Starting Atiba Hutchinson was a mistake, I think. He's so slow, which isn't exactly surprising given that he's 174 years old, but Croatia keeps simply bypassing him.
Morocco's day continues to get better. They will only need a point against (an eliminated) Canada to qualify if it stays like this, leaving Belgium v Croatia effectively as a straight shoot-out. They might even qualify with a defeat to Canada.
Harsh on Canada but Croatia have been excellent today. Canada can bow out with their heads held high.
I’m sure it is hurting to be out at the earliest possibility after such a long wait, but I suppose this is valuable experience for them with some hosting duties next time out. I did expect slightly better from them today though.
Good news for Canada is they've got more highly rated youngsters coming through - Marshall-Rutty is meant to be a real talent and he'll be 22 for the next World Cup. So in theory they should have a better squad for that one.
Yeah, realistically we still need a few more players to be competitive at this level, but the squad is only likely to improve over the next cycle or two. Kone in midfield will likely be a big one, and we need to find some defenders especially as Steven Vitoria will likely age out. But there are so many good attackers coming through that our depth issues (read: having to use Liam Miller and Lucas Cavallini while chasing a game or, like, at all, ever) should be a thing of the past come 2026. Largely been what I expected thus far, and I definitely wouldn't expect Canada to play like an eliminated side against Morocco; we're still chasing that first-ever World Cup result, which was always more of a goal than qualification to the Round of 16.
Whenever we do replace Southgate, I really hope it is with a coach that has a positive style of play and sense of identity. Watching this Spain side under Enrique is interesting as you can clearly see how they are trying to play. Not only is it good football but it makes the most of their technically gifted young squad. It would be great if someone came in and played to the advantages of Foden, Bellingham, Saka, Rice, Maddison, Grealish etc.
Hard to watch Mauricio pochettino being all sexy on my tv. come back to saints and be sexy on the sidelines for us again you beautiful bastard
Need the Germans to lose this so ABK can get himself home and start training. Literally every day will count at the moment, so rooting for Spain tonight
