Episode 12 - You'd think a 7 goal game would be exciting...

... it wasn't.

At  a world cup where there have been surprising results its surprising how surprisingly well England has fared these 2 games so far. Tunisia and Costa Rica are not really top line opposition but you can only play the teams the tournament draw gives you. Now that with this 6-1 win, and guess which of those 7 goals got the biggest cheer, both Tunisia and Costa Rica are out and it's just a case of which team finishes first and second. Goal difference between England and Belgium currently isn't. So we'll see what happens but for now England are one of the more impressive sides of the tournament.

Russia, Portugal, Croatia and Belgium have all fared well so far also. A new champion perhaps?

The night's (morning's) entertainment concluded with the completion of the second round of matches which saw Japan take on Senegal and Poland v Colombia.

Japan and Senegal were first up winners so a second victory for either would pretty much guarantee a place in the round of 16. Plenty of motivation there.

Senegal were looking like the more eager of the sides... no that's not the right word. They looked more physically imposing. A little bit faster, a little bit stronger. Whether that played a role in scoring the opening goal in what was probably borne more of Japanese defensive failings than Senegalese endeavour is hard to say. Sadio Mane won't mind either way.

To their credit the Japanese weren't cowed and did what they could to repair the damage. Their efforts paid dividends just after half an hour into the match when Inue received the ball in the penalty area and excellently curled the ball beyond the diving stretch of the keeper. 1-1... interesting... and surprising.

The contrasting styles of the two sides made for an entertaining match and the second half again saw Senegal take the lead again and Japan equalise again. It was a fair result and means that if either Colombia or Poland lose against the other then the losing side is out of the World Cup. A draw would keep the hopes of all 4 teams still in the balance in the final round of games. Surprising.

Ultimately Colombia defeated Poland 3-0 to ensure Poland's role is to determine whether or not Japan get one of the first two spots in the final round of games while Colombia and Senegal sweat on the outcome. Senegal a little less so.

It is surprising that Poland were the first side eliminated from this group.