I must admit that I didn’t expect to be talking about a Denmark exit at the hands of Australia for the knockout stages, that’s for sure. The Danes looked impressive at times in the Euro’s and I just assumed that it would be the same in this tournament, but they have very much flattered to deceive, it seems, which has meant that it is the Aussies who go through. And fair play to them and their fans for getting up in the middle of the night to watch it, because it seems like there was a fair few of them who had made the effort and for those sore heads this morning, it’ll have all been worth it.

Of course they’ll get a bit of a pasting against Argentina in their Round of 16 game, so it’s probably as far as they’ll go, but maybe Christmas miracles can happen.

On a related note, when on earth did it stop getting called the second round? I could have sworn that’s what it used to be called. Second Round, Quarter Final, Semi Final, Final. Could’ve sworn it was that all those years ago. Or maybe even recent tournaments. ‘Round of 16’ just doesn’t have a ring to it, does it? It’s a bit clunky as a stage.

“How did you get on?”

“Got to the ‘Round of 16”

“So what does that mean then? Is that good? How many rounds were there?”

“Can’t remember”

Nope, give me good ol’ fashioned ‘Second Round’. Do it like they do with the FA Cup; you get to the Sixth Round, then after that you’re in the Semi Final. Simples.

In terms of the other games yesterday, I’ll not put as much effort in to the France vs Tunisia game as the French did, so let’s move on from that, as the really exciting stuff happened in the evening. Who doesn’t love a ‘permutation’?? Before I talk about Poland v Argentina, sad times for Mexico, who I watched the last 20 minutes of their game and thought the desperation, the chances, the excitement and then the agony of that late goal against them from Saudi Arabia, was a fantastic watch. Not if you are Mexican, but as a neutral the drama is always gripping.

I’ve repeatedly stated I’m not a fan of International football, but tournament International football becomes very interesting when you have situations like last night with Group C. That was a hum-dinger! I found myself pre game routing for Poland because of the Szczesny connection, which I still think I was behind when he made the penalty save after the frankly ludicrous decision to award the spot kick from the Szcszesny palm away. I’m sorry but if that’s a penalty then the referees in this tournament have missed about three in each game. Then for the referee on the pitch, as well as in the VAR studio, to all agree? Madness. It’s kind of deflating too; as English Premier League watchers we all bemoan the shocking standard of our own referees. I almost take solace in the fact that ours are so terrible and there are nations out there with plenty of great referees. But that guy yesterday – think he was Dutch – just threw a Netherlands-shaped spanner in the works in showing that incompetence on VAR and on-field spans country borders too. Thankfully Woj saved it, but he couldn’t save Poland from being generally terrible in the game.

But then they went through anyway, so they’ll all be patting each other on the back this morning, but based on what most of us have seen so far in this tournament, they’ll be heading home soon enough when France give them a hammering. I cannot see any other result barring – again – some sort of Christmas miracles. But based on Poland’s lack of ambition I’m inclined for that to happen more for the Aussies than the Poles. And that’s taking in to account the fact that if England beat Senegal on Sunday, they’ll play the winner of that match!

My hope for today is that we get some more intriguing moments in which teams flit in-between going through and going out. Group E is set up nicely, because every team has to go for it, but if I was a betting man I’d assume that the two big names will ultimately go through. Japan should have beaten Costa Rica and if they’d have done that then they’d have knocked Germany out, but I think Germany finishes the job today and with Costa Rica’s terrible goal difference, I suspect that it almost counts as a point for Germany already given the group context. A 1-0 Germany win will probably put them through because I can’t see anything other than a Spain win against the Japanese. Maybe I’m wrong, maybe the fat that Spain are basically qualified due to their superior goal difference – again, practically acting like an additional point – but I don’t think that will force the Spanish to take their eye of the ball tonight. Regardless though, at least there are no dead rubbers.

Unlike the earlier games in the day, where sadly Canada are out, which is a shame given how admirably they’ve played. But Morocco have something to play for and I just hope that they can overcome the Canadians now, because it would be funny to see a pretty bang-average Belgium team go out. The goal difference is such that a draw for Morocco is enough if Croatia win and Croatia know they can’t not go for Belgium for fear of Morocco winning their match and knocking them out. So three of the four teams are playing for something and hopefully that adds some intrigue.

Away from the World Cup and back on The Arsenal, it has been sad to hear that Ben White has returned home from the World Cup for ‘personal reasons’. You don’t come home from that unless there is something serious happening at home and so at this time that privacy requested by both England and Arsenal is essential. We just have to hope that he and all of his family are ok.

On that potentially sombre note I’m going to call it quits for today, so hug a family member tighter and hopefully you can enjoy the rest of your Thursday.

Have a good one peeps.

I guess if you’re a Welsh reader then probably the latter, but console yourself in the fact that Arsenal are better than any international team anyway. Soon it’ll be Christmas and we can get back to focusing on the most important football – The Arsenal.

I watched the England v Wales game last night and although it was a comfortable win for the English, it was hardly a ‘classic’. Wales tried to hang in there, got it until halftime, but as soon as Southgate tweaked the system, it was too much for the Welsh to handle and England top the group with seven points from a possible nine.

As an Englishman, I’m trying to understand where this places England in terms of their potential and up against some of the other teams in the group. In 2018 they reached the semi final and were knocked out t o Croatia. In 2020 it was the final with a young team. This team now has a blend of older and experienced players – Kane, Maguire, Walker, Henderson, etc – coupled with some of the younger stars coming through. So from that perspective it looks balanced. But having seen them decimate Iran on match day one, then eventually blow away Wales after a stuttering first half, I am still not really sure of the quality of the team. I mean, I KNOW there are good players in that squad, but the performance against the US looked inhibited and it was the only team in that group stage who looked like they had a little something about them. As teams now start to qualify from the group stages, the proper tournament begins, because the teams you’d expect to go deep start facing off against each other.

For England that will be Senegal and again, I don’t really know how England will react to that, because I’d probably place Senegal as good – possibly better – than the US. Maybe that’s harsh on the US team and maybe it’s because of the intensity I’ve seen in the Senegalese in the way they press, but I think England are going to find that game tough. I’d almost wonder if a match up against The Netherlands – something the US has – might have been a game that could have better suited England. But we’ll have to wait and see.

The second half goals did look good though and Rashford looked like he was up for it. He’s the poster boy now after Saka in the Iran game, which will lead Southgate in to a bit of a conundrum for that Senegal game, because I’m not sure whether he would be tempted to keep playing Rashford if he is in that form. He was good last night, but he’s not a technically superior player to Saka and doesn’t offer the same style as Saka does. Rashford wants to run in behind and whilst Saka also does that, he can operate with the ball at his feet. Does Southgate therefore have a tough decision to make?

Perhaps not, because Jordan Henderson wasn’t very good yesterday and he played in a midfield three. I speculated that in the first half a combination of Saka and Foden on the right could be something juicy. You could play either player in the right number eight role, with either player playing right wing and whilst Southgate switched it at halftime and both Foden and Rashford looked very good, I could see a situation in which he could be really quite ambitious and play Saka, Rashford and Foden in the same team. Think of how bold that would be, eh? But we know Southgate is cautious and he’ll most likely go with Henderson again in the next game.

In the other big match we saw the US beat Iran and as the England game petered out I flicked over to see the tail-end of that match. It was intriguing, if not explosive, although as much as I have no real affinity with the US, they deserved to go through by the sounds of it. I watched about 20 minutes in total if you include stoppage time and the Iranians were diving and moaning about everything, so whilst when I first switched it on I thought it would be funny to see the US go out to Iran if there was a goal scored by the Iranians, by the end I couldn’t route for a team who were messing around and not trying more to get the goal they needed by normal and fair means. So the US go through against the Netherlands and I’d be surprised if they made it beyond the Round of 16, but the Netherlands have looked so ‘meh’ that I guess there is the chance they could do it.

Today’s knockout games will add some intrigue in some matches. I suspect it’ll be France and Denmark that will go through at the expense of Australia and Tunisia, which will be no real surprise, but Poland Argentina will be one to watch I reckon. The Poles just need a draw, the Argies probably can get through with a draw, but if Mexico deliver a smashing of the Saudi’s then it could be in the balance. The goal difference swing between Mexico and Argentina is three, so they’ll need to win by three clear goals and if that happens and they win 3-0, for example, with Argentina and Poland playing out a draw, then depending on whether it is a score draw might see Mexico or Argentina through. I think Argentina will win it though and if they get a couple of goals against the Polish then Mexico go in to the same situation with the Polish if they win by two clear goals against the Saudi’s. That makes for an interesting dilemma because whilst Poland versus Argentina is clearly the bigger game in terms of technical quality of the two teams, the Mexico vs Saudia Arabia game might be more interesting, just because the Mexicans might have to go hell for leather against the Saudi’s, so there could be goals in that match.

Either way, we’ll have another batch of teams through and the round of 16 will really look like it’s shaping up come 9pm UK time tonight. I’m looking forward to it.

Right, I’m offski for now – you have a good one and I’ll catch thee tomorrow.

First up it was the Swiss, who went out to Poland on pens, with the penalty miss of Granit Xhaka proving crucial to his country’s progression. There was inevitably a lot of other fans schadenfreude kicking in that an Arsenal player had failed, but I can only look at the positives from what I’ve seen over the last couple of weeks, which is a quality player who will be a tremendous asset to our club. I’d far rather have seen four good performances and a penalty miss from our new signing, than four average performances with a winning penalty, so the Euro’s has done enough to get me excited for our new player.

The home nations match at 5pm was an exhibition of technical inferiority. Both Wales and Northern Ireland stunk out the joint and perhaps it was therefore inevitable that it was a scrappy own goal that decided the tie. Of course it did, for Wales, who is cheered against all afternoon. You’ve got to feel sorry for Norn Iron, especially as I can only recall their ‘keeper being called into action once, where as Wayne Hennessey was certainly the busier of the two ‘keepers over 90 minutes.

And finally, to the injustice that was Croatia Portugal, which saw a scuffed Nani shot find Ronaldo, who of course had a shot, but got fortunate that Quaresma was following up to nod in to the empty net. Before that, I’d endured the pain of having to sit through an entire game without a shot on target. It really was quite awful. Both teams were far too cagey and nobody wanted to take a chance until we got to extra time, in which Croatia were forced to try to drive forward and could have scored even after that goal, but ultimately get sent packing. It’s a surprise because I was beginning to think we might get a Croatia/Germany final. But I’m thinking that it must be a Portugal/Germanh one now, because they seem to be spawning their way to the final.

Oh gawd, imagine a final which has Cristiano Ronaldo taking the penalty which could win them the Euro’s. It’d be horrific. If Portugal win the Euro’s he’d probably demand a bus of his own, such is the man he is, and the Portugese would probably give it to them.

Arsenal news is quite sparse at the moment. There’s the usual rubbish from everyone about different striker names, but it’s all re-hashed stories of the existing names, so when you actually bother to click on any of it you don’t actually end up learning anything new. So with that in mind, I guess I should call it a blogging day and wait for the next round of matches. Hopefully they don’t bore us all to tears!

Peace out y’all.