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Posted by: Mack. 12th July 2018, 08:09 AM

So the third place match play-off takes place between Belgium and England, A repeat of their group game.

A game that nobody wants to play.

The game is live on ITV. Please use this thread for speculation, pre and post match chat on the England game.


How do you see this going?

Posted by: Queef of Skreech 12th July 2018, 08:38 AM

No interest.

Croatia was the only good team we played and they played so poorly in the first half that we SHOULD have gotten through just from that. I am disappointed they didn't make it through their easiest way to a world cup that was possible, but am unsurprised.

Belgium 3-0

Posted by: Dobbo 12th July 2018, 08:51 AM

Yeah think the players will be flat & they had one days fewer rest so Belgium will probably win comfortably unforch.

Posted by: Evil Houdini 12th July 2018, 12:52 PM

Belgium will win.

Posted by: Steve201 12th July 2018, 01:21 PM

Did England beat Italy in 1990?

To be fair you'd probably want to come third!! 2-1 England!!

Why does itv get this too??

Posted by: Mart!n 12th July 2018, 01:25 PM

I think the English fans would like them to win this and go out on a high, and get revenge on Belgium for their defeat in the group stage, for me an England win. Gareth will most likely rest Kane for the match and use the subs that haven't played, in the end it be more of a Premier League match

Final result 2-1 England in normal time

Posted by: Evil Houdini 12th July 2018, 04:16 PM

Taking this from the UK Chart forum:


I think almost everyone in this year's World Cup squad will be present in 2022, England had one of the youngest squads in the tournament and by the time the next World Cup comes around most of these players will be at their peak. It's only maybe Gary Cahill and Ashley Young that might not come back but I wouldn't be surprised if they still wouldn't have retired from international football by then.


England have a really good youth squad as well that won the U-17 & U-20 World Cups last year and some of those players have already broken through into the first teams of Premier League sides. The problem for England is that other countries will improve as well and traditionally big teams like Italy and Holland that didn't qualify this time will be stronger in 4 years time, Germany will probably rebuild their side as well so this kind of opportunity that England got this year might not come around for a long time.

Posted by: Dobbo 12th July 2018, 04:21 PM

That's the most gutting thing - it felt like it HAD to be this year as it was a golden chance. By the next time there's no way on earth the likes of Germany, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Argentina etc. will all do as crap as they did this time & yes there could still be plenty of shocks but we had all of those teams far out the way this year and still couldn't make the final.

Posted by: mdh 12th July 2018, 04:57 PM

To be honest I can't see the Netherlands and Argentina getting much better - both sides seem to have a pretty crap core at the moment and unless they have a massive wave of new youth come through in the next few years, I doubt they'll challenge.

Posted by: Crazy Chris 12th July 2018, 05:28 PM

I don't think the Beeb wants it to be honest. They have Wimbledon coverage. The match is a waste of time as Piers Morgan was saying on ITV this morning but all teams are contracted to play in it or be banned from the next WC.

Posted by: Rooney 12th July 2018, 05:52 PM

I'd be surprised if Cahill, Vardy, Welbeck, Young, Delph, Pope will be in the squad. Then again for me question marks over Maguire, Rashford and Loftus-Cheek. All depends who plays for their clubs and who kicks on. Got to remember if fit Lallana, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Gomez would have made this squad, in place of probably Jones, Lofus-Cheek and Welbeck. Major problem with 2022 though is it will be mid-season and absolutely baking.

Posted by: mdh 12th July 2018, 05:55 PM

Bloody hell I forgot Lallana and Oxlade-Chamberlain weren't in the side. Maybe that extra midfield strength would have made the difference for us...

Posted by: Dobbo 12th July 2018, 05:59 PM

I wonder if the cup being mid season may be better as the players will be in full season swing and not after the end of a long hard arduous league campaign.

Posted by: PeteFromLeeds 12th July 2018, 06:04 PM

Would be nice to see England snatch this one, even if only to prevent 3 Lions falling 1-93 or similar

Will Italy recover though? They've not qualified after getting kicked out at the group stage in two consecutive contests - Honduras have done the same and no-one was exactly surprised they didn't make it.

Posted by: Rooney 12th July 2018, 06:35 PM

Of course Italy will recover, the big top teams always go through peaks and troughs, all depends on the players coming through at the time. Usually not qualifying or leaving early is a recipe for the country to then start a blueprint again e.g. what Germany did after Euro 2000 I think.

Got to remember the World Cup is expanded for 2022, so I think Europe have 4-5 extra places.

Posted by: PeteFromLeeds 12th July 2018, 06:52 PM

Isn't it 2026 when it gets expanded?

Posted by: Rooney 12th July 2018, 07:28 PM

Yes you're right - I got ahead of myself. Still, I think achieving anything in Qatar will be extremely difficult.

Posted by: DJHazey 12th July 2018, 07:34 PM

Europe only get 3 additional teams in 2026.

Europe 13 --> 16
Asia 4 --> 8
Africa 5 --> 9
CONCACAF 3 --> 6
South America 5 --> 6
Oceania 0 --> 1
Intercontinental Playoffs (no Europe) 2

= 48.

Posted by: Dobbo 12th July 2018, 09:28 PM

South America get almost half the continent to qualify? Bit lop-sided!

Be good to see a lot more African teams involved.

Posted by: Mack. 12th July 2018, 09:31 PM

We finished fourth in 1990 we lost to Italy.

ITV have normally shown the third place play-off since 2002, I think.

Posted by: PeteFromLeeds 13th July 2018, 08:09 AM

It'll be more than half the continent I think! Their qualifying group has been a 10-team league in recent years.

Posted by: Dobbo 13th July 2018, 10:15 AM

Oh yes you're right! Had no idea Guyana & Suriname played in the CONCACAF confederation.

Posted by: dandy* 13th July 2018, 06:45 PM

Such a pointless match! Who cares whether we finish third or fourth?!!!

Is there actually a good reason why they have this game in the cup? It's not as though there is a bronze medal like in the Olympics. Or is there? :/

Posted by: Evil Houdini 13th July 2018, 10:38 PM

The winner of the match will get bronze medals.


It may seem pointless now but I'm sure if England win and get 3rd place it will be mentioned for years to come by the media and when they do the Sports Personality Of The Year awards show at the end of this year it will definitely be mentioned rather than just saying that they got to the semi final. Exactly the same way that the Croatia team of 1998 are talked about is how this England team would be talked about if they win this match.


On the subject of Sports Personality Of The Year I think Harry Kane is a shoe in to win the main award this year.

Posted by: Dobbo 13th July 2018, 10:40 PM

I think the team award will go to the England squad but the main prize will go to AJ.

Posted by: Mack. 14th July 2018, 01:49 PM

Jones, Loftus-cheek, Rose and Delph all getting a starting run out today and the rest of the line up remains the same.

Posted by: PeteFromLeeds 14th July 2018, 02:02 PM

And we're off! Hopefully England have recovered enough to perform here.

Posted by: Evil Houdini 14th July 2018, 02:03 PM

It will be interesting to see what the ratings for this match will be. I imagine that it will be far less than the same time last Saturday when England played Sweden, the ladies Wimbledon final will probably beat it as well.

Posted by: PeteFromLeeds 14th July 2018, 02:04 PM

Well that's a great start.

Posted by: Mack. 14th July 2018, 02:04 PM

Hopefully we can get something in this match.

Posted by: Jade 14th July 2018, 02:04 PM

Oh... hope we can at least get one goal during this match.

(also Lukaku to stay away from Kane's golden boot)

Posted by: Mack. 14th July 2018, 02:12 PM

And England are behind here.

Posted by: Queef of Skreech 14th July 2018, 02:13 PM

It is a weak team unfortunately. This is no surprise.

Posted by: PeteFromLeeds 14th July 2018, 02:23 PM

Kane really should have scored there

Posted by: Mack. 14th July 2018, 02:43 PM

Saw the rest of Djokovic v Nadal, have I missed much?

Posted by: Mack. 14th July 2018, 03:03 PM

And being brought on, Lingarrd and Rashford.

Posted by: PeteFromLeeds 14th July 2018, 03:13 PM

England have started this second half off better. Still no goal though.

Posted by: Mack. 14th July 2018, 03:16 PM

Ideally need a goal in the next 5 minutes, England do.

Posted by: Mack. 14th July 2018, 03:27 PM

Well no goal then, Kane still anonymous in this game.

Posted by: PeteFromLeeds 14th July 2018, 03:38 PM

That Dier chance was SO CLOSE. How are these not going in?

Posted by: Mack. 14th July 2018, 03:40 PM

Looks like it is all over now with that goal from Hazard.

Posted by: PeteFromLeeds 14th July 2018, 03:41 PM

Posted by: Andrew. 14th July 2018, 03:45 PM

And that's it for England. No one can deny they've done much better here than in a longtime, although the general consensus amongst people I know is that they somewhat coasted their way to the semi final

Posted by: Evil Houdini 14th July 2018, 03:45 PM

Losing the 3rd/4th place match must be the worst thing apart from losing the final. The players stayed a few extra days only to come up short again!

Posted by: Suedehead2 14th July 2018, 03:45 PM

He's not as usual as he is according to Glenn Hoddle.

Posted by: Mack. 14th July 2018, 03:48 PM

That's true, I have also heard people say that they coasted to the semi final, the draw for them did open up with exits for Germany, Spain.

Posted by: Jade 14th July 2018, 03:55 PM

That's a shame as it seemed like we were gaining momentum during the second half. A few missed chances again. Well... that's it then! Shall never forget how fantastic (and tense at times!) it was to follow England this summer. Rooting for Croatia tomorrow ~

Posted by: Iz 14th July 2018, 03:56 PM

Defeating Sweden handily is hardly coasting. If we'd kept that momentum up we'd be in the final.

Disappointing to lose but it hardly matters, and we were really good at attacking for most of that second half. Some positives to take away from that and the team look a lot more like a team that is gelling at the end of the tournament than they did at the beginning.

Posted by: Rooney 14th July 2018, 03:58 PM

Generally speaking though, you always get upsets in the early stages, usually a big team or two goes out really early.

Anyway the game today was not much than a glorified friendly. It showed the limitations of the squad and players against a much better side. But I would surprised if some of the squad will be apart of things in 2020 for the Euros. Kane has been useless for a few games now, surely must be carrying an injury.

Posted by: Mart!n 14th July 2018, 03:58 PM

At least they coasted to the last four, can't take that away from them, the second half was a lot better than the first, missed a couple of chances, but Belgium were the better side, especially with that excellent second goal, with that run up.

Hope Bappe doesn't score loads of goals tomorrow, at least for England to get the Golden boot, and get something from it.

Its me vs. Jade tomorrow, to win the sweepstake

Posted by: Mack. 14th July 2018, 04:03 PM

Now we really need more players to be playing regularly in the Premier League. Overall they have surpassed my expectations of them in this World Cup, they should be proud of themselves.

Posted by: d22ghj 14th July 2018, 04:13 PM

Of course they surpassed expectations before they started the competition, and let us not forgot last WC they finished last in their group. But they had a relatively easy group and route to the final. Even with the big teams going home early they still had a relatively easy route. I doubt they will have that luck for a long time, which is why there was such confidence (and arrogance) that it was “coming home.” Ultimately they crumble when faced with a good opposing team.

Posted by: Mart!n 14th July 2018, 04:18 PM

And I heard in the commentary, Sterling hasn't scored a goal for England since 2015, what really boggles me, why was he selected

Posted by: Evil Houdini 14th July 2018, 04:25 PM

It must be because he played very well for Manchester City and was one of the main reasons why they won the league.


Today and the semi final, final group match has shown that England were very lucky to get to the semi final. It's still a great achievement but really they would have been nowhere near the semi final if the draw wasn't as kind to them as it was. Even the match against Colombia could have gone Colombia's way if James Rodriguez played or if Colombia didn't bottle it in the penalty shootout when they were leading.

Posted by: PeteFromLeeds 14th July 2018, 04:40 PM

It reminds me a bit of Uruguay reaching the semis back in 2010 (I was really supporting them at the time) - they got a fairly easy group, got South Korea in the Round of 16 who were the worst performing team to get that far, then got Ghana in the quarters (who they would have lost to if Suarez hadn't pretended to be a goalie), then had no chance against The Netherlands or Germany.

Posted by: Chez Wombat 14th July 2018, 04:58 PM

It's a bit of a shame, but not exactly unexpected, we were outmatched. The fact Belgium got two so easily and we missed all those chances in the second half shows that, I still thought we put decent pressure on them for a while and played generally much better than we did against Croatia.

We certainly got a bit of luck with the draw and some big teams falling early helped us, but we're hardly the first team that's happened to (hi Portugal in Euro 2016), you don't really get this far just through coasting. Colombia and Sweden could've easily caused past incarnations of our team problems or even wiped the floor with us, the achievement of beating them and getting this far shouldn't be dampened by the fact they're not Brazil or France.

Posted by: Queef of Skreech 14th July 2018, 05:21 PM

Not a chance we could have beaten France, so it wouldn't have come here anyway!

Posted by: Steve201 15th July 2018, 08:15 AM

IF IF IF!

It didn't though and England deserved their semi final place. if Germany had have turned up they would have won it but they didn't and didn't deserve to go beyond the groups!

Etc etc etc!

Posted by: Mack. 15th July 2018, 09:30 AM

And still the curse of ITV strikes again.

Posted by: Mack. 15th July 2018, 09:41 AM

Set to be no parade for England for when the team fly back home.

Posted by: Dobbo 15th July 2018, 10:26 AM

The whole easy route to the semis thing is such a non-argument. What were we supposed to do say 'after you lads' just cos we were playing perceived weaker sides? This is England we're talking about, beating the lesser teams in major tournaments is something we've not been able to do for 10 years so this year has undoubtedly been a turning point.

And no one ever mentions Germany's super hard run to the final in 2002 playing the top footballing powerhouses of Paraguay, USA & South Korea.

Posted by: Midge 15th July 2018, 12:13 PM

Bang on Dobbo! You have to beat what’s in front of you and it is certainly progress for us. We’ve only been in the final 4 three times now. Quarter finals should be our aim.

Posted by: Suedehead2 15th July 2018, 03:02 PM

I was going to mention the same example. Surely the easiest route to the semi-final in World Cup history. It was made even worse by the fact that England - who beat Germany 5-1 in qualifying - were in a group with Argentina, Sweden and a decent Nigerian side. Germany got Ireland, Cameroon and the mighty Saudi Arabia.