Tunisia 1-2 England: Hero Harry, Referees, VAR & Jesse Shinguard

Wow, that was quite a match! After some of the snoozefests England have been involved in in recent years, I’m not sure our pulse rates were quite ready for all that! Now that the hangover has subsided, it’s time to reflect on what happened and where we go from here.

One thing’s for sure, it feels much better this morning with 3 points than it would have with 1. Well, obviously. But for that we can thank the new skipper.

Harry Kane Heroics

The England captain simply did what he does best. Right place, right time, no mistakes. He’s the best finisher in the Premier League and has shown that he can replicate that on the international stage. It bodes well.

A Fast Start

England started the game really well, playing bright, fast and inventive football and creating several clear cut opportunities. The fact that this only resulted in one goal was purely down to who the chances fell to. But more on that later.

Only one fell to Kane, after John Stones’ header was superbly saved, and he made no mistake. England lead in the 11th minute and it was richly deserved. And refreshingly, they didn’t just sit on the lead and defend, preferring to keep up the momentum and try for a second. It didn’t come, but you have to applaud the intent and give Southgate credit for that.

Missed Opportunities

We really should have been leading 3 or 4 nil, such was the quality of chances created. If we’d taken them, then the officials’ performance wouldn’t have mattered and Tunisia’s goal would only have been a consolation at the time it was scored.

Raheem Sterling’s miss was the worst, a horrible miskick with the goal gaping. Yes it would have been given offside, but he didn’t know that at the time. However, poor Jesse Lingard missed a hat trick of sitters.

Had he been Jesse Instep instead of Jesse Shinguard then England would have been out of sight.

That said, we don’t want to criticise either player. Lingard in particular was still getting more chances because he didn’t let the misses affect him, and was still showing the movement and anticipation to get in the right positions. On another day, goals will come for him.

He might want to change boots before the Panama game though.

Awful Penalty Decisions (And Lack Thereof)

We recognise the danger of appearing overly partisan, and of coming over as either bad losers or, in this case, ungracious winners. We try to remain objective and show some self awareness. We try.

That said, what the f**k was going on with the officiating last night? Kyle Walker’s positioning wasn’t great, but that is irrelevant to the penalty decision. Ben Youssef had no chance of getting the ball, so simply ran into Walker’s arm. If that’s a penalty, we’re going to see at least 10 per match in Seria A next season.

Utterly ridiculous.

What’s worse than having a penalty wrongly given against you? Not getting one yourselves for far worse offences. Twice!

“There is no difference whatsoever between the penalty Tunisia got and the ones England didn’t. They were blatant and they are worse fouls than the one that was given.

“The VAR referees in the office in Moscow should be looking at that. The referee has not seen it which is understandable, but why aren’t they pulling play back and saying that is a clear and obvious penalty. When you look at the replays, the defender has hold of Kane and dragged him down. It is a rugby tackle.”

So said Alan Shearer on the BBC. And he was dead right. So are we using VAR in this tournament or not? Or are we only using it when we can be arsed?

Leaving It ‘Til The Last Minute

When the second half started, the atmosphere was still relaxed (or at least it was in the pub we were in). There was plenty of time left and chances would come.

Except they didn’t really. Tunisia got everyone behind the ball and set out to waste as much of that time as possible. That isn’t a criticism, fair play to them. We’d have done the same in their position. But as time ticked away, frustration and nerves started to take over. Would we regret those earlier misses. Would we pass up the chance of a winning start?

Nah. Not with Harry Kane in the side. The one time he managed to find some space in the area – in fact the one time he didn’t have someone wrestling him to the ground – and he made Tunisia pay. 91st minute, back post header. Bang, have some of that!

So England are off to a winning start for the first time in a long time, and a win against Panama on Sunday will see us into the knockout stages.

Never in any doubt was it?