Harry Kane’s heroics and USA stay ahead despite red – World Cup Daily

0:00This is The Guardian.

0:30keeper kept everything out. It was starting to look bleak before Tuchel made changes and Kane was the difference. Now to the altitude of Mexico. Get those decoy hotel rooms ready. Also today, who doesn't love watching Poch sing John Denver? In the end, a pretty comfortable 2-0 win for the US over Bosnia-Herzegovina. Foralyn Balogun was the main character. Scored, hit the bar, had one disallowed and was sent off. You expected Bosnia to push on, but they didn't really. And then Malik Tillman scored a great free kick to set up a last 16 game with Belgium. An extraordinary comeback for them against Senegal.

0:582-0 down. They've done virtually nothing until Lukaku and Tielemans in the last five minutes. And at the end of extra time, a VAR penalty. Badezis lying on the penalty spot. Tielemans had to wait an hour before caressing it into the top corner. Also, he might have gone two days ago, but there's more Mark Langdon vegetable correspondence. We'll take your questions. And that's today's Guardian Football Weekly.

1:19On the panel today with me in LA, Barry Glendening. Hello. Hello, Max. Welcome, Archie Rintut. Hey, Max. and also in LA, but another part of LA because it's quite big. Asasu Obayawana. Hey, Asasu, you okay?

1:31Max Rushden:No, I'm not okay. I'm furious. Absolutely furious. And I'm trying to be polite and not use industrial language. You can use industrial language if you like. Yes, your search for excellence continues. But, God, they were close, DR Congo. Let's start with England's 2-1 win over DR Congo. We were wondering how to start this pod if England had lost. Could we get away with 20 minutes on Oliver Glasner's the forest. So the first game England have won at a World Cup when conceding first since the final in 66. I will go to the other England fan here, Archie. That was absolutely exhausting. Very. The first half started to feel like Lionel Lumpasi against England, especially when I think it was the final moment of the half where Harry Kane drilled it at him and you were just thinking that Lionel Lampasi is managing to show a different kind of save each time he's making one and there was a part of me that was thinking are England doing enough here and in retrospect now I'm happy with the amount of chances that were created but at the time it felt like England could be doing more Harry Kane is everything for England and I still don't think he's necessarily had the respect that he deserves.

2:51Is he underrated? In the past. Not quite. But that second goal is exceptional. And the sort of thing that I've seen people in Germany throughout the last few seasons go, this guy is world class. But there were so many concerning things before that from how easy the DR Congo goal was, how they didn't really have to work at all to get into such a promising position. The wingers again, for the most part, the quality of the crossing, I thought was pretty disappointing. Not enough movement to create space. And boy, did we get away with one when Johan Visser managed to hit the post from that promising moment just before halftime.

3:41And Barry did use very industrial language at that moment. Exclusively industrial language, but there was a very loud fuck it from across the room. How are you? How are you, Baz?

3:51Max Rushden:I'm all right. Look, if Wissa scores that, who knows what kind of conversation we're having now. And he should have scored it, but he didn't. And as loath as I am to acknowledge the fact that football, at this World Cup anyway, is a game of quarters. this was very much a game of four quarters because England were absolutely dreadful in the first one excellent in the second one and were denied by the heroics of Impassi and the uselessness of Wissa then they were terrible again in the third quarter and very good in the final one which is more or less when Tuchel's substitutes came into their own as they came on for Jed Spence who had a game to forget Declan Rice moved to right back will he stay there?

4:45Max Rushden:Who knows and Anthony Gordon was on and he had an impact on the game so England I think probably on balance of chances created deserved to win it but they were shocking at points during that game and I think a more confident and more elite team than Dior Congo would have been well ahead by the time that third quarter started. Yeah, Harry Kane has more World Cup goals than Pele now. Gert Muller's next. He's got 13, Pele 12. Muller's on 14. On five of the tournament, so one behind Messi in the golden boot race. His season tally for club and country is 72 goals. So, Avikana Sassi, before we get on to Dior Congo, talk about Kane, and especially the second goal.

5:30The touch to create the space is so good, isn't it?

5:34Max Rushden:Well, I was just thinking, what are the headlines in the newspapers in England? Captain Marvel to the rescue. Captain Marvel does it again. Captain Fantastic gets England out of trouble. As you all have said, I think without Harry Kane, I cannot imagine the position England will be in right now. He has shown strength of character, leadership and some high quality football to boot. It is very clear that if England are going to go further in this competition, his form and his leadership will be critical in that. You are, your search for excellence means you're in a bad mood, but it was a, I don't know, maybe you don't think it was.

6:23I thought it was a brilliant performance from D.R. Congo. Like, we've mentioned the keeper and passy, but, you know, we've all seen like Wan-Bissaka, Tuinzebi, Chancellor Mbemba not play like that before. I just thought they defensively were brilliant. Their wingers were great. I thought they gave in just a brilliant account of themselves.

6:43Max Rushden:Well, I'm sorry, Max. I am not in the business of, oh, what a good effort they have put in. I'm an England fan, so I have to be eventually. I know every tournament. You are when you're talking about Scotland. I am of the school that you are in games to win. And when you're in a position to win, as DR Congo clearly were in today, only to lose the game. I mean, Wisser will regret that miss for the rest of his days. Because I don't know when next DR Congo will be at a World Cup. they haven't been at a World Cup since 1974 you're in a unique position to get DRC to a place they have never been before and then you miss a chance like that I'm sorry, for me it's unpardonable as for the goalkeeper it was ironic that he was brilliant for the whole game and then he bungled the save that should have stopped Kane from scoring.

7:56Max Rushden:But, you know, football is like that. Yeah. So do you think then that, like, because there'll be a lot of courage in the UK, which is, you know, poor old DR Congo, they did really well. Do you think that is sort of patronising? Because I'm watching this game thinking… For me it is. For me it is because, look, Max, in 1990, Cameroon should have beaten England. Okay? They had the game in hand. They should have won the game. And I spoke to Gary Lineker about that game many years afterwards. And he was very honest with me that if they didn't get those two penalties, they had no chance in hell of winning that game.

8:35Max Rushden:So we've had these type of instances for African teams so many damn times. And I am frankly fed up of it now. I mean we haven't even begun to talk about the Senegal I was about to say I'm looking forward to that bit I am just as sick as a parrot today I just couldn't be bothered to watch the USA Bosnia game you guys are the ones who will talk about it because I didn't watch it because I was so annoyed I just switched off I thought Barry would be the saddest of the panellists I mean Archie we should talk about England a bit more like I don't know the biggest worry for me seems to be at the back.

9:16You've alluded to it already, how open, and I don't think that's all on Spence, right? He's got to cover the centre-backs who may be covering something else. I don't know whose fault it is, but positionally they have looked open in all their games at times. And it sort of came home to Roos in that moment. You'd pick out three players there, not just including, excluding Spence even. Thinking about pressure needing to be applied to the ball in the first place. Noni Maduweke being in a better position to support him, but also Jordan Pickford from that angle, I think you would expect him to save it.

9:52So it is concerning. It is, whilst Diego Congo did look dangerous, it was a similar kind of opponent, I thought, to what England have faced since Croatia. And Mexico will be different again as well. the problem that I have is actually how much what the buy-in will be like from the players from Thomas Tuchel right now when I've seen this before with him happen at Dortmund at Bayern and what happens is that he absolutely shreds his players to pieces on the touchline for instructions that look pretty simple to you and me there was a moment in the first game which German TV picked up on actually, where Elliot Anderson plays a lofted ball out to the touchline and he's fuming because he's saying it should go on on the floor.

10:50And you think, is that that important? And I think that as a coach, you're saying don't sweat the small stuff, Thomas. I'm saying that I think as a coach, you have to pick and choose your moments because players are quite sensitive these days.

11:04Max Rushden:As a coach, he knows that games are won or lost by paying attention to the smallest of details and he would feel that if the players don't pay attention to the small details early when it really matters and they don't it's going to cost them I mean everyone knows that Thomas Tuchel is a perfectionist and he does not tolerate sloppiness in his players and I'm sure the players know that too so they just have to realize that they have to step up to the plate and do the business if they want to be in his good books. In terms of attacking, Barry, it seems very much get it wide, get it in. 43 crosses today.

11:47Is that enough? Eventually, if you get that many crosses in, some will just hit the head. They're not all perfectly accurate. I think Arch, you were making the point during the game that if you don't have Saka or James down the right, the crossing quality is less with Madawake and Spence. But do you think that is a good enough tactic to go far in this tournament?

12:07Max Rushden:It's been good enough so far. And the quality of crossing has often been terrible. England in this tournament, they keep doing enough. And if they keep doing enough, they will win. But I suspect at some point they are going to get punished for their lack of quality. I mean, getting the ball wide and sending in crosses, I'm fairly confident I could coach an elite team to tell them to do that. But I suppose if Thomas Tuchel gives the same instructions, he's some tactical savant or genius. Are you less of a perfectionist than Thomas Tuchel? Depends. Yeah, it does. Depends if it's Coke bottles or football taxes.

12:56What did you make of the penalty shout for England Osasu and the fact it wasn't given?

13:04Max Rushden:Well, you know, some penalties are given and some not. Don't forget that in the game against Ghana, Ghana should have been given a penalty as well and England got away with it. So you can't complain when it works for you and then start to moan when it doesn't work. Oh, I didn't. Just to be clear, I didn't. You did this morning I did this morning, yeah, yeah, we were losing It's different I think with that penalty shout it very much depends on whether you want it to be given or not your opinion on whether it should be given or not I'm inclined to think it shouldn't have been because Harry Kane Because you didn't want it to be given Well, A, because I didn't want it to be given and B, because I feel Harry Kane was very much looking for it But yeah, there was a little bit of contact, but he was already halfway to ground by the time that contact was made by the goalkeeper.

14:01Max Rushden:But ultimately, it didn't matter. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I've watched it. The more I've watched it, the less I think it's a penalty. But the more I've watched it, the more I'm certain that England will win this game because it finished a long time ago. I caught up with Jacob Steinberg after the game. He'd just been listening to Thomas Tuchel. This was our chat. You've been at the game and you've just heard from Thomas Tuchel. How was he after that? Pretty positive from Thomas Tuchel after the game. Really proud of, he said, the way that the team didn't panic. I'm not sure if that's necessarily the case during the first 20, 25 minutes when it looked really panicky after that early goal from the DRC.

14:39But I think he was pleased with the way that they didn't seem to lose their heads as the longer the game went on. They stuck, he thought, to the plan, refused to accept defeat and in the end found a way through. I've got in my own head, I remember looking at the big screen on 73 minutes thinking it's still 1-0. England haven't done anything for a while. They actually might lose this. And then two minutes later, Harry Kane popped up with that goal. So, yeah, it's been a very interesting afternoon. A wild game and probably on the balance of chances deserved to go through, but the performance was really worrying.

15:19Tuchel wasn't panicking. Were the crowd panicking? What were the England fans like in the stadium? No, because I think, again, you've got that mix potentially of not entirely being a classic England crowd. I think that, you know, the boos were largely at times for the hydration breaks. There were definitely boos for Rashford when I think more or less with his final act he put a cross with his left foot miles over the goal and they went out for a goal kick and that was pretty bad. But generally speaking, they kind of stayed with them. I think that they're probably being followed at the moment by a slightly different type of crowd than the one that maybe they would have experienced in Germany two years ago.

16:01And were you panicking? Tuchel wasn't the crowd, weren't I? Was, were you? Definitely during the first 20, 25 minutes. I mean, nothing at all went right. Everything was bad. Tuchel talked afterwards about how they actually got the press wrong. England and it meant that DRC were able to play through them really easily. I think again, it's another one where I think a bit like Panama, they expected it to be a low block, but then even especially with the slight formation change from DRC as well, where they dropped a striker and brought in a midfielder, I think they were expecting it to be a similar game to Ghana.

16:34Instead, they just took it to England and the goal, even though it was only after seven minutes, wasn't really a surprise when it came. And I thought England were a real mess in terms of the shape. I know there's going to be a lot of focus on Jed Spence, but I think it's more than just him who was pulled out of position. Konza and I think Anderson potentially as well. Someone let Siddiqui run through and pull Spence out of position and then eventually there's a free shot on the left. And from there, you're looking at Pickford sending long clearances out of play and then frantically telling everybody else to calm down that bizarre period where they England pass the ball around their own area and you're thinking oh my god they're actually gonna this is gonna end with them giving the ball away for a goal and that that sequence I think ends with Bellingham losing possession with an overhit pass and then he gets the booking which is something that I realized that he did when they were losing to Slovakia in the first half two years ago in the last 16 similar kind of similar kind of atmosphere that that day to this one and you know he was the one i think as well he was really stuck needed to be uh needed his head to be put back into it and there's that interesting um image of uh reese james during that first hydration break who knows exactly what's going on there but it seemed like reese was trying to get you to calm down a bit and and focus but it's a very strange game because obviously they had the chance where whister hits to post, I think because Rashford doesn't track back and O 'Reilly's completely overrun by one Bissaka out in London.

18:07But then equally, by halftime, England could have been winning. I mean, I thought it was a penalty on Harry Kane. The goalkeeper was sensational, made so many saves. And you're thinking at halftime, England are probably, they're going to score at some point. They're actually, the crosses, some of them are a bit off beam, but some of them are finding their men. And they're not actually defending that well. They are allowing a lot of free headers and close range chances. And then that period between sort of 50 minutes, 70 minutes until the second hydration break where Tuchel makes the second rejigs.

18:43Yeah, I thought England just drifted and nothing was really happening. And it just seemed like it was getting away from him. And it felt to me like there was panic there. It just felt like they didn't really know exactly what it was they were meant to do. But that second hydration break, I don't think he said, he said that he didn't say anything too revelatory to them. He didn't need to do any major tactical tweaks. He said he felt the players weren't panicking. He didn't feel like the shirt was weighing heavily or anything like that. But it's just, I suppose, that elite tactical moment from Tuchel where he does make that little shift where he gets Eze on for Spence, moves right to right back.

19:19And it's just that little Arsenal combination for a few minutes that eventually gets them in down the right. And another one of the substitutes in the England parlance now where they're the finishers, these guys who come on. Anthony Gordon, you know, quite importantly, given that he didn't play very well in his other two starts, comes up with the assist and then again for Harry Kane. And Kane, obviously, he'd had a few chances. I mean, he's just incredible, isn't he? Afterwards, Tuchel was asked, what is it that sets Kane, Messi, Mbappe and Haaland apart? And he just sort of lent into the microphone and growled, they are all sharks.

19:53They are all sharks. He really liked delivering that line. You know, When there's blood in the water, he said, they smell it and they score, basically. And that's what it is with Kane. I mean, five goals now already. So much is dependent on him and Bellingham at the moment, as we saw against Panama. But, I mean, going into the game on Sunday, it feels, at the moment, just based on what we saw in the first 20, 25 minutes and across a few of the other games, it feels like a tall order in the altitude at the Azteca. yeah are you ready for the altitude jacob how do journalists acclimatize for this well it's interesting isn't it because england are going to have to go on on friday they're not going to have a lot of time uh to to prepare for it it's going to be a complete i don't know i i assume it's going to be a complete shock to the system we're we're going to go on on saturday so i don't know if we'll be sitting there i mean jonathan wilson's enjoyed his um experiences of the Azteca.

20:53So I'll get some tips from him and see how to adapt. Yeah, our next piece will be just you complaining about the Wi-Fi. Enjoy the Azteca. We'll chat after. Yeah, thank you. Mexico in the round of 16. Harry Kane said, my understanding is we cannot adapt to the altitude. It's a huge advantage Mexico have. There's not enough time. We knew that before. It's just a disadvantage with which we'll have to deal. But we showed the attitude. The decoy hotels, Barry. This is what we need to do. The altitude, there's nothing they can do. So they have attitude. Attitude isn't a problem. Altitude might. Yeah.

21:30I was thinking, could you send some players early? I mean, Dan Byrne has to acclimatise even more than the rest of the squad, doesn't he?

21:36Max Rushden:Yeah, but how early can it be? Because normally you need about 12 days to really adjust to altitude. Yeah. I don't think we have that to acclimatise. Yeah. They just have to deal with it the way it is. also I think if Mexican fans catch wind that England are coming earlier they will just get even less sleep in between as well that is true and a 1am kick off in the UK so like all my friends back home I'm sure everyone in the UK listening is like do you nap first, what do you do now as somebody who watches a lot of games at stupid hours of the day I'd say if you're under 30 maybe you can see it through but you know if you're middle aged go to bed, get up at 12.55 and watch the game or phones off up at five, watch it without any social media.

22:23They would be my suggestions for how to deal with a 1am kickoff. No go to the pub power through advice. For me? Have you seen me? Do you know me? Oh, yes. Of course you do. Worth talking about the social content we put up. Archie, you were superstitious. Plan A was sit on the sofa normally and watch the game like we did for England-Ghana. However, England didn't score in those 90 minutes, and that was already fostering a problem for me. Plan B was go get the England shirt I have. Maybe the presence of that would bring something. And then when we reached 70 minutes, I said, look, we need to go full nuclear.

23:00I think I'm the problem here. Took myself off to the bedroom, and suddenly... Well, you watch it on German TV, which was 30 seconds ahead, so our reactions are natural that you got of us. I did put a camera in your face, Barrett, full-time. I got a great fuck-off, which got more views than pretty much anything else we've put up. beard of James says can you hang reels in the Louvre then there was the fall in the pool which we did the selling sunset pool Greg Jenner said hey Greg I hope Barry did a risk assessment for this stunt we know the insurance rules of this hotel Sally says does this count of one of the twice a year hair washes Jake while he's in there can we get Barry to replicate the Nirvana cover I mean that is that is taking it a step too far anyway that will do for part one.

23:44Part two, we'll talk about the USA win over Bosnia and Herzegovina, so Sasu can just he can cool down before taking a long run for the Senegal game.

24:01Welcome to part two of the Guardian Football Weekly. So we've just seen the USA beat Bosnia and Herzegovina 2-0, and I guess that moment when they're down to 10 men, they're under pressure, even though not that much pressure. Bosnia didn't really do much. As Malik Tillman stood over that free kick, I said, there's nowhere to score it. I was wrong, Archie. You've seen more of him than most of us. Yeah, he became Leverkusen's record signing for 35 million euros last summer. And he was a product of the Bayern Academy. That didn't work out for him there. Went to Rangers, was okay. Went to PSV, was a lot better.

24:38And then he earned this move to Leverkusen where he's shown that he has something, but not enough for people there. And the most impressive Leverkusen attacker at this World Cup, I would say, is actually Ibrahim Mazza, who we'll see later this week. And his satisfaction with life at Leverkusen was questioned when he did the old deleting all my Leverkusen Insta posts. And I think it showed that he can be quite a sensitive guy. so for him to have this moment having scored a few goals for the US before but not many this is a I'm him moment this I think can be a real platform for Malik Tillman and I'm reminded of a quote from Peter Bosch his old coach at PSV who says please be patient with him show him love and talk to him because this lad is such a brilliant footballer and for him to step up in that moment when the US haven't really had to face that much adversity yet in this tournament they've had it nice when scoring early in in their first two group games for example and if he doesn't put that in even though Bosnia looked very blunt throughout this game who knows what happens so let's see what this can do for Malik Tillman but probably the best moment of his career to date yeah I mean it was a very soft free kick we didn't see the Bosnian manager with his double-breasted suit and trainers on getting angry at that free kick.