England at their best with their foot on the accelerator

While Wednesday might have produced the lowest quality football of the World Cup so far, it also featured some of its best highlights. Basically, it’s impossible for the World Cup to suck. It’s always awesome.

Portugal looked bereft of ideas against a resolute DR Congo

Portugal came into the World Cup as a flawed yet talented side who, if not an inner circle contender for the World Cup, were just outside of it. Opta’s supercomputer had them with the 5th best odds to win the whole thing. Arguably the two biggest issues surrounding them were how many minutes would 41 year old Cristiano Ronaldo play, and if Roberto Martinez had the coaching acumen to guide the team through the tournament.

Neither of those concerns were alleviated after Portugal’s 1-1 draw with DR Congo. Ronaldo was a clear hindrance up front. The few attempts he tried to pull the strings and link play were labored, and he wasn’t pinning DR Congo’s backline with constant movements in behind. Even in the shooting opportunities he had for himself from Francisco Conceição pullbacks, he made the wrong choice you’d want from a striker. Starting Gonçalo Ramos won’t fix all of Portugal’s ills in attack, but it’s hard to see how he’d be any worse than Ronaldo.

There were other worries with Portugal’s attack even outside of Ronaldo. After taking the early lead on a header from João Neves, they were tepid with the ball. Their best creator Bruno Fernandes was often part of the last forward line, while Bernardo Silva was isolated on the right side. It meant that there was little central progression and combinations to be had, and combined with no off the dribble juice on either flank, made life easier for DR Congo out of possession.

This allowed DR Congo to sit back and look for their chances on the counter, which they did throughout the match. On another day with better execution, they could’ve created more threatening opportunities from fast attacks. They deservingly evened up the match just before the end of the first half from a corner which featured very sloppy defending from Portugal, somehow allowing a 3v1 on the far side. Yoanne Wissa was the one to emerge for an uncontested header which Diogo Costa had no chance of stopping.

Among the contenders who didn’t win their opening match, Portugal’s performance would be the most concerning because it involves factors people were already concerned about pre-WC. Ronaldo should not be starting but he will until further notice, and Martinez has shown to be the caliber of coach who gets a lot out of the talent available to him. While It’s still very likely they’ll advance out of the group stage, there’s enough to wonder whether they’ll make a deep run in a major tournament for the first time since winning it all at Euro 2016. For DR Congo, it was a result well deserved and now gives them a real shot at advancing to the knockout stages for the first time. —MM

Ethical ball prevails in 2018 semi-final repeat

England took on Croatia in the marquee match-up of the day, which many feared would be a drab affair since a draw would suit both sides’ group stage campaign. It wasn’t the most open or end-to-end match of the first round by any means, but we certainly can’t go around complaining after seeing six goals go in.

The Three Lions scored a fortunate opener from a cheap penalty that had to be retaken for it to go in. Martin Baturina eventually equalised with a great hit, but there was a lot of slow and stale possession in the meantime — and no real threat save for a couple of artificial transitions that resulted in Noni Madueke driving forward with the ball.

Of course, their second came from a corner. To be fair, it was a clever outswinging routine that generated a free header for Harry Kane without violating any of the updated attacking set-piece laws, so I’m classifying it as an ethical goal by English standards at least.

However, England then sank super deep — presumably in a bid to take the lead into half-time — and ended up giving Croatia all the time and space they could have asked for to fashion a nicely worked equaliser complete with a lovely assist from Ivan Perišić, who looked like he’s still got it. Across the day and indeed the tournament so far, the favourites’ attempts at managing leads by engaging in haramball low blocks have been well punished.

Thomas Tuchel’s side wasted no time in the second half to restore their advantage, making it 3-2 thanks to Jude Bellingham’s smart run and clinical finish. The Real Madrid star wasn’t unanimously expected to start ahead of Morgan Rogers, but moments like that show exactly why he deserves a spot in the side.

England were much the better side across the board thereafter, disrupting Croatia’s build-up with a slightly more intense press, expertly knocking it around the back themselves and absolutely besieging their opponents with a string of corners and second phases. It was only the efforts of Dominik Livaković that kept it a one-goal game.

England started to drop back again after the hydration/commercial break, but were now equipped with a counterpunch thanks to their substitutes. Indeed, it was Bukayo Saka who thrust the team forward in the lead-up to their decisive fourth, with the move being coolly finished off by Marcus Rashford.

On the whole, this was a strong performance from the Three Lions. Croatia only really put up a fight because they scored their first two shots on target, but the unquestionably better team won in the end.

For all his fallouts with boardrooms, Tactics Thomas is a really good tournament coach. England will comfortably coast through the group stage now, and as a citizen of a country formerly under the British Empire, I have to say I’ll be a bit concerned heading into the knockouts. —NS

Ghana and Panama, in a literal sense, played football

Ghana certainly did play Panama in Toronto. Both teams showed up with the requisite number of players, all of whom had kits, boots, and shinpads that cleared FIFA requirements. The game counted in the Group L table, and the players who saw the pitch will all be able to say they played in the World Cup.

For 95+ minutes that's really all there was to say for this one, easily the World Cup's first dud of a game. And then…well, do you want to see what a 0.97 xG chance looks like?

It would have been somehow perfect for this game if Caleb Yirenkyi had missed this, and he almost did, skewing his shot upward much more than forward. A yard further out, and maybe it's an all-timer of a miss.

Instead, Panama's hopes are pretty much dashed already, while Ghana somehow out-against-the-ball-ed a team that is entirely built to sit deep and counter. —JA

This is my favorite sequence of the World Cup

Please enjoy this desperate slopfest of a goal. It is pure 90s Premier League goodness. Just 22 dudes absolutely scrapping, running all over the place and flying into 50-50 challenges, uninterrupted for a minute straight. It somehow ends with Juan Hernández crossing to Jaminton Campaz for Colombia to seal the victory over Uzbekistan.

That sensational moment masked what was an otherwise disappointing performance from the favored South American side. They had more shots than Uzbekistan, but thanks to the huge chances they conceded, they actually ended the game on less xG. The big difference in this one was the individual brilliance of Bayern Munich star Luis Diaz, who had both an utterly brilliant goal and an assist.

While I really enjoyed the 2 hours I spent watching this game, I did not come away with the impression that Colombia is good enough to make a deep run. Diaz might be good enough to carry them to an upset win or two, but they had a distinct lack of quality in the center of the pitch. Central defenders Davinson Sanchez and Jhon Lucumi, along with defensive midfielder Jefferson Lerma, did not offer much in terms of ball progression, nor were they impressive defensively. —KM

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