Morning all.
The World Cup is into the knockout stages, starting from today and here’s how the last 16 looks.
Today:
Netherlands v United States – 2-0 at half-time.
Argentina v Australia – 7pm
Sunday 4th December:
France v Poland – 3pm
England v Senegal – 7pm
Monday 5th December:
Japan v Croatia – 3pm
Brazil v Korea Republic – 7pm
Tuesday 6th December:
Morocco v Spain – 3pm
Portugal v Switzerland – 7pm
The two winning countries on each day will then play each other in the quarter-finals. Potentially, England could face France if they beat Senegal tomorrow evening. What a cracking game that could be.
I was sure Takehiro Tomiyasu would be on his way to Dubai by now but a shock defeat of Spain changed that. Still, at least Thomas Partey’s duty in Qatar is over and unless things change in the match being played now, Matt Turner will be joining him. Granit Xhaka, Bukayo Saka, Aaron Ramsdale, Gabriel Martinelli, Gabriel Jesus and William Saliba have at least one more game to play.
Brazil are still my favourites to win the competition, talking of which, reports in the media today suggest Brazilian football legend Pele ‘has been moved to palliative care’ in hospital and is ‘no longer responding to chemotherapy’ in his fight against bowel cancer. Reports in Brazil said the 82-year-old, who went into hospital last week, is receiving measures to relieve pain in an ‘end-of life palliative care’ ward.
The one thing we all know for sure in life is that one day, our life will end. It’s sad to read that for Pele, that day might come very soon but at least he’s made it to 82 years old and will have left his mark on the world he leaves behind. I hope he gets to see his fellow countryman lift the World Cup, as he himself did on three occasions.
The greatest footballer ever? Messi and Ronaldo fans might say no but I think the rest of the world will probably say yes…
Come on USA, score a couple of goals and make the game more interesting…
Update – sorry, I missed this before posting.
Gabriel Jesus will miss the rest of Brazil’s World Cup campaign with a knee injury and is a doubt for the Premier League restart with Arsenal later this month – Sky Sports.
Rotten news, just rotten.
Evening Rico. I’m sorry to hear that sad news about Pele.
Evening Adam, it is sad isn’t it.
Brazil and, in particular, Pele changed the game of football forever. In my mind the question of who is the greatest footballer of all time is without a doubt the incomparable Pele.
Yep, the only player with three WC trophies I just heard them say on the Beeb.
one of my quiz questions last week . Didnt know the beeb were there
In this sanitised game the treatment that Pele was given would be tantamount to assault and battery.
Great player who in latter stages of his life was involed with performance enhancing drugs..
Didn’t know that he was involved with drugs, thought that was just Maradona..
Worrying reports that Jesus could require an operation and be out for three months, if true then Eddie has a massive job on his hands and Edu might need to resign his transfer targets next month?
Rejig not resign
Afternoon Rico and all.
Best wishes to Pele.
If all reports about Jesus are true then Edu might have his hands full trying to find a replacement,
let’s hope he heals soon, and it does not turn out like Santi’s healing
I am proud of what the Aussie’s done at the world cup.
I just wish Keepers would just get the ball out of the goal area and not play around with it
Back to reality for English cricket, 218- 5 on day four, with one opener out first ball for a duck and Stokes out for nought too.
Rico , It was Viagra !
The Jesus rumours are worrying and almost inevitable that if anything was going to derail us it would be the world cup. We have a record of losing important players to international matches and it seems that the pattern is likely to continue .
Today the airwaves are full of the Foden supporters , they want him and Rashford to play and Saka to sit on the bench , personally I am in full favour of that , not because I am considering the best interests of the international team but that of Arsenal .Effectively I don’t want to lose any more players before Boxing day.
Cicero, do you not think that England were simply being aggressive in their batting because for a change, we now have a coach and captain who wants to win? In the past, we’d still be batting, going for a total which would guarantee a draw with a win a bonus..
I’m shocked Potter. 😂
I too don’t care if England opt for Foden instead of Saka.
Losing Jesus and/or Partey was always the fear and it seems it’s now a reality in relation to Jesus. If it’s three months for him, surely the club will sign a striker in January.
https://dailycannon.com/2022/12/arsenal-mudryk-shakhtar/
Well done England now smash the French in the next round
Thanks Geoff, your lads did you proud, I also enjoyed watching the US and Canada, maybe all three of you are on an upward curve?
Mudryk for £40m or is it €40m, approx £35m, which would seem more realistic and in line with the type of business Edu is more likely to do…
Interesting that Man City are rumoured to be willing to sell Jack Grealish this summer, could that be a kind of Jesus/Zinchenko type of clearing the decks to splash out on Bellingham?
I still occasionally read that Arsenal are interested in Leroy Sane (26) of Bayern, Arteta of course worked with him at City, agreeing a fee with Bayern could be problematic as they’re hard to negotiate with and Sané has repeatedly said he doesn’t want to leave Munich, but money talks andhe is a talented player even if he is a bit Marmite…
Kev I recon what helps the Australian team is, we have no real stand out player, it’s the coach and player’s – playing as one and getting the most out of each other.
I hope Raheem Sterling family are all ok. When you hear stories like that, I can see some players increasing their security very quickly.
I echo the views on Sterling and his family. These burglars make me sick, those poor children should never go through such a thing, nor should anyone. The judicial system, if by some miracle the offenders are caught, will probably give them a slap on the wrist which should stop them reoffending. Not!
England were a tad fortunate imo. Maguire and Stones were really poor in defence. Play like that against France and we’re out.
Rico the court system in Australia is no better,
It’s crazy Geoff. If they’re found guilty, throw away the key.
Just as well Sterling wasn’t there , if he’d caught them he would probably got arrested and received a longer sentence than the thieves.
Absolutely, just read his family weren’t there either. Thank goodness.
The England central defence is quite poor, Maguire can make himself a nuisance when he goes up for corners, but his defensive play is dodgy to say the least and he is slow to spot opportunities to play the ball quickly up-field. Stones is only average and Southgate’s go to stand in is the dire Dyer l, God help him if he has to play against Mbappe, he doesn’t have the pace or nous to get near him.
The saving grace is that I think our defenders should be able to cope with Giroud.
Tomiyasu has started for Japan, reports of him being injured were obviously fake news.
The tabloids are reporting that Jesus is out for three months, even before the Brazilian medics have received the results of his scan. More fake news?
Tomiyasu said the other day that he was fine. The media are rascals…
Tomiyasu will soon be joining his Arsenal teammates in Dubai after a truly awful series of penalty attempts by Japan in the shootout with Croatia.