Key events
We’ve got to have another look at Cape Verde’s celebrations.
What’s that? You want some #OnThisDay #WorldCup #Content? Well, it’s been eight years since South Korea knocked out Germany, the defending champions, in the group stage.
Jonathan Wilson was there:
This, then, is how the world ends, not with a bang but with a whimper. There are certain events so apocalyptic that it feels they cannot just happen. They should be signalled beneath thunderous skies as owls catch falcons and horses turn and eat themselves. At the very least there should be a sense of fury, of thwarted effort, of energies exhausted. And yet Germany went out of the World Cup in the first round for the first time in 80 years on a pleasantly sunny afternoon with barely a flicker of resistance. There was no Sturm. There was no Drang.
So who comes in for Reece James, out of England’s clash with Panama and the last-32 tie, too? Jarell Quansah, Ezri Konsa, Djed Spence and Trevoh Chalobah are all options for Thomas Tuchel to consider.
The views from North America:
Iran have copied Cape Verde with three draws … but they thought they’d won it against Egypt. Their future at the tournament remains uncertain.
Marcelo Bielsa gives it straight. Uruguay have failed to make it past the group stage for the second World Cup in a row.
I have not left anything to Uruguayan football. A coach who has been in a country for three years and not got results cannot say he has made a contribution. Fourth place in the qualifiers has no value and nor does third at the Copa América and there is no need to even define this performance [at the World Cup]. My time doesn’t say anything.
Even if Panama pull off an all-timer of an upset, England are through.
Cape Verde’s head coach, Bubista, reflects on his side’s achievement.
We have shown that nothing is impossible. We have represented our country but we also represent Africa and small countries around the world.
Preamble
Winning is overrated. Cape Verde have got the love of the neutrals and – crucially – a place in the last 32 by drawing all three of their group games. That’s right, the nation with a population of just over 500,000 are through to the knockouts with a second-placed finish, a remarkable feat by the debutants. Up next? Leo Messi and his mates. It’s the story of the tournament. We’ll talk about that and all of the other results from last night, and look at what’s to come. It never stops.
