Germany ‘screwed’ if Woltemade is super-sub as Dutch look like Liverpool | OneFootball

The World Cup has really come to life and the Mailbox is aghast at just how poor Germany and the Netherlands are.

Is this really the best of Germany?

Just a quick one from me, which I have been thinking about since Germany vs Curacao, and hit me again yesterday smack in the face.

I woke up this morning to a post saying:

Well they must be sh*t. I think I recognised more names in the Paraguay team than I did my own. Given I don’t watch much of the Bundesliga but if these are the best of the best that Germany has to offer at the moment, we are well and truly screwed.

The amount of misplaced passes and crosses, especially from the veterans like Kimmich and Sane was insane. I switched off the Ecuador game at half time and didn’t bother with extra time yesterday. Embarrassing. When your super subs are Woltemade and Goretzka, things have gone awry. Nik (at least Wirtz, Gravenberch, Van Dijk and Gakpo get a decent holiday now), Paris

Not orange

I watched some of Morocco v Netherlands this morning with my 5-year-old boy, seeing as he gets me up at 5am no matter what day it is. As we watched the match, he asked “Daddy, which team are you supporting?”

I replied, “The team in orange”

“There is no team in orange.” he responded.

Fair point I thought. For wearing that strip, they deserve to go out. Mike, LFC, Dubai

Ronald Koeman insight

This may not be the most analytical World Cup email but I after some serious analysis I think that Ronald Koeman is prone to blocking toilets. Jason G, Montreal

The Dutch play Slothball

Heard from my fellow lfc fan friends:

Observations from Holland vs Morocco:

Defence pass to flank, flank pass back .. then pass to midfield, then pass back to defence, then to flank then repeat.

sounds exactly like Arne’s Slothball 2025-2026?

(Outrun, outtackled, outsprinted…)

Yipes.

And … opposite to a rising tide lifting all boats, it seemed like the falling tide (of lfc’s malaise 2025-2026) sinking all boats? Cody Gakpo looks like a totally different player.

Still immensely grateful to Slot for bringing us our 2nd title in 35 years.

But last season’s Slothball made us want to gouge our eyes out. Kind of like some of the tedious football games at this World Cup. Gab YNWA

A visionary genius/madman writes…

I think I have come up with a better way of doing the knockout stage of the World Cup.

(Not sure we need a better way; this was all quite exciting – Ed)

Let’s take the England v Congo DR game as a good example. Let’s say it’s a draw on 90 minutes. In my system there is no extra time, no penalties, instead both teams go through to the next round but are amalgamated together into one team, the new team maybe called Engo DR, it contains the 10 best English players and the 10 best Congo players but as it was a draw they only get a squad of 20 for the next round. The managers are chosen by a flip of a coin.

Let’s imagine that Mexico beat Ecuador and go through to play tje new team of Engo DR. As they won they are allowed to take 6 of Ecuador’s best players and drop their 6 worse. But they will now be called Mexicor, they get to keep a 26 man squad (20 Mexicans and 6 Ecuadorians) as they won and didn’t draw. The Mexico manager get to stay on.

Let’s next imagine that Engo DR defeat Mexicor, then they get to take any 6 players from Mexicor squad (Mexicans or Ecuadorians) and make their squad back up to 26, but they will now be called Mengor DR.

The whole knockout process would progress in a similar fashion, until a truly bizarre teams wins or an even more bizarrely an almost pure team wins.

There could be some enjoyable names to look out for, with the Brazil v Japan game, you could have two possible new team combos called either Japzil or Brapan, classic stuff.

I think FIFA should give this idea some thought. Drew Stone, Bangkok, Thailand

Record number of World Cup records

When I see all these ‘records’ at the 2026 World Cup, just wondering if those touting them all ever think to mention the extra teams and extra knock out stage.

Smallest nation to reach a knock out state, 9 out of 10 African nations reaching knock out stage, Country X first time teaching the knock out stage, etc.

Sure, there are some nice stories – Cape Verde being the most notable – but there is this need to super hype everything at the World Cup. How many made it through as third place, would have even qualified if not for the extra 16 teams? So yes, there will be a lot of ‘firsts’ but it isn’t as magical and unexplained as it would have been under the format.

Glad to see Canada winning their ‘first knock out’ game. Certainly deserved it with South Africa clearly trying to get it to the penalty taking toss up. But did think the Jesse Marsh post game huddle was so all about him and not the team – while calling them heroes. Like they needed him to tell them that. Shades of Phil Brown that. Paul McDevitt

Diomande not all that, says Liverpool fan

I was lucky enough to attend the Ivory Coast vs. Curacao match in Philadelphia last week.

Plastic fan that I am, I purchased a Curacao jersey and took the train up for a lovely day out in an underrated American city that doesn’t compare itself to other/bigger places out of some inferiority complex.

Great energy all over the place from the Rocky steps at the Museum of Art to downtown around Independence Hall. Lovely walk down to the stadium by Pat’s and Geno’s being carried into the stadium by the Blue Wave. Despite the political tensions in America, Philadelphia is wonderfully proud to be what’s good about this country. Nicer people than advertised, plenty to see and do (Edgar Allan Poe house was closed but otherwise fantastic culture), watch parties on little streets with big screens.

USA vs. Turkiye late into the evening with lots of cheers and smarter fans than commentators who understand intuitively that Trusty being trusted and Weah not fit for purpose is more valuable for Poch than momentum or whatever nonsense Lalas is spouting in the studio.

As for the match, I was interested to get a glimpse of Diomande live given Liverpool were (at the time) interested in signing him. Against very limited opposition, I was really disappointed watching him. Stuck to the sideline and always more likely to pass back than be direct taking on his marker. Played much older than his 19 years, which isn’t a compliment.

In a World Cup where the stars are turning up, I would have thought a match against Curacao was his chance to impose himself on a game to show suitors like PSG that he’s worth the nine-figure sum. But no, he was that awful type of conservative; like some kid in 1968 seeing all the fun around him and deciding to vote for Nixon. To my eyes, he’s not worth 10m nevermind 100m.

While I was thinking Liverpool are lucky to avoid him, the fact that Edwards and Hughes are pursuing the hottest commodities instead of finding discarded and/or relegated gems is worrisome. Data may be our God now, but a good set of eyes still has its place especially as it relates to sizing up a guy to see if he’s a grown man capable of dictating things on his terms.

Overall though, what a lovely World Cup so far. Pleasant surprise was the advertising not being as odious and in your face as NFL games where the noise and aneurysm-inducing lights are an attack on the senses. Needs improvement is bringing the cultures of other countries into the streets with opportunities for foreign vendors to sell their food and wares. Despite all FIFA’s efforts, there exist enormous opportunities to build on this World Cup in four years when three lovely countries host together. Niall, Annapolis

It’s Johnny doing the mithering now

There’s an especial irony to John Nicholson’s latest; I always go into his articles with an optimistic, open mind, only to invariably experience ‘the frustration, the anger, the disappointment’ by whatever holier-than-thou blather he’s extruded.

The foundational thesis of his latest article is that for England, ‘It’s all unfolding within it’s usual parameters’. To sum up, by that he means we play like shit and go out the first time we play a good side, all the while deluding ourselves that we have a chance because of…colonialism. I mean, that last bit is a genuinely funny bit of vogueish nonsense. The rest of the thesis is, unfortunately for John, well, completely out of f***ing date.

I mean, It’s possible I might in the grip of an 8 year long hallucination, but I’m fairly certain we’ve reached two consecutive Euro finals, alongside a World Semi Final and a World cup Quarter Final, the latter of which we lost 2-1 to reigning World Champions France, in a game where we missed a crucial penalty and were probably the better side.

So, it’s not quite ‘immutable’, is it John? He glosses over this by simply stating that we’re shit ‘even when we get to the final’.

Even in this World Cup, we saw of our group as winners with 7 points. Were the games spectacular? Not especially. But I can remember group stages like 2010 and 2014, so forgive me if I have a little perspective. We’re the fourth seed for this World Cup, and that’s probably accurate. So, we could realistically win it. We might not, but we’re one of a few teams that realistically can.

So, who’s mithering John? The call is coming from inside the house. Ben (Come on England)

Why don’t England reward technical players?

I read Reuben Jenkins’ rant about England’s technical deficiencies from the Monday AM mailbox and nodded along throughout his whole tirade. As an Irishman I’m well used to the idea of truly elite technicians being a rarity on this island (Liam Brady is about the extent of it), but it does seem more egregious for a country with a population about 12 times bigger than ours.

Reuben cited Scholes as the best example of an English player who could put his foot on the ball, control tempo, pick a range of passes etc. I don’t disagree with him, and the fact that he was shunted to the left to accommodate Gerrard and Lampard’s strengths was a bizarre failure of management throughout his international career.

There’s the obvious question of what’s going on at grassroots level to address, and I won’t pretend to know the first thing about how young English kids are coached. But is there maybe an additional cultural aspect that hinders the country’s ability to produce players of that profile?

A very quick google search of the term “great registas” will give you a list of some of the best deep-lying playmakers the game has seen. In among names like Xavi, Pirlo, Busquets, Modric and Falcao, you might also find Michael Carrick’s name coming up.

That would be the same Michael Carrick who managed a paltry 34 England caps in 14 years of being available to the national coach. Despite spending the prime years of his career playing for the most successful team in the country and stockpiling medals. Completely unable to dislodge mainstays from the England XI who had more all-action styles.

Carrick wasn’t perfect, far from it. But I don’t think anyone can question the feeling of calm he exuded when in possession, or that he had the ability to play line-breaking passes when they were on. United accepted his relative lack of mobility and physicality, because his reading of the game and consistency in possession were assets to them and enabled the European style of play Fergie came to covet after a number of harsh lessons in the Champions League.

Contrast that with much of what has gone on in tournament football in England’s midfield for as long as I can remember, and it really is night and day. Players of limited technical ability being christened “lionhearts” and such while being outclassed by every elite midfield they encounter. There could be a fresh example in the very near future too – one of France/Portugal/Spain/Argentina might come into focus before long, and pass the ball around for 60 minutes before overwhelming a knackered Declan Rice. If England can’t hurt those teams massively in transition, it’s hard to see them beating them if they’re on it.

Would another midfield schooling signal a shift? Might youngsters showing a Carrick-esque ability to control tempo be earmarked as priorities to be fast-tracked and honed? Surely somewhere in the future there’ll be a Bellingham type who won’t have to bust a gut to regain cheaply surrendered possession 6-8 times per game, and thanks his deep-lying metronome for that? Or maybe this dance just continues where England rock up to tournaments and see their attacking talent feed off scraps in the latter stages while the centre of the pitch resembles a rondo training exercise.