England urged to drop ‘terrible’ Harry Kane for Argentina semi-final | OneFootball

We did not see this coming: Harry Kane and his awful knock-out record means he should be dropped by England for the Argentina game.

Send your views on all things England and the World Cup in general to theeditor@football365.com

Notes on England

Madueke is only there to ease the burden on Saka. We all know a fully fit Saka would play every minute. But it sure would be nice of Max Dowman would develop into the player we all hope he can be.

Reece James hasn’t put in one telling cross yet. It sure would be nice if he could deliver something telling in the next game or two.

Elliot Anderson has quietly been excellent all tournament. He’s pressed well and got it to the danger men quickly. He’ll be vital against Argentina if we want to choke the service to Messi.

We haven’t looked good defensively all tournament, and looking ahead I wonder where the talent is to come in. Colwill, Hall and Brainthwaite? It used to be an embarrassment of riches for England.

This tournament will be seen as a success, win or lose Wednesday. We used to pray for semi-finals for nearly two decades. Now we’ve had them four of the last five tournaments. We’ve been spoilt. Let’s try and enjoy it. Keith, Worthing

Raging at England manager who has taken them to World Cup semi-final

Today I read the article on why take Kobbie to the World Cup. Thomas Tuchel has no clue Kobbie has been outstanding for United since Christmas under the new manager. When Tuchel talks about playing time for their clubs.

What about John Stones who has hardly featured for Manchester City since Christmas but he even gets a starting role. I was shocked when James was even named to the England squad as I believe there are much more talented players out there. But to put him in midfield when you have a natural more talented player on the bench left me stunned.

England have played one decent game and that was against Mexico – the rest we have been more than lucky to win them. I am a fan of Declan Rice but the majority of his corners and free kicks have been shocking. Do England have no other player that can take a corner or free kick?

I also agree with your article today Madueke has been terrible there are much better wingers than him sitting watching him at home.

I think Harry Kane is a prolific striker but overall was terrible against Norway. Why not give one of the other strikers a chance, Tuchel you picked them you should give them a chance. Your favoured starting eleven are not performing well at all have some courage and change it up.

After watching England’s performances, Tuchel’s selections, substitutions and so called tactical changes it is no wonder he was fired by Chelsea. He for sure is not the right person to coach our national team or select players for it. He has left an abundance of real talent behind and taken a mediocre squad to the World Cup.

I’m just saying. Brian Ellis, an English fan and ex coach living in Canada

When Mainoo will play…

I am utterly convinced that Tuchel only called up Mainoo to play him in the 3rd place match should that scenario present itself. Joel, Nigeria

Not getting Harry Kane

I do not understand the adulation heaped upon Harry Kane. Yes, he is a fine footballer but his job is to score goals in big games. And he consistently fails to do it, at least for his country.

Since 2018, England have played in 10 games at the QF or further in the Euros or WC. Kane has failed to score in 6 of those games, and in the 4 games he did score in, 3 were penalties. He has only 2 goals from open play, against Ukraine in the 2022 Euro QF. England have appeared in 5 games after the QF and he has only scored once (a penalty).

After the Norway game, Ian Wright said “It was a quiet night for Harry”. Every big game is a quiet night for Harry, he always goes missing.

Let’s hope he proves me wrong on Weds. Richard Wakefield, Sheffield

Let’s make the World Cup like Eurovision

Extending the World Cup to 64 teams is a stupid idea.

However, giving smaller countries their time in the spotlight isn’t terrible.

So why not just say that the top 16 teams in the world rankings qualify for the finals, but the summer before you hold a tournament for the remaining spots, with the aim of whittling the teams down to 32?

It would be like Eurovision, but everyone would get their time to shine.

What’s not to like? FIFA gets two shots at making money, and the fans get two World Cups of sorts.

Guatemala Vs India? Sign me up! Graham Simons, Gooner, Norf London

…So, FIFA chairman Lex Luthor is considering expanding the World Cup tournament further, to 64 teams.

In the 22 prior tournaments only 8 teams have ever won, and they’ve all come from either Europe or South America. Come to that, no team outside Europe or South America has ever made it to the final. All four of the semi-finalists this year are prior winners, so nothing will change in that regard.

Lex says that the World Cup should be organized “for the whole world” and that “Every nation should be able to dream of taking part in the World Cup.” Doesn’t that already happen? Isn’t that what qualifying is all about?

An expanded World Cup would mean more matches and therefore more money. Given how much pressure he’s under, the idea of increasing revenue for all FIFA members is a good way to keep Lex in his current position.

Apparently this change was suggested by the South American confederation CONMEBOL. CONMEBOL currently has 6 automatic World Cup slots, with the possibility of a 7th. CONMEBOL has 10 members. If the field expands they would logically get… well, more. Maybe the plan is just to skip South American qualifying, and just send all of them. Andrew (Maybe I’ll get a team together and see if we can qualify) Canada (Independent Republic of Andrewstan, pending)

Swiss perceptions

I always enjoy Oliver Dziggel’s contributions to the mailbox, and his Switzerland summary was entertaining as usual.

However, it prompted me to consider my general perception of Switzerland as a very ‘lucky’ team when it comes to qualifying and playing in tournament football. It has seemed for a number of years that the Swiss have risen to top seed level at UEFA qualifying competitions and ALWAYS find themselves in an ‘easy’ group which allows them to qualify for the next Euros/World Cup with ease. Don’t get me wrong, that is a skill in itself to maintain and not trip up (see exhibit A: Italy). But there never seems to be a scenario where they end up in competition with a slightly fallen giant or a second seed we totally don’t expect to be at that level to give them a real push. So they continue to qualify with relative ease whilst maintaining their high world ranking, and thus, seeded status which enables them to avoid confrontations with ‘bigger’ countries. Case in point, this World Cup they were among the second seeds overall, but instead of drawing a France, Spain or Argentina, they ended up with one of the hosts, and the weakest one at that.

Then at the Euros/World Cups themselves, they seem to be the ultimate ‘lose to the first big team they face’ country now that England have done a madness and started winning such games themselves. This isn’t to say they lose badly (apart from the Portugal 6-1 massacre in Qatar) as it seems they usually push their opposition close. A quick check of their knockout performances since WC 2006 shows they have been involved in 11 knockout games at Euros/World Cups, including 2026, and a remarkable 7 of them have gone to at least extra time, including fixtures against France, Spain, Argentina and England.

Their one obvious aberration to this rule is their 2-0 against Italy at Euro 2024. But then we all know Italy don’t count these days (tongue firmly in cheek there by the way). They did beat France too on penalties after a 3-3 draw at Euro 2020, but again, it’s down to the lottery of penalties.

I’m sure pundits revel in their ‘there are no easy games against the Swiss’ comments and that may well be true, but I do kind of agree with the Jonathan Wilson quote that Oliver mentioned that seeded teams for UEFA always seem to be the big teams…..and Switzerland. Fair play for them continuing to punch above their relative weight over the last two decades or so, it is worthy of further analysis as to how they have done this given the continued struggles and lack of consistency of similar countries like Austria, Sweden, Czech Republic and so on.

I’m sure I have set myself up for a well reasoned counter argument from Oliver on this but that is just my thoughts! Rob (Embolo second yellow was 100% justified given the clear dive, the silly sausage), Leicester

On Liverpool transfer business

Given we are now in the midst of an impossibly long two-day interlull, I thought I’d share my thoughts on Liverpool FC’s transfer work this far. Yeah, I know.

Schizophrenic seems to be the watchword, which isn’t surprising given the crumbling behind the scenes with the former creator of dynasties Michael Edwards gone, and creator of not very much Dicky Edwards probably going too.

I think their current (delicious) malaise is summed up quite neatly in three transfers, one done, one probably just about to happen, one extremely unlikely.

Victor Munoz is like a pure Edwards glory days signing, young, bags of potential, full international already for Spain no less, will make money on him, possibly stupid money, and will probably be very good in the meantime.

Haissem Hassan had me jumping around in the Argentina game, £12m, plays for Real Oviedo – easy-peasy this sporting director lark. Why hasn’t anyone else thought of buying someone on the strength of one World Cup? Pardon? Oh. Hughes phoning this one in.

Barcola. Just not gonna happen folks. PL champions and CL finalists, all pulling in the same (snore inducing) direction, money to burn, based in London, or Tocky, a broken Swede, a 10 who does his warm ups in a tutu in front of a mirror covered wall with Ickle pumps on before disappearing in a puff of smoke at the first whistle, and a rookie manager at this level. Hmm, let me think. Liverpool’s only hope is that Barcola hasn’t actually watched Arsenal play teams that aren’t PSG. Fuck knows who thinks making fools of yourselves chasing a player above your station for silly money is a good idea. I mean, it wasn’t even that clever when you actually landed your galactico targets last summer.

Hope it all ends in unmitigated disaster obviously, but they’ll probably scrape Europe. Oh, and even as I type the lovely Iraola just appeared on t’wireless getting his excuses in early. I still love you Andoni, stay strong. RHT/TS x