Darren Young is back to look over the Round of 16 in which England made history by finally getting over their penalty hoodoo……phew!

World Cup Review – Round of 16

Told you this World Cup seemed different to the others. And to prove it, England have won a game via a penalty shoot-out!

I also said, in this column, that I thought Gareth Southgate had taken a calculated gamble in wanting to finish second in Group G. He had seen, or at least felt, that the draw would open up and his risk has been rewarded now; were we about to play Brazil in the next game I think we’d be thinking this is likely to be the end of the road. Instead, we play a team that lost to Germany. Germany? Who are they?

Exactly.

The last three weeks in Russia haven’t just been different, but brilliant too. Like the way the sun is beaming every single morning at the moment, there is a guarantee of excitement, drama and goals in this World Cup. Like the sun, we’ll certainly miss it when it’s not there anymore.

It’s the sharp end now, so every team is just one good performance or a touch of luck away from a semi-final. The last round was compelling, in various ways, and now, there are only three places you can be in this competition; the dreaded left-hand side of the draw, the softer right-hand side of the draw or not in the draw at all.

Let’s deal with that one first. World Cup 2018 had already dealt us a couple of shock omissions in Italy and Netherlands. The fact that the USA are also absent was probably a bigger shock to Fox – who’d paid through the nose for the TV rights – than the rest of us and once in Russia, the thrilling group stage only saw one real major upset but what an upset it was. But when the knock-out games began, so the giants really began to fall.

I’ll start there.

 

Argentina

Never really found a way to get Messi into the right positions and apart from a sublime strike against Nigeria, he cut a frustrated and peripheral figure for the rest of it. Although they went out with a bang – edged out in a seven-goal thriller by France – it was hardly a surprise by then as rumours of problems in the camp took a hold as well as managerial question marks and ex-players wading in to kick them when they were down. It’s hard to see how a team blessed with so many attacking riches could get it so wrong but there is always one team that implodes when it matters most at a World Cup.

 

Spain

Usually one team implodes. But with this World Cup being such a brilliant one, we got two for the price. It had started messily when they sacked their unbeaten manager just 48 hours before their first game for getting a Real job, and then one victory – a somewhat fortunate one v Iran – in the group set the tone. Leaving Iniesta out was one straw too many and despite a new WC record for passes (over a thousand) in the last-16, they passed themselves, and not Russia, to death.

 

Portugal

If any country was aiming darts at a picture of full-kit VAR referee pinned to a board on their plane home, it could have been the European Champions. Sitting pretty atop their group and looking forward to a match versus Russia, they saw two injury-time video decisions (for Iran and Spain) knock them into second place and Uruguay’s path. We will never know if they would have got past the hosts, but in the end, the dream meeting between Ronaldo and Messi at this World Cup was restricted to the airport departure lounge on Saturday evening.

 

Others

Mexico still haven’t reached that elusive fifth game for the first time since 1986 but they gave Brazil a fright and, in their goalkeeper, Ochoa, they had a rival for the best at the World Cup to go alongside Kasper Schmeichel. The blond haired one saved three penalties and still went out, but with his and his team mate’s heads held high. Another team to leave with their chests puffed out are Japan. Bizarrely, after defending when losing against Poland, they chose to bravely go for a winning goal against Belgium when they were level in the last minute of injury time – and paid the ultimate price. Colombia deserve a mention too, as they took England to the brink. A stronger referee and correct use of VAR might have made it a bit easier for England, but you do what you can to get an advantage, and Colombia did everything – like trying to make a molehill out of a penalty spot.

 

Left Hand Side of the Draw

 

France

Incredible that with two teams having meltdowns, the French aren’t either of them. Usually they can be relied upon for an internal squabble but this time, they look as likely as anyone to go all the way. They’ve managed to combine power, speed and guile in attack, to great effect with multiple ways to hurt the opposition although if your right-back can go from the German second division to scoring a goal like he did against Argentina, then you’re definitely onto something good. Only the quality of their semi-final opponents looks likely to stop them, if indeed anyone does.

 

Brazil

We could have been forgiven for wondering what all the hype was about as Brazil stumbled through their group with a draw and two wins they made a meal out of. But their undoubted class began to show against Mexico in the second round. They made the Mexicans wait as the sang an acapella final verse of their anthem, and for twenty minutes, that was the only thing El Tri conceded, but then Brazil went through the gears and scored through Neymar and an under-used Firmino. They look strong – you feel they might get stronger – but even though the goal Switzerland scored in their opening game is the only one they’ve conceded in nine matches, they aren’t invincible and Belgium and maybe France will really test that defence.

 

Uruguay

After winning half of the first four World Cups, the South Americans have always been there or thereabouts ever since without ever threatening to do it for a third time.  Often, they run into a really big hitter in the latter stages and just fall short, and in 2010 and 2014, they’ve lost Luis Suarez to suspension at key times. With Cavani providing the goals this time, and thus less reliance on Suarez, they are a dangerous opponent for anyone, as Portugal discovered, but you sense that they’ll rue being in the side of the draw with all the big hitters again.

 

Belgium

Close to seventy minutes into their last-16 game and underdogs Japan had a two-goal lead and were looking fairly comfortable. The Red Devils appeared shell-shocked, devoid of ideas and the coach looked bemused. The goalie with too much to say would have been better off keeping goal and his mouth shut. It felt very England versus Iceland from Euro ’16. All it needed was everyone to begin saying they should have taken Andy Carroll to bring on for ‘this kind of game’ but then Martinez did act, throwing a big lump of his own on and it worked as they first drew level and then won it with a goal straight out of the 5-a-side Power League with the very last kick. Now all they’ve got to do is beat Brazil and then France to get to the final. Anyone still think England should have tried to win the group?

 

Right Hand Side of the Draw

 

Russia

This ‘mini-European Championships with a World Cup’ contains a bunch of teams of whom England – yes, England – are the most successful and highly ranked. Bonkers!

Before the whole thing started, the host nation was the lowest ranked team of all and many people feared they might not get out of their group., but they did in just two games. Against Spain, they showed their other side, soaking up pressure and then holding their nerve with the penalties. For context, Spain passed the ball more times against them than Russia had in all their games combined but goals scored is the stat that matters. Apart from their 38-year old defender scoring an own goal without knowing it, they looked solid and drawing on the passion of the massive home support, they could take some stopping.

 

Croatia

Looked irresistible in the group stage, but Sunday League in the first minute of their knockout game against Denmark. They needed a quick response and got one with a pub-team goal of their own. You sense so much rests on Luka Modric, who missed a penalty but redeemed himself in the shoot-out and also did in one pass what Spain failed to do with 1,006 and split a defence. They’d have taken a quarter-final versus Russia if offered it in early June. It also looks like it’s going to be a while before they are allowed to wear those red and white squared shirts again.

 

Sweden

Not picking on Sweden but the France v Argentina match had as many goals as all four games in this half of the draw. A pattern had emerged; the left-hand side of the draw was producing free-flowing, goal-laden matches and the other half was not. But that’s not anyone’s fault and the Swedes have shown resilience and some efficiency in front of goal to reach the last eight. Their knockout win against Switzerland was one of the poorer games we’ve seen and fittingly, a deflected goal decided it, but you write them off at your peril.

 

England

Going into the game, we weren’t sure how good England were. They’d had two very impressive halves against Tunisia and Panama, and we knew their reserve team weren’t all that, but the first XI were untested against a good team and the manager had admitted as much. After beating Colombia and what now seems like a sensible move to rest players against Belgium (thus avoiding Japan, Brazil and France) they now have their best chance of getting to the final for twenty-eight years. It doesn’t need me to add to the obvious stuff that’s already been said but there are some real signs that this England team is different too:

–The can recover from adversity. The late goal was a visibly sickening blow, but they pulled themselves together and in the second period of extra time looked like they might win it without the need for penalties. Of course, maybe keeping a clean sheet one of these days would help too.

–They can take spot kicks. Henderson showed his hand, but the others didn’t look like missing and Harry Kane looks like he’d score a hundred out of a hundred at the moment. And the way teams defend corners against us, he might get close.

–They can withstand provocation. Just. They are young, and they’ll make mistakes, but they stayed on the right side of the rules last night and with a stronger referee they’d have played against ten men, and maybe less, for most of it.

England won’t get a better chance to reach a semi-final – at least – than this and experience tells us that it might be another twenty-eight years before it happens again.

So, just like this weather, try to make the most of it while it lasts.