With England’s final pre-match press conference done and dusted, it seems a good time to peruse some fine writing and reaction:
Thanks for your company. Join us again tomorrow, from 5am:
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Quote of the tournament territory? This is surely a contender. Will Smith sticks the boot in, with a zinger about Neymar’s World Cup. “Sometimes you make Pursuit of Happiness, sometimes you make Wild Wild West. Everyone has good and bad days.”
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Back in Blighty, Manchester United have cherry-picked a blend of players from Bayern Munich, Doncaster, Hibernian and Juventus ahead of their maiden season in the women’s Championship:
Some essential reading before Sunday’s final:
England news: asked if the decision not to have a parade upon their return once they have got Saturday out of the way is correct, Southgate nods. “It’s not actually my decision but I agree with the decision. If we make the final, maybe it’s different. If we’d had a parade, that would have been one part of the country, and we represent the whole country.”
England news: Gareth Southgate insists there will not be wholesale changes for the Belgium game, but it will be a different team to the one that was defeated on Wednesday, with some players suffering from fatigue and illness. “Emotionally it’s been a very difficult few days,” he says. Asked if he is worried that his team have peaked, and that this World Cup will be as good as it gets, he replies: “I’m not scared of anything. Not even the big bad wolf!”
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Tunisia news: Nabil Maaloul, the man who led Tunisia to their first World Cup finals since 2006 has stepped from his role as coach to take charge of Qatari league champions Al Duhail. The 55-year-old takes over from Djamel Belmadi, who quit and is widely expected to be appointed coach of the Algerian national team.
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England news: Southgate and Fabian Delph will speak to the media shortly. They will finish third at the World Cup – their best since 1966 – if they can beat Belgium in St Petersburg tomorrow.
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Sunday will be a big occasion for Paul Pogba, and another chance to for the real Paul Pogba to stand up, so to speak. The Manchester United midfielder’s influence seems to have grown with each game for France in Russia, which begs the question:
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No regrets: an England fan who rushed to the tattoo parlour after watching Gareth Southgate’s side dismantle Panama insists he does not regret getting the words ‘England 2018, World Cup winners’ inked on his torso. “We had just gone 4-0 up, just before half-time and it just hit me,” said Jamie Richardson from Allerton Bywater, near Leeds, presumably after watching the Volkswagen ad on loop. “Get that tattoo done, and we will bring it home. I will never, ever get rid of this tattoo, no matter what.”
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There is some talk that Milan Badelj, the fourth substitute for Croatia in extra-time against England, may get the nod in Moscow on Sunday. The 29-year-old is a free agent after leaving Fiorentina and has been linked with Zenit, among others. Wouldn’t it be brilliant if a free agent, a la Hal Robson-Kanu at Euro 2016, did the business in the World Cup final. Or, has that happened before? Time to raid The Knowledge archive, perhaps:
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We asked you to reminisce about your favourite World Cups – and you did not disappoint, with tales of 1966 and much more:
You’d better believe it, for Kieran Trippier has been awarded the freedom of Bury, his home-town, after successfully marauding down England’s right flank on countless occasions. The 27-year-old will be in esteemed company, with the film director Danny Boyle and rock band Elbow previously receiving the pleasure. The council leader, Rishi Shori, said: “Hopefully he can inspire the next generation of footballers in Bury.”
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There are two games left to play and, unless Danny Welbeck runs in seven goals in St Petersburg, there’s a good chance that his England team-mate, Harry Kane, will wrap up the Golden Boot. Lukaku has four and Griezmann has three goals, so he may not even need to play to take home the trophy – not that he’s bothered. “If I get the Golden Boot, I get the Golden Boot, but that wasn’t the trophy I was looking for,” he said. “We know we have done everybody proud but we wanted to go on.”
Good news! Ben has already chomped his way through a bowl of cous cous and sundries, so he will once again be tasked with providing you with hot World Cup content.
Infantino went on to say that the Thai football team rescued from a cave this week will be invited to the Fifa Awards in September, which is nice.
How seriously do we all want England to take the third-place playoff? I want it to be Nick Pope upfront challenging Dedryck Boyata for second balls and a penalty shootout where Fabian Delph tries to rabona one in, but I can see the merits of taking it seriously.
Ben mentioned it earlier, but here are the full quotes from man of the people and self-publicist Gianni Infantino.
For a couple of years I have been saying this will be the best World Cup ever and today I can say that with conviction - it is the best World Cup ever.
I would like to thank everyone. The main actors are on the pitch - the players, referees and coaches - but, of course, there are also all those who have worked to make sure everything has worked smoothly, the Russians.
A big thank you to the Russian government and the Russian President Vladimir Putin, the local organising committee, the Russian Football Union, the volunteers, the heart and smile of the World Cup, all those people, more than 100,000, who helped in one capacity or another.
Thank you Lord Gianni for making this the greatest World Cup ever (it isn’t, but thank you anyway). And, obviously, thank you Vlad!
As Ben departs to see what he can scavenge to add to his daily dose of cous cous and plain chicken, I will provide some light-hearted lunchtime relief.
For plenty more barbs from Griezmann and co, Will Unwin will keep you abreast of all the squabbles while I run off for a bite to eat:
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Oof! Antoine Griezmann has been gladly stoking the fire before the big one in Moscow on Sunday. Asked to comment on Thibaut Courtois’s dig that France have been a little anti-football this summer, the Atlético Madrid forward replied: “Does Thibaut Courtois think that at Chelsea he plays Barcelona football? I don’t care how, I want a second star to be on this shirt. That is all.” Asked if he still hopes to snatch the Golden Boot off Harry Kane, who has scored six goals so far, twice as many as Griezmann, the Frenchman said: “I was the top scorer at Euro 2016 and we lost, so I tried to score as little as possible to see if we win this time.”
To pass the time in Russia, Ousmane Dembélé has been sat on Football Manager on inter-city flights, coach journeys and the like. He has been in Kylian Mbappé’s shadow for much of the tournament but when it comes to his personal, and simulated achievements, there is only one winner. The 21-year-old Barcelona forward has guided Winchester FC, a club he created himself, to the brink of the promised land. “I am already in the Championship, third,” he said. “Premier League, I am coming.”
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Who could be next in line? One name not below is Lewis Cook, who, after a stop-start introduction to life at Bournemouth, has made huge strides under manager Eddie Howe. The 21-year-old keeps things ticking over nicely; he has an eye for a killer pass and added some much-needed bite to their midfield last term. Cook, formerly of Leeds United, captained England Under-20s to World Cup glory last year:
Ivan Perisic pulled Croatia level on Wednesday, and may yet have a say in Sunday’s final. The 29-year-old has been at Internazionale since 2015 but nine years ago it was Club Brugge that plumped for him, gambling on a €250,000 winger from Sochaux, who had just spent time on loan at Belgian outfit Roeselare. Croatia’s No 4 has done OK since:
Transfer nugget: confirmation of that £18m signing for Southampton, with Denmark defender Jannik Vestergaard signing a four-year deal from Mönchengladbach. That takes Mark Hughes’s summer spending north of the £50m mark, after tying up his fourth signing. “When you look at everyone else, there’s not a lot of people doing any business and, in a World Cup year, we’re ahead of the game because it starts to churn a little bit when everyone starts to come back,” he says.
Reasons to be cheerful, via not Ian Dury but our resident cartoonist:
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Philipp Lahm, the former Germany captain, has been speaking about his country’s dismal showing in Russia this summer. The 34-year-old lifted the trophy in 2014 but Joachim Löw’s side fell short this time around:
Bringing together and building a team that can become European and world champions is an ongoing process and a minor miracle,” he says. “While what we saw from Germany was by no means a work of art, I’m sure that they have the power to come back stronger and develop a new generation who can live up to Gary Lineker’s famous assertion that ‘football is a simple game. Twenty-two men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end the Germans win.’
England’s final training session in Russia is over, and everyone seems to have come through it unscathed. They’ll head back to their team hotel in Repino shortly, before tomorrow’s third-place play-off v Belgium.
Well then, what’s the answer?
Amid the World Cup euphoria in Moscow, a low-key but no less vital competition was played out in the shadow of the Kremlin:
France v Croatia: Nestor Pitana, of Argentina, will be the man in the middle in Sunday’s final. The referee will be flanked by a couple of his countrymen, while the Dutchman, Bjorn Kuipers, who took charge of England’s win over Sweden, will be the fourth official. The Iranian referee, Alireza Faghani, will oversee Belgium v England, part II.
Some confirmation of what we already knew: Chelsea have finally announced they have sacked Antonio Conte, giving the Italian a rousing send-off, with a curt three-line, 61-word statement. No mention of Sarri just yet, but the former Napoli coach is on his way:
Gianni Infantino, who is paid around $1.61m-a-year, rocks up at Fifa’s closing press conference in a volunteer’s hoodie. How fitting. Infantino, the governing body’s president, declares Russia 2018 as “the best World Cup ever” before adding that the perception of the country has been changed, and that it now has football running through its veins. “Football’s part of its DNA now.”
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Back in Blighty, it has been a bit of a circus at Cobham this week, with Antonio Conte taking training on Thursday before getting the boot by Chelsea a few hours later. He departs awaiting compensation for his £9m-a-year contract, which had 12 months to run. With Conte sent packing, Mr Sarri will enter Stamford Bridge:
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Transfer nugget: Xherdan Shaqiri could become a Liverpool player today, with the Switzerland winger undergoing a medical on Merseyside after meeting the £13.75m relegation release clause in his contract at Stoke City. Meanwhile, Southampton are closing on the signing of the Denmark international Jannik Vestergaard, who passed a medical yesterday. Saints will pay Borussia Mönchengladbach around £18m for the 25-year-old centre-back. And he could face his soon-to-be former club as early as 4 August, when Southampton host the Bundesliga side in a friendly.
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If France do win it, will Didier Deschamps get the praise to go with it? He has carefully harnessed a wealth of talent and, at times, they have made hard work of things by appearing content to coast through games, eking out victories rather than running away with them. Deschamps captained France in 1998 and will lead his country in Moscow on Sunday:
After keeping Kane quiet and muzzling Messi in Russia, the Croatia coach, Zlatko Dalic, is confident they can snuff out Kylian Mbappé. “Croatia can still play better,” the 51-year-old said. “France are a very dangerous team but if we stopped Messi, Eriksen, Kane ... we can stop Mbappé and Griezmann too.”
England news: each member of Gareth Southgate’s 23-man squad is training in Zelenogorsk this morning. There had been injury concerns over Kieran Trippier, Ashley Young and Jordan Henderson, with the wing-backs having picked up knocks against Croatia and the midfielder having aggravated a hamstring complaint. But, good news it seems.
Killer stat: a couple of days old now, but lasting nevertheless; Bayern Munich and Internazionale have had at least one player in every World Cup final since 1982, with Ivan Perisic and Marcelo Brozovic flying the flag for the Serie A club in Moscow on Sunday, and the midfielder Corentin Tolisso representing Bayern for France. Some quick maths means that’s 10 tournaments in a row:
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If we cannot indulge in France’s stars of yesteryear now, then when can we? Here’s Marcel Desailly’s all-time XI, or you can make your own decisions by creating your own. They have had some mighty good players, and Didier Deschamps’ team now, especially going forward, is not too shabby either:
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Get Thomas Hitzlsperger’s take on Sunday’s final:
France are rightly favourites to win what would be their second world title. They are the complete team – solid at the back, well-balanced in midfield and able to play with real flair in attack. But they have not done that often during this tournament due to the manager’s low-risk policy and seeming desire to do no more than what is required to win the game in front of him
Away from Russia, there are a frenzy of transfers:
“As much as all of us are looking forward to the last two matches,” begins Julian Craven. “I’ve just realised that on Monday the World Cup will be over, Wimbledon will be over and that the Tour is on a rest day.” Fear not, for Cardiff City are in pre-season action at Tavistock AFC, and you can count on us for your sporting fix:
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What would a bronze medal really mean for England? More than pride? Or something bigger than that? Perhaps nothing? One thing’s for sure, it will line the coffers, because victory on Saturday would reportedly result in £18m for the Football Association to reinvest into grassroots mull over. “England should really care more about the 3rd/4th place play-off,” tweets Sage. “I’ve seen a lot of people say: ‘Play the B team’, but really Southgate should want to go home with at least some silverware. It is a chance for one team to go home with their heads held high, and give their fans something to chant about. Bronze medals are coming home ... ”
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England players have said all of the right things since that defeat – trotting out how this is different, the unity and reconnection with supporters, which is great – but will they do all of the right things against Belgium on Saturday? One thing’s almost for certain, though, because Harry Kane says he is fit enough to captain England once more, though surely Gareth Southgate will be tempted to shuffle the pack a little; Trent Alexander-Arnold, Eric Dier and Danny Rose are all likely to start.
Fresh out of the oven freezer transfer rumours:
Want a warming, fuzzy tale to start the day? Meet the Agence France-Presse snapper, Yuri Cortez, who ended up buried beneath Mario Mandzukic and Ivan Rakitic, and promptly smothered by a delirious Domagoj Vida, after Croatia punctured England’s hopes of World Cup glory in extra-time in Moscow on Wednesday. As for the final, the photographer has pinned his colours to the mast. “I feel a bond with Croatia now, I identify with them,” he said, chuckling. “So I’m going to cheer for Croatia. Without a doubt.”
Alas, that’s all from me, Richard Parkin - thanks as always for your correspondence. Stepping into the hotseat is Ben Fisher, who promises me he hasn’t been ransacking any Ikeas or jumping on ambulance bonnets lately. Treat him kindly.
A humorous side effect of the World Cup being played in between football seasons is the presence at this hugely-watched global event of the occasional “unattached” player.
When you think of all the clubs around the world, and how many football operations managers, directors of football, scouts etc that must be watching these games it’s never a bad chance to push your wares, but it does always surprise me that the occasional player still ends up on the open market under such circumstances.
A Simon Elliott (google it) or Tim Cahill going into a tournament for once last hurrah, fair enough. But a player at the peak of their powers?
Come Sunday we could have the remarkable situation of a player walking out in World Cup final that doesn’t have a club side.
I hope Milan Badelj’s agent has a few burners, because when 3.2bn eyes tune in there might be some interest.
I mentioned earlier how Russia 2018 has been a tournament thus far devoid of major negative events or scandals, a fact that Russian media (and state offices) have started to crow about.
I’m personally apprehensive to weigh in too much on this, being greatly divorced from the circumstances on the ground and also knowing that my love of football might occasional represent a temptation to shy away from some of the well-documented issues plaguing the nation under the Putin regime.
One man far better placed to comment is Shaun Walker, who as Moscow correspondent for over a decade has a decent handle on the situation:
And while Germany may have departed Russia 2018 prematurely, one of their number who’s remained is the excellent Thomas Hitzlsperger, who has a fresh column out for The Guardian previewing the final:
Glad to see a shout-out to the hard-working Ante Rebic there.
For all the talk about Luka Modric - and don’t get me wrong for a second, the guy can play - many have been guilty of underappreciating some of the other players in the Croatian squad.
One standout for me has been Ivan Perišić, whose sheer determination during the second-half of their semi-final with England alone did more for his nation than say a Neymar or even a Messi did as both Brazil and Argentina crashed out.
I’ve watched over and over how it was that somebody who’d already played over 530 minutes across the tournament manages to win the header to set up Mandzukic’s winner; the desperation in the leap, the composure in the directing of the header - it speaks to the will of an absolute champion, and Croatia has had plenty more like him thus far.
Divya Suresh weighs in on the issue of VAR:
Good Morning Richard. In the latest World Cup Football Daily, (a very sad) Max and co. spoke about how VAR would have over-turned the offside ruling on Harry Kane’s two goal attempts in the England vs. Croatia game. To me, this casual acceptance / acknowledgement of VAR being useful is quite a victory. As someone who watches tennis, the lack of technology in football has continued to baffle me, though I understand some of that now.
It’s an interesting point, Divya, and I do wait to see how VAR is embraced across Europe’s top leagues in coming years. As alluded to previously, in the trial case of the Australian A-League its been hugely divisive thus far; but perhaps the devil is in the implementation.
Incidentally if you missed Max et al. here’s the link. Like watching Dancer in the Dark, though, make sure you’re in the right frame of mind for this one:
And speaking of the English media, did they have a hand (as so often) in their own nation’s demise? Not through disproportionate scorn this time, but perhaps ill-timed praise?
@rrjparkin
— krish (@vkmagus) July 13, 2018
The English Press owes an apology to Gareth and the boys
It was careless disrespectful and delirious when calm, consideration and balance was needed
Modric is RIGHT when he says you guys egged them on
Like a coach near the ropes of a boxing ring
A lot was said about England’s seclusive training base, and how it insulated the players from a lot of the mania emanating from back in England. I often wonder if Fabian Delph’s return home and then re-joining of the camp introduced this a little, like a virus, to the playing group; with the midfielder being quoted as telling his teammates about the borderline hysteria that was generating back home ahead of the semi-final and how the others couldn’t believe it.
Who can say. Maybe that’s a hot-take waiting to be written by a tabloid paper still desperately seeking a David Beckham-style scapegoat, should the collective mood lurch from calm reflection back to full outrage mode.
Our btl regular “USfan” with another highlight:
With only 180 minutes of football left - half of which don’t really count - I feel confident in stating that the iconic moment of this tournament, its finest highlight, was Manuel Neuer being dispossessed deep in the opposition half against South Korea, and the beautiful brilliant ball played 60 yards in the direction of the German net he had vacated, which looked to be rolling out of bounds but sat up just long enough for Son to get on the end of it and roll it into an empty net: 2-0, Germany out of the World Cup in the group stages.
There was not a finer moment than that. I say this bearing no ill will at all toward a German team whose accomplishment I never begrudged. It was just such an extraordinary moment.
The iconic moment? I guess we’ll await what the final throws up, but I’d have to say I agree, it really felt a totemic moment, and the German newspapers certainly registered the seismic activity that took place.
Incidentally, the moment referred to was brilliantly captured by The Times who led with a photo of that for their match report - just one of very many excellent, albeit none too sympathetic, reports among the UK press.
A massive talking point pre-tournament was of course the introduction of VAR, and as an inveterate opponent of video technology (football fans from around the world please watch the A-League grand final and tell me VAR is a boon for the game) - it both pains and delights me to say that after all the hoo-haa, perhaps (*touches wood, World Cup final pending*) it hasn’t been the utter debacle many feared?
A key difference between, say, the VARs rollout in Australia and at the World Cup might be perhaps the advantage of having multiple VARs - when two or three extra pairs of eyes are watching it knocks out the possibility of bizarre subjective decisions, requiring an aspect of conference taking place between the video referees over some of the more “interpretative” takes on what constitutes a “clear and obvious error”?
That said, clearer guidelines around handball incidents, what constitutes “ball-to-hand” etc, might be worthwhile given some of the more contestable decisions we’ve witnessed on that front.
What do you think; has VAR made the world of football a better place?
Penelope Cottier has emailed, commenting on a minor hate-crime I committed earlier on this blog (now amended):
“...it’s even-handedness…”
VAR on that apostrophe, please.
Well played, madam. Maybe more eyes are better than one.
Some wonderful selections there - the Japanese fans cleaning the stadium after the match (as did the Senegalese) a lovely touch; especially after that terrific round of 16 match against Belgium. Wasn’t that one of the corkers of the tournament; and to think one of our semi-finalists could have gone home nearly two weeks ago.
Spain-Portugal, what a match. Also Portugal-Iran, which maybe it was the early signs of time-zone-related fatigue setting in for yours truly but I did get surprisingly emotional at full-time for that one; I think because of the utter heartbreak for the Iranian players who had given absolutely everything.
Germany-South Korea. Phwaor. How bout that. Surprisingly, nobody’s mentioned Mexico-Germany yet - which let’s face it, was the original upset of the tournament, and the game that set up one of the most fascinating group battles in recent tournament history.
Ah Group F. We salute you. Even Germany’s extra-time win over Sweden was a doozy.
The roiling horrorshow that was Argentina. Late drama v Nigeria, shock draw v Iceland and of course the seven-goal thriller with France.
Pavard’s goal in that one - was that the goal of the tournament? What else caught your eye?
And of course, celebration of the tournament. As rightly pointed out, perhaps Michy Batshuayi has a hard lock on that title.
*Batshuayi not included... pic.twitter.com/Rmatt8jTRb
— Goal (@goal) July 6, 2018
But, to the tournament more generally, and the highlights and lowlights. Here’s your early suggestions:
Commenter “Sangessweet” says:
High point (from an England viewpoint) Gareth Southgate. Low points, Colombia match behaviour (both sides, but predominantly Colombia). From a wider perspective, high point: all the fabulous matches, barely a dud amongst them. Low point : it’s nearly over!
Commenter “Mitemar” reckons:
Best moments some of the spectacular goals, the Spain-Portugal game really enjoyed that one. Also Japan’s tactics against Belgium brilliant.
Commenter “wetsuitboots” writes:
Highlights - Batshuayi ricochet, Spain for 30 mins in the first half vs Portugal, second Korean goal v Germany, Russian women in the crowd, England banishing their shoot-out hoodoo, Roy Keane, Brian Kerr, George Hamilton, Ally McCoist, Mbappe’s burst vs Argentina, Modric, the World Cup of the underdog, James Richardson, Glendenning & Rushden, kick-off times GMT, little or no reported violence, Messi’s half time team talk in the tunnel. Ronaldo going home.
Low points - Belgium v France, England not going for the kill vs Croatia, Damien Duff somehow managing to make everything about himself, Iran not scoring a second vs Portugal, Cavani injury, Deschamps, Neymar, the stark and absurd absence of Firmino, France.
And here’s the thoughts of “PeterIonVancouver”:
Best moments? Undoubtedly the sight of fading Teutonic energies amidst the industriousness and perseverance of Southern Korean spirit. Watching the Japanese fans clear up the stands after their national team exited with great honour to a stronger Belgian side comes a close second. And Bravo England.
And speaking of conceptions post-1998 - now even the mascots are rutting, with France announcing their new star for the 2019 Women’s World Cup.
Welcome to the team, Ettie! 🙌🐤
— #FIFAWWC 🇫🇷 (@FIFAWWC) May 12, 2018
Meet the official mascot of the FIFA Women's World Cup France🇫🇷 2019!
And guess what? She's the daughter of #WorldCup France 1998 mascot Footix!⁰#FIFAWWC #DareToShine pic.twitter.com/cgfRR1kBGe
If you’ve forgotten Footix, here he is.
Sadly the official press release doesn’t have anything to say about who Ettie’s mother is. Let’s hope that’s not a scandal in the waiting come France 2019.
Ahh, Mad Mario. You literally cannot hate this guy.
His post-game interview was a study in human emotions - wide-eyed like a crazed stallion, still scratching for breath almost twenty minutes after his decisive goal.
Teammate Dejan Lovren has gone one better though with his post-match media comments, explaining why such a small nation can produce so many talented athletes.
“[In Croatia] we went through a lot of s***, war, all these things and even now the situation is not the best. It’s unbelievable how many talents we have in sport, basketball, handball, water polo, tennis, for sure. We have good mothers and fathers. They’re making good love.”
Brilliant.
Scarily perhaps none of the Croatian squad in Russia were born post-98; so if those street parties in Split are anything to go by, who knows how many mini-Modrics are set to announce themselves on the world football scene at Qatar 2022.
And speaking of media, you may have seen Luka Modric was not shy in letting the English press know just how important a role they played in Croatia’s spiritual late revival, especially having been written off as “tired” or “exhausted” following two consecutive 120-minute-matches, and the emotional rollercoaster of penalties, twice.
“They should be more humble and respect their opponents more”, was the instruction from the midfield maestro, who celebrated his side finally stepping out of the shadow of the fabled Croatian class of ‘98.
And while England fans may be understandably downbeat, you can’t help but get caught up in the infectious enthusiasm fans from this tiny football-mad nation have ahead of their country’s first ever World Cup final, where by all accounts there were pretty wild scenes.
Even the Croatian PM and his cabinet got in on the act, rocking the casual Friday look:
Scenes inside the Croatian government today.
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) July 12, 2018
Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic is wearing his Croatia shirt at work!#worldcup reaction 👉 https://t.co/iGPH7DKPhA#bbcworldcup pic.twitter.com/1TOtdaaEuY
Presumably the one or two ministers who missed the memo are now staring at demotion or strong voter backlash.
And one of my favourites going round; the photos from the photographer Yuri Cortez who got caught in that extra-time crush of Croatian players have come out, and some of them are absolute crackers.
Every one of these photos is better than the one before it. https://t.co/Xs5BWxrDi3
— Andrew Das (@AndrewDasNYT) July 12, 2018
Being an English masthead before it became a global masthead, The Guardian is beholden to perhaps run a closer rule over England’s performance at this World Cup, so please do forgive the indulgence, global readers, if this feels a bit St George-centric, but if you cast your mind back to the toxic reception the England class of 2014 got after finishing bottom of their group in Brazil, it’s nothing short of a modern miracle, this English footballing renaissance.
Barney Ronay with some wise words and precautionary advice for the English public and media, going forward:
Psychologically at least, you’d presume Belgium go into this one with an edge, given the disappointing nature of England’s capitulation, having gone ahead early only to then surrender their World Cup final berth to a never-say-die Croatian outfit.
This lovely piece from Daniel Taylor captures some of Gareth Southgate’s personal disappointment, but also why optimism remains ahead for this young English group of players:
And so, 62 matches gone, 2 still yet to come.
Usually, one of these is largely irrelevant with all eyes turned to the final, but the reunion of two of the fancied challengers at this World Cup, Group G buddies England and Belgium makes the 3rd place playoff at Russia 2018 a rare intriguing clash. Often an unwanted denouement, this one might actually be the full-bloodied version that was denied on June 28, where both nations rolled out “B” sides with group progression secured.
And as opposed to a Germany, Argentina or Brazil say, whose players might hate the fact they have to play this last game when a finals appearance had been the expectation, there’s a real chance both these nations might actually take a fair degree of pride in coming third.
And of course, there is of course the not insignificant subplot of the race for the Golden Boot - with the tournament’s two leading scorers, England’s Harry Kane and Belgium’s Romelu Lukaku one and two in that race, and with one last chance to improve their tallies.
Kane has expressed his interest to play; we imagine Lukaku would likewise:
Preamble
Morning has broken, but mourning continues. No, that’s not quite fair. In truth the reaction to England’s semi-final loss has been notable for its even-handedness, reflectiveness and dare we suggest it, even mild positivity, after what was in reality a campaign that largely exceeded expectations. This, within the territory boundaries of England that is; we won’t dwell too much on how the news has been received elsewhere in the “United” Kingdom (and around certain pockets of the globe).
There are no matches today alas, which seems a fair chance to reflect on what has generally been regarded as an excellent World Cup; both on the field and around it, with few major scandals off and some excellent football played on the pitch.
So perhaps today we indulge in a joint stroll down memory lane; and discuss our highlights, lowlights and favourite moments of Russia 2018? They say you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone, so let’s embrace this tournament, during the lull before the final grand hurrah and inevitable conclusion.
Correspondence is most welcome: via email (richard.parkin.casual@theguardian.com), via twitter (@rrjparkin), or simply comment below the line. Fun facts and niche stats is our request de jour, so please - help enlighten the lives of your fellow readers!
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