Well that was one seriously WEIRD game. England get 8 gimme chances which Premier League footballers bury at least 80% of the time. Two fell to Kane= two goals 6 fell to other players = 3 air shots, 2 horrible misses, 1 scramble Plus other decent chances spurned. What did we learn? Sterling confirmed his supporters wrong and critics right. England are pedestrian with little imagination or killer balls in them. Tunisia (yes TUNISIA) defence EASILY bullied us off the ball in the final third and kept their formation Ali ??? Young showed why he doesn't start too much for the Mancs Lingard busy to not much avail. Start Loftus-Cheek and Rashford against Panama because were going to need 6 to top the group with a draw against Belgium.

I have seen bits of every World Cup game live so far except Spain v Portugal and still haven't seen a single goal. No longer getting excited when there is a promising situation because I know it will be cleared or saved.

Mexico victory was assured the moment I decided to watch the second half... Not too surprised by the result. Recent German performances have been pedestrian.

Suddenly struck me after arriving at the local World Cup village (out door boozer and big screen) after the Serbian goal was scored that I have seen bits of every game live thus far but not seen a single goal scored live yet. I am not planning to watch all of England v Tunisia live you will be relieved to know.

Transfer window closes on 9 August this year. Just 53 more days to wait for Chaddy to sign on that freebie.

Thus far been an excellent World Cup for European nations. Just wait for you know who to blow it tomorrow...

So four games today. Big wins for France and Argentina, draws in the other two.

Classic autocorrect!

A Salah-less Egypt made it seriously hard for Uruguay so that should be a warning not to take Tunisia for granted.

I have lost track- what is this competition supposed to be?

Colombia beat France in a game of five soft goals-

The extent of the failure of the Russian World Cup to attract fans: https://skift.com/2018/06/14/russia-faces-an-uphill-climb-to-turn-world-cup-into-tourism-win/?utm_campaign=Daily Newsletter&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=63749517&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_o1JbNyttaz27U9jHGSs93EYKiZFU40-_GGAB4gZIz1oSVtXhmhZwhXYVOb52lcacQ2B_SQB4C6AX1UxKWyG_BAaGz5Q&_hsmi=63749517

http://www.newsweek.com/russian-women-warned-refuse-sex-foreigners-during-world-cup-974800?utm_source=email&utm_medium=morning_brief&utm_campaign=newsletter&utm_content=read_more&spMailingID=3536475&spUserID=MTI0NzM3MDEwNDYS1&spJobID=1050514009&spReportId=MTA1MDUxNDAwOQS2 Perhaps explains why none of the "Characters" I know have bothered with the WC this year...

Reputably inaccurate if not a tip-off from the nameless one.

It looked like a bubble before- still is bubble-ish

Well done Scotland's cricketers. Belting wicket too.

Agree re Shelvey and also agree with jim re Sterling at City. Rashford is potentially explosive from the bench taking off a midfielder in the 60th minute to turn a lead into a rout.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/07/opinion/sunday/world-cup-fifa-corruption-russia.html?em_pos=small&emc=edit_ty_20180608&nl=opinion-today&nl_art=7&nlid=51793659emc%3Dedit_ty_20180608&ref=headline&te=1 Why the Steele Dossier has the credibility it has.

So this looks like Everton, Spuds, Citeh, Leicester, Spuds, Liverpool, Spuds, Manc, Citeh, Spuds, Spuds. Good for making chips from.

Brilliant piece on Douglas. Was enjoying my early Saturday morning walk and realised the World Cup starts five days from now- zero buzz or evidence of it. Not seen any adverts or merchandising relating to it. Ok only been in five countries recently and all did not qualify but still... Tried another thought experiment and realised that this is the first World Cup I have been old enough to know about such things (ie since 1962) that I know nobody going to the World Cup to watch it from the stands (as opposed to watching from the subs bench...).

England will have a decent world cup by recent standards until the second knock out round when they face either Brazil or Germany. Both are beatable by England but won't be. For once unless Colombia show hidden capabilities, coming first or second in our group isn't going to matter much for getting through the first knock out round. I expect England v Belgium to be a draw despite Belgium being comfortably the better side.

Group A analysed by American statos- https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/uruguay-got-the-world-cups-ultimate-prize-russias-group/?ex_cid=SigDig Russia v Saudi Arabia matches the two lowest ranking nations for the tournament opener. It could be a kick and run classic... or probably not.

What World Cup? FIFA dropped a clanger giving it to the evil empire- zero merchandising and promo

Playing in skins this season

I was right about Chaddy signing on a free then.. Congratulations Chaddy!