So, France had just enough to beat the Belgians. Umtiti from a set piece was enough with both goalkeepers keeping the score down in typical cowardly goalkeeping fashion. Fancy ruining all of those opportunities for lots of lovely goals!
On to today and the Semi the World Cup has been waiting for……
Comparing patron saints, we have St Joseph batting for The Croats….
….and St George for the English.
One nil, England. ☺
For the last few games, it has started to seem like it’s Jordan Pickford’s World Cup. A string of top class saves have kept the barbarian armies at bay.
England have been strongest at dead ball situations and will be hoping that with the firm foundation of being solid at the back, they can match the Croatians in open play as well.
Croatia have an excellent midfield with Rakitic and Modric. Will they be able to lift the rest of the team to reach an unheard of World Cup Final.
Cmon England, do it for Sir Bobby Robson!
Arsenal News 24/7
arsenalarsenal.net 
2 each?
Morning Chas and thank you
Still working?
Our biggest needs this transfer window were:
Worldy DM.. bought one
Experienced CB…bought one
On pitch warrior and leader…bought three
Seriously good business and done early
Didit’s Torreira profile
– Cante’esque
– only 22 yrs old
– £22M
– exactly what we’ve been needing for years and years
How on earth did we get him ahead of bigger/richer clubs, and why only 22m? I’d have thought so much more in this crazy world
Still working at the moment.
This glorious post was done at 4am this morning as I woke up and realised I hadn’t done anything.
Good thing is it fits in with the poor quality of the rest of them so no one will notice. ☺
Yesterday evening was taken up with semi final arrangements for this evening!
come on Croatia!!
Raddy said that Denmark is a small country punching above his weight. How about Croatia then?
I am painting red squares on the english flag 🙂
its weight, not Raddy’s weight
Chas
Semi final arrangements? So little info and so much needed
Eddie
Pleeeease can we see the flag when done
no!! a friend has informed me that defacing a flag is a criminal offence!! I thought he was joking, but no, he was right
Did you try to get me arrested Didit???
Mixed bag of emotions for me
England losing may see some fighting in Moscow resulting in fat tattoo’d english cretins sent to Siberia where for the next 20 years they could be visited as a caged tourist attraction. I’d go.
It’s hard to believe Harry Maguire will still be a Leicester City player come the start of the season. Out of all England players, I think his value will have soared more than any other
you must be joking micky, that Pickford must be worth a bomb now.
No Eddie
The value system works like this:
Progressively more expensive from goalkeeper forwards. Quite right too.
agreed.
what about that weird looking kid, Trippe or Tripper?
See you in the final guys – we barely edged Belgium and now we are waiting for England.
I think you will beat Croatia easily with a 2-1 victory but you are overall better than them and should go through. Just be serious on set-pieces and make sure to block transmission to Modric and Mandzukic. The rest is very manageable, even Rakitic.
I think Kane will boss Lovren around on the first goal and that Sterling will provie a point by scoring the 2nd goal tonight. You will concede a late goal, courtesy of Vida and then you will see the game through. Only concern is Walker’s ability to lose the ball in dangerous areas and I think that Maguire may be a bit of a hot head.
Pickford – Walker, Stones, Maguide – Trippier, Lingard, Henderson, Young – Sterling, Alli – Kane
RC, another wrong prediction….
I like how many are dismissing us. Much less pressure.
England are already planning their finals game against France, dont worry about little country called Croatia.
We always have our beaches to fall back on and relax.
VP you were right about yesterday but Belgium did dominate
Once France scored, they let Belguim do all the work. They were confident in their defensive strategies. Belguim were effectively nullified. Aerial bombardment was their singular option and their coach made a big mistake removing Fellaini. He would’ve only needed one chance of many to equalise.
Belgium were nullified because if they over committed, Mbappe would be off on the counter. They had to resort to professional fouls to prevent this. It was sad, not dominant.
Actually, that performance against Belguim reminded of 98.
France went on to win the world cup and only 1 team (Croatia) scored a goal against them. Their defence in 98 was impenetrable. Have they rediscovered their defense of 98.
I have to get up at 3am and drive 40mins to the Croatian Catholic Centre to watch the 4am kick-off
Good night
Morning all.
Thank you Chas for early morning posts. You add to my daily enjoyment and I just want you to know how much you are appreciated.
Arsenal sign midfielder Matteo Guendouzi from Lorient
Sky sources understand the fee for the 19-year-old will be in the region of £8m.
Guendouzi started his career at the Paris Saint-Germain academy before joining Lorient’s academy in 2014.
He made his first-team debut for Lorient aged 17 in October 2016 and went on to make 30 appearances.
He is a France youth international, having represented them at under-18, under-19 and under-20 level.
Head coach Unai Emery said: “We are delighted Matteo is joining us. He is a talented young player and a lot of clubs were interested in him.
“He has big potential and gained good first-team experience last season with Lorient.
“He wants to learn and improve and will be an important part of our first-team squad.”
Guendouzi is Arsenal’s fifth signing of the summer, joining goalkeeper Bernd Leno, defenders Stephan Lichtsteiner and Sokratis Papastathopoulos and midfielder Lucas Torreira.
Will torreira be a starter I assumed he was for the future
the kids are safe now, thank God
Yes, thank God for them
Ok, WC fever building here
Eddie
If you’re not allowed to de-face a St George flag to get the Croatian look, hang a gingham tablecloth out of the window
i haven’t got one 😦
didit – do you know how to make a peach chutney?
sorry, i guess i am out of order
the future of the nation is at stake and i want to make a chutney.
soz, telly on now. Actually, I think i may pop to the Plough, half the Cuffley are there, all my mates too
No idea
I think the Croatians look nervous. Then again, they’re a weak nation 🙂
one
And the announcer just said Trippier has not scored-ever.
Thank you very much may we have another!
english Ronaldo
excellent goal
weird looking kid, is he Scum?
ok, i understand why you guys want to win tonight
but come Sunday it must be a difficult choice – this country wins and millions of naked Englishmen will invade the streets. France win and their women will remove all the clothing…
me is not a lezza but I still think i prefer the French celebrations
Oh Eddie, I was expecting twitter to light up with reports of a rumble down the Plough in Cuffley
How is Lovren no on a yellow yet?
That was not offsides either.
i went, The Plough packed, 2 of my mates pissed, came back home
I see we have Aaron..hello
We don’t have Erik…weak
is it something wrong with my telly or all the pundits, even Wrighty, look orangy
Great 1st half from England.
Sterling for a goal.
hello micky…
Eddie must be your imagination or reality?
It is the stream…
not sure Aaron, hence the question
Yes, they play well. Amazing given their age and lack of experience. Fair fair fair play to the man in the waistcoat, he did well no matter what the final result
ref oblivious….
bloody Pickford, we could have extra time
VP!!!!!
need to up the tempo to level: furious
Someone on England will finish this!
croats look very tired
aaron – it won’t be Lingard 🙂
With France having the extra day, extra time suits neither. Let’s call it quits if still 1-1 and go straight to pens 🙂
Terrific game so far.
Hoping for extra time as we look clueless up front at the moment
Need a creative MF
could be a game of nerves now, like this silly foul
We look bolloxed
hate to doom, but easy to see both these sides really struggling against France
they all look poorly
thank G there are no Gunners there
Scum on the other hand 🙂 what are their games in August?
why not give players a week to recover? why are the fixtures so congested?
And if they are hot in Russia, think 4 years time, think desert, think 60degrees Celsius
Good one of back four out.
Arsenal know what that means.
Dier?? Another Spurs mug.
Come on England. We don’t want penalties
Another ball completely out.
Off the line.
Exciting this game.
that was wonderful??? it was bloody dangerous from pickford
We are not creating. Lingard and Ali have to get forward to give support
That was seriously weak…
No holding back now…
Bum
could do with Theo, the super sub
every call against England.
So, I will cheer for the French to destroy them!
bollocks
good luck to RC and VP
Commiseration
Before we start waxing too lyrical about how good we were and how unlucky we were, let us consider that in this game we managed 2 shots on target, one of which was the goal.
Against Sweden we managed 2 shots on target, both goals and against Colombia, one shot on target, a penalty.
We were lucky to get to the semi final and were beaten by a technically better side.
Did Kane and Lingard and Ali actually do anything in this game?
I missed the last 20 minutes of the first half, so, perhaps, they did so then.
We had no one in midfield who could make a telling pass. no one like Jack.
Just me who doesn’t feel a sense of pride over the England squad? We beat nobody of note, scored 3 goals (?) from open play, were awful in defence whenever we were tested, and lacked any real creativity. In fact, the best bit of our play was that we now seem capable of diving and cheating. ‘Honesty’ has put us on the back foot for years but we now seem to be getting to grips with the ‘dark arts’. Not sure we will get many more chances like this to reach a World Cup final and we threw it away.
Same old rubbish.
happy
I just got back
mad:-)
Believe it or not but at the 50min mark I felt confident we could win it
I got a real sense of fragility in the England side.
Croatia were working them out. England play for the foul, roll over and then try make something of the dead ball via a well rehersed set play. But in open play, they had nothing and I could sense panic and nerves creeping into the english side.
RC, you need to work on your predictions.
As for the final, a chance for us to revenge the 98 loss. I say we have a 25% chance of winning it.
A young country of 4mil people with a shit league. Well done Croatia!!!
Later (once I work out twitter post/transfers etc) I will post some of my video at the Croatian Catholic Centre. There were about 300 of us. It was crazy and fun.
To all the England supporters, commiserations.
There is always the 3rd place play-off against Belguim. Belguim will want to win it so will see how much corleones england have. I still see this as an important game, finishing 3rd is still a major achievement in the world cup.
good morning and g’day
Eddie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We were mediocre throughout the tournament and were finally found out by a better team.
Definitely want Croatia to beat France. Can’t have a chav winning the WC.
3rd place play off is a joke and should be withdrawn because it plumbs the depths of futility.
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Cooled off now.
Go Croatia!
thank you St Joseph
St George looks too much like a prissy dandy what with his/her frilly collar and red riding hood cape
Morning all
Agree Chas, 3rd place play off’s are cruel and pointless. Who wants to hang around after just missing out on a final? Neither players nor fans. On the plus side, one more game for the spuds
St. Joseph looks like a Catholic priest 🙂
NEW POST
Last point on England’s WC
I think there are/were at least eight teams who could have beaten England. We’re a last 16 side, but with a bit of luck on the draw, a last 8, with a miracle on the draw a last 4.
Soz, Micky, didn’t know anyone else was up and about.
Yep, the spuds pre-season is in disarray with 8 of them still involved in that utter waste of time.
when the England captain is a Spud and others in the team are spuds, then their DNA does not contain the gene that enables you to win a trophy…
bottlers!