As the first round of group games come to a close, I thought it would be worthwhile to take a look how Tottenham’s players got on representing their country.
Undoubtedly the best Spurs performer of matchday day one was Richarlison, who grabbed a brace in Brazil’s 2-0 win over Serbia. Richarlison calmly dispatched his first into an empty net and then sublimely volleyed his home his second, to secure the win for the Selecao.
Another Tottenham forward who impressed was Harry Kane – who despite not scoring, grabbed two assists in England’s 6-2 demolition of Iran. Kane of course went down injured early in the second half, holding his ankle – only to play for another 25 mins.
Many fans were left worried that would be the last time they would see Kane play in Qatar however yesterday Gareth Southgate confirmed Harry Kane would be “all good” for the USA game. Eric Dier also featured in the win coming on for the injured Harry Maguire in the 70th minute.
The other game in group B saw both Ben Davies and Joe Rodon start for Wales as they came back to scrape a 1-1 draw with the USA.
Despite Brazil impressing in their opener, the other South American giants flattered to deceive. Cristian Romero – who faced a race against time to be fit enough for the World Cup – started for Argentina as they fell to a shocking 2-1 defeat to Saudi Arabia. Romero looked like a player who had just returned from injury as he was off the pace and not his normal self – with the centre-half being at fault for the Saudi’s first goal.
Fellow South Americans Uruguay also failed to impress with Tottenham’s Rodrigo Bentancur being the brightest spark in a pretty dull affair against South Korea, which ended 0-0.
The game also included a masked Heung-Min Son who made his return from injury after fracturing his cheekbone against Marseille, earlier this month.
Defending champions France got off to the perfect start, with Hugo Lloris captaining them to a 4-1 win over Australia. The other game in group D saw Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s Denmark – who many had tipped to be dark horses – start with a disappointing 0-0 draw against a stubborn Tunisia side.
Croatia would have also hoped for a better start, with Ivan Persic and his side drawing 0-0 with Morocco, in what was a very cagey affair.
England does not look like a team that can win the cup this year. That was a weak effort against a USA team that isn’t all that good either.
Will VS still exist when the cup ends? It’s not looking good for the future existence of this venerable site.
Is Conte playing Richarlison right? The man is a real favorite amongst Brazilians.
Kane may have “been all good” to play, but his play was not all good. Clearly not up to his usual standards vs. the USA lot.