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#ThreeLions: Will Gareth Southgate’s England rue a second-place finish in the World Cup knockout stages?

The question is simple: Mistake or Masterstroke?

With England having secured a place in the World Cup Round of 16 for the first time in eight years, manager Gareth Southgate had a decision to make for the final group match against Belgium.

There were suggestions that finishing in second position would be more beneficial to England in the long-run of the tournament, as it would allow them to miss the chance of facing nations such as Brazil, Argentina, France and Portugal before the final next month.

A runners-up place would mean the Three Lions would face Colombia in the knockout stage and if they managed to win, an encounter with either Sweden or Switzerland would stand in the way of their first World Cup semi-final since 1990.

Before the final fixtures in Group G got underway, two former England internationals made their opinions very clear:

Although this had been billed as the match of the group before the tournament started, with both teams having already qualified, it turned out to be a forgetful display with Belgium making nine changes to England’s eight.

Former Manchester United forward Adnan Januzaj notched up the winning goal early in the second half to hand the Belgians a third consecutive victory in the tournament, securing first-place and setting up a match with Japan in the next round.

The defeat means that England must now overcome Colombia next Tuesday to keep their World Cup dreams alive and the result received a mixed response online:

https://twitter.com/GNev2/status/1012454340789927936

Just to be clear, regardless of the outcome against the South Americans, Southgate shouldn’t be hung out to dry because he had the luxury to rest some of his key players, and he took it.

You could only imagine the criticism that would have been directed towards him, had he decided to put on Harry Kane in order to rescue a point, only to see his star man suffer an injury.

However, the most concerning aspect of these past few days has been the resurrection of that English arrogance amongst supporters and media alike that has led to unrealistic expectations in the past.

The assumption that England should be delighted to face a Colombia side who have just notched up two consecutive victories is beyond belief.

The assumption that England should feel comfortable meeting either a Sweden side who brushed aside the same Mexico team which started Germany’s World Cup downfall, or a Switzerland team who managed to hold favourites Brazil to a 1-1 draw needs to be reconsidered.

Embed from Getty Images

This sense of superiority amongst fans and even perhaps players as well has seen the national team suffer humiliating moments especially over the last decade, from failing to earn a point at home against Croatia to qualify for Euro 2008, to crumbling against Iceland in the Euros just two years ago.

With the heatwave across the UK set to continue up until the Round of 16 tie, let’s hope that Southgate does his utmost best to cool expectations amongst the Barmy Army.

The fact that Germany has been eliminated in the group stages shows that this World Cup is full of surprises but let’s be honest, the real surprise would be the Three Lions making it through to the quarter-final stage, given their recent knockout record.

So, to answer the question posed before: It certainly would be a mistake to expect England to reach the latter stages of the World Cup, but Southgate and his group of players have already pulled off a masterstroke in getting the nation behind them for the first time in a long time.

Photo Credit @ Wikimedia Commons

Author

  • Aramide Oladipo

    Aramide, 25, is a graduate from Nottingham Trent University where he completed his undergraduate degree in Modern Languages with History. He has recently come back from a three-year spell in Barcelona, Spain where he worked with the official football club for 18 months in a project called “Barça Fans”. Aramide was involved in writing the English content for the website and he was the narrator of the exclusive videos during the 2015-16 season. Aramide is fluent in Spanish and French and he is looking to add Portuguese to his list of languages as he would like to spend time in Brazil in the foreseeable future. Despite being born and raised in Hertfordshire, Aramide is an avid Manchester United fan (unapologetic cockney red), but he always keeps an eye on his local football team, Watford FC. Following his stay in Spain, Aramide has gained experience writing football articles online where he has covered the English Premier League, La Liga and the Scottish Premier League. He also holds an interest in rugby, boxing, cricket. Aramide is currently undertaking a Master degree in Sports Journalism in St Mary’s University. Email: aramideoladipo@yahoo.co.uk