Group G: BEL | PAN | TUN | ENG

They left their mark on Kane but ultimately he had the last laugh!

I was wondering today if we, as a footballing nation, would accept it if our team played like Tunisia did if we were at the World Cup

I stayed up after a nightshift to watch that dross. First 15 mins and I thought England were going to wipe the floor clean after the first goal. That they managed to desperately hang on till 2nd half injury time to score a winner says a lot. Come on! It's frigging Tunisia.

Yes, they were playing League (Tunisia) and yes the ref was a bell end, but hey, England boasted players from the Premier League and they couldn't unlock them?? Sterling should hang his head in shame after that performance. Rashford to start ahead of him please.

I think the Auckland Blues are looking at giving that Tunisian defender a super rugby contract, such were the force of his tackles ??

Pretty sad how English fans cry about the ref and how they were grabbed in the box etc. Even after they won.

Yes, I've seen the same of many teams, look how Costa Rica were grabbing the Serbs during corners etc. Same thing. Not acceptable, but also not something you can use an excuse for your team being crap. 

"Oh but the guy held one of our players during a set piece and we should've got a penalty" doesn't win you World Cups, if it did, every country would have one. Grow up.

oh dear, someones got their panties in a twist this morning.....

Whose crying ?... commenting on a forum about "incidents" wether you win/lose is pretty normal I'd say.

To be fair, this was from fans not players. I thought Kane's post-match was good, briefly mentioned there were a few dodgy calls but emphasised that they were expecting that, prepared for it and knew they just had to get on with it. 

I'm going to go against the grain here - but I thought England played a good "tournament" game.

Traditionally England teams have taken games at a million miles per hour. Something that isn't sustainable or effective over the course of a tournament such as the world cup. Something I think Brazil has traditionally done really well, is slowing games down.

I think many fans are criticising England for not running around like headless chickens. When in reality not sprinting around like headless chickens meant England were never exposed to a stupid counter attack, and are much better geared for the rest of the tournament.

I think the only thing you can be super critical about is the lack of finishing.

I think this wouldn't have been an unreasonable assessment if England didn't need a goal 2 minutes into stoppage time to actually get ahead in the game.

Which was only the case because of the lack of finishing, no?

No, not in the second half. England did not create a single promising scoring opportunity in the second half until they scored from a corner that Tunisia completely needlessly conceded.

Is EFTDS (English Football Team Derangement Syndrome) similar to (TDS) Trump Derangement Syndrome) ?

Disagree. Like mentioned above, this would be relevant if they hadn't scored their winner courtesy of schoolboy level defense in stoppage time. Admittedly, they had a good first half, but this was followed by a terrible, terrible second half. 

If finishing is the only problem you see with this team, then your too content with shark football - supporting United probably doesnt help 

Mate, it's a single game in a difficult game against an opponent that parked the bus. I can't recall them having an opportunity despite the penalty. On top of that every time England looked to break down the opposition the ref let them get fouled.

On another day it's 4-0 and we all run around patting England on the back.

Thought England fully deserved to win against a very negative Tunisian side. They should have been out of sight in the first half and the lack of finishing ability to support Kane is a worry: as I've said earlier, they need that second striker to share the load. Preferably Rashford IMO...

I think a few people are getting carried away with their criticism (and I won't mention their reasons): Yeah England huffed and puffed a bit at times in the second half, but they came through in the end. If a German team had done that, they'd be applauded for "finding a way", "showing resilience" or "never say die". This doesn't mean England are now genuine contenders, and it doesn't mean they are the tournaments easy beats either. It just means they've come through a tough physical game with three points, a lot more than a few other countries...

Being a Liverpool supporter, that last comment was more tongue-in-cheek rather than a proper dig! But yeah I see what your getting at, I just think the significant drop in performance in the 2nd half is quite concerning

A great game for the neutral!

Is Lukaku a better player than Kane?

Lukaku for golden boot

Belgium look like they may actually deliver on the promise they've had for years.

Dark Horses! [drink!]

This is nothing we haven't seen from the Belgians before in recent times. They have a tendency to beat up on teams that they should beat, but the real indicator of whether they're making the next step is when they put in a quality performance in a high pressure game.

True I suppose that last Euros they did beat up a couple of teams, but last World Cup they were only scraping through every game big time and not looking very impressive at all when I had big expectations of them. Even ignoring margin of victories, they've looked a far more free flowing/cohesive team than they did in the group stages 4 years ago. True the test will be how they step up in a high pressure game - for me they look a lot more capable of doing that than last time.

And just to clarify, I was also talking about their qualifying campaign too, 9 wins and 1 draw and 40+ goals, but at the same time found it very difficult in the two games against Greece. They'll be favored regardless of who they play in the Round of 16, but assuming they get past that, we'll see what they're made of in the quarters.

Yeah Belgium vs England game is almost meaningless. Probably an easier path coming 2nd in that group and I expect Belgium to rest a few players. 

Belgium look fairly fragile at the back and as a team they lack real width.

Still, that spine is going to cause anyone trouble so we'll see.

Definitely the group of life. A shame, because England vs Belgium could've been a good game if it was more meaningful.

I wish you lot would shut up about a match being meaningful or not.

Good stuff  by us at half time. 

Will be interesting to see how the England v Belgium game plays out now given results and possible permutations in other groups.  As mentioned they may well be a much better pathway in coming second and that will be even clearer before kick off than it is now.  

I cannot see either side not wanting to win on the day though.  Their egos would not allow it

What's really interesting to me is that with both having the exact same goal difference, if the game is a draw the tie-breaker will be yellow and red cards. So it will be interesting to see, if the game is tied late on, if one of the teams sends someone on get himself red carded and trying to finish second that way (since it does look likely that that would give an easier path to the semis).

Perfect role for the third choice keeper.

Wow when was the last time Engerland scored 6 goals in the WC? Great result and just what was needed after the last game where they could have had a hat full but missed so many chances.

Really want England to do well this WC, gawd knows their long suffering (but loyal) fans deserve it!

First time since the '66 final they've scored 4

First time ever that they have scored more than four

*At a World Cup

There highest ever victory is 13-0 over Ireland back in 1882.

Kanes five goals also puts him 2nd equal with Geoff Hurst as top goal scorers at World Cups behind Gary Lineker.

Can England keep the momentum going....let's find out!

No they don't!

Same as the Scots. 

I loved the commentators remarking that 'Stones wasn't marked' when the Panama player trying to track him was clearly held back from being able to.

Haters (and Scots) gonna hate

Well yea, the question was pertaining specifically to World Cups