Dhe duel of the singing brothers from the United Kingdom clearly went to the English in the stands, the game to those on the pitch. In the final game of Group B at the World Cup, the “Three Lions” won 3-0 against their small neighbors from Wales and qualified first in the table for the round of 16. There they meet Senegal on Sunday (8:00 p.m. CET in the FAZ live ticker for the World Cup) in the al-Bayt Stadium in al-Khor.
England coach Gareth Southgate didn’t like the offensive performance in the 0-0 draw against the USA. So he took Mason Mount, Bukayo Saka and Raheem Sterling from the starting XI and brought in Phil Foden, Jordan Henderson and Marcus Rashford. He had his first real chance in the tenth minute when captain Harry Kane gave him a playmaker-style pass through to the goal. But Rashford was denied by the left arm of the brilliantly reacting goalkeeper Danny Ward, who came in for Wayne Hennessey; he had seen the only red card of this World Cup against Iran.
Rashford scored the first goal of the game – much to the chagrin of Neco Williams. The right full-back turned his head on a long-range shot for his team and simply fell backwards from the force of the ball (24′). After a short treatment, we continued, but only for a good ten minutes. Then the visibly battered Williams was down again and had to be substituted due to the consequences of the accidental head hit.
Gareth Bale substituted at half-time
Because it didn’t work with shots, the English tried art before half-time. An attack with three heel touches seemed Brazilian, just like an overhead kick. The shots by Phil Foden – from a turn over the goal (38′) – and Rashford – with his shin next to the goal (39′) – fell more into the category of British blemishes. Wales did little better in injury time in the first half. Joe Allen shot the ball into the block of the jeering English fans (45+5).
After the break, the Welshmen surprised as they continued without their star Gareth Bale, who was replaced by Brennan Johnson. And the English surprised Wales: first Rashford circled a free kick from 18 meters to make it 1-0 in the goalkeeper’s corner (50′), shortly afterwards Kane passed the ball into the middle without making eye contact, where Foden pushed in 96 seconds after the 1-0 to make it 2-0 (51st). Rashford added an individual performance to the final score (68th). The English fans are allowed to continue singing in Qatar. The brothers from Wales return to the island badly defeated.
