Just Four Things: Tunisia Vs. England

Credits: England's Official Twitter (@England)

Kane’s Brace Barely, Yet Deservedly Seals Win

It is a new England. It’s a side that contained the next generation as the World Cup ushered them into the present generation. Now it’s the likes of Harry Kane, Dele Alli, Jesse Lingard and Harry Maguire to lead England in their first ever World Cup. They certainly did start brightly. Only about two minutes in, Jesse Lingard pounced on a ball and his low shot was somehow kept out.

They player with high vigor that has the fans buzzing and it only took 11 minutes for England to lead when Harry Kane reacted quickly to tap in the rebound after the keeper saved John Stones’ header following a corner. England kept the pressure on Tunisia and a second goal should be coming. Then, calamity happened when the referee gave a penalty to Tunisia after Kyle Walker judged to elbowed Fakhreddine Ben Youssef and Ferjani Sassi buried the penalty. England kept creating chances, but Stones and Lingard were guilty of wasting them.

England kept knocking and had 10 chances created, but still couldn’t take the lead when half-time ended. England continued their dominance in the second, but couldn’t penetrate the box this time around (More on this later). It was about to be one of those days when England had messed up once again in a match they were expected to win. Then, up stepped captain Kane to get the end of Maguire’s header to head the winner in injury time to seal the three points and cause England to erupt in joy. England barely got it, but it’s definitely deserved.

Tunisia Crowds The Final Third, But…

After half-time, it appeared Tunisia has a much clearer gameplan when defending England’s attacks. They will attempt to crowd out the area near their own box, especially down the wings. Tunisia gave no room for Ashley Young and Kieran Trippier to make runs or delivering crosses. Even Lingard and Sterling had a tough time getting near the box with the ball. Tunisia were careful not to let service in for England. Their job was much easier with England playing with no plan B in mind as it was all down the wings and attempted dribbling in the box.

So it’s especially ironic that with how comfortable and focused they were to frustrate England by not giving them to breathe by closing down on them, both of their opponent’s goals came from terrible man-marking. The last thing you want to do is give time and space for your opponent’s best player to score. No one picked up Kane’s run in both the times he scored and that in the end has cost Tunisia dearly.

VAR At The Centre Again

Seems VAR is back in discussion again. But it’s not because of why it was used, rather it was because of why it wasn’t used. Following Sassi’s equalizing penalty for Tunisia, England probably had not one but two good shouts for a penalty of their own.

Harry Kane was in the spotlight not just for his brace, but also was in the centre of both of those incidents and two of them came from corners too. Kane was judged to be rugby-tackled by his marker as corner was approaching him, although a few England fans noted that Stones also pushed his marker as that incident was happening, so they might understand why VAR wasn’t used.

But there should be no excuse why VAR wasn’t used in the second incident midway through the second half when Kane was dragged down by his marker with hands all over his body. Somehow, VAR officials didn’t seem interested in it. Had Kane not scored the winner, England fans will be up in arms.

Tears For Hassen

No one wants to get hauled off injured in early in the first match of the World Cup, especially if it’s your first ever World Cup too. Sadly though, misfortune fell on Tunisia goalkeeper Mouez Hassen when he seemed to tweaked his left shoulder awkwardly as he was about to close down on Jesse Lingard on the left wing only about five minutes into the match.

It’s a shame that this happened after pulling off two great saves, especially with his foot on Lingard’s effort that was destined to go in. He did well to save Stones powerful header, but couldn’t do anything about Kane’s rebound tap in. He tried to soldier on, but after ten minutes since the incident it was clear he could not continue. He walked off in tears as the 23-year old keeper was subbed off for Farouk Ben Mustapha. He later came out sitting on the bench with a sling on his left shoulder. But one has to wonder if he is able to play again in this World Cup, even if Tunisia somehow gets out of the group.