Great performance by England last night.

Absolutely stupendous performance by the other England in Pakistan over the past 5 days. This morning with about 10 minutes to spare, they won an unwinnable Test Match through skill, persistence and rabid positivity - oh, and genius captaincy. It's rare to be cheered off the pitch by the ultra partisan fans of the team you've just beaten.

Ooo er. Horrible moment for Tomiyasu just now. Lucky to get away with it.

Well S.Korea won that second half, so morally that’s a draw, nothing to fear here from this brazil team …

Brazil look good but France are my tip for the tournament. I can’t really see anyone beating them

Hope we recall him
We need more reliable players available to us

He was pushed, ever so slightly, by the Croatian player. And because of his stance at that time, he got off balance and failed to connect squarely with the ball.

That did look like vintage Brazil ... quite a far cry from the 2014 dross. But I'm still not completely convinced. It was made a bit too easy for them by whoever it was who was supposed to be marking Vinicius and by the ref awarding such as soft penalty. Crazy game after that. It could have 8-4!

Yes, so much to admire in that game, not least Jimmy Anderson - what a wonderful bowler!

Thought the Brazilian dancing was pretty nauseating. Hope somebody beats them.

It wasn’t just me then ! Don’t get me started !

I found likewise. You are the most successful World Cup team ever and you are over celebrating like mad whilst you are pounding a plucky emerging country who has played with great heart in the tournament.

Neymar doing a crying celebration when he scored.

I mean the over celebrating for the paqueta goal was absurd. Even after about 4 minutes of dancing and you thought they stopped he fell to his knees and prayed skywards and you just thought “give me a break” then when you saw their manager dancing I just thought right I hope they absolutely get pounded by Mbappe in the final

I'm sure the old timers can name all 7. I would not have recognized them by look but all have very recognizable names.

This is mad! Couldn't happen today without massive multi game suspensions, huge amounts paid as a fine.

https://www.facebook.com/adrian.carney. ... 8294471298

Sounds okay to me. Just glad that he has finished his involvement there and should return fit.

Agree with all of this, except I hope the Argies do them in the semi. That would really piss them off.

I didn't know this. Or rather think about it, now that I saw this.

Webb, Hurst, Hudson, Venables,Ball and Marsh. Only one I am not sure of is the cigar smoker -
looks like Terry Neill?

Magnificent player - the over-used word icon can be used in his case.

Reading this nonsense from wenger makes me sad. The one person who was supposed to not be for sale and whose morals were unquestionable and is now trotting out this fifa propaganda (not to mention suggesting the World Cup should be every 2 years)


https://edition.cnn.com/2022/12/04/foot ... index.html

It's Terry Mancini. And he's the only one who looks at all comfortable to me in this strangely fascinating picture.

Thought Hurst was Roger Daltrey at first glance which is a resemblance I'd never noticed before and possibly doesn't really exist. No idea why Webb, Hurst and Venables are standing on chairs, nor why Alan Ball is lounging on the floor like that, though I'd rather he wasn't.

Noteworthy that even back then Venables was so bent that his arms didn't fold properly.

Portugal with 5 lucky goals, lucky domination of possession and several lucky beautiful passages of play against the Swiss. Nothing to fear here…

The 6th was pure class though

It's nauseating how it was still somehow all about Ronaldo. Morocco must be desperately hoping that he is selected.

David Webb, Geoff Hurst, Alan Hudson and Terry Venables. Terry Mancini, Alan Ball and Rodney Marsh

I don't know this but I seem to recall that the board were seriously considering getting Venables to manage us after Rioch. Again, I don't know for sure and am open to being corrected about it but if so, how well would we have likely done (or rather how badly) under him? Total supposition of course.

Pele with The Arsenal, early 80s. Can you name them? I can't.

Ødegaard, Vieira, Ramsdale, Xhaka, Smith Rowe, Zinchenko, Saliba.

I think I got them all but mighta got one wrong.

L to R:

Brian Talbot, don't know, Tommy Caton(??), John Devine, PEELY, Graham Rix, Kenny Sansom, David O'Leary, Paul Davis

I think 2nd from left is Brian McDermott. 3rd left is not Tommy Caton - he didn't arrive until 1984. Picture is 1981.

O'Leary, I could tell. Paul Davis, I recognized the face but couldn't remember the name.

I bet that Glenn Cockerell remembers his name.

Third from left, maybe Peter Nicholas?

Cheat Sheet:

NLD January, 1934.

Imagine living in the home to the lower left?! What surprised me the most when I visited Highbury was just how close to the stadium the homes were.

LOL...really? Any chance a rendition before the next game in this WC?

https://www.facebook.com/properfootball ... 3020322189

and

I see Raheem Sterling is to re-join the England squad, now that his personal problems - all of which have been detailed and discussed in the media - have been resolved.

I'm by no means social media savvy, nor have I searched the media particularly deeply, but I have seen no trace whatever of an explanation, nor even any comment on Ben White's absence. Does anyone find that strange?

Yes. It seems very odd indeed.

In fact it is surprising in today’s climate that it is possible to keep things under wraps like that.

I did see a suggestion that he is a gay man and being threatened in some way of a public 'outing'. Absolutely unsubstantiated and probably complete bs.