Key events
Anthem time!
Our teams are tunnelled … and here they come!
So where is the game? I don’t love the Belgium defence, and I’d expect Taremi to attack the space in behind the centre-backs. Mechele lacks a bit of pace, while Ngoy doesn’t have much experience at this level, so a wily so-an-so of his ilk will fancy the task. I’d also expect the full-backs to support the wide midfielders when they can, looking to put crosses into the box.
Belgium, meanwhile, need to find a way around or through a massed defence. I’m sure they’ll want De Bruyne to arc balls in for Lukaku, with him and Tielemans also a shooting threat from the edge. I also expect Trossard to be buzzing about, looking to passes in behind, shots into the far corner, and rebounds from any blocks of keeper spillages.
Also going on:
I’d not be unkeen to hear Keane’s take on England cricket’s latest fiasco…
In fairness, Keane does apply this standard to himself. Musing on his performance in the second leg of the 1999 Champions League semi, Alex Ferguson wrote:
Running every blade of grass, competing as if he would rather die of exhaustion than lose. He inspired all around him. I felt it was an honour to be associated with this player.”
And Keane’s response?
Stuff like that kind of almost insults me. What am I supposed to do? Give up? Not cover every blade of the grass? Not do my best for my teammates? Not too much to ask from a club. To be honest, I actually get offended when people throw quotes like that at me, as if I’m supposed to be honoured by it. It’s like praising the postman for delivering your letters he’s supposed to, isn’t he? That’s his job. My job was to win football matches for Man United.”
Ahahaha, as if on cue, just after we see an interview in which Declan Rice extols Thomas Tuchel’s preparation and communication, there’s Roy to remind us that it’s what he’s paid to do. Or, in other words, it’s impossible for anyone to excel, ever.
A question: what is the ideal time for World Cup matches? This is a tricky one wherever in the world we are because it exists over multiple zones and I can’t say I don’t miss the working day joy but, as I say below, the security of knowing that, come teatime, there’s a feast of to assault, is a banging feeling.
Hayes is working tonight and so is Roy Keane – a happy chance, given the Father’s Day card my buddy Tinny received this morning.
In the UK, the undoubted star has been the wonderful Emma Hayes. I remember the first time I heard her co-commentate, many years ago now on BBC radio. Her ability to identify what sets the pattern of a match, simplifying complex tactical plans without being patronising, but making clear she’s the expert and compelling us to listen, is unique.
If I’m honest, I can’t say I love Henry as a pundit, though I think he’s got loads better lately. It’s brilliant when ex-players get into coaching and become obsessed with the detail – their punditry goes to an entirely different level, as we’ve seen in the UK with Robbie Savage.
We’ll go into a little more tactical detail in due course. But in the meantime, I enjoyed this piece on Henry v Lalas almost as much as Aaron Timms enjoyed writing it.
The switch to a more defensive formation makes perfect sense – Belgium are are far bigger attacking threat than Egypt, so the plan is to absorb pressure and try for something on the counter or from a set-piece. If they can get something from the game, great, but if not, they’d have taken a win or bust against Egypt in match three.
Iran, meanwhile, make three changes. In defence, Rezeaelen is out, with Hardani in, while the change in formation, 4-4-2 to 5-4-1, sees Kanani also picked, with Yousefi excluded from midfield; and finally, Moghanlu is sent to the bench, with Hajisafi making space.
Rudi Garcia, the Belgium manager, makes four changes to the side which drew with Egypt. At right-back, Castagne is replaced by De Cuyper; in the pivot, it’s Raskin not Onana; Doku is ill, so Saelemaekerrs comes in; and up front, Lukaku is fit enough to start, so De Ketelaere drops out.
In Atlanta, a tousing is being administered.
Teams!
Belgium (4-2-3-1): Courtois; Meunier, Ngoy, Mechele, De Cuyper; Raskin, Tielemans; Saelemaekers, De Bruyne, Trossard; Lukaku. Subs: Castagne, De Ketelaere, De Winter, Fernandez-Pard0, Witsel, Lammens, Lukébakio, Onana, Penders, Seys, Theate, Vanaken, Moreira.
Iran (5-4-1): Beiranvand; Hardani, Kanani, Khalilzadeh, Nemati, Hajisafi; Rezaeian, Ghoddos, Ezatolahi, Mohebbi; Taremi. Subs: Alipour, Cheshmi, Dargahi, Eiri, Ghayedi, Ghorbani, Hosseini, Hosseinzadeh, Jahanbakhsh, Moghanloo, Mohammadi, Niazmand, Razzaghinia, Torabi, Yousefi.
Referee: Darío Herrera (Argentina)
Preamble
The world is a different place at the moment, isn’t it? Macro level, it’s same as it ever was, but for those of us going about our business on the micro, there’s a serenity and a security; a sense of wellbeing that football has our back, that whatever else happens in our days, at some point, unstoppable joy awaits.
But why? During the club season, the same rules apply – we have football almost every night, often of a higher standard and often involving teams that accompany us through life like a second skin– yet the World Cup touches in different places, building and immersing us in an entirely different reality.
The global nature of things is part of the answer, a trip through culture and diversity which teaches us about our planet and ourselves. But where club and international football diverge is in their grand project: the former deals mainly with identity, whereas the latter necessarily relates to freedom. Every nation has its struggles, too numerous to enumerate here, the emotion channelled on the pitch and in the stands, in homes and in town squares based, in one way or another, on humankind’s greatest, most essential desire.
Though this isn’t the place to go into the awful, painful situation in Iran, nor can we pretend it isn’t so. Suffice to say the people and players are going through it, every match freighted with meaning way beyond itself and last week’s 2-2 draw with New Zealand taking them to within a win of the knockout stages. Whether the team represent the people or the regime is not an easy question, but it’s unlikely many Iranians are ambivalent to it.
Belgium, meanwhile, tell a tale of unrealised potential, the gold-plate generation not so much elevating as enervating. They do, though, have one final chance at redemption, its old stagers – Thibaut Courtois, Kevin de Bruyne, Youri Tielemans and Romelu Lukaku – backed by younger talents like Amadou Onana and Jérémy Doku who don’t carry the same pressure and wounds. They were disappointing in drawing with Egypt but, like all our teams, have room to grow and know it’s rare the one that plays best at the start is the same one dancing about at the end – sometime in 2029.
Kick-off: 12pm local, 8pm BST, 5am (Monday) AEST
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