Day 15: Japan vs Poland, Senegal vs Colombia, England vs Belgium, Panama vs Tunisia

[whatwha]

Senegal vs Colombia should be a treat.

England and Belgium have a pretty big incentive to finish 2nd in their group in terms of getting to meet Sweden/Switzerland in the QF.

 

[Camy89]

Mon' Belgium

 

[BeforeKeanetherewasRobson]

Senegal vs Colombia should be a treat.

England and Belgium have a pretty big incentive to finish 2nd in their group in terms of getting to meet Sweden/Switzerland in the QF.

Who can score the most 'accidental' own goals?

 

[Charles Miller]

Colombia x Senegal is watchable. England vs Belgium will probably be a friendly match.

 

[BeforeKeanetherewasRobson]

Colombia x Senegal is watchable. England vs Belgium will probably be a friendly match.

Might be but maybe with so many PL.players involved, it'll kick into a PL (competitive) match?

 

[el3mel]

Japan 2-1 Poland
Colombia 2-2 Senegal
England 1-1 Belgium
Panama 1 -3 Tunisia

 

[Sarni]

I think Japan will do us but it could also be a draw. I hope we don’t beat them because it’d be terribly unfair towards them to basically hand over the three points to Senegal for free and then beat Japan in a crucial game for them.

 

[Sarni]

If Japan best us and top the group Belgium and England will both prefer to lose the evening game. The second placed team would play Japan and then the winner of Switzerland v Sweden while the winner of the group would play Colombia or Senegal (probably Colombia) and then the winner of Brazil v Mexico.

 

[Pink Moon]

Mon' Belgium

No, no, no, no! Come on England! Whoever wins the group has the harder route!

 

[RobinLFC]

Getting in the Sweden/Switzerland brachet whilst avoiding Colombia would be a dream scenario.

I fear for our game tomorrow though - will the English just try to get three yellows early on so we need to lose, will either team actually even look like they want to win? Trying to meet a specific team can be an incredible boost for that team, but still, much rather Japan + Sweden/Switzerland than Colombia + Brazil for example. Three of our four (possible) games would be in Moscow as well and we'd have an extra day off.

 

[Camy89]

No, no, no, no! Come on England! Whoever wins the group has the harder route!

Hmm, true.

I guess I just want their bravado to be knocked a wee bit. Don't get me wrong, they've played well, but the commentator tonight mentioned Neymar wanting to be on the same stage as Ronaldo, Messi and...Kane. Tunisia and Panama for christ's sake and they're on for the World Cup?

No no, that seed of doubt needs to be sown.

Some will call me a bitter Scotsman, I know Scotland are pish, but my god the smoke blown up England's arse by the media is nauseating at times. It's no wonder they lads feel so dejected everytime they get knocked out, the media build them up so, so much, and the expectation goes with it!

 

[FootballHQ]

Might have raised this before but why is group G kicking off later than H? The schedule seems odd to me, teams don't play for nearly a week and now Colombia are playing Thursday afternoon after playing on Sunday evening.

Surely if we want England-Belgium to be better spectacle rather than both teams trying to finish second you play it at 3pm so they don't know who they'll get? I know it's Fifa and applying common sense but just seems obvious to play the groups in alphabetical order...

Anyway difficult to say England-Belgium will be like. I'll go 2-2.

As much as I want Senegal to make it I fear Colombia will be too strong. Japan to draw with Poland.

 

[tentan]

Heard Martinez is about to put a second string team out tomorrow. Should be interesting how both teams approach it seeing as finishing second is the better result.

 

[El Zoido]

Belgium will have no qualms about replacing their entire starting XI and losing the game with the view to getting a favourable draw. England will feel themselves above that and will try hard to win the game, and I fully expect them to do so.

We really need to finish second though, it would give us an amazing chance of reaching the semi finals.

 

[Mint]

If Colombia win the group, will Belgium still field a weak side? Colombia will be the first real test for both teams, thats why it's good to not change the team too much. Going from Panana to Colombia is is a huge step-up. I can see Colombia eliminating Belgium.

 

[Yagami]

An England and Japan win will make today a good day.

 

[Tingen]

If England and Belgium draws then it's down to the fairplay-rule (yellow/red cards) to decide 1st and 2nd place in the group, right?

How is the current standing between the two teams?

 

[LeftyBlaster]

An England and Japan win will make today a good day.

Yeap. Especially a Japanese win!

 

[Loublaze]

Can't wait to see Lukaku and company bring England back down to reality.

 

[Sterling Archer]

Can't wait to see Lukaku and company bring England back down to reality.

Sounded like Lukaku is not playing

 

[Zen]

I can't wait to see how Belgium-England plays out, especially if somehow Japan/Senegal top the other group. Confidence is both a big thing.....and we've endless "easy" runs not quite happen as they should. So whatever will be....

 

[Dr. Dwayne]

Poor Panama and Tunisia. Forced to play at the same time as the match everyone else is going to watch.

 

[Santi_Mesut_Alexis_87]

Both England and Belgium are gonna try to lose . Colombia will beat Senegal, instead.

 

[Kostur]

Hope Japan spanks us, don't want any shit excuses thrown around for this national team and you just know that such will pop should we win. Japan deserve to go through purely on being underrated and overlooked by everybody, was believed to be the worst team in the group. Hope Colombia go through as they played the best football imo, don't give a shit about Senegal.

 

[ivaldo]

Can't wait to see Lukaku and company bring England back down to reality.

How lovely of you.

 

[Barca84]

Mon' Belgium

Can I suggest all Scots steer clear of the match just in case and stick to watching a loop of that Archie Gemmill goal from 40 years ago

 

[CassiusClaymore]

If England and Belgium draws then it's down to the fairplay-rule (yellow/red cards) to decide 1st and 2nd place in the group, right?

How is the current standing between the two teams?

England - 2 yellows
Belgium - 3 yellows

 

[roonster09]

England - 2 yellows
Belgium - 3 yellows

So today we will see players trying to get yellow cards on purpose.

 

[MuseJoris]

Its a bit of a bad system that you know all the opponents before. Should do a draw like the champions league after Group stages. Will be a very weird match instead today

 

[RedDevilRoshi]

Japan 2-0 Poland
Senegal 2-3 Colombia

England 1-1 Belgium
Panama 0-3 Tunisia

 

[TheLiverBird]

To want to throw this game would completely take the excitement away from it for me

its our first real test lol I want to see us go for it

Yeh we might face Sweden/Switzerland in QF's but Sweden haven't exactly looked any worse than the likes of France or Argentina etc, if anything they've looked better

then after that QF we could face Spain or Croatia......how is this route any easier than the group of teams we could face on the route we'd take if we beat Belgium tonight

Yes we might face a team (Brazil) much sooner but if we are beating Belgium then I feel we should have it in us to take Brazil on with confidence

We are already qualified so we don't need to go nuts, but a win for me tonight please

 

[Phil]

Don't get me wrong, they've played well, but the commentator tonight mentioned Neymar wanting to be on the same stage as Ronaldo, Messi and...Kane.

He is literally one of the top goalscorers in the world cup though..

Anyway, hope Colombia go through due to personal ties and to see the area they live in London go batshit.

 

[Annihilate Now!]

I know it's definitely better to come second... but this is England... and finishing in a certain place to make a tournament "easier" is basically just inviting England to get knocked out anyway and make us look even dumber....

 

[RobinLFC]

Can't wait to see Lukaku and company bring England back down to reality.

Could easily be the other way around, we have played one decent team the last month (Portugal) and drew 0-0, otherwise we've only played some pretty poor teams.

And we're (and I think England as well) are putting out our B-side. Courtois might even be the only starter from last game. Vermaelen will get minutes, maybe even Kompany as well.

 

[RobinLFC]

I know it's definitely better to come second... but this is England... and finishing in a certain place to make a tournament "easier" is basically just inviting England to get knocked out anyway and make us look even dumber....

Yeah, you haven't won a KO game since '06 so pretty pointless to try to avoid teams in the QFs if you don't even get there in the first place, but still...

On the other hand, we only have one win in the KOs since forever so same goes for us.

 

[Yellow Black & Red]

Can't wait to see Lukaku and company bring England back down to reality.

Neither Lukaku or Kompany will play. Nor will either team care too much about the result.

As for whether it is ultimately more favourable to finish first or second, considering how Sweden and Brazil have been playing so far I don't think one can really say that Sweden (who'd be the likely QF opponent for whoever finishes second) will be an easier game than Brazil. Sweden have already progressed past Netherlands, Italy and (despite the narrow loss) Germany, so England could just be another established European team for them to add to the list. With Brazil, Coutinho can always pop up with something it's impossible to stop, but they also have a relatively soft defence and England could do well against them on set plays. Ultimately, I'm not convinced there'd be a huge difference in difficulty between the two.

Out of the possible second round fixtures, it remains to be seen based on how well or not the Group H teams play today which would likely be the most dangerous opponent, but my hunch at the moment is that between Japan, Colombia and Senegal, that England would find Senegal the trickiest.

 

[Cristiano_RAFC]

So today we will see players trying to get yellow cards on purpose.

I doubt that to be honest. Why get silly yellow cards that put you at risk of missing a QF if you pick up a 2nd yellow in a competitive 1/8 finals?

You are suspended after just 2 yellows and they only get discarded after the QF.

I hope we draw (not lose) and end 2nd in the group without loss of confidence. I hope Japan win so we can play them in the next round. If we proceed then we would meet Switzerland or Sweden which is more favourable compared to Brazil/Mexico.

Belgium's base camp in Russia is in Moscow and with 3 out of 4 games (if you proceed all the way to the final) in Moscow if you finish 2nd, then that too is another reason to prefer 2nd place.

Lukaku is unlikely to play. He was missing from training yesterday so we will see Batshuayi up front tonight. Vertonghen, Meunier and De Bruyne will also miss the game to not risk a suspension (they are all on a yellow).

 

[roonster09]

I doubt that to be honest. Why get silly yellow cards that put you at risk of missing a QF if you pick up a 2nd yellow in a competitive 1/8 finals?

You are suspended after just 2 yellows and they only get discarded after the QF.

I hope we draw (not lose) and end 2nd in the group without loss of confidence. I hope Japan win so we can play them in the next round. If we proceed then we would meet Switzerland or Sweden which is more favourable compared to Brazil/Mexico.

Belgium's base camp in Russia is in Moscow and with 3 out of 4 games (if you proceed all the way to the final) in Moscow if you finish 2nd, then that too is another reason to prefer 2nd place.

Lukaku is unlikely to play. He was missing from training yesterday so we will see Batshuayi up front tonight. Vertonghen, Meunier and De Bruyne will also miss the game to not risk a suspension (they are all on a yellow).

I wasn't serious with that post.

Will be interesting how teams approach this game.

 

[RobinLFC]

You are suspended after just 2 yellows and they only get discarded after the QF.

I think they should change that to after the Round of 16 tbh. I get why they do it in the CL so you'd only miss the final if you pick up consecutive yellows in the semis, but a one-off semi in the WC makes this system pretty pointless, you'll only miss the final if you pick up a red in the semi. It's hard for some types of players to go five games in a row without getting booked twice, I think 4 games is more than enough and even then you'd only miss the final if you pick up yellows in the quarters and semis.

 

[Cristiano_RAFC]

I think they should change that to after the Round of 16 tbh. I get why they do it in the CL so you'd only miss the final if you pick up consecutive yellows in the semis, but a one-off semi in the WC makes this system pretty pointless, you'll only miss the final if you pick up a red in the semi. It's hard for some types of players to go five games in a row without getting booked twice, I think 4 games is more than enough and even then you'd only miss the final if you pick up yellows in the quarters and semis.

Agreed.

Or they could make it 3 yellows in stead of 2 to get a suspension. The current system however is not very good as an unjust yellow could be quickly given and that can have too much of an impact on a team's tournament. No VAR to overrule such yellow cards either.