World Cup: Day Eight
I mean, it wasn't the best
I’ll be honest with you: yesterday was not a thriller. We had two low-event match ups, one thrashing, and one low-event match up that turned into a thrashing at the end. The amount of time when we saw exciting and competitive football was low. This was a bit of a struggle to write because, well, there just wasn’t an awful lot to say. No one except Canada and Switzerland fans will remember any of these games in a year’s time.
The first half of this newsletter will be free, and then the second half will be for paid subscribers only. These newsletters are going to run every single matchday. If you want to come along for the ride, I have a special offer running right now, giving you 20% off for a year. That’s £4.80/$6.40/€5.60 a month, or you can save in the long run by getting a whole year for £48/$64/€56.
Czechia 1-1 South Africa
Ok, for the millionth time, let’s talk about how teams stretch the play
Czechia (Czech Republic? I did that last time, but today I’ve decided to go with Czechia) got the opening goal five minutes in through direct running in behind. They launch a quick throw-in to striker Adam Hložek sprinting to the byline ahead of South Africa’s defenders. Hložek then passes it right across the goal to Alexandr Sojka on the edge of the box, who slips in Michal Sadílek with a cute pass. Sadílek scores. The whole situation is about playing with speed and running in behind the defence in wide areas, stretching the play. But they needed a throw-in to do it. A throw-in is a set piece in 2026.
After that, they were remarkably poor. They played like the underdogs hanging onto a one goal lead for most of the game. As friend of the newsletter Michael Caley has pointed out, this World Cup has really punished teams for sitting on leads instead of going for it. South Africa were not at all impressive at forcing the issue, but Pavel Šulc decided to stick his arm out when blocking a ball in the box and gave away a penalty. This kind of summed up the game. The equaliser came not from a moment of quality but a mistake. Rubbish.
Switzerland 4-1 Bosnia-Herzegovina
I don’t know, goals change games?
At 0-0, neither side created a notable chance from open play. The closest anyone got was Breel Embolo from a corner after an hour. As I keep saying, it can be very difficult to open games up like this when Bosnia-Herzegovina were looking to keep the game tight and shut out a Switzerland side without a great deal of ideas. The best work came from set pieces or crossing situations that felt like set pieces. I don’t think this is a terrible approach. They’re a reasonable source of goals. Do it.
They finally got the goal with everyone’s favourite retro approach: a cross. Bosnia-Herzegovina get it clear, but Johan Manzambi reacts quickly and smashes it in the net. Switzerland put a cross in and Bosnia-Herzegovina can’t defend second balls. Second balls! That’s what football is about. The 2026 World Cup is the Premier League c.1995.
Then the floodgates opened. Bosnia-Herzegovina had to push up and leave more space in behind, which their defenders were clearly not comfortable doing. Tarik Muharemovic made a reckless last-man challenge on Embolo and got himself sent off. Minutes later, Switzerland are suddenly able to put together a nice passing move with their opponents out of shape and get it to 2-0. It went from zero to decimation very quickly because Bosnia-Herzegovina seemed to mentally implode. It happens.
Switzerland didn’t have a strategy beyond “keep plugging away”. But sometimes the plugging away does work.
Canada 6-0 Qatar
Oh, I hope Richard Keys was watching this one.