FOXBOROUGH, MA – We came into this tournament wanting to discover the natural heir to football’s greatest duopoly, the last knockings of the Ronaldo-Messi axis with a line of great pretenders. Kylian Mbappe is here to say something: I’m already it.
In Foxborough, just as in 2022, Africa’s best team offered resistance in patches but were never close to troubling the world’s best team. Mbappe gave them a second life with a miserably weak penalty, but in this game of cat and mouse only Morocco were ever likely to be souris.
Mbappe has suffered in the club game, at least by the expectations of his grandeur. Paris Saint-Germain improved in his absence and he was held up as a principal cause. At Real Madrid, his lack of defensive actions were proposed as a reason for failure this season.
The low point came with a viral post that concluded that Mbappe ranked 6,043 out of 6,044 players who averaged more defensive contributions last season. It provoked admissions from France’s captain that he needed to work on that side of his game.
Can I just say: I don’t care about the defensive actions. Real Madrid perhaps might, but France shouldn’t. Focusing on what Mbappe does without the ball is like turning over a Van Gogh painting and criticising the structural integrity of the frame. It is joyless and it has been made to look deeply foolish this summer.
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Mbappe now has 20 World Cup goals. Messi, still here and still scoring, is one clear of him at the top. Messi is the greatest player to have ever lived and scored his 21 goals in 31 matches. Mbappe has played 10 fewer. It is ludicrous.
In fact, you can make a case for Mbappe now being the ultimate World Cup footballer, up there with He has scored almost a third of international goals in the thinnest air of this environment, an astonishing statistic. He has a hat-trick in a final. He is still only 27. Forget Messi and Ronaldo for now; Mbappe could surpass their combined World Cup goals total.
The only flaw was the penalty – another way in which Mbappe personifies the World Cup. Twenty of the 60 penalties this summer have been missed, the highest miss percentage since World Cup statistical records began.
Why are so many players missing penalties?
Against Morocco, Mbappe had the perfect storm. He was facing a goalkeeper who he knows (the amount of research that goalkeepers do now must live in the minds of takers). He was forced to wait for two minutes by VAR, which creates extra pressure. The ball in this tournament seems to veer and move in the air, which may persuade players to keep their kick away from corners.
And he used the dreaded stutter run-up, which has only a 50 per cent success record at the tournament. It invites goalkeepers to dive and then you pick the opposite corner, but the goalkeeper now knows just to wait. By then players must be panicking. Go the right way and the goalkeeper saves the penalty. Lo and behold: a half-and-half success rate.
France will not care, for they march on. All tournament we have been waiting for them to stutter or stumble. Paraguay kicked them from pillar to post, but that appears to be the only way to stop this team and even then they found a way. Senegal troubled them for 30 minutes but lost 3-1. It’s hardly cause for great concern.
It is Mbappe, not Messi, who has become the defining player within this tournament. He has suffered physical treatment from defenders. This week stood up to disgusting racist abuse from Paraguayan senator Celeste Amarilla when it would have been easier to simply dip his head below the parapet. He has worn the captain’s armband for three years and he is a symbol of a better, united France at a time when far-right politics is engulfing the country.
Mbappe doesn’t display his emotions often; these superstars usually prefer to let the football do the talking. But he has had a long week and a long season. Two minutes after full-time in Gillette Stadium, Mbappe danced up and down and waved his arms in joy. On the big screen above him, his name was read out as this quarter-final’s best player. Never in doubt. Mbappe is owning this summer.
KANSAS CITY — It was half a smart play by Fifa. Revisit the case, adjust the tariff, double down. You might say Jarell Quansah paid the price for Fifa’s egregious (mis)management of the Folarin Balogun case.
Balogun, you may remember, was sent off for serious foul play, handed a two-match ban and was going fishing before Donald Trump picked up the phone to his valet, Fifa president Gianni Infantino, to protest injustice.
The exact process that led from the Trump call to Balogun’s reprieve is buried in mystery, protected by a regulation that allows Fifa’s disciplinary committee to revisit cases without explanation or account.
However, by upgrading Quansah’s red card offence to serious foul play and doubling his ban from one to two matches Fifa’s shadowy order could plausibly claim equivalence of process, namely that they went back over the evidence in the same way to ensure the “correct” outcome was reached and appropriate sanction applied.
To which most right-minded folk would call bullshit and roll their eyes. The FA made their position clear, pointing out that when the referee went to the VAR screen to make his initial judgement he based his decision on still images which is against established protocols.
Fifa responded with a dismissive wave of the hand to deepen Thomas Tuchel’s right-back nightmare, most of it of his own making. His preference for the injury-prone Reece James and Tino Livramento over more robust options has left him praying for the continued health of Djed Spence, who he largely saw as a left-back.
Quansah saw red against Mexico (Photo: Reuters)
Spence has the attributes to succeed, pace, good feet, aggressive in the tackle. He can also switch off and stray the wrong side of the ball.
The England camp offered no updates on the health of James, nor Declan Rice, Marc Guehi and Elliot Anderson, who were all following individual programmes on the final day in Kansas before Saturday’s quarter-final meeting with Norway.
The team flew out Friday for a training session at the Miami Stadium to replicate the late afternoon conditions under a hot sun.
The mercury, which hit 94 on Wednesday, dropped following early morning thunderstorms but such was the amount of moisture in the heavy air, temperatures actually felt hotter.
None of this seemed to overly trouble the players, who appear more determined than ever to maintain the positive groove following the incredible high of Mexico.
Nico O’Reilly, who is particularly close to Quansah, and is himself one yellow card from suspension, said: “Yeah, of course, it’s sad. It can’t get appealed so we’ve just got to get on with it. Obviously, I feel bad for him as well.”
The sentiment found an echo in Bukayo Saka. “It is the way it is. We are not here to complain. We just need to adapt and pick a team ready to beat Norway.”
It’s all part of the new-found resilience running through the group. Saka is coming quietly to the boil after recovering from injury. Alongside the improving Anthony Gordon, Saka’s wide contributions have given England a new dimension in attack.
Gordon explained how he was frustrated and disappointed by his slow start to the tournament and how, against DR Congo in the round of 32, he decided to go for it, to remind himself why Barcelona chose him over Marcus Rashford and at twice the price to boot.
Saturday’s fixture pits England against a familiar foe. No opponent is more Anglicised in terms of their football presences and the number of players established in domestic English teams.
In this hot-house environment it feels like England are being carried towards a bejewelled destiny commensurate with their growing confidence and stature – which they will need to be to return Erling Haaland and his team of rowers to Norway in the longest of boats.
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KANSAS CITY — The dartboard is still there, players taking it in turns to take down Peter Crouch with bonhomie or even a well-placed arrow.
The content boom that became such a crowd-pleaser during Gareth Southgate’s great English makeover is an easy icebreaker for media sessions, lightening the mood and loosening tongues.
The return to Kansas City post-Mexico was supposed to be about decompressing before rising again in Miami, where Norway await in Saturday’s quarter-final.
While there has been some of that, Morgan Rogers explaining the benefits of England’s home from home in the American Midwest to a Norwegian journalist tasked with a dispatch from inside the enemy camp, there is also a low thrum of electricity crackling about the squad, a sense that some cosmic force is driving England towards the ultimate finale.
As an observer of the Southgate years, you never quite got the feeling the team believed the message.
Southgate’s instinct for inclusion built genuine bonds but never quite the commensurate belief that all champions exude.
If Thomas Tuchel has achieved one step with this team it is in shedding the imposter syndrome that ultimately stalled Southgate’s vehicle, the feeling that against the very best there was something deficient in the English character that condemned them to fail.
Thomas Tuchel allows his men to play with belief in themselves as individuals (Photo: Getty)
Rogers points enthusiastically to the game-changing output of Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane, the arrival bang on cue of the big dogs in England’s time of need.
This is not only expected but anticipated, and not just by the players.
The feeling of eminence is shared by the fans, which is, according to Rogers, a mutuality they have not really experienced before.
“We’ve shown to the world that we can win in different ways in different atmospheres, and environments,” he said.
“I think it gives us a lot of confidence, but I think gives the fans back home and everyone that extra bit of belief that no matter how the game’s going, we’ll find a way and we’ve got the ability to find a way.”
This does not come across as arrogance or bombast. It is a view genuinely held, promoted by a coach whose belief in them is absolute.
Yet for all the positivity and gratification associated with the Azteca rising, England have made it to the quarters without dominating in the manner of France or Spain.
This, you feel, is the elusive quality England have lacked, the ability to control a game from front to back, to put all the elements together in a cohesive way that leaves none in doubt about their calibre.
Declan Rice is a doubt for the quarter-final clash with Norway (Photo: Getty)
It may be that Bellingham, Kane and Declan Rice are enough of a guarantee.
It would be nice, however, were England to win the hearts of the neutrals as well as their own followers.
We have gleaned from the vanquished coaches of DR Congo and Mexico in the knockout rounds the esteem in which England’s finest are held.
Their technical appreciation of Bellingham and Kane speaks of the growing power of England to intimidate and threaten by reputation alone.
That is the ultimate measure of any team’s status, the degree to which the opponent falters in their presence.
England are on the point of becoming the team they want to be, of recognising their own power and influence in a way we have not seen since 1966.
Mexico was a watershed for many, exorcising the Hand of God in the Azteca.
That is only the start of the process.
Taking down Argentina and Lionel Messi, in many ways the son of Diego Maradona (God), in the semis, then emulating the boys of 66 in the final would return England to the vanguard of the game.
England’s strength in depth is almost unmatched. It’s probably only bettered by World Cup favourites France. What other country can afford to leave stars like Trent Alexander-Arnold, Cole Palmer and Phil Foden at home without missing much of a beat?
Such is the competition for places among the Three Lions that many footballers who could play for England actually represent other countries instead. Some of those are personal choices, some are more down to the quality of their positional rivals, some due to closer ties with those other nations, and more often than not they are a combination of all three.
You can actually make an alternative (and functional) England XI out of players who are at this World Cup, but not in Thomas Tuchel’s squad. Don’t believe us? Have a gander for yourself…
Owen Goodman – goalkeeper
It was a struggle to find another goalkeeper at this World Cup who could technically have played for England, but we just about got there (in a more perfect world, David Raya signs for Blackburn Rovers a couple of years earlier to gain British citizenship, but I guess that’s asking too much).
Having sifted through all 47 other nations, Crystal Palace prospect Owen Goodman is the only player who fits the bill. The 22-year-old played for Canada and England’s youth sides, though eventually revealed his dream to represent the World Cup co-hosts last summer.
However, head coach Jesse Marsch initially believed Goodman, who lived in Canada from the ages of five to 13, could not be called up due to concerns over his citizenship. The process to resolve this issue started and finished in late 2025, paving the way for Goodman to join the Canadian setup.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka – right-back
DR Congo’s Aaron Wan-Bissaka battles for the ball with England’s Marcus Rashford (Photo: Getty)
Aaron Wan-Bissaka was once part of a young British core at Manchester United under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. When he was signed for £50m from Crystal Palace in 2019, he was expected to break into the England squad.
Alas, he only ever earned one call-up, and stiff competition from the likes of Kyle Walker, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Reece James and Kieran Trippier meant Wan-Bissaka never played for the Three Lions.
Wan-Bissaka was wooed by DR Congo for half a decade before deciding to ratify his switch of international allegiance in 2025, just in time to help them secure World Cup qualification. It’s ironic that he played so well in their eventual last-32 defeat to England.
Axel Tuanzebe – centre-back
If injuries hadn’t hampered Axel Tuanzebe’s career, he may very well have fulfilled his potential and become an England regular. He was highly rated coming out of United’s academy system and was tipped to captain the first team, though fitness worries made it difficult for him to play for the Red Devils on a regular basis.
Tuanzebe moved to England from DR Congo as an infant and was a regular in the Young Lions teams. But after growing out of those age groups, he failed to even knock on the door of the England team and, like Wan-Bissaka would a year later, locked in DR Congo as his national side.
Kevin Danso – centre-back
Kevin Danso’s Ghanaian parents decided to emigrate to Milton Keynes from Austria, the country of his birth, when he was six. He came through the Dons’ academy and made the switch to Germany with Augsburg at 16.
This multiculturalism still embodies Danso to this day. He told L’Equipe: “I arrived in England when I was six years old. I could have played for England. I lived there for 10 years before going to Augsburg. And it’s strange, sometimes I feel more English than anything else, but sometimes more Austrian or more Ghanaian as well. I am happy to have this multiculturality, it allows me to be who I am.”
Austria were aware of Danso even when still with MK Dons, capping him at U15 level and fast-tracking him into the senior side in 2017 while still a teenager.
Antonee Robinson – left-back
Another son of Milton Keynes is left-back Antonee Robinson, now one of America’s best players thanks to his father earning citizenship having lived in New York.
Between Championship spells at Bolton and Wigan, Robinson earned a call-up to the United States senior side, while England were only offering an U21 berth. He picked the USMNT and has now represented them at three tournaments, all the while the Three Lions have cycled through a host of left-backs.
Michael Olise – right wing
France’s Kylian Mbappe celebrates his goal against Sweden with Michael Olise (Photo: Getty)
Michael Olise has said he hails “from four countries: France, Algeria, Nigeria and England.” Despite that, there was only one choice in his heart: “I have always had a connection with the France national team, that is why I play for France.”
It didn’t stop the FA from trying to change his mind. After all, Olise was born in Hammersmith Hospital and grew up in the Greater London suburb of Hayes, previously home to other English geniuses such as Glenn Hoddle and Ray Wilkins.
Obviously, it’s hard to get on a foreign radar when you’re still just a kid, so Olise’s mother is said to have sent tapes of him to the French Football Federation, eventually landing on the desk of a youth coach. In 2019, Olise was called up by France’s U18s, finally breaking into Les Bleus’ setup.
Jamal Musiala – midfield
Bayern Munich wizard Jamal Musiala was born in Germany and plays for Germany. That should be case open and closed there, right?
Well, it’s not that simple. Musiala’s father is part-British and their family moved to England when he was seven, joining the academies of Southampton and then Chelsea. He quickly found his way in the England youth setup, starring alongside future Three Lions in Jude Bellingham, Morgan Rogers and Noni Madueke.
The tide started to turn against England when Musiala’s family relocated back to Germany during his late teenage years, with Bayern Munich acquiring him from Chelsea. Days prior to his 19th birthday, Musiala announced he wanted to represent Germany at senior level. Even before turning 24, he has amassed 46 caps, is one of few flair players in Die Mannschaft’s ranks and will no doubt be a favourite under Jurgen Klopp (head coach’s job pending).
Scott McTominay – midfield
For many years, there were few England supporters rueing missing out on Scott McTominay to their Scottish neighbours north of the border. That sentiment may have flipped over the last couple of seasons.
At Manchester United, McTominay was an industrious if unspectacular squad option. It probably explains why Scotland went all-in with their pitch, whereas Gareth Southgate is said to have only sent him a text.
McTominay took his talents to Napoli in 2024 and announced himself as one of Europe’s leading box-crashing midfielders. It’s not a position or profile the Three Lions are lacking in, though he would have been a handy option for Tuchel to bring on from the bench, right?
Antoine Semenyo – left wing
When Ghana were dumped out of the 2010 World Cup in cruel fashion by Uruguay, they inadvertently left a lasting mark on Antoine Semenyo, whose Ghanaian family were left devastated by the result.
Up until his January transfer to Manchester City, almost all of Semenyo’s life was spent in the south of England. He had unsuccessful trials at Arsenal, Tottenham, Crystal Palace and Millwall before heading west to Bristol City, developing into a fine all-round forward in the Championship.
Impressive performances across 2022 saw Ghana swoop in and pip England to the post before securing a Premier League move to Bournemouth. Had he emerged as more of an obvious talent earlier, the Black Stars may have had more of a fight to contend for his loyalties.
(Graphic: The i Paper)
Folarin Balogun – forward
There’s been a lot of hullabaloo about Folarin Balogun of late, and you can’t really blame him for that. His red card for the USMNT against Bosnia was accidental, and the furore started by Donald Trump to suspend his ban to face Belgium was out of his hands.
Even despite that humiliating exit to Belgium, Balogun has become a favourite in the States for his other contributions at this World Cup, ending the tournament with three goals.
But Balogun could have very easily represented another nation, while it’s down to a row over flights that he was even able to play for the US in the first place. His Nigerian parents visited New York while his mother was seven months pregnant, and she was not able to board a return flight to their home in London. Balogun earned American citizenship by birthright, and in 2023, he switched allegiances from England to the US. Given there is no clear successor to Kane, the FA may well regret not tying the Arsenal academy graduate down to their regime.
You probably already know that Erling Haaland was eligible to represent England, given the topic has been discussed ad nauseum ever since he returned to the country in 2023 when signing for Manchester City.
Indeed, Haaland was born in Leeds while his father, Alf-Inge, still played for the Elland Road side, and the future striker was raised as a fan of the Whites. Thus, there was a possibility that Haaland and Harry Kane could have joined forces at international level, though he insists he always had his sights set on representing Norway instead.
“It was natural for me to choose Norway,” Haaland said. “You never know how it would be if maybe my father played longer in England or whatever. Maybe I would be English, I don’t know. But yeah, I’m Norwegian and I’m proud of it.”
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NEW YORK – It is possible, though unlikely, that I, a woman of 5ft 1in with a strong London accent, could ever be mistaken for an undercover member of the NYPD.
On the hottest day of summer in the city, on the corner of Rockefeller Plaza, I cannot help but notice I am being eyed surreptitiously. I am loitering around the spot where they normally put the big Christmas tree; for now, it has been transformed into a World Cup fan village.
All around me, deals are being done, through slights of hand and hushed, focused whispers. “Excuse me,” I approach the man who appeared to be regarding me with such caution. The eyes are averted again – in a flash, he is gone.
I have stumbled upon a secret trade. Of packs and cards, and complex filing systems of pen and paper. These are the Panini football sticker fanatics – they are filling up their annuals one player at a time and they are, I quickly appreciate, the most wholesome people you are likely to meet all summer.
“This is something we grew up doing every World Cup, trading at school,” says Clara, from Brazil. She started in 2002. “Here we are 20 years later – I’m ‘doing it for my son’” she says, miming inverted commas and a pantomime wink.
She is sitting opposite John, who has been compiling Panini sticker books since Mexico ’86. I ask if he got Diego Maradona that year. “Yes,” he says, and realises my accent. “Sorry about that.”
It takes $300 to fill up a book (Photo: Supplied)
Passers-by are stopping to observe the molecular spreadsheets they are compiling to check which stickers they still need to complete their book.
“I don’t know if you saw this lady was here with her husband, they were gobsmacked,” John adds. “You’re trading what, like drugs?! It’s like, absurd. I started the day missing 200, so probably now I’m missing maybe 150.”
There is a serious point here, in that the Panini people are desperate to engage with the World Cup. The stickers are not cheap – Clara estimates she has spent just under $300 trying to complete her book – but it is more accessible than trying to watch a game.
On the day we are speaking, Norway are playing Brazil in the last 16. Resale tickets cost thousands.
“They raise the prices for everything for the World Cup, transport, planes, transport to the stadiums,” says Kyle, from Argentina. “Right now it’s £100, £150, it used to be like 20 bucks. Make money some other way – they are robbing us with the tickets.”
Strewn across the pavements are hundreds of sticker backs. Across the street, the face of Iraq and Luton Town forward Ali Al-Hamadi is plastered onto the marble wall.
A group of collectors in Mexico shirts have come across the river from New Jersey. They have “different books, from Canada, Mexico – we wanted the Mexican team first”. And they are inspired by the same reason. “I grew up watching Barcelona, but started leaning more to West Ham – but money doesn’t let me go to the games.”
A fan from Tenerife wants all the stickers of two squads – Spain, and England. “But I don’t care about selling – I just trade. I went to watch [live] Norway against Senegal, and then I saw Croatia and Ghana in Philadelphia. I don’t really care about how much they cost.”
From the street corner, somebody approaches in search of a purple border. “No, no,” they are quickly told. “That’s too exotic.”
“Some [borders of the stickers] are blue, orange, green, and red ones too,” Carla explains. “Those are very, very rare – people are selling them for like $30. That guy was asking for purples, but I’ve never seen them.
“It depends where you buy the cards – some people give them out free, some people give out for $10, 15, 2, 3.”
One man is selling the hardest-to-come-by stickers for up to $600. A Guatemalan family in Manchester United shirts are so close to completing their book that “it is starting to get hard to get the stickers – I only have less than 100 to go”.
Clara says: “I’ve made the calculation. For stickers only, to complete the book, you would need $284. Now, I went to Costco and I got the special box and the hardcover book that was $79.99 – but you get some sticker packs, so it maybe goes down to $5 or so – so you would be spending $290.”
An expensive hobby in a World Cup of insatiable cost – “but here’s the thing,” she explains. “Sometimes people are so nice. If you have a little extra, he has 20 that I need, I have 15 he needs, he’s like ‘take the five’. You end up making friends.”
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Newcastle United face the prospect of another summer-long transfer saga after Bruno Guimaraes’ representatives told the club he wants to move to Arsenal.
Guimaraes, who expected to move to Manchester City two years ago when Newcastle were actively sourcing sales to comply with profitability and sustainability rules (PSR), is understood to be unsettled in the face of interest from the Premier League champions.
But The i Paper has been told that Newcastle view the latest developments as agent-driven and are maintaining their stance that they would not welcome any bids for the player. As of yet there has been no contact from Arsenal and Newcastle believe there is “no decision to make” on Guimaraes’ future.
And insiders said talk of a £60m deal for the Brazil midfielder is “laughable”. They believe his pedigree would demand a fee equivalent to Sandro Tonali and Elliot Anderson, who were valued at £100m and £115m respectively.
Sean Steur is a Newcastle target (Photo: Getty)
Nevertheless it represents an unwelcome development in a summer of transition at St James’ Park. While the club telegraphed the sales of Tonali and Anthony Gordon, who left before the World Cup in an £80m switch to Barcelona, and required both to comply with financial fair play rules and give themselves more spending power for the planned summer overhaul of a squad that has gone stale, they do not want to lose Guimaraes.
Not only is he viewed as a talisman within the dressing room he is also an important player for the way Newcastle play. A brutal dip in form last season – which laid the foundations for much of the change coming this summer – coincided with Guimaraes being out through injury.
Newcastle’s summer plans
It would also raise fresh questions about how realistic Newcastle’s ambition under the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) is. The club’s CEO David Hopkinson talked of competing for major trophies by 2030 but there is an unmistakeable pivot towards players of potential and lowering the age of the squad, with a £20m move for promising Ajax teenager Sean Steur in the final stages.
Perhaps understandably Guimaraes, who was sold a different vision of competing for league titles and being regulars in the Champions League, has had his head turned by talk of Arsenal’s interest.
Newcastle’s view is that they are building a fresher, younger team that will enable Eddie Howe to push for European qualification again. They are pushing hard to try and sign Switzerland international Johan Manzambi – although the Freiburg star has other interest and Newcastle sources are remaining cautious amid optimism that he wants to join.
Interestingly Lewis Miley, who was secured to a long-term contract earlier in the summer, is set to take a prominent first team role next season with Newcastle sources believing he is ready for a breakthrough season.
They retain an interest in Monaco midfielder Lamine Camara – although nothing is imminent on that front – and are understood to have other “exciting targets” who are yet to emerge. They believe that a move for James Trafford, who is away on England duty, is also possible.
But the rebuild would be undermined by the departure of Guimaraes, who is a crucial part of the dressing dynamic.
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SANDWICH, MASSACHUSETTS – If there was some doubt as to whether England were favourites in Mexico City, they cannot ignore or avoid that tag in Miami. The draw has opened up for England in a way that would make even Gareth Southgate blush: DR Congo, Mexico and Norway for a place in a World Cup semi-final. None of those are currently ranked in the top 18 in the world.
Yet if Mexico was a test of England’s steel and ability to cope in adversity and atmospheric pressure, Norway is a step up in quality. Like England, there is a sense of incremental improvement as they move through the knockout rounds. We analyse six reasons for Norway to be confident of causing a second upset on the spin.
Haaland is quite good
I’m not promising to tell you anything ground-breaking here, but the two best centre-forwards in world football will meet in Miami. This is Haaland’s debut major tournament and he has led the line in outrageously efficient fashion. We know he doesn’t need lots of touches – he won’t against England either.
Haaland’s international goalscoring record is even better than his club numbers. You know how we talk of 20-goal per season strikers? Well Haaland has now done that in 2025-26, but for his country. He has got as many international goals in his career as Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic and he is 25. To repeat: quite good.
Set-piece threat
Although England were magnificent when deliberately dropping towards their own goal against Mexico, they have actually defended their penalty area pretty poorly during this tournament, both from open play and set pieces. And we saw how Ezri Konsa got into a mess for Mexico’s first goal.
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Join Daniel Storey on his 7,200-mile odyssey across the US to tell the stories of a World Cup like no other.
Norway are the best team in the world to exploit any set-piece frailty. The list of likely starters who are 6ft 4in or taller: Kristoffer Ajer, Torbjorn Heggem, Sander Berge, Alexander Sorloth, Haaland. That’s half the team and it presents a headache for how to counteract the problem. Look for Jordan Pickford coming out to take charge.
Nusa cutting inside
Antonio Nusa still has a shot at winning the Young Player of the Tournament award. He has already made one significant career move to RB Leipzig from Club Brugge – there will be interest this summer and beyond.
The issue is the special move: Nusa drops deep to pick up the ball, drives forward and then quickly cuts inside before shooting. If England have a natural central defender at right-back, they are absolutely going to have to guard against Nusa running free towards the penalty box.
England’s midfield legs
There is a week between the two fixtures, but England put a lot into their last-16 tie and as such there are doubts about the midfield energy. Rice is still carrying a fitness concern and accumulated fatigue, Jordan Henderson is out of the tournament and Thomas Tuchel clearly isn’t convinced by Kobbie Mainoo.
Brazil lost to Norway because Carlo Ancelotti got his central midfield shape wrong and left Casemiro with too much work to do. The best way to beat this team is to stymie the service from the two central midfielders into Martin Odegaard and Nusa. England are going to have to press them into playing backwards or making mistakes.
Odegaard and the change of tempo
Martin Odegaard is a huge threat to England’s midfield (Photo: Getty)
I would argue that Odegaard is the first true playmaker that England have faced in this tournament. Luka Modric is the closest but this was a tournament too far. Ghana tried to counter, Panama used wingers and Mexico had Julian Quinones and crosses into Raul Jimenez as their two most potent weapons.
How will England counteract that? Rice clearly knows Odegaard well and could follow him around, but then that slightly negates Rice’s high-energy style. What England must avoid is Odegaard having time between the lines to play through balls. He’s only created four chances in this World Cup so far. It only takes one pass to Haaland.
Attacking right-backs
England have been troubled down their left flank in this World Cup. Ghana should have earned a penalty from a ball down the right channel. The goal against DR Congo came from a ball from the right and Yoane Wissa should have made it 2-0 from an Aaron Wan-Bissaka cross.
Julian Ryerson was one of the best attacking right-backs in Europe last season, his 15 Bundesliga assists second only to Michael Olise. Put it this way: if England were spooked by Wan-Bissaka’s forward runs, Ryerson is going to be a problem.
