England take the handbrake off but Ronaldo is stuck in park – World Cup Daily

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1:13hello and welcome to the guardian football weekly well that was good wasn't it england for croatia two tuckel's men pressed high attacked with pace and purpose especially in the second half no hand breaks here the first 45 was one of those oh come on boys games harry kane had two goes at a penalty before Croatia scored a beautiful equaliser. Then Kane again, bizarrely unmarked at a corner. But another lovely leveller for Croatia. 2-2, Tuchel not happy. Then Elliot Anderson set Bellingham away and he buried it. England somehow failed to score the fourth despite waves of attack. And they did start to drop deeper, but Tuchel's changes worked and Marcus Rashford put the game beyond doubt.

1:45How's Barry's fearometer now? How carried away do we want to get or will better younger attacks take advantage of an imperfect defence? The Croatians and Luka Modric, Did they look, well, tired? Also in that group, Ghana-Panama is bad. And then DR Congo, Johan Wisser scores their first ever World Cup goal. They deserve the point against a toothless Portugal. Can anyone think of any way that Roberto Martinez could change things? Anyone? Anyone? Beulah? Anyone? We'll look ahead to tomorrow's games. Nick Ames went to the GOP convention on his day off. There's more on apples, believe it or not. Your questions, and that's today's Guardian Football Weekly.

2:18On the panel today, in the studio with me in LA, Barry Glendening. Welcome. Hello, Max. And hello, Lucy Ward. Hello, Max. Very nice to see you. And out in Houston, Nick Ames. Hey, Nick. Hello, Max. So should that be a howdy? Yes, the second howdy in a row. We need to learn some more hellos in American vernacular, don't we? But just so you know, we are recording before Uzbekistan, Colombia. So you'll hear about that on tomorrow's pod. But let's begin with the game in Dallas. Then England 4, Croatia 2. England 21 shots, 11 on target. An XG of 2.82 against Croatia's 0.71. first time since 2002 that england have beaten a team in the top 15 at a world cup uh ending a nine game winless run and it was not without its stresses lucy but it was really impressive yeah i mean i'll paint the scene now so i i'm out in la with you but not with you i'm doing some games for for itv and we've got our first game tomorrow switzerland bosnia so i went to the stadium got my accreditation and then walked to a bar full of bosnians and some croatians to watch this quite a small screen but I sort of got the gist of what was going on because the Croatians were cheering like mad and one screen was five seconds in front of the other so that's just just an explanation okay we've got the context okay so I think first half defensively I was a little bit concerned but I just think that going forward we just look so accomplished you know that you've got Bellingham who's full of confidence you've got Kane who's obviously scoring um but my only worry in the first half was defensively we looked like we were we were sort of defending in sort of a zonal defense but then when Croatia came on to us we didn't go and engage and I think that's probably where at least a second goal came from but other than that it's 4-2 I think that um it by the end when when Rashford scored it was quite comfortable and we had a lot more shots on target than they did so in terms of that we created better chances so you know for initial thoughts quite pleased with that and Nick it was a brilliant second half wasn't it yeah it was a fantastic second half performance i think a lot of the players talking after the game have um have i think paid tribute to two calls halftime team talk i gather anthony barry came on at halftime on the on the tv at home and was um was being quite honest about the pitfalls of the first half performance and really they they really cut loose they look like men possessed committing men forward moving the ball quickly against a croatian defense that was there to be got at i i watched them play a friendly against slovenia in croatia about 10 days ago and have to say that they look quite porous there so i've been really keen to see england really go on the front for full throttle at them and to be fair they did and there was only a little spell maybe around 10 20 minutes to go where the way you felt they were dropping off a bit pitford made a save or two but ultimately the game was made safe i think they were ruthless when they had to be and you can quibble about the goals which were great great efforts by Croatia to be fair I think for an opening day's work at a World Cup you can't ask for a lot more than a performance that was genuinely fun because how often do we see that yeah it was fun uh Barry you didn't sit on the sofa next to me and Joel because it was too English you said how's uh how's the fearometer after game one

5:38Max Rushden:fine like I said yesterday even if England had lost this game and I wasn't I was fairly confident that they'd win. It wouldn't have been the end of the world by any stretch of the imagination. I thought in the first half, they were good and bad. They got that penalty. Bad, silly foul by Luka Modras. No need for that. And that gave England a good start. Croatia obviously equalised Harry Kane, put England ahead again with a brilliant header. And I imagine they went in at 2-0, giving away cheap possession. They were making defensive errors. And the two goals they conceded, while good goals, were very avoidable.

6:20Max Rushden:But the second half, they were excellent. Really, really impressive. Jude Bellingham was very impressive. He said after the game, I've got a little bit of a chip on my shoulder. And I said, yeah, we know, Jude. You don't have to tell us. But he said, it's nice to show people what I'm about. The subs that Thomas Tuchel made, If anything's going to get my nervous-o-meter or fear-o-meter going, it's the proactive substitutions Thomas Tuchel made because Gareth Southgate, I don't think, would have made that. He'd have settled for 3-2, put the handbrake on, brought on more defenders. But Thomas Tuchel brought on subs and decided to really go for it and put Croatia to the sword, and it worked.

7:04Max Rushden:I think the three or four subs he brought on, Morgan Rodgers, Jed Spence, Saka and Rashford all, one scored and the other three all played a part in the fourth goal. Yeah. I mean, Spence looks like he was going 100 miles an hour for the whole thing. George writes, I thought the way England tried to draw Croatia's players into pressing them high before playing through the gaps left, Ale Bellingham's goal was disgusting and un-English. Bring back the days of knocking it between centre-backs before knocking it long to a big man, small man combo and scoring two goals a tournament. And actually, like the organisation, Lucy, when they got it right in that second half, and even at moments in the first half, I just thought every player seemed to know where they were meant to be, what they were meant to be doing.

7:42And when the changes happened, it didn't really affect that. Yeah, I mean, in the first half, you found Rice and Anderson on the same line, Kane dropping. So that sort of stifles that little bit of creativity as well. I think, you know, you look at John Stone's question whether he would start or not. It's not used to defending at Man City. In fact, I don't even remember the last, I know you've probably talked about this, the last time he played, he just seems to be fit for all the Euros and the World Cup. But yeah, I mean, the thing about the wide players, I mean, he plays this sort of system, that 4-2-3-1, and quite a lot of the stuff will go central when you've actually got wide players who, when they got it right in the second half and they hit those spaces, the fullbacks actually came inside in the second half.

8:27that affected things. So the fact that he made changes that were not just substitutes, but tweaks that actually affected the game, I think against a team as good as Croatia, there are little bits, when we're playing more elite teams, we'll find the gaps behind the likes of Rice and Anderson. But I think it was fun, it was positive and we scored four goals. And actually, Dick, that intensity after we went 3-2 up, that 10 minutes, which just felt like a permanent goal mouth scramble in the Croatia goal. It was sort of endless attacking. I don't know if I'm just getting carried away, but I don't think I've felt like that during an England game for a long time and certainly in a group game.

9:09You haven't tended to see those concerted spells of pressure where balls are fizzing across the box and then they're regaining it and piling menfalls again. But there was that spell where the goalkeeper, Lovakovic, resembled an octopus, didn't he? He was here, there and everywhere across goal. And it's nice to see. It's important too that they went for it because goal difference can and probably will be important in this group because I would expect Croatia potentially to beat fairly ordinary Ghana and Panama teams, for example. You want to rack the goals up and go from there. And they didn't sit on their lead.

9:48They kept their foot on the throttle. I think Tuchel said afterwards that the players were knackered, absolutely exhausted, and that is the kind of team he likes at the end of a game. And I was quite pleased to hear that. I was pleased that he felt England had run themselves into the ground on day one. And maybe, just maybe, they are reaping the benefits of having gone out earlier than quite a lot of teams to the US to start their preparation. I was talking to the Croatia manager Zlatko Dalic after that game that I referenced when they beat Slovenia 10 or 11 days ago. And you could tell he was talking very appreciatively of the fact that England had gone out so early.

10:33I got the impression he wished that his FA had given him the wherewithal to do that. So maybe, just maybe, the fact that they've been able to set off at such an intensity and such a pace owes something to that preparation. Now, we'll find out down the line. We'll see if hopefully in six or seven games' time they're still able to operate like that. But at the moment, so far, so good. Yeah, you mentioned Bellingham, Baz, and so much of the conversation before this was Rodgers or Bellingham. And it felt, I mean, they were both good, but it felt like Bellingham, especially in that second half, really...

11:06Well, I actually thought for the whole game, I was really impressed with him.

11:09Max Rushden:Yeah, he was impressive. Thomas Tuchel said it's more or less a coin toss whether he starts Rodgers or Bellingham. And it was interesting when Rodgers came on, Bellingham dropped back into a more defensive role. His goal was excellent. I think the ball from Elliot Anderson was intended for Nani Madueke, but Bellingham just took over and said, I'll have this. Good turn of speed and precision strike into the corner. But he's a fantastic player. my only concern about Jude Bellingham is I think he has a questionable attitude and that quote of his earlier kind of is indicative of that but he did very well and who's to say Morgan Rodgers wouldn't have been just as good if he had started I mean interestingly all the players and maybe they would say it all say that the sort of media portrayal of Bellingham is absolutely nothing like what he is like I've heard a first hand account of how good a bloke he is from a friend whose son met Bellingham while we're...

12:10Max Rushden:Is that your new friend? Not your new friend. From a friend who met... I'm saying nothing. Thank you. I'm delighted Lucy said that, but I'm saying nothing. From a friend who met Bellingham with his young son, my friend's young son, who was wearing a West Brom shirt. Right. And Jude feigned contempt for this boy because he was wearing a West Brom shirt. Kane, the players that Tuchel has picked, Lucy, to be either side of Kane, it's been all about pace and directness. And you saw a couple of times, especially down the right with Madiwaki, that that really works. In previous tournaments, you've had Foden and Palmer more technical players.

12:53But when Kane-Kan dropped at some point, he was so deep, I think he took it off Pickford in the penalty area. But we know Kane can do that. and it just seems so obvious now, have some quick players out there. Yeah, I mean, if you're going to have a... There's nothing wrong with him dropping. That is not... There's nothing wrong with that. If you haven't got the runners beyond and the quick beyond, particularly in wide areas, then it isn't effective at all. You're not actually... And what it does is encourages the opponents to come on to you if you're going to drop that deep and not have that threat in behind.

13:21But I do... I mean, I don't think Gordon had his best game, but I do think how positive he is. Madweke is taking his chance. Quite a lot of people talk about him being in the squad, but you can tell the ones that Tuchel likes. And talk about Bellingham and Rodgers. The only thing about Bellingham is when England lose possession or when they've not got it, he probably isn't as diligent as Rodgers would be in that 10 position. But I did see him doing that, really making lots of tackles. And actually, Gordon didn't do a lot offensively, But I mean, it must be very tiring to play against them. I mean, yes, you know, like it was air conditioned, but actually you saw the way they were sort of setting traps to press, which looked more organised than I've seen before.

14:07That's the word accomplished to me is that, you know, there was no sort of didn't look to be any sort of anxiety. I mean, your point about Bellingham is right. But sometimes when you haven't got it, it's about being in a position rather than chasing after it. that's but I do think that it'll you know Rodgers will get the game time and particularly as you know we've done so well in the first game and probably will win the other two that he may spread because the conditions will be different in the next two games On England I can get a bit more action from Dallas because I caught up with Jacob Steinberg who was there in a corridor under the stadium You're fresh out of Thomas Tuchel's press conference what did he make of it?

14:45He was happy he was not so happy with the first half felt like England played with a lack of freedom, that they maybe had a psychological block. You felt like perhaps that they wanted it a little bit too much, that they wanted it to, you know, they felt like everything in the camp was good yesterday, good in the hotel in the morning, and then they got to the game and just felt like they played with a lack of freedom, which is something obviously we've seen from England teams so often in the past. It felt like the leads didn't actually give them the freedom that they needed. They kept going backwards.

15:18And I think the big takeaway for me from that first half was, you know, obviously that defense just looked really ropey at times. The two Croatia goals were lovely, but worrying in the way that they conceded. And I felt, you know, in open play, England didn't look like they had a lot of flow. The pressing, I think, from Croatia surprised them. And then comes the second half, which was obviously well trailed by Anthony Barry on ITV. Quite an astonishingly honest interview from number two. And then they come out and it's just sensational. Properly the Premier League style, I guess, that we wanted to see from, the two-fold wanted to see.

15:56Intense, fast, brave, bold, all those things that he's been asking for his team. He's come into this tournament, and ever since he got the job, he was talking about how he wanted England to play in that Premier League style. And for those 20 minutes after Jude Bellingham scored that amazing goal to make it 3-2, that's what we got. Then I just feel, to be honest, it just felt a little bit like, you know, some people are a little bit more positive than I was. I just felt, before the fourth goal, I turned to Dave Heitner in the press box and I said, Croatia are going to score. It looks like they're going to go to 3-3.

16:28I don't know if you felt the same, but I thought the Croatia goal was coming. Instead, England have the substitutes or the finishers to actually hit teams on the brakes. For the listeners that didn't hear Anthony Barry, what did he say? pretty much what Tuchel said um pretty much on ITV they did these half-time interviews now apparently which I didn't know that they did but he was saying that they played they played forward when they should have played back back when they should have played forward complicated it confused it for themselves and I think that's pretty much what Tuchel felt as well kind of what he came in and said in his press conference but he told them in the I don't think it's by the sounds of it doesn't sound like he ripped he actually ripped into them in the dressing room what he told him doing the dressing room was to just be courageous, go out there and show yourselves and show the world what you can do.

17:16I guess there will be teams who probably will look at this and go, oh my God, you know, this is one of the best attacks in the World Cup. There are probably a lot of teams who might look at it or some of those top sides who will look at it and go, that's a defense that we can get at. So those are the two things. The other worry, I guess, is that Declan Rice going off on 65 minutes with Tuchel saying that he had pain in his lower back, upper hamstring, couldn't take the risk. very unusual to see Declan Rice go off when England are defending and leave with 25 minutes to go that's a worry and I think that might have played into perhaps some of the structural problems they had in midfield between him, Anderson and Bellingham, but a fit Rice maybe, there's not so much space for Croatia, the good thing is obviously they've got six days till the next game if they win that then they probably can rest people against Panama, positive as well Saka coming off the bench to make the goal, get the issues that we've had with him.

18:08I just do come back to that defense though. John Stones on that first goal, Esri Contza on the second goal was maybe not so great. Are we going to get to a point where we do need to get Mark Gahey back into the side? What was the atmosphere like? It's an absolutely incredible stadium, the Dallas stadium. It's got this enormous screen. I sat down next to Barney. He was here for the Holland game, wasn't he? In his match report, he wrote about this screen and you sit down and go, oh my god it you can't take your eyes off it when they do the the introductions for the for the players uh they they sort of look like they're about to jump out of the screen like sort of hologram around the place it's amazing so absolutely it's one of the best i think it's the best stadium that i've ever been to uh for anything but apparently the sofa is better so maybe if we ever get there well i don't know how that can be better than this one atmosphere was good i mean the problem with these these stadiums is that because they're built for nfl and the press boxes behind blast but in this one sometimes you can't hear the you can't hear anything in this one you really could um and the atmosphere was good you know the croatia fans it looked like they had a lot of people here uh a lot of croatia shirts england i think outnumbered them a lot of good vibes outside the ground uh beforehand so you know it's a positive day all in thing for england and i would imagine croatia get through the group um probably in second place let's see I mean, I've not seen how Ghana play, but they are a dangerous team.

19:33I mean, that first game against Croatia is probably about as tough as you could get it for England. A group game, yeah. And just one on the, I mean, you were behind glass, because a lot was made that the press was good for England, actually Croatia as well, but it was an aircon stadium. So that is very different. Was it cold for the players, do you think? I don't think it was cold. I mean, it's set to 22 degrees, I think, was what it was set up. I mean, that's the slight worry for England, isn't it that um that they've that they've obviously gone and conceded two goals and been slightly ragged in an aircon stadium they're going to be playing maybe if everything goes as it as expected brazil in miami in in the sun and everything so we we don't know exactly how england are going to fare in a in in the heat when when that comes without a roof and you know again the defending and the way that they were without the ball in first half that would be another of concern as well again there'll be a lot of teams will look at how england's played on the break uh and they'll be really worried about they'll be well they'll be worried about coming out against um against those forwards thank you jacob i hope you make it out of the corridor uh that you uh scurried there's a lift there's a lift it's okay there are two lifts behind me but there was it was packed with many journalists so all right yeah you're safe good stuff cheers pal thank you uh jacob steinberg there uh lots of people got in touch with me barry during this game to say, is Luka Modric tired?

20:59And maybe he did, finally, after eight years since I first thought it, that the Croatians did look a bit tired and leggy in this game. You know, him especially.

21:08Max Rushden:He didn't have a good game. He gave away that penalty. He was pretty ineffective in midfield, but he certainly didn't impress today. Perisic, his fellow pensioner, his header to set up the second Croatian goal was absolutely I mean, they don't age. They don't age, really. I mean, I know you're talking about him sort of, but he is sort of, you know, a pensioner for a footballer, isn't he? But they just age very, very well, the Croatians. And Perisic is certainly one of those. Yeah, it was a great little header, wasn't it? Also in this group, Ghana won Panama nil. Nick, you watched the whole game except for the 95th minute.

21:46It's because I was coming upstairs very professionally to prepare for this podcast. And I therefore did miss the goal. It was attritional. Ghana were very much missing. Mohamed Kudis, who's obviously injured for the tournament. They came to life a bit more in the second half, got Semenyo into the game a little bit more. Panama didn't recreate a lot. Basically, not that much happened until the thing that happened that I didn't see. We did see that last minute, Baron. And actually, the three of us got quite engaged for the minutes after that.

22:25Max Rushden:Yeah, I saw that the last, I think it went to 101 minutes this game. I was fortunate enough to see almost all of them. It was a terrible game. And it's no great surprise because Gann are managed by Carlos Quiros, who is just Mr. Pragmatism. and, you know, what he's... I think Semenyu had something like four touches in the opposition box in the... It might have been just four touches in the first half, but he was starved of service, so Jordan Ayew was subsequently starved of service. But, yeah, the game sort of sparked into something resembling life around the 60th minute, and then when Ghana scored the late goal, which I'm gutted for Panama because they showed more ambition than Ghana for most of this game.

23:16Max Rushden:And to go down to that late sucker punch was heartbreaking for them. But after they went a goal down, they knew, like, if we lose this, we're pretty much out. We're out of the competition, even though it's only the first game. So they very much threw the kitchen sink at Ghana. They had their goalkeeper coming up for a late corner free kick. He actually got his head to the corner, knocked it down, and one of his teammates, just the header was way too soft straight into the keeper's arms. Yeah, I mean, their kickoff was a bit like American football. It was like the NFL, wasn't it? It was like a, you know, it was like a punt and then off they go.

23:5310 players lined across the half. And then the referee brought it back as well for the first one, oh my word. But then we were all engaged because we were all then stood in front. I don't know how you watched 101 Minutes because when I came in, you were facing a 90 degree angle to the television. He watches separately to us. Does he? Why? Yeah, I don't know with his AirPods in. We watched on the TV. What were you watching? Was you watching it on the laptop?

24:12Max Rushden:I was watching the English coverage on ITV. Yes. What did you think I was watching? I didn't know. Midsummer Murders. There's every chance. It would have been better. A 20-minute review of that game would have been better. Anyway, that'll do for part one. Part two, we'll do DR Congo's brilliant draw against Portugal.

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25:29welcome to part two of the guardian football weekly so portugal won dr congo one uh nick you're out in houston uh you are at this game before we get on to the obvious ronaldo bit can we at least start with dr congo because what was that moment like when they scored their first ever world cup goal dr congo were fantastic i think it's it's important to say a bit like Cape Verde but even more so that this is a team that are no mugs they've played together well a lot of them they've got a lot of Premier League experience in players like Assel Twanzabi you've got Chansel Mbemba in there you've got Aaron Wan-Bissaka who played very well down the right you've got Johan Wisser who headed in that equaliser from an in-swinging Arthur Masuaku cross by the way he rose and thundered this header in right on the stroke at half time and all the little blue pockets of DR Congo fans because this stadium was mainly full of people in red Ronaldo 7 shirts with Texan accents I have to say but there were these little pockets of DR Congo fans in light blue and it was really nice partly because I think some of the the backdrop to their preparation has been covered but they had to spend 2021 days in a bubble preparing in Belgium before they came to the US because of the devastating Ebola outbreak back in in their home country and some of their staff had come directly from there so their preparation hadn't been ideal one of their friendlies was cancelled as a result they came over actually based in in Houston I was there when they were greeted at the airport last week as though they arrived they arrived just after me and it was a really lovely moment with with various fans and volunteers there um but their own fans basically can't can't afford to come over from um from DR Congo and quarantine for three weeks it would it would just be impractical logistically and financially so to see that goal go in to see the supporters who were there who were mainly expats have that moment and then to hear all of the dedications afterwards to the fans back home who who follow their country very passionately it was a wonderful moment because I'm because of course they haven't qualified for a World Cup since as Zaire in 1974, which went a bit disastrously.

27:50So this was a good moment. And it was also a moment that, you know, we can romanticise these teams a bit, but they're a serious team. They're very well coached by Sebastian de Saba. As I say, a lot of experience, a bit of flair in there. And unlike their opposition, they had in Cedric Bakambu, a veteran centre forward who could move and link the play and get some shots away and generally cause quite a lot of trouble so no i i enjoy watching them play i expect more from them i think there's a good chance they make the next round now and it wouldn't be an accident they're a good good side yeah and actually that i was really impressed how they moved the ball you talk about pockets of dr congo fans there's an amazing video of this i think it's a fan park somewhere in the states it almost could be in lisbon because it is just like thousands of Portugal fans and there's 10 DR Congo fans dancing away when they score there were brilliant scenes in Kinshasa and in North London as well Lucy I mean looking at the stats from it had similar amount of shots but the quality of the chances that that DR Congo had were better than Portugal so that's no fluke that the you know the draw is no fluke and and like Nick says they obviously are at that that sort of level and Portugal will be disappointed as Spain were you know there's a few teams that have been disappointed.

29:03Ryan says who moved least during the 90 minutes Ronaldo or the dr congo statue man uh ian saying nice of ronaldo to honor his suspension by doing fuck all that you're you're in the stadium nick uh and presumably you're watching ronaldo quite a lot what did you make of his performance crowd really enjoyed his first contribution which was a square pass to joel cancello in midfield they couldn't get enough of anything he did to be honest um but i have to say he just didn't do enough roberto martinez came out afterwards and He had his excuses slash reasons ready for why that didn't happen. The ball wasn't progressed down the wings enough.

29:41The cutbacks weren't there. That kind of thing. And in the second half, there was a couple of cutbacks from a substitute, Conceição, who added a bit of directness down the right. And one was a bit behind Ronaldo. One, he couldn't quite adjust his body. And he put them wide. They weren't sitters. They were kind of half to a quarter chances. But really, it was a slow and slightly pedestrian performance from Portugal who should have built on the platform of the early goal from Jean Neves. And I just don't think it helped to have what is now a human void up top. It's very hard to justify. And then even with seven minutes to go, you see Gonzalo Ramos stripped and ready to go.

30:23And I remember being at a game with Switzerland in Qatar in 2022 when they actually dropped Ronaldo and put Ramos in. He goes and scores three and they win 6-1. And I think, OK, maybe Ramos is coming on for Ronaldo again. And instead he brings off Charles Felix and Ronaldo gets for 90 minutes or 98 minutes, whatever it was. and I just, I know he can pop up with a goal from a header in a set piece these days and that's most of what he's got and I know Portugal were looking for a winner but there is just scant justification for it. It's mind-blowing and I think, I don't know, a lot of positivity has been around Portugal before this tournament.