Thought I'd put the England match thread up a bit earlier as i'm seeing some of the pre-match stuff online already today and run it separate from the other games on Monday so they don't get drowned out, mods can merge it if they feel it's unnecessary.
18TH JUNE
TUNISIA VS ENGLAND
Match kicks off at 19:00 (BST) on BBC 1. Coverage starts at 18:15 (BST). Presented by Gary Lineker, analysis by Rio Ferdinand, Frank Lampard and Alan Shearer, commentary by Guy Mowbray and Martin Keown.
Tunisia enter the World Cup for just the 5th time since their independence. This will be their first appearance at the finals since the 2006 finals in Germany. They come into the tournament as the highest ranked African team; 21st in the world, so they are not to be underestimated. Their qualifying group to get here wasn’t the hardest, besting Guinea, Libya and beating the DR Congo on H2H. However, recent friendly performances suggest they are no mugs, drawing 2-2 with Portugal (albeit a Ronaldo-less Portugal), a 2-2 draw with Turkey and just a 1-0 loss to Spain. They have a couple of familiar faces; Leicester’s Benalouane albeit not a regular starter and ex-Sunderland player Wahbi Khazri who is their star player and actually has 12 goals in 35 international appearances. They have 15 players based in the Saudi Arabia and Africa, 6 in France, 1 in Belgium and 1 in England.
England come into this tournament at the 12th best ranked team in the world. It’s going to be tough to really judge this England team until they are in a nervy tournament game, this first game may be a good indicator. The feeling around this team is also different, there are no real and yet that’s causing optimism amongst quite a few people. Gareth Southgate has done a good job since taking over the helm, bringing a real team unity that you rarely see with England and he even has them playing some alright football. Qualifying was a breeze finishing the campaign unbeaten despite a slight scare from Scotland in one of the games. Harry Kane finished top goal scorer and he needs to hit form in this tournament. I think the key factor for England will be getting the midfield and attacking selections right and we are fairly certain of the defence Southgate will put out. City interest through the squad; Walker and Stones expected to start, Sterling very likely to start and Delph an outside shot with many people calling for him to start after the Costa Rica friendly.
This is a potential banana skin for England, need to be focused from the start and if they get a goal then they need to push on and kill the game off.
18TH JUNE
TUNISIA VS ENGLAND
Match kicks off at 19:00 (BST) on BBC 1. Coverage starts at 18:15 (BST). Presented by Gary Lineker, analysis by Rio Ferdinand, Frank Lampard and Alan Shearer, commentary by Guy Mowbray and Martin Keown.
Tunisia enter the World Cup for just the 5th time since their independence. This will be their first appearance at the finals since the 2006 finals in Germany. They come into the tournament as the highest ranked African team; 21st in the world, so they are not to be underestimated. Their qualifying group to get here wasn’t the hardest, besting Guinea, Libya and beating the DR Congo on H2H. However, recent friendly performances suggest they are no mugs, drawing 2-2 with Portugal (albeit a Ronaldo-less Portugal), a 2-2 draw with Turkey and just a 1-0 loss to Spain. They have a couple of familiar faces; Leicester’s Benalouane albeit not a regular starter and ex-Sunderland player Wahbi Khazri who is their star player and actually has 12 goals in 35 international appearances. They have 15 players based in the Saudi Arabia and Africa, 6 in France, 1 in Belgium and 1 in England.
England come into this tournament at the 12th best ranked team in the world. It’s going to be tough to really judge this England team until they are in a nervy tournament game, this first game may be a good indicator. The feeling around this team is also different, there are no real and yet that’s causing optimism amongst quite a few people. Gareth Southgate has done a good job since taking over the helm, bringing a real team unity that you rarely see with England and he even has them playing some alright football. Qualifying was a breeze finishing the campaign unbeaten despite a slight scare from Scotland in one of the games. Harry Kane finished top goal scorer and he needs to hit form in this tournament. I think the key factor for England will be getting the midfield and attacking selections right and we are fairly certain of the defence Southgate will put out. City interest through the squad; Walker and Stones expected to start, Sterling very likely to start and Delph an outside shot with many people calling for him to start after the Costa Rica friendly.
This is a potential banana skin for England, need to be focused from the start and if they get a goal then they need to push on and kill the game off.