It's been a funny day. I watched the first half in perfect HD on my phone in the car on the way to Luton Airport, timed perfectly so we would be checked in and airside to watch the 2nd half in the terminal. Got to the terminal only to find the whole building had been evacuated for a fire alarm. Stood outside in the baking sun with poor connectivity for the whole of the 2nd half (and beyond) so saw none of it, organisation a total shambles and only just made the flight, and have now finally arrived in Cyprus, underfed and with sunburn before I even got here, but managed to squeeze in a few pints before last orders at the hotel bar so the holiday starts in earnest now. Holidaying with a German mate so the final Germany game will have added interest. Anyway, match summary: great first half, and **** knows about the second. England going very well and hopefully we can enjoy a nice run in the tournament - I have no delusions about getting to semis or finals, although a quarter would be nice. I've not worked out the possibilities but we may rest players in the Belgium game depending on how important we think it is to win the group (based on who we could/would play in the subsequent rounds). It's just nice to have the job done and feel some pride in the national side for a change.
Oh yeah, and Panama were utter ****e and their team tactics just seemed to be to foul England players at any and every opportunity. Maybe they cleaned their act up in the second half?
Clearly their manager had told them to lay off with the fouling second half. There is footage of their manager having a friendly word with Southgate when they came out for the second half. My guess is he was letting him know this.
