This post is dedicated to American soccer journalist Grant Wahl and Qatari photojournalist Khalid Al-Misslam. Both of them died in Qatar recently and very suddenly. Wahl was (rightfully) a vocal critic of Qatar’s government and a very well-respected sports journalist. The causes of death for each of these gentlemen are unknown, but any time a journalist dies in a repressive country like Qatar, the death needs to be fully investigated. It’s unknown if foul play was involved or not as their causes of death have not been released, but there is always that suspicion when a public critic of a country unexpectedly dies while in that country. Also, whatever Qatar or FIFA says about his death should probably be met with a high degree of scrutiny.
Portugal vs. Morocco
Morocco made history last Saturday when they beat Portugal 1-0 and became the first African team to progress to the semifinals of the World Cup! Huge result for them, and it cannot be understated just how important that victory is for African football. Their style of play is not pretty and it has attracted plenty of criticism, although most of that is coming from the players of teams they have already beaten. It doesn’t matter what tactics a team uses to win though, so long as they’re legal. And of course, there’s nothing improper about parking the bus!
Striker Yousseff En-Nesyri got the only goal on 42 minutes, after he got his head to a lovely cross from left back Yahia Attiat-Allah. He beat Portuguese keeper Diogo Costa to the ball, and his downward header bounced over the line and back up into the roof of the net. The fans in the stadium were overwhelmingly in support of Morocco, and the crowd erupted into pandemonium once the ball went in. The Moroccan defense, marshalled by defensive midfielder Sofyan Amrabat, then did their now-customary job of holding firm while waves of Portuguese attacks crashed against their defense for the entirety of the second half.
Despite going down to 10 men in stoppage time, the Moroccans held firm and were the winners at the final whistle. Well done to them all. They’ve now scalped Belgium, Spain, and Portugal. The Iberians for their part were not direct enough in this match. They had all the possession of course, but that possession was not purposeful enough. It’s going to take something special to breach this incredibly stout Moroccan defense, and Portugal lacked the creativity to find a goal. The north Africans shut down in-form striker Gonçalo Ramos, and striker Cristiano Ronaldo was once again ineffective. Ronaldo has not officially retired from Portugal now that his team is out, but this was surely his last chance to win it. I would almost be sad if he wasn’t so egotistical.
Well done Morocco! All of Africa, the Middle East, and this author will be supporting you going forward!
England vs. France
Alright, let’s get this post-mortem examination over with. England were the better team for the majority of the match. Simple as. France had a good spell to open the game, but England grew into possession and were the more dangerous team as the match went on.
France’s opening goal was a quality strike from distance by defensive midfielder Aurélien Tchouaméni, but the goal is tainted by the fact that Brazilian referee Wilton Sampaio missed an obvious foul on England winger Bukayo Saka in the build-up to the goal. France wouldn’t have been on the ball in the first place had the foul been properly called! Not making excuses for England’s defending after the missed foul and it was indeed a wonder strike from Tchouaméni, but it never should have counted in the first place. Simple as.
England got back into the match just after halftime when Saka was fouled (again) in the box by Tchouaméni, and this time Sampaio remembered he had a whistle. He blew for an obvious penalty, and striker Harry Kane stepped up to the spot. After a long-ish delay he dispatched the penalty with authority by sending France keeper Hugo Lloris the wrong way. Kane is now tied with Wayne Rooney as England’s all-time leading scorer!
The match continued in back and forth fashion, with Sampaio missing fouls on England players left and right. England were trying to play the game, while France was content just to foul our lads every time they got close. Sampaio was enabling this tactic by not calling fouls. He called yellow-card worthy fouls on occasion, but then failed to apply the appropriate punishment. He was mostly awful for England the whole match.
The Frogs forged themselves ahead again on 76 minutes unfortunately, and it was from a strong header by striker Olivier Giroud. The big man was allowed to steal into a good position by the England defense, and he headed home from close range. England keeper Jordan Pickford had no chance to get to it. England’s defense let them down on this goal, but it was the only legitimate goal France scored in this match. Giroud is damn near unplayable in the box sometimes, so every effort must be made to stop the cross from coming in the first place.
England had a golden chance to go level again in the 80th minute or so when substitute midfielder Mason Mount won England yet another penalty. He was ran into by French fullback Theo Hernandez while attempting to get on the end of a cross. Sampaio didn’t indicate a penalty right away though. VAR had to intervene and send him over to the monitor to check again. He did award the penalty after VAR got involved, but he wouldn’t have otherwise. It was as clear a penalty as the first one he awarded, so where’s the consistency?
Unfortunately, Kane skied the penalty over the bar and he joins the numerous ranks of England players who have missed key penalties at the World Cup. I was devastated for him. He had done so well in this match and England overall had played well, but it was still a missed pen. Kane doesn’t need me to tell him he has to put those away. He knows. England did not get another chance as good as that one, despite forward Marcus Rashford blazing just over the bar from a free kick in the dying seconds. The final whistle blew and all twelve (lol) French players on the pitch were elated.
Whenever England go out of a major tournament, there’s always a grand inquiry as to why. Was it the players? Manager Gareth Southgate? Some other crappy reason? Well, this time it’s especially maddening to try and figure that out because England didn’t do a whole lot wrong in this game. France were good in spells, but their defense is suspect and really only scored one valid goal in the whole match. Now it’s true that Kane needs to be burying his penalties and there’s no getting around that, but aside from that there isn’t much more England could have done here. Maybe Southgate should have gotten midfielder/winger Jack Grealish on earlier, but on the other hand his substitute Mount had won the penalty earlier. Can’t really blame England were attacking, playing with purpose, frustrating star forward Kylian Mbappe, and they almost nicked a result despite being hacked to death by the French. Southgate had them doing what every England fan wanted them to do!
The wait for another World Cup goes on. It’ll be 60 years without one come 2026. It is insanely difficult to be an optimist about this team, but we will still be very good in four years. We have a lot of players in their early 20s who got experience at this World Cup, and most of them will be at Euro 2024 as well. I didn’t expect to be saying this pre-tournament, but I want Southgate to stick around as well. What he may lack in tactical prowess he makes up for in facilitating team chemistry and a positive environment. He understands that the players’ collective mentality is of vital importance at a major tournament, and he has created an environment where England players look forward to playing for their country instead of worrying about being vilified. More relaxed players equals better football, as it were.
Speaking of, very happy to see a majority of England fans not vilifying Kane after he missed his penalty. Our lads took a beating from “fans” on social media after Euro 2021, but I am happy that has not been repeated. You can’t expect our most talented players to want to play for the national side if they’re going to be roasted and lampooned by the traditional media and social media should they lose. We have to support them, and when they play as well as they did, it’s a lot easier to do so. I do hope though that Sampaio stubs his toe rather hard in the coming weeks and that it hurts him way longer than it should.
Three Lions on the Shirts!
Semifinals – Morocco vs. France – Wednesday December 14th at 11 AM PST
4-4-2 