England have a huge chance to progress to the last 8 of the World Cup!

It's England v Columbia this evening in the World Cup and what an open and enthralling tournament it has been so far. Can England over-perform and reach the last 8, or further?!

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The bookmaker's odds in the UK for England in major finals have been ridiculously short for decades. Single figure odds for a team that hasn't done anything in 20 years has been no value at all, and the 16/1 on offer at the start of the tournament also looked very ungenerous.

This is the first time since I can remember though that the manager has had a good clear-out of the oldies - These guys have won many honors at club level (Rooney, Lampard, Terry, Milner, etc), but have nothing to speak of at international level, and so it was certainly about time for a change - almost without risk.

The World Cup of 2018 is also looking like the most open finals in recent history too. Holland and Italy didn't even qualify - finalists and semi-finalists in recent years gone by. And already, Argentina are out, and Spain who dominated the world less than 6 years ago are also watching from the sidelines. We almost lost Belgium last night, and the lowest ranked team in the tournament, Russia, are in the last 8 and looking like a difficult team to beat on home soil.

Summer in Russia

It seems like the temperature has shocked a few teams. This shouldn't really have been an issue to many groups coming from the Americas, and in today's game you would expect most players to be able to see out 90 minutes as they do week in week out at club level. Seemingly though, teams are running out of gas towards the final quarter of the game, and being punished for it.

France, with a young, athletic midfield, took control off the game against Argentina the other day and looked like they would run riot. The Argentinians had the 4th oldest squad in the World Cup, and France have the 3rd youngest. source For me, this looked very obvious in the 2nd half of this game the other day, and I'm wondering if it will be a them as we continue into the tournament.

England's youth

England have the 2nd youngest squad at the World Cup. Due to qualifying for the second round 'early' they were able to rest 8/9 of the starting 11 from these games against Belgium (who just sneaked past a very fit looking Korean team last night who were unlucky not to earn extra time).

Columbia have an average squad member age of 28.1, and England's is 26. The Colombians are also likely to be without their star player James Rodríguez, who collected the golden boot at the last World Cup. Can these two factors be the difference tonight? The forecast for this evening is showing a much cooler temperature than the 27/28 degrees reported during the recent matches, and so perhaps we wont be seeing players pulling up for cramp within the 90 minutes.

I didn't give England a hope in hell prior to the start of the tournament, but aside from France and Brazil, (France are my tip to lift the cup), I think we have the players to cause teams trouble. The 3 centreback's are all dangerous in the air, Harry Kane clearly knows where the goal is (great penalties last week!), and there is plenty of energy and pace in the midfield to bring danger on the break.

Games within the beautiful game

My concern for the young squad is the 'gamesmanship' that goes on at major finals. Diving, play-acting, time-wasting, and more recently, wrestling moves in the penalty area, are all there to frustrate the opposition and fool the referee's. It is here that I think England lack, and suspect that the team is one of the most 'honest' still left in the competition.

In recent history, England have been 'done' by handballs, play-acting, and clear goals over the line that have not been given - So happy to see the Germans sent home by VAR and I think there is something just about that if you are an England fan!

England have also suffered in knockout games of major tournaments and haven't won a game like this since 2006 - the last one being on penalties at Euro 96, hosted in the UK. Since then, penalty shootout defeats to Germany, Argentina, Portugal (twice) and Italy have ended England’s run at major tournaments. Again it was our older and more experienced players who failed to keep their composure - will the younger, and potentially more fearless players overcome the 42 year hoodoo?

It could all be over by tonight, but these finals are there for the taking - Can England step up and progress into the last 8?

Enjoy the football - Come on England!

Asher

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