One of the best bits of the World Cup thus far has been what has felt like wall-to-wall Sun’lun coverage. Since Xhaka’s appearance in the opening game against Qatar and Wrighty’s eulogy pre-match, there’s been at least one player popping up almost every day.
The day after writing the last diary entry, Talbi made his own World Cup debut as a second-half
substitute against Brazil, while on the same day Isidor started in Haiti’s 1-0 loss to Scotland. Talbi’s cameo was a tidy one, while Wilson had a few half-chances and dived even more times with Haiti dominating possession and territory but unable to score.
The next day, our Dutch trio featured in the Oranje squad which drew 2-2 with Japan (Brobbey came on as a sub, while Roefs and Geertruida remained on the bench). Overnight saw a pair of our lads face off against each other when Angulo’s Ecuador were beaten by Adingra’s Ivory Coast 1-0 in what was at the time arguably the most entertaining match of the tournament with end-to-end football, vicious tackles and a star-in-the-making performance from Yan Diomande. Adingra was an unused substitute, while Angulo came off the bench for Ecuador and arguably was partly at fault in the goal.
Noah Sadiki and Arthur Masuaku’s Congo performed brilliantly against a star-studded Portugal side in which Cristiano Ronaldo spent the entire time walking around and getting in his teammates’ way – leading to social media dubbing him ‘Homelando’. Masauku himself grabbed an assist for Yoanne Wissa’s equaliser (which in itself is quite funny; he played really well after basically being paid a small fortune by them lot up the road just to spend the entire season injured and/or walking around a pitch disinterested). Habib Diarra also featured off the bench in a cameo as Senegal lost 3-1 to France.
Since then, Talbi played another strong cameo as a sub against Scotland, almost doubling Morocco’s lead, while Wilson dropped to the bench for Haiti’s big game against Brazil and Omar Alderete more than made up for his mistake against USA with a man-of-the-match performance in a proper defensive masterclass down to ten men against Turkey overnight.
However, the biggest impact so far from Sunderland’s perspective has only, naturally, come from one man. Granit Xhaka caused a whole boatload of controversy with his post-game analysis of the Swiss’ draw with Qatar, leading to some ridiculous clickbait articles in Bild (in Germany) and the Daily Mail. I’ll not link them; don’t bother giving them the clicks either.
But Xhaka responded terrifically, creating two of the goals and scoring a penalty himself in a man-of-the-match performance. He referenced it both in his celebration and then in his post-match interview:
“Switzerland can be proud to have a player with 148 caps, for the colours, for the nation, and with pure pride behind it. But maybe I need that; I do provoke a bit. What is important to me is that the team is behind me. We have to perform together; everything else has never interested me.
What counts is what happens on the pitch. It is not always easy. I would be lying if I said it was all good and no good. It hurts because there are things I don’t understand.
A lot has been written. There was a big article the day before yesterday that didn’t go unnoticed. But for me, what matters is what I can influence on the pitch – I can’t influence anything else. I don’t get the feeling that anyone, even one percent, isn’t behind me. I am here for success, and I will continue to seek it as long as I am here.”
One of the best parts of all of this Sunderland coverage was during the Morocco – Brazil match, when Chemsdine Talbi came on. Guy Mowbray and Alan Shearer were on commentary for the BBC coverage. Mowbray proceeded to bait Shearer in the best way:
Mowbray: “Well Chemsdine Talbi, we know all about in the North East of England, having had a successful first season in the Premier League with Sunderland,”One of 12 Black Cats to be playing at this World Cup, which is two more than the Real Madrid contingent, Alan!”
Shearer: “Anybody would think you’re a Sunderland fan, Guy.”
Mowbray: “No, I’m just putting it out there for your North East knowledge to shine.”
Shearer: “Yep. They had a great season, Sunderland, didn’t they? And I mean it before everyone jumps.”
Mowbray“The teeth were not even gritted. I can vouch for you.”
Shearer: “They absolutely did have a great season.”
Amidst all of this, we finally got to see England play. It felt like an absolute eternity watching eleven groups worth of games before it was our turn. In the build-up, the England fans ingratiated themselves magnificently to locals in Texas, turning up at a rodeo:
Then, taking over bars:
But onto the football, the first half was quite cagey from England. They seemed to play within themselves, resorting to playing in static rows with not much movement between the lines to support Kane, as we had seen previously under Tuchel. We sat back too often, struggled to progress the ball from the two central defenders, and scored from a pair of set-pieces.
But then came half-time. Anthony Barry gave a surprisingly candid, honest, and brutal half-time interview that was far from the usual platitudes given in these pointless in-game interviews. While he did this, Thomas Tuchel gave an all-timer of a speech imploring the team to “remember who you are, if you lose, lose doing it your way”.
That second half is the best I can ever recall us playing at a major tournament, and is the first time we’ve beaten a team ranked in the top fifteen in the world in a World Cup since the 1-0 over Argentina in 2002. It was liquid football that forced Croatia to substitute Luka Modric, who could not keep up with the movement in England’s midfield. We’d bait their press, bounce pass it out wide and then counter with ruthless efficiency. Harry Kane played like a 10, Bellingham played as a central midfielder, an attacking midfielder and a striker all bundled up into one, and Elliot Anderson controlled the game. Noni Madueke put in perhaps his best-ever performance.
That scene at the end, with the England fans belting out Wonderwall and the players just standing motionless, appreciating it with tears in their eyes, could be the one we all remember in years to come.
I don’t know who picked the goal music, but having the darts music is inspired.
Elsewhere, Spain flattered to deceive as Cape Verde’s brilliant low-block, inspired by the 40-year-old ‘keeper Vozinho, kept the scoreline at 0-0, and Germany destroyed Curacao. What is essentially a Dutch under-21 team from 2013 were poor, but you can only beat who you play against, as Spain proved.
They’ll both be in the running to make it deep in the tournament, but right now only Brazil had a harder group game than England and arguably only France impressed more. The tournament is wide open.
