Senegal’s stupidity and the Englishmen’s prudence

Senegal’s stupidity and the Englishmen’s prudence

The last two couples of the World Cup round of 16 participants became known on the last day of the group stage matches. The Colombians minimally defeated Senegal, the Japanese lost to Poland, Panama lost to Tunisia and the Englishmen sacrificed the first place.

In the first matches of the day, Senegal required points against Colombia to advance to play-offs. However, having heard about Japan conceding against from Poland, the African team’s head coach Aliou Cisse gave a directive to hold the ball and do not get into danger. To say the least, the game was boring under such circumstances. The Senegalese stalled having advantage in a number of shots and James Rodriguez’s injury and paid for that. Fifteen minutes before the end of the game, Yerry Mina came to help the Colombians and scored after a corner kick.

The Panthers’ further attempts proved futile, as the South American team stepped back and interrupted attempts from Mane, Keita and Niang to score the saving goal. Both parallel matches ended with a minimal victory in favor of the nominal guests. Considering that Senegal and Japan had identical indicators of points, scored and conceded goals and their head-to-head encounter ended with the score of 2:2, the Samurais advanced thanks to a lesser number of yellow cards. The Japanese, knowing about Cisse team’s problems held the ball in defense, which is clearly seen on the passing map.

Later at the press conference, the footballers of the Rising Sun country apologized to fans for their incredibly boring game and the Senegal manager Aliou Cisse accepted the defeat and the team’s elimination,

“This is football, we did not advance to play-offs because of the fair-play rating, but I am still very proud of my team. The Senegal national team did not advance to play-offs because probably did not deserve this advancement. These are the rules, we all follow them and we need to respect that.”

Later, the Englishmen with the Belgians came out on the pitch with reserve squads. But the young players instead of proving their managers their supremacy before the first squad partners played without a risk for themselves and the team. The central match of the day ended up in a boring victory for the Belgians, just like the previous matches. The outcome was decided by Adnan Januzaj’s accurate shot the far upper corner during Danny Rose’s connivance.

The Englishmen got Colombia in the round of 16, but they don’t have to be disappointed. In case of a victory over the Coffeemen, Gareth Southgate’s team will get the winner of the Sweden-Switzerland couple in the quarterfinal. The Belgians will get Brazil, if they manage to defeat the Samurais. This way, the cold English calculation and being savvy in the long term can give the Three Lions a ticket to the semifinal.