Rob Smyth's Blog, page 65

Portugal 6-1 Switzerland: World Cup 2022 last 16 – as it happened

The 21-year-old Goncalo Ramos, selected ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo, scored a fairytale hat-trick as an exhilarating Portugal ran riot

“Ronaldo on the bench?” sniffs Matt Dony. “Man, Football Twitter is going to be pretty much “unusable for the next few hours…”

You mis-spelt ‘millennia’.

Continue reading...

France 3-1 Poland: World Cup 2022, last 16 – as it happened

Olivier Giroud became France’s all-time leading goalscorer and Kylian Mbappe scored two screamers as France cruised into the quarters

“That Brazil v Poland throwback video – we need a broadcaster to ‘reboot’ spinning screens and the large flashing yellow R that denotes a replay,” says Pat. “So 80s. So great. See it in full glory at 5:30 in the video.”

Give it to Messi

Continue reading...

World Cup 2022 briefing: Business time for England against Senegal

Gareth Southgate still has his critics despite a record group-stage return. Can the Three Lions silence the doubters?

After all that noise – the joy, the triumphalism, the entitlement, the schadenfreude, the self-loathing – England had the best record of any team in the group stage at Qatar 2022. It shows how far they have come under Gareth Southgate that seven points and nine goals, the latter a record for England at a major tournament, was not enough to please Twitter’s finest.

Continue reading...

Argentina 2-1 Australia: World Cup 2022, last 16 – as it happened

Lionel Messi scored and starred in his 1,000th game to help Argentina into the quarter-finals, but they were given a scare by Australia

The only previous World Cup meeting between these sides was an intercontinental playoff in 1993. Graham Arnold played in it, as did Diego Maradona.

“I think the universe is paying us back for all the hard work we’ve done”

Continue reading...

Uruguay go out of World Cup 2022 despite 2-0 win over Ghana – as it happened

Luis Suarez made both goals but ended the game in tears when South Korea’s late winner against Portugal put Uruguay out

Luis Suarez, who has spent the last 24 hours making himself at home in Ghana’s subconscious, leads Uruguay onto the field. There’s a cracking atmosphere in the stadium.

“What chance we see a late-game Roy-Keane-on-Haaland style leg-breaker hard-but-fair challenge on Luis Suarez today, Rob?” writes Justin Kavanagh. “You know and I know that’s what everyone in Ghana and most of the rest of us nobody in football wants to see.”

Continue reading...

Football Daily | Schadenfreude addicts, conspiracy theorists and permutations junkies

Sign up now! Sign up now! Sign up now? Sign up now!

What the Human Rights World Cup lacks in equality, dignity, human rights and Scotland, it is more than making up for in drama. The last group games have been popcorn-gorging, brain-melting belters, with something for everyone: schadenfreude addicts, conspiracy theorists, historians and permutations junkies. Belgium and Germany went out on Thursday, and for a delirious couple of minutes, in which it was beyond the wit of man to utter anything other than “Oh my God!”, it looked like Spain might join them. Belgium’s exit was on the cards after their defeat to Morocco on Sunday, but nobody saw the manner of it coming. Poor Romelu Lukaku produced a tragi-cameo for the ages, with a personal xG of 1.98 and a G of 0.00. His only shot on target was when he rammed his fist into the dugout after the game.

This is an extract from our daily football email … Football Daily. To subscribe for the full version, just visit this page and follow the instructions .

Continue reading...

Croatia 0-0 Belgium: World Cup 2022 – as it happened

Belgium went out of the tournament at the group stage after the substitute Romelu Lukaku missed a series of late chances

Sign up for our rebranded daily football email, Football Daily!

Belgium’s tactics (II)

Continue reading...

Football Daily | Will anyone rival Denmark as the biggest disappointment of this tournament?

Sign up now! Sign up now! Sign up now? Sign up now!

Denmark made an impression on Mexico 86 in every way – their breathtaking football, their futuristic kit and even their team song, the jaunty earworm Re-Sepp-Ten. “We are red, we are white, we stand by side,” was the simple but memorable chorus. The comedian Jarl Friis-Mikkelsen, who wrote the lyrics, suggested a B-side to be played in the event of, say, a shocking 5-1 defeat against an inferior Spain team. The chorus was subtly different: “We are red, we are white, we are really deep in sh!te.” The DBU politely declined, but Mikkelsen’s alternative chorus has been in the Fiv … bear with us, this is going to take some time … Football Daily’s mind in the past 24 hours. Denmark, who were some folks’ dark horses to win the Human Rights World Cup, are instead on flight DO1 to Copenhagen after a miserable performance: three games, one point, one goal.

Continue reading...

World Cup 2022 briefing: the joy of Mbappé and Argentina’s escape plan

The France forward has lit up this World Cup – can clubmate Lionel Messi join him in the knockout stage?

Yes, yes, and you really need to check out a promising band called the Arctic Monkeys as well. It’s a statement of the offensively obvious that you should watch Kylian Mbappé play football. But it’s not about watching Mbappé per se, it’s about watching him now, when he looks in the form and the mood to do something career-defining, something we’ll still be talking about when we’re old. If Mbappé plays for France against Tunisia – and godspeed Didier Deschamps if he wants to have that conversation – then it’ll be worth renouncing the more important Group D game between Australia and Denmark.

Continue reading...

Wales 0-3 England: World Cup 2022 – as it happened

Marcus Rashford scored twice, either side of Phil Foden’s first World Cup goal, as England topped the group and ended Wales’ hopes

Group A is done and dusted. The Netherlands put Qatar out of their on-field misery with a 2-0 win, and Senegal pipped Ecuador 2-1 in the second-placed playoff.

That means the winner of this group will play Senegal ojn Sunday evening (UK time), and the runner-up will meet the Netherlands on Saturday afternoon.

Continue reading...