England is taking shape as the World Cup progresses. They survived the mirage of a 6-2 draw with Iran, a 0-0 draw with the USA and, after a bit of a hiccup, escaped with a 3-0 draw against Wales to consolidate everything they had accumulated along the way against Senegal . She was stuck, she felt threatened, but she always knew which way to go until she broke the tie with aplomb and went into the quarters with a commanding lead against the France of supersonic Mbappé, where Harry Kane finally scored.
Senegal persevered as the game drifted down the path of the predictable. As a reflection of the brass bands that accompany them in the lower part of the grandstand. They keep the rhythm going with timpani, clashing logs and saxophones. They create a deceptive sense of monotony until they make a gear change. The transition is subtle. It begins underground as the company maintains the beat it had but the signal is overstepped and the tone rises or the frequency rises and everyone invariably accompanies. On court, Aliou Cissé’s pick follows a similar two-stroke pattern. They live in peace while England do what they expected: having the ball, carrying it from one place to another and trying to get the wingers, this time Saka and Foden, to find a tunnel through which to score come closer. So Senegal waits undeterred while Koulibaly directs operations from the center of defence. They can spend entire championships contemplating swaying, just as carnival airlines can keep swaying.
And they, too, hear the signal from time to time and change their pace. And so Boulaye Dia, the ex-Villarreal player, suddenly appears alone in the penalty area with Pickford, who in one of those shocks puts out a hand that prevents what appears to have been a goal. Sarr was a torment for Walker, then outmatched by his right wing.
But England, who arrived in Qatar worn down by the doubts they had bred themselves through months of disappointments and misadjustments, that misshapen England, have discovered their confidence just by stepping onto the big stage of the World Cup. If they’ve often left feeling like their greatest accomplishment was getting the collision of talents to disable them all, now they’re finding a way to leverage their own catalog. When the apparent plan didn’t work, Harry dropped Kane’s lead, falling behind and opening up space behind for Bellingham to run in. The captain gave it to the Dortmund player who left it for Henderson to score.
The Senegalese fanfare didn’t stop either as England celebrated the opening goal. That was the pace and it was to be expected of his side: they would hold up as long as England didn’t tremble. But the Southgate team is already toying with the belief of the great aspirant, who also feels obligated to deliver on that promise.
And it doesn’t stop incorporating guns. Bellingham deciphered the game like no other, looking ahead of Rice and Henderson for exits when the game got stuck, being clairvoyant in those tight spots and even when he found an open way to run, always to places that would improve each other’s lives. Like at the beginning of the 2-0 game, from a ambush by him and a gallop. He synchronized the pace of the counter-attack with Foden and Kane, and the captain scored his first goal in Qatar, just his team’s eleventh of the tournament. So far he would have shone with three assists. As if he had decided at the outset to get used to running the usual machines and then start scoring. Against Senegal, the main assistant was Foden, first for him and then for Saka.
Then Southgate did something routine, but actually the scariest thing in England. Already at 3-0 he started to make changes and those who came off the bench were Rashford, Grealish, Mount and Dier who wouldn’t have produced a very different game had they started the game and Kalvin Phillips, who needs filming after his injury.
At the end, over the brass bands, who continued a quarter of an hour after the end, was Sweet Caroline in Al Bayt, just like when England won at Wembley and dreamed of the last Euro Cup.
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