Russia: Shirokov a huge loss
Four ’star men’ dropped out of this tournament in the last fortnight. Franck Ribery, Marco Reus and Radamel Falcao could all reasonably claim to be their side’s most important attacking player, but...
View ArticleBelgium: can they succeed without proper full-backs?
Few teams have been discussed as fervently as Belgium over the past couple of years. Having been something of an irrelevance on the biggest stage just four years ago, they suddenly find themselves...
View ArticleWorld Cup 2014: group stage, day 6
BELGIUM 2-1 ALGERIA (Fellaini, Mertens; Feghouli) Algeria successfully nullified Belgium for the first hour, but were undone by a simple Plan B Algeria sit deep Belgium’s struggles were slightly...
View ArticleWorld Cup 2014: group stage, day 11
BELGIUM 1-0 RUSSIA (Origi) A really awful game – Belgium’s 88th minute winner was their first shot on target Midfield pressing The first 15 minutes here reasonably bright. It was expected that both...
View ArticleWorld Cup 2014: group stage, day 15
GERMANY 1-0 USA (Muller) Thomas Muller’s fine goal won the game, but both sides progress USA narrow The major tactical feature was the narrowness of the USA without possession, which is something we’ve...
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