The World Cup fever had finally hit me. And yes, I support England, and this was despite our pet goldfish - Gareth the Goldfish - died suddenly last month. Bad omen it may be, but England would still be on top.
They started their campaign against Tunisia the other night. On paper, it should have been an easy win but it turned out that Tunisia was a very organised outfit. Although England striked first - courtesy of a penalty by Kane - Tunisia equalised and the score remained so until an injury time winner from a set piece - a corner this time.
England clearly lacked the flair player who could unlock defences and throved more on fast transition play. This would be a problem against opponents who parked their bus and stayed behind the ball. At the end, the set-piece play bailed England out. Against better opponent, they had to be more clever. Without penetration, England would not go far.
The next game would be another straight forward one before the real test in the last group game against the best team in the group, Belgium. That would be the game who would make or break England’s campaign. For them to progress far, these are the games they would need to perform and get results from ...
