, so they could grow stronger from the experience and gel in time for the final.

early defence looked very good, but colombia did not attack in numbers then, so watch out for the swedish counters.