After that dull draw against the USA, we faced Wales in the last game of the World Cup group stages. Winning this match could lead to us going top of our group but as long as we did not suffer a 4-0 defeat then we would still have qualified; however, Wales losing could mean that they go bottom of the group.
The squad for us was: Luke Shaw; Harry Maguire; John Stones; Kyle Walker (as the back four); Jordan Henderson; Declan Rice; Jude Bellingham (in the middle); Harry Kane; Phil Foden and Marcus Rashford (up front). I am very surprised to see Grealish starting on the bench again but it was good to see Rashford and Foden start.
This was a very different England compared to the lacklustre performance on Friday night and it was a much more pleasurable game to watch. We looked a lot more threatening; however, it was nothing compared with the Iran game, where we beat them 6-2. In that game we kept wanting to score goal after goal and they did bring that into this match but it came in the second half.
I have to say that whilst I was watching the first half I was thinking it was going to be another monotonous draw. We did not seem to be attacking or doing much with the ball and not many chances were created - maybe the odd one or two, but they were nothing to get excited about. Neither side looked like they wanted to win. This is why we need Grealish to start, and we should have started Saka as well. With those two, with Bellingham passing to them, we would be ruthless. One player who I highly dislike in an England shirt is Henderson. He is useless and makes so many loose passes, he just passes to the crowd. In a Liverpool shirt he is great but for England he is not. The first half had nothing much to offer; we were dominating possession, but not doing anything with it, and Wales struggled to get out of their half. The points I just made were positive but we need to be scoring.
It ended goalless at half time and I was pondering whether it was going to be a repeat of our last game.
We came back onto the pitch unchanged, whereas, Wales took off their star man, Gareth Bale, and he was replaced with Brennan Johnson. Another one of their strong players - Neco Williams - was also subbed off due to a suspected concussion earlier in the match. This now seemed to be a weak Wales side and we definitely took advantage of this as in the 49th minute we were awarded a free kick, fairly close to the edge of the box. Marcus Rashford was put up for the job and he was the right man to do it as he curled the ball into the bottom right corner of the net making the England fans behind the goal - and around the world - erupt. We did not have time to sit down though because one minute later, straight from kick off, Harry Kane pressured the Welsh defender resulting in him making a mistake and Harry Kane having a free opportunity to get the ball across into the box. Fortunately, Phil Foden was there to make the net ripple. Two goals in quick succession. Where did this come from? It was also the two players that were benched for the last two games. I hope Southgate starts them now as they clearly make a huge impact. We sort of dropped off a little after this - the same as Hull City - and it led to Wales having a couple of threatening chances of their own. Luckily for us, they failed to get it into the back of the net. We eventually settled back into the game and in the 68th minute we added to the score. Kalvin Phillips laid the ball onto Rashford, who then made a run into the box and took a shot. The ball went through the goalkeeper’s legs and Rashford got his second of the night. Unfortunately, he was not able to get his hat trick as in the 75th minute he was subbed. Throughout this half we were hungry and we created an abundance of chances. Defence was much stronger as well.
Now, I hope that we can portray this standard of play into our upcoming fixtures and start working our way through the tournament. We play Senegal in the last 16 and this is where we cannot be switching off or making dense mistakes. If we lose then we are out, there is no second chance.
Very well written Jack x