Sweden beat South Korea 1-0 in today's first match. The goal came from a penalty in the 65th minute. Yep, that's it.
Belgium finally dismantled Panama 3-0 in the second half with three, as they say on North American TV sports news, "highlight reel" goals. Dries Mertens scored a stunning volley, Romelu Lukaku added a second after a quite sumptuous outside of the foot cross from Kevin de Bruyne and Lukaku scored again after a lethally quick and simple counter attack and a perfect, lay it on a plate pass from Eden Hazard. There were a couple of Hazards on the pitch at the end, and not just for the Panamanians. Thorgan Hazard, Eden's younger brother came on for the last 7 minutes.
England's 2-1 win over Tunisia in the last match of the day was notable for a few things. England went from being very, very good to looking very average when the score was 1-1 but, amazingly, unlike numerous disappointments in the past, managed to find a winner in injury time. VAR, or it's lack of use, was confusing. We were told it would be used if the referee missed obvious incidents where penalties were involved. Four men sitting in front of a wall of TV's missed Harry Kane being wrestled, quite literally, to the ground, twice. The referee may not have seen both fouls but what were the four men in Moscow doing. Did they all go to the toilet at the same time, twice?
And the last thing that stood out was, in a World Cup, that has been so much fun to watch where even the defensive teams are putting a positive spin on defending, we saw the first negative team performance. For most of the second half Tunisia were a mirror image of Malta at Wembley against England in qualifying. They barely left their own half and had absolutely no ambition to do anything other than hold on for a famous point. Fair enough, results are what matter. But to add to their negativity was the outrageous cynicism, the constant fouls, the whining and arguing with the referee. They played dirty, they left the pitch with a terrible reputation and I'm sure most neutrals were happy to see they got the result they deserved. Many teams have played like this in the past, but maybe there is a new order in football and teams like this will have no supporters. Iceland and Switzerland are the positive, clean versions of Tunisia.
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