Jordan Pickford gets grovelling apologies after Mexican stand-off | OneFootball

Those who doubted Jordan Pickford are taking it back after England somehow triumphed in Mexico.

Team England

Now that was a team. Ian LFC Belgium

Can England actually win the World Cup?

What a game? As far as I’m concerned Gordon has been useless until the last two games where he’s all of a sudden become very productive. Saka has added a little bit as substitute and more as starter today. Pickford, I forgive you. Good blocking but please adopt confident catching. Bellingham’s goals were outstanding through good teamwork and good finishing. What can I say? I doubted us leading up to this game. It’s great how we kicked Mexico and their unruly fans into touch!

England, down to ten men could still fight their corner. I believe they rose to the challenge of an inferior fanbase trying to defer them from progressing in the tournament.

Two cracking goals from England, a couple of very good saves from Pickford, especially when we were down to ten men (I apologise about my condemnation as aforementioned).

Well done lads, we rubbed their hostile noses in it! Chris, Croydon

…Well that was great, wasn’t it? Bellingham superb and scoring two goals, Kane fanatic again and another goal to put him on six goals just behind Haaland, Messi and Mbappe who have seven. And imperious defending, the likes of which we haven’t seen for England in a while, and with ten men as well.

Should we be worried about Norway in the quarter-finals? Well they did beat five times World Cup winners Brazil and Haaland looks absolutely deadly but Brazil aren’t what they were these days and are a bit pony, aren’t they?. Kane vs Haaland will be absolute blockbuster cinema. Bring it on! Dan, London

Pick that one out

Credit where it’s due, Jordan Pickford was fantastic and kept England in that game. Eoin (has the clamour died down yet?) Ireland

Get the King on the blower

It was a red card. But not to worry, just ask King Charles to ring Infantino and request an Article 27. Eoin (that’s how this works now) Ireland

Big Tom

Waiting for the rain-delayed England game to start and have fallen down a Wikipedia blackhole. Thomas Tuchel is officially the smallest tall person I think I’ve ever seen, guy looks comes across like he’s 5’8 but shocked to find out he’s 6’4. Has anyone else seen a footballer and been shocked by how big (or small) they are in real life. I once saw Mark Hughes and he is possibly the broadest person I’ve ever seen, this was about 10 years after he retired from playing and he looked like he’d have to walk thru a doorway side on just to get his shoulders thru. Tony, St’ Evenage

This is Brazil

To the surprise of absolutely no-one (apart from the “it’s not a World Cup until you’ve seen those yellow shirts” brigade, who think it’s 1970 or 1982), Brazil were dumped out at soon as they faced a European team in the knockout stage. Their last win over a European team in the knockout stage was when they beat Germany in the 2002 final. By 2030, Brazil’s drought will be 28 years (exceeding the 1970-1994 drought), meaning that the 3Rs, Cafu, Roberto Carlos etc are now further back in history than Pele, Jairzinho, Tostao etc were when Brazil went to USA ’94.

Brazil showed nothing in this World Cup to suggest they could win it. The fact that they were all over the shop against Morocco and were fortunate to beat Japan should have set off alarm bells. That mythical yellow shirt is just that – a myth. A team that takes Neymar along as a mascot and has a load of average Premier League players up front isn’t a serious team.

They don’t have the players anymore (I know he wasn’t in the squad this time but how on earth does Richarlison have 54 caps!?). The fact that they went for a foreign manager in Ancelotti shows that they don’t have the managers either. Brazil, Germany and Italy – the World Cups most successful teams – are now in a spiral of decline. Matthew

PS: Are we at the, “they couldn’t, could they” stage with Norway?

Lee Dixon and the penalty decision

Am i going mad? Did that Norway defender not touch the ball for the first penalty.

If he gets a touch, it’s not a penalty.

Lee Dixon was 100% confident it was a penalty. Then he saw the replay. He kept quiet. Sam Matterface points out there may have been a slight touch. Lee is embarrassed. Does he correct himself or make a stand…?

Second angle seems to show a slight but definite touch of the ball. Enough to change the way the ball is rolling.

So its not a penalty surely? Lee Dixon sticks to his guns. He cant shame himself on national TV. He could simply say “i made a mistake”. Its ok Lee, we all thought it was a penalty on first glance. We won’t hate you for correcting yourself. We will actually respect you more.

Lee of course has to stick to his guns regardless and tell us its a penalty. It doesn’t matter that the defender got a touch on the ball. New rules for Lee. Sam needs to play along to not make Lee look like a clown. The viewer needs to not believe their eyes and accept this new rule that Lee has made in football. We all need to accept a new reality because Lee is a little bit embarrassed.

I even put it into Google Gemini. It said…

“Because he completely missed the ball and clattered the player, it was a textbook foul—which is exactly why the VAR room stepped in and told the referee he needed to overturn his original “no penalty” call”

Lee Dixon is a powerful man. Shz

On Trump, Balogun and WTF?

Remember in 2014 when Russia put dozens and dozens of tanks queued up on the border with Crimea? The world said “hey, we can see you are about to invade Ukraine, don’t do it”. The response was a “What?? Who, us??? Come on lads, we wouldn’t do that, don’t worry.”

Then the tanks rolled across the border into Crimea for all to see and the world said (I’m paraphrasing…) “Oi, you said you weren’t invading Ukraine, wtf dude??”. And Putin said “Huh?? Us?? No no no, we haven’t invaded the Crimea, there are no tanks”. World said “err, but we can literally see it all”. Response, “no you can’t “. “But here’s the video, we can all see it happening right now!”. “No you can’t”.

Same thing happened in the last year of Biden’s presidency. “Err, guys, he is clearly suffering from dementia, he’s the supposed leader of the free world, what are we going to do about this??”. Almost all press outlets said “No he’s not”. “But just look at all the videos, we can all clearly see it!”. “No you can’t “. “But look!”. “What are you on about?? It’s all totally normal. He’s never been healthier and more sharp, stop being ageist”.

When lies and corruption are so deeply entrenched that ‘bad actors’ can blatantly, openly, with a straight face and in the clear light of day look everyone in the eye and say with no hesitation whatsoever that “blue is red”, we should all be very very scared of the direction things are going. These bad actors get away with it because at some point they realise that many people will just buy it and spread the lies for their own nefarious reasons, and anyway, even more depressingly, because they know for sure that no one will do a damn thing about it. They’ll just take it, moan a bit, then it will just go away.

So, with that background, I have been reeling from the Balogun news all afternoon (I am in the same time zone as the US). I am genuinely speechless. I’m right now watching the studio commentators after the Norway game talking about the decision, and no one is saying a single thing along the lines of “WTAF???”. Everyone is obviously thinking it, but they’re just staring doe-eyed and brainless at the camera pretending “there’s nothing to see here, isn’t football awesome, what an amazing spectacle, move on, move on”.

So, with THAT background in mind, at the end of the third quarter (yep, that’s what it is, and it has almost certainly been the plan for years) I was in the middle of a text to family and friends about how I don’t know why we even bother watching football anymore when 90% of the game makes us so miserable. So imagine my reaction when without looking up I hear “and now time for the hydration break, sponsored by Lenovo”. Because of course…. I naively thought that after the initial disgusting money grab surely they wouldn’t have the brass balls to then sell sponsorship to this 3 minute advert break at the same bloody WC. More fool me.

With the Balogun issue, I also initially thought ‘well, they’re going to have a lot of trouble when there is next a red card in this tourney’. Then I realised two things. 1. FIFA wouldn’t see the bare faced corrupt hypocrisy as a problem at all and, more crucially, they wouldn’t care one jot anyway. 2. Could you, hand on heart, say for sure that they haven’t already given a communication to all refs saying that they should ‘think very carefully’ before dishing out any more reds? I would totally believe it.

How about if Messi got sent off in the semis for a clear ankle breaking tackle. What percentage chance would you put on FIFA openly (either with a laughable rule justification or just not even bothering) saying “well obviously Messi can play in the final, don’t worry about it everyone, we’ll sort it out later, nothing to see here”. Less than 100%??

Where do you think FIFA would draw the line of “fking hell, even by our standards this is bad!”? For example, would you really put the chances at 0% that you wake up tomorrow to a headline that Brazil have been reinstated and the Norway game needs to be replayed because it was too hot/cold/bright/windy? Brazil going out is a revenue generating disaster for FIFA and the advertisers. What would shock us anymore?

Whilst we collectively do nothing and just bend over and take these laughable shaftings, anything and everything is in play. This is not even a call to arms, because ultimately I’m a sheep suffering from Stockholm Syndrome just like everyone else. Which makes this email the equivalent of shouting at clouds and me the annoying old bloke who complains about stuff without suggesting an alternative. Howl, howl, howl. Mike WHU

..I think even Sepp Blatter would have felt that call was a little beneath him. Hell, Leopold II might have left it on ring. I simply cannot wait for the live drumpf/infantino trophy presentation in (checks notes) New Jersey…oh my.. King Rat, Stay-at-home-first-responder, Kittenville

…The referees should all go on strike if Balogun is permitted to play.

Why would they bother officiating when they can be overruled on the whims of megalomaniacs and their sycophants? Eoin Mackey

…Will Messi now be banned and teams reinstated due to the great injustice of his non bookings? Nick Kowal

…FIFA overturn Folarin Balogun’s suspension referencing their own laws.

The fact that they were able to find this loophole so quickly shows that it’s corruption by design. Anthony, Kilburn

…The reversal of Folarin Balogun’s red card, apparently after lobbying from the White House, was outrageous, but let’s get real. FIFA has been favoring home teams with its decisions on or off the pitch since time immemorial. Go back to 1966 and the venue change for the England-Portugal semifinal. Now look at 2026 and England having to spend a day in Mexico City before the match, hampering their altitude preparations. And a full account of the penalties/non-penalties and cards/non-cards involving home teams would take up a long chapter in any history of the World Cup.

Under normal circumstances, the Balogun reversal would be just another garden-variety disgrace. What makes this one different, of course, is that it involves the USA, whom everyone hates, and Trump, the primary reason. But that’s the only difference. This is just FIFA being FIFA. (Would anyone be surprised if we found out money changed hands?)

As a person from the USA, I’m used to Trump turning everything to sh*t, so frankly it’s just same old same old. World Cup-wise, he’s beneath my notice. Far more important is the question of footballing justice, and the red card for Balogun, as unjust as it may have seemed, was, as I read the rules, correct. The rule for serious foul play does not require intent. It says “A tackle or challenge that endangers the safety of an opponent or uses excessive force or brutality must be sanctioned as serious foul play.”

Balogun challenged, and, since high studs are usually held to endanger the safety of the opponent, he endangered the safety of the opponent, as accidental as it may have been. Red card.

Anyway, FIFA strikes again. How many people outside the USA were rooting for them anyway? Peter G, Pennsylvania, USA (Don’t get me started on Spain 1982)

On that referee performance in France v Paraguay

I get letting the game flow but what about the universally understood straight reds, like kicking out and elbowing on purpose?

That was genuinely hard to understand, more like a reffing performance from pre-cameras everywhere era that came with a big fat brown envelope.

It was pantomime entertainment but very embarrassing and shameful for Paraguay. Glad France won though and maybe that was Infantino’s point – gotta make the the eventual winners likeable/go through a trial.

No way that ref wasn’t paid to do that, it was so bonkers and one-sided there can be no other explanation. Moses

…F*** Paraguay man. They make Arsenal 2026 look like Brazil 1970. F*** the ref too. Laughably inept. Low block schmow block. This kind of pathetic tactical approach needs stamping out of the game via law tweaks and robust refereeing. They’re never winning anything, so there’s not even any payoff. Sick and tired of watching cheating masquerading as football in the modern game.

I get the counter argument – ‘how are x shite team supposed to compete with the quality of y elite team, if they open up they’ll get murdered’ – I’ll tell you how, by doing what France and others did however many years ago and investing in their young talent. If not, tough shit, end the game 10 nil down with 8 men. This lot are an embarrassment to sport, never mind football.

Same thing is eminently achievable in domestic football if financial fair play rules are written by people with more than one brain cell who are not in thrall to the ‘big’ clubs. RHT/TS x