Things the admin can, and can’t fully get behind x MA 2 (post last 16)

Business end of the tournament now. Quarter finals. Eight teams remain. But only one place to start, really. England. Mexico. Azteca. One of those games we’ll talk about for years. Decades, even. Probably the most memorable England performance of my lifetime. Everything I want from the national team. Pace. Power. Heart. Graft. Shithousery. Went to the lion’s den with everything stacked against ‘em. The altitude. The crowd. Locals playing their little guitars outside the team hotel. Grow up. Mexico don’t lose at the Azteca. On their own turf. Nahh. It doesn’t happen. Does now. Tommy Tuchel’s Three Lions are different. Got that dog about ‘em. Nibbling away at ankles like little Chihuahuas. Relentless.

Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane provided the composure needed up top. Tony Gordon, our Princess Di, ran his bollocks off. Saka too. Assist for the first. Declan Rice and Anderson dominated midfield. Proper shift. Nico O’Reilly’s class. Quansah quality until that red. Got a bit giddy. Good tackle 10/15 years ago. But can’t get away with that these days mate. Shame. Guéhi and Konsa had Raul Jimenez in the pocket of their ponchos. No bother. Jordan Pickford back to his best. But there were two standout performers for me. Two who topped the pile. First, Jordan Henderson. That performance. At the Azteca. At altitude. Will be spoken about for years mate. Decades. I’ll be telling little’un about it. Ya didn’t get ont’ pitch. Didn’t play a single minute. But still managed to bag yaself a booking. And a broken arm. Unheard of. Fair play. Second, Dan Burn. Tommy Tuchel had a plan for the big lad. A vision. Knew what was coming. An Azteca assault. 1,114 Dan Burns above sea level. No match for The Great Wall Of Blyth. Stick his nut on owt that lad. Breezeblocks. Cement mixers. His nan. Owt. Stick it int’ air. Higher the better. And Dan Burn be there to head it back over the halfway line, from his own six yard box. No bother. Then there’s Tommy Tuchel himself. Was always against foreign managers managing the national team. But I’m warming to the lad. He gets knockout football. He gets England. Gets this squad. It probably won’t come home. But a German has united the country for a few weeks. Fair play, Tommy.

The American dream’s over. Done. Or it would be, normally. Battered by a bang average Belgium side. But there’s every chance owd Donald’s on the phone to Infantino right now. Trying to sort another favour like he did following the Balogun red. “Infantino, great guy. Great hair. He knows we’d have won that on another day. In fact there’s nobody we’d lose to.” Don’t be surprised if they bag ‘emselves a bye to the final. They’re not even hiding the corruption anymore. Nahh. Doing it in plain sight. Not ashamed. Balogun with just 21 touches all game. A touch every four minutes. Probably knew he should’ve been int’ stands. So chucked in a 6/10 job. Fair play mate, respect that. They can all go back to watching NFL now, though. Can stop pretending they care. And it’ll always be football, never soccer. Sound.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar both exited the tournament within 24 hours of each other. Both played their final game at a World Cup, probably. Both in tears. Which, I’ll not lie, was very good viewing. Neymar giving it big’uns to Nyland whilst 2-0 down. Have some respect lad. Ancelotti’s stuck you on out of pity. Proper Make A Wish Foundation stuff. Allowed you to take a penalty like it’s a testimonial. Thanks for ya service. Now off ya pop. Bobby Martinez has already stepped down from his role at Portugal. Two football associations saw a golden generation of players coming through and thought, “yeahhh we’ll give him the gig.” Criminal. Ronaldo probably won’t watch the rest of the tournament. Not now Messi’s progressed. Bet he had his shirt off when the little goth missed that penalty against Egypt. To say Lionel Messi’s one of the greatest footballers of all time, and the best on the planet right now, he’s not great at penalties. I’ve more confidence in him sticking a free-kick int’ top bins from 30 yards than slotting one home from the spot. But, like he always does, Messi stepped up when they needed him most. Two down. With ten to go. Assist. Goal. Easy does it. He is inevitable. He is a freak. He’s through to another World Cup quarter-final. Ronaldo and Neymar aren’t.

Paraguay were slated for their tactics against France. Booted ‘em up in the air all game. But part of me enjoyed it, won’t lie. Now I don’t wanna see anyone get injured. And we didn’t, thankfully. But you’ve got to respect their gaffer realising the only way they’ll have any chance of beating the tournament favourites is by getting stuck in. Like proper stuck in. Almost Rate the response!

The race for the Golden Boot’s gonna go the distance. Messi, Mbappe, Haaland and Kane are all bagging at a ridiculous rate. They’ve all delivered. All stepped up. On the big stage. It’s what you want, init?