Damn It!!

So that’s it then, England are out of the World Cup. I’m almost glad I wasn’t able to watch the match live now, but there was nothing joyous about working through it when I heard the result.

There is no shame in losing 2-1 to France, the reigning World Champs, but to do so by missing a penalty 5 minutes from the end of the 90 there is a lot of frustration.

I’ve only seen the highlights of the match, watched videos of the pundits and video interviews with some of the England players so I may have the game wrong, but it sounds like we were not just in this game but were actually the better team for most of it.

France’s first goal, scored by Tchouameni, was a thing of beauty no denying that. However, play ought to have been stopped 30 seconds before this opener. Saka was scythed down in the French box for what appeared to be a clear penalty. The ref decided to completely ignore this though, leaving France to launch the break that would see them take the lead.

Going behind sparked England into life and they battered the French for the rest of the half, pushing the French back at every opportunity without securing the equaliser they so desperately needed.

That equaliser wouldn’t come until the 53rd minute when the ref finally saw a stonewall penalty shout that even he couldn’t ignore, he had already ignored a strong call for a foul on Kane late in the first half. Kane stepped up for the penalty and calmly swept it into the net to Lloris’ right, as the keeper dived to his left.

Taking inspiration from equalising England went on the front foot again, but once again it was France who found the way to break the deadlock. This time their goal came through Olivier Giroud rising highest in the box to nod home a searching deep cross pinged in from the left touchline.

The way England responded brilliantly to going behind again and their persistence paid off when they were granted another chance to equalise from the penalty spot with just 6 minutes of the match to go. This time though it took the intervention of VAR to award the penalty though as the ref waved away the appeals after Mount was barged into.

The ref’s blindness to seeing such an obvious foul was abysmal, but unfortunately so was Kane’s penalty this time round. Going to the same side was a great idea. Leaning back and thumping the ball into row Z wasn’t.

With that penalty miss and the truly disgusting performance of the referee England exit at the Quarter Final stage and miss out on the mouth-watering opportunity of a semi-final against Morocco. There is not a soul in this nation that would have bet against us winning that match and reaching our first World Cup Final since 1966, but now all we have is the chance to watch in on TV.

Personally I hope the French defend their title now. At least then we can say we lost to the best team in the world.