As was said last night, it was Valencia's reaction to the tackle that certainly got him a red and probably got Sterling one too, given the ref probably concluded the tackle was worse than it was..

Had Valencia not reacted, Sterling would probably have gotten away with a yellow.

If that tackle happened to me I would have rung his neck like a chicken too!

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Ox bloke out for 3 weeks. England are never blessed with much talent, but the small amount of flair we've ever had in any squad always gets injured and missed out. Was ever thus.

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He'll be fit for the final then

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Nah, no worries, we have Milner.

The daily mirror saying only 2 weeks. A strain rather than a tear apparently.

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Ok I've just seen Sky Sports saying 10 days - 3 weeks. Bollocks! No official word yet so you never know it could have been worse.

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Yes looks like 2 weeks which gives him a chance for the last 2 group games.

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yes , but endless practice is not so effective as playing real games. always a blow to lose a key player  but there should be more depth in a world cup squad which i am not saying there isnt in englands case.

We have bags of depth, no quality, but plenty of dross that can step in. When they're talking about his replacement - if required - being a defender it tells you everything.

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There is no like for like replacement really and we need more defenders so I reckon Stones might get the nod if Ox doesn't make it.

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That hasnt been confirmed yet Matty,if it had he would be on his way home

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More likely to be Flanagan IMO , he has done well for Liverpool

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That's the general thinking. I have absolutely zero enthusiasm for this tournament. Going back three or four world cups ago, I'd have picked watching England win a major tournament over my team winning the league. Having now accepted neither is likely, I have completely lost interest. England may well get out of the group, but the end result just has to be failure. I'm not really interested in perceived progression either. I remember a decade or so back the press hyping up the talent that was coming through meaning we'd be primed to win a major trophy soon. What we've had since then is arguably some of the worst performing England squads of my lifetime.

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Unless I'm totally wrong then I believe Woy can choose someone OUTSIDE the original 30. Nathan Redmond perhaps?

I can kind of understand where you're coming from but I just love World Cups their my favourite sporting event. If England do well its almost a bonus to be honest. I have no expectations at all this time around we will have to play and defend very well just to get out the group. But at least we are there, nothing worse when England dont qualify for a major tournament.

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I think England have a realistic opportunity..........of being knocked out.

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The way I see it is, and maybe this is just coming from a hardened Leeds fan who has zero expectations anymore, that England getting anywhere is flat out a bonus.  The great thing about football is that we can dream; we dream of scoring a beautiful goal for our Sunday League/pub team, or we dream that our lower league teams one day making it into the Premier League or going on a magical FA Cup run and giant killing a few on the way, and the same goes for England too.  If we lose any solid expectations, and allow ourselves to dream, we can actually enjoy the World Cup and being part of it, no matter how guff we are.  Any wins are the bonus.

I'll be glued to the World Cup and particularly our matches, and who knows, I'll maybe let myself dream a bit, because that's what keeps us coming back. 

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"Hardened" and "Leeds fan", there's an oxymoron for you...


Hi Simon, btw 🤣 👍 😉

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True, I guess stranger things have happened - like when Greece won Euro 2004   can this be England's turn? 

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With the exception on the WC run in 1990 England have always been shite. Even in 1990 they had the luck of the draw to some extent and played Belgium and Cameroon in the knock out rounds!

1966 and all that apart England will always be a last 16 with maybe a QF apperance every now and again team. **** England didn't even qualify for a the world cup after 1970 until 1982! Thankfully I cannot remember those days.

I will be tuning in with my usual optimism but with a good shot of reality also.

Expect nothing with England and you won't be disapointed, bit like supporting Middesbrough in that respect.

England tend to ranked 8-10 in the world (for what the rankings are worth). This equates to losing in the QF of the WC - which we usually do, if not the round before. We don't underachieve, we achieve what we woudl expect to.
We suffer in this country from the media, and in particular the press who, it should be remembered, only want to sell newspapers. Folk don't want to read - 'England a s reasonably good side who will go out after 4 or 5 games...)'
32 teams will contest the WC and 31 are going to lose out at some point.

Football in this country is always a culture battle. We moan that England can't keep the ball and play possession like Barcelona (Spain), yet the crowds get frustrated when the ball doesn't go forward. Happened a lot at Swindon this year and apparently at Southampton too. We can't expect our players to suddenly become a different beast at International level than they are expected to be for their clubs.

I don't think anyone who knows anything about football expects that. We know the team is shite. It's the fact it's always shite that grinds. This is supposed to be the world powerhouse and money machine of football

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I think a bit of selective memory going on here.  Pre-1990 world cup, England (off the back of a terrible Euro 88 where they lost all three games) were not expected to do well.  Indeed, Bobby Robson was being slated.  The first game was a lousy 1-1 draw against Ireland in one of the worst games of the tournament.  There was a change of formation after that and an improved performance but still only a 0-0 draw against the Dutch followed by a narrow 1-0 win over Egpyt. 

Round 2, a 1-0 over Belgium with a last gasp goal sparing a penalty shootout lottery.  Belgium hit the post twice.  QF against Cameroon - 2-1 down with 8 minutes to go and being outplayed.  Two Gary Lineker penalties required.  The semi-final performance against West Germany was good but were we playing flowing silky football all through the tournament?  No!

The excitement came from the nervy, late goals and the build of momentum through the tournament.