Braeburn's World Cup Blog - Day 5 - England Expects!

After twenty minutes of yesterday’s final game, I was just about ready to declare Brazil the World Champions elect. They looked slick, powerful, pacey, had total control of the ball and Philippe Coutinho had scored arguably the best goal of the tournament so far. Saints fans will know the one I’m talking about, right foot, twenty yards, curling into the top corner, this time in off the post to give the keeper absolutely no chance. But then something happened, what exactly I don’t know but suddenly Switzerland were alive to everything that Tite’s men threw at them. The space disappeared, men in red shirts blocked every avenue and suddenly Brazil looked very ordinary. Switzerland equalised, Brazil complained of a push on Miranda by scorer Steven Zuber, but there was not enough to disallow the goal, even if VAR had even employed. Neymar grew increasingly frustrated, dropping deeper to get the ball and inexplicably throwing himself to the ground and writhing in agony whenever anybody went near him. For all his talents his propensity to act the prick is a royal shame. And so despite all the talent on show, the second goal would not come for Brazil.

Mexican's celebrating their win against Germany along the beach in Almería.

However, Brazil are not alone among the favourites in looking pretty average. Yesterday afternoon Germany lost to Mexico as they began the defence of their title. Sure, they huffed and they puffed but they produced very few clear-cut opportunities and the likelihood of a Brazil v Germany second round meeting increased massively. Earlier in the week, France struggled against Australia, Argentina slipped on the Iceland and even Spain, while looking great in possession, contrived to let in three goals against a one-man team. Indeed the only two sides to win convincingly were Russia and Croatia. The former swept along on a wave of opening day optimism and the latter offered training game conditions by opponents who genuinely appeared not give a toss. Of the nations fancied pre-tournament only Belgium are yet to play and their big moment comes this afternoon against Panama. What all this means, of course, is that this World Cup, despite still being in its infancy is starting to take on a very open look, things can change of course but so far there seems to be no firm favourite...

All of this leads me to tonight, to 7pm in Volgograd, to the big one, the game the world has been waiting for. Yes, Tunisia versus England in Group G. I know we have been here before. Optimism sky high before a ball has been kicked. Just now, in the middle of writing this paragraph, I took a moment to check the schedule and map England’s path to the semi... 'if we win our group and Germany are second in theirs then the quarter-final would be Serbia or Mexico...’ I know it is crazy talk. We will probably draw nil-nil against Tunisia and then lose one-nil to Panama, going home before a ball is kicked in anger against Belgium. The certainty that England will never win anything slowly replaced with blind optimism in the build-up to Euro 2020. I wonder sometimes if this is the best bit, right now, sitting in bed eleven hours before kick-off, I can believe that England can win the World Cup. Like not checking the lottery ticket in your wallet because then you know the dreams of buying a house big enough for a snooker table will be dashed. In reality, the game cannot come soon enough, even at 43 the excitement is palpable... it’s a little embarrassing really.

Today's SBC League tips:

Despite the struggles of many big nations so far I can't see Belgium and England having any trouble dispatching Panama and Tunisia respectively today. All the talk in the papers is of Harry Kane wanting a hat-trick tonight and while that is unlikely I fully expect the skipper to get off the mark with a goal or two. Meanwhile, England look pretty solid at the back and their defence shouldn't be tested by such limited opposition. After yesterday's betting disaster I am confident of a good day this time around!

Tunisia v England & Belgium v Panama
England to win to nil, 4 points at 2.05 with BetVictor.
Harry Kane to score at anytime, 4 points at 1.9 with Unibet.
England & Belgium to be leading at HT & FT, 2 points at 3.61 with Coral.

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Thanks for watching and/or reading.