Segun Oluwaniyi

Nigeria v. England and South Africa v. Netherlands in the round of 16. For the sake of continental pride and history, we need at least one of the African sides to win the derby against the colonial power. Credit to Reggae Girlz as well, they have been very solid in defence and deserve to go through. This tournament does seem like a transition to a new era of the game. Marta and the Canada lady unceremoniously dumped out of the group stage, the USA looking very average with other nations taking the sport seriously, and the lesser teams being quite strong.

Massive win! No support from the federation and low expectations, but they have been strong and organised with real threat upfront with Ajibade and Oshoala. Proud of the girls. Ireland will not be easy to beat, but they are in a strong position. 13 minutes added+keeper out at sea for every corner and striker trying lobs from 30 yards rather than taking it to the corner. Unnecessary nerves. Australia will still beat Canada and go through.

Oshoala impact was instant, both the corner and the goal came from her pressuring the backline with pace. Just have to hold on now!

The bar is so low that an infant may not walk under it, but this Alozie is easily the finest girl to play for Nigeria in memory. We are competitive so far, but the attacking players look like they have just met. No cohesive play, every pass is wrong and Kanu especially is betraying her surname. This tournament is interesting so far. Women have improved in general; Zambia is the only team that looks out of place. USA has been underwhelming.

Milan are bringing in a lot of interesting attacking players. It seems they will sign Okafor and Chukwueze now, having already brought in Pulisic alongside Leao, who was the best non-Napoli player in Serie A last season. All of these are fairly young and somewhat inconsistent, tbh, so it is hard to say if it will have them competing for the Serie A title, but they will be very entertaining and have put the Tonali funds to good use, at least.

Barnes would work very well with Isak. Whenever he played with Iheanacho (a forward who always wants to come short and wants the ball to feet) they combined very well and he was very dangerous. Barnes is not really a winger, though. He is not good at beating his man, his crosses are poor; actually his general game intelligence is quite bad. He struggles when he has to perform in that way. However, as a direct player and goal threat from outwide, there are not many better options. Good player if used correctly. Agreed. He essentially has done nothing since the Euros. Good talent, but big risk.

It was the exact same in the match against Croatia in the World Cup Belgium created nothing with him off the pitch. When he entered, they created chance after chance, with Lukaku actively preventing his team from scoring. He has a penchant for horrendous misses. Not sure the chances matter when he is playing as an extra defender in the opposition's box. Inter were so wasteful in attacking position in that match. Their plan worked very well, but zero quality going forward.

I do not know how anyone can watch the two games and have wanted Everton to stay up over Leicester. Everton are an awful team. They play terrible football and Pickford and Mina are unbearable. I would hope they could at least improve next season, but little hope with Dyche there.

Voted for Sean Longstaff. Bruno is the best player at the club, imo, but Longstaff has become my favourite this season and has vastly outperformed the expectation I had for him.

Only following by phone as I'm on the train. But seems as though there was an crazy amount of stoppage time in the matches for both Merseyside teams. We're there serious injuries? Both had 10 minutes.

This man Dr. Cinik must be doing quite well with his hair business in Turkey to afford that advert.

The logo for the new World Cup is an abomination.

This is remarkably uncompetitive. Even when Madrid create reasonable opportunities, Benzema, Rodrygo, and Vinicius have been abysmal. Not one outfield player can be credited with decent performance. City have been wonderful, obviously.

Maddison is one of those players that always seems to take an extra touch. Very annoying as he is not quick in the first place.

Wout Faes plays like a forward thrown to centreback by an incompetent manager. He is always flying out of position at the slightest provocation and is far too weak in tackles and aerial balls to be considered for that position.

Lautaro Martinez is a decent player outside of the 2022 World Cup, but if Chelsea still have unlimited finances and no fear of the FFP regulations, they should just be throwing 100 million as a starting bid for Osimhen and Kolo Muani. They need someone to properly lead the line as a lone striker more than anything else, even more than someone to actually score goals, tbh. Toney as well, but I am not sure how long he will be banned.

Both of these sides have a lower position in the table to NUFC in an inferior league, it is not really a surprise that they are poor. Serie A is poor this year outside of Napoli, tbh, but these two have had luck with the draw and strong performances when it has counted.

Leao is better than Kvara, imo. Milan's attacking play is very poor without him.

I do not understand the controversy. Surridge swings at the ball and misses it. There is contact, on the replay, you can even see Lavia's foot turn. Not heavy contact, but certainly a foul.

I don't understand talk of dive, he actively kicked Lavia's foot.

Leicester cannot defend at all, it is incredible. The back four is at sea, and with Ndidi badly out of form and/or permanently declined there is not even anyone protecting them

Iwobi was one of Everton's better players (I am not complimenting him, the team is poor) when he was playing centrally. I am not sure why he has been pushed wide again. He has lost pace and was never had much end product anyway, but he will link play well and is strong.

It is easy to see how Leicester fell into this mess. They have strong talent in midfield and attack, but the back four is atrocious in terms of actual defending ability. Soyuncu is probably the best of them and was exiled from the squad by Rodgers. Tbf, the same Rodgers waited until they were on the brink of relegation to put in a competent keeper. Ward was the worst one in the league.

Does Vardy no longer take penalties for some reason? Iheanacho took the last one for them and now Maddison, but I swear as long as Leicester have been in this league Vardy has taken every penalty. Odd.

Ben Godfrey is the singular difference between the two sides in this match. Individually horrible for both goals.