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World Cup 2026: Mexico, USA and Canada

Ace Face said:
Another unnecessary VAR intervention.

The USA are enjoying to watch. They move the ball forwards with purpose and speed. Unlike England who are too ponderous and scared of making a mistake.
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...he's magic - you knoowww...

p.s. A giant 'fudge you' to everyone who slagged Poch off for taking the job and thought he'd treat it with anything less than his usual, passionate and wholly-engaged focus...
 
DubSpur said:
Kane still unbelievable. The finish for the second is class. Without him, you are fudged. The only world-class player that you have, although I'm sure Muttley will be along any min to tell why he isn't.
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lol - waking up with a hangover and just reading this. Games at 5pm aren't good when you're still in the curry house at 11pm.

As for Harry, fair play. We were all saying in the pub that he was once again letting the game pass him by. Some were asking for him to be subbed. I get Tuchel's dilemma. Harry only had 28 touches in 98 mins of football. He wasn't showing for the ball and he wasn't competing physically for much to be fair. Congo clearly roughed him up which is a decent tactic with Harry nowadays.

Then Harry did what Harry does best. The stat that matters the most. An absolute worldie. The way he shifted that ball and how clean he struck it was a beautiful thing.

Now Tuchel needs to aspire to make his captain more relevant in the next one. He had 35 touches against Croatia and played very well. He has had 25,20 and 28 touches in the other 3 games. I'd love to see Harry on the ball more. It would make such a difference to England. 5 goals in 4 games is fantastic but you always want more if you want to win tournaments.

As a comparison, Mbappe had 55 touches in the last one. If Harry has 55 touches, we walk last night's game.
 
Muttley said:
lol - waking up with a hangover and just reading this. Games at 5pm aren't good when you're still in the curry house at 11pm.

As for Harry, fair play. We were all saying in the pub that he was once again letting the game pass him by. Some were asking for him to be subbed. I get Tuchel's dilemma. Harry only had 28 touches in 98 mins of football. He wasn't showing for the ball and he wasn't competing physically for much to be fair. Congo clearly roughed him up which is a decent tactic with Harry nowadays.

Then Harry did what Harry does best. The stat that matters the most. An absolute worldie. The way he shifted that ball and how clean he struck it was a beautiful thing.

Now Tuchel needs to aspire to make his captain more relevant in the next one. He had 35 touches against Croatia and played very well. He has had 25,20 and 28 touches in the other 3 games. I'd love to see Harry on the ball more. It would make such a difference to England. 5 goals in 4 games is fantastic but you always want more if you want to win tournaments.

As a comparison, Mbappe had 55 touches in the last one. If Harry has 55 touches, we walk last night's game.
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I know what you mean. In knockout games for England, Kane can sometimes feel a bit peripheral. He needs to have a more consistent impact, like he did yesterday. You can’t score in every match, but if he isn’t finding the net, then his overall performance has to be stronger and more influential—especially given how often he drops deep and looks to dictate play with his range of passing.

If the goals aren’t coming, the performance still has to be there. This could be a defining tournament for Harry. If England are going to win the World Cup, it will likely be him or Bellingham who makes the difference—they’re the two genuinely world-class players we have. The very best, like Messi and Mbappé, step up in those moments and drag their teams over the line.
 
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Kane is never going to get 55 touches unless he goes out wide and stand 10 yards behind Madueke. In a world full of useless stats I'd love to see the number of passes he has recieved from Rashford in their England careers, I don't think I would need both hands to check.
 
K.D.D.D.D.Soc said:
Kane is never going to get 55 touches unless he goes out wide and stand 10 yards behind Madueke. In a world full of useless stats I'd love to see the number of passes he has recieved from Rashford in their England careers, I don't think I would need both hands to check.
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I wouldn’t put an arbitrary figure on the number of touches he needs, but Muttley isn’t wrong in saying Kane needs to have more of an impact. All strikers thrive on service, but Kane isn’t a tap-in merchant or a traditional penalty-box striker. He’s a creative player who often drops deep to help build and facilitate chances.

The issue is that he doesn’t always do that enough in knockout games, although yesterday he did it brilliantly and ended up scoring twice. In these do-or-die, win-or-go-home matches, he needs to consistently deliver one or the other: either dictate and influence the game through his playmaking, or make decisive contributions in front of goal.
 
The problem looks to be that tactically Tommy Tickle has decided to use two wide men and play through them rather than anything really through the middle.

Kane has been told to be more a target man than dropping deep. If he dropped deep he would fill a similar space to Bellingham and actually occupying defenders is helpful in itself.

Then comes the problem that the wide men are either rubbish at crossing/getting the ball into the box or shoot on sight into the side-netting (Rashford) or gently into the arms of the keeper (Saka).
 
Jurgen the German said:
I know what you mean. In knockout games for England, Kane can sometimes feel a bit peripheral. He needs to have a more consistent impact, like he did yesterday. You can’t score in every match, but if he isn’t finding the net, then his overall performance has to be stronger and more influential—especially given how often he drops deep and looks to dictate play with his range of passing.

If the goals aren’t coming, the performance still has to be there. This could be a defining tournament for Harry. If England are going to win the World Cup, it will likely be him or Bellingham who makes the difference—they’re the two genuinely world-class players we have. The very best, like Messi and Mbappé, step up in those moments and drag their teams over the line.
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Yeah, I have to be careful with Harry because he is untouchable to some and I get stick for daring to be anything but overly positive about him. I always hoped one of the earlier Spurs managers would have got him to address some of the things you talk about. We can all create narratives about him just playing to manager's instructions but I don't really think that is the case. He creates manager dilemmas in my opinion as he is the star man but sometimes very anonymous. It's subtle stuff but quite honestly he's coming up to his 33rd b'day and won't change. The time to get some of this addressed was when he was doing it at 27/28 years old, knowing he never really did it in his early career.

As you say though, Bellingham could have easily been the man last night. The keeper was soft for Harry's header but incredibly strong for Belingham's. Them's the breaks. I am a Bellingham fan actually.
 
Slightly off topic, I bought a new driver at American Golf last and used a 15% OFF code they emailed me because England were playing.
It was a 10% code on Saturday.
When I collected it England were losing 1-0, so I was happy with the £45 I saved.
By the time I came out England had won, I could have waited and maybe saved myself another 5% at the next round.
Highlight of my WC so far.
 
What is the point of Madueke? Every time he touched the ball, he fudged it up. He failed to support Spence for the goal, and I don't think I have ever seen a lazier player when it comes to tracking back.
 
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