LionOfGosforth

That was the goal! Still remember the commentary "Negrete...Aguirre...Negretttteeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!! Magnificent!!!"

Espana 82 is the first WC I recall well but have a bit of a soft spot for Mexico 86, Negrete's overhead kick and all that. Sorry Mike.

Those idiots in the VAR booth, scoop them up with a rope and helicopter like in a Bond movie and drop them in the Red Sea.

Wish this ref could do all the games, amazing how something as basic as common sense refereeing is such a surprise

Common sense applied, thankfully

Warren Barton on co-comms, love listening to him

Fair points and while it may be a bit "utopian" to have consistency in refereeing across the entire 90 minutes and regardless of foul location, that's something that could be addressed before games even start. "Do this, this is the consequences, whether it's minute 1 or minute 90", then nobody can have any complaints. You never know, players might even listen. VAR is a whole other mess though. How did they fail to give the Maguire foul? Seems to me that the usage of VAR for a tiny infraction in the 99th minute of a lost game, is a complete waste of everyone's time and not what it should be used for. Why analyze that foul? You can't tell me there weren't 50 others exactly the same or similar throughout the game.

Did Landon Donovan ever have hair?

Almost a Solskaer there

Hasn't been dull but a stunning lack of quality

Yeds incoming

Actually disagree with most of that. I think the bear hug on Maguire was about as clear as you can get timing or not, he had him pinned and bundled to the ground. Simply blatant. The shirt tug by Stones goes on at just about every corner kick in every game, it was quite mild. A light tug should not lead to a player's legs collapsing beneath him. Blatant bullshit honestly. At the very least they're both penalties, if you're giving one you had to give the other. If you didn't give the first, this should not be given either. Your other point is really a point on referee and player psychology (which might be accurate but is misplaced) and I personally think if the Maguire foul is given (correctly), it sets a tone that you can't fucking bear hug and wrestle players to the ground. The ref says "this is a penalty and I won't stand for this type of fouling in the penalty area on corner kicks". Hey presto, the wrestling mostly stops, instead of continuing all game. It's weak as piss officiating.

What an undeserved goal, route one, shite goalkeeping

Mendy WTF, shite again

Pope would have held onto that

Cracking run mind...

Fitting it came from a poorly defended cross

This is like watching Wimbledon vs Coventry in 1987

VVD just isn't the same player, don't know what his issue is

Not to worry, Davy Klaassen and Koopmeiners will elevate this

Other than some defensive lapses/carelessness, that was very very good. Iran weren't up to much but England looked a lot more fluent and inventive than I expected, Southgate got this right, actually looking forward to watching the next one.

No flow or quality to this at all and no sign of anything changing. Senegal look content with a stalemate, Netherlands don't have the wit or pace to break them down. Crap.

Bit of manhandling by De Jong there

What an atrocious game.