Key events
In defense of Tuchel, I think heโs picked the team that he thinks is best suited to beat the top teams โ managing them and pushing them out of the park โ but even within that you need options and variety. Otherwise, teams know exactly how to prepare for you, and youโre essentially saying that if things go badly (say, theyโre wondering how to handle the formation), the problem is still with the players being replaced as one after the other.
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On British television they were talking about England, noting that DR Congo was playing in the bottom block. This is a bit of a problem if your manager has assembled a team full of big players and seems strangely reluctant to use his one true small-space expert. Iโm not surprised Thomas Tuchel doesnโt like Kobby Mine โ he picked a team with good fitness and low skill โ but why take him if youโd rather play Jordan Henderson?
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Question for you related to Canada: yesterday my wife and I were discussing Celine Dion and whether she is an icon; my wife thought yes, I was leaning towards no. So we turned to the OED, which says: โA person or thing considered as a representative symbol or worthy of veneration.โ I think I need a first hand as well as a first hand, otherwise weโre letting too many people into this category and Iโm not sure it will satisfy that; I demand transcendence!
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Oh man my eyes are sweating, and there are 45 minutes left before the teams leave. Can Stokes play football?
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Oh my God. Nothing to do with football, but everything to do with humanity: Ben Stokes, what a man. If youโre near a TV with Sky, turn it on โ itโs time to edit.
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This is fun:
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โItโs hard to call a match, isnโt it?โ begins Krishnamurti V. โBoth are likely to be cautious and therefore 0-0 and extra time look certain. I just hope it doesnโt go to penalties โ I donโt like penalty shootouts. In a way itโs like tossing a coin. Letโs have a positive, interesting match.โ
I like Canada, who I think have more enthusiasm and better players, especially after we saw SA freeze the game against Mexico; I expect them to attack the situation. But I disagree that penalties are a coin toss, a test of technique under terrible, wonderful pressure.
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Jesse Marsh makes four changes to the team that lost to Switzerland. At centre-back, Moses Bombito replaces Luc De Fougerolles; in midfield, Steven Estaquio replaces Mathieu Choiniere; on the left is Tani Oluwaseyi, not Ali Ahmed; First and foremost, Liam Millar is preferable to Kyle Larin.
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One change for SA, Teboho Mokoena โ for my money, their best player in the first two games โ admittedly an underground bar โ returns from suspension, so Talente Mbatha returns to the bench.
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Teams!
South Africa (4-2-3-1): Williams; Mudau, Mbokazi, Okon, Modiba Mokeana, Sithole; Maseko, Mofokeng, Apollos; Sinks. Spare parts: Adams, Cheyne, Cross, Foster, Goss, Kabini, Makhanya, Matuludi, Mbarta, Moremi, Ndamen, Reiners, Sebelebe, Sibisi.
Canada (4-4-2): Crepeau; Johnston, Cornelius, Bombito, Laria; Buchanan, Saliba, Eustace, Millar; David, Vaseyi. Spare parts: Ahmed, Choiniere, David, Davis, De Fougerolles, Goodman, Jones, Larin, Nelson, Osorio, Schaffelburg, Sigur, St. Clair, Waterman.
Judge: Joรฃo Pedro Silva Pinheiro (Portugal)
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Updated at 2:30 pm ET.
Preamble
Being a footballer is the greatest thing in the world, right? We all spend our lives doing something and how wonderful it must be for that something to be something we love, experiencing extreme emotions with teammates who become family.
But there is a debt to pleasure that players and their loved ones pay, sacrificing childhood, relationships damaged, and time disappeared; the game consumes everything, its indigestion somehow spreading to those eaten. Itโs nights like tonight, however, that make it all worthwhile: two countries vying for the World Cup knockout stages for the first time, a moment that no one involved would have dared to dream of.
There is a word in Yiddish: bouffantwhich roughly translates to deep pride and joy in the accomplishments of those close to you; it is one of the greatest feelings known to mankind, and sometimes, in extreme cases, those of us not related to its heroes are lucky enough to experience love. When the teams leave tonight, we know This.
They were both lucky to take part in this. South Africa were unfathomably terrible in the first game and barely better in the second, then somehow found enough in the third to snatch victory, while Canada also disappointed, with a draw with Bosnia-Herzegovina and defeat by Switzerland culminating in a convincing victory over hapless Qatar. Thatโs one way of looking at things.
Another thing to say, however, is that Bafana Bafana came into this game with enthusiasm, feeling great and ready to take an opportunity they couldnโt have expected. Meanwhile, Canada, buoyed by the host nationโs atmosphere, were handed a winning draw, knowing they had enough progress to take advantage of it. And for both, it is a multi-lifetime opportunity, a question of how, fully aware of everything they need to get to this point, they gain, and then balance, the self-control and the devil that will be required to do justice to themselves and themselves; launch those who are already soaring into another dimension.
This probably isnโt the best or biggest match weโve enjoyed this week, but boy, not many of them are going to be that special.
Kick off: 3:00 pm EST, 8:00 pm BST, 5:00 pm (Monday) EST.
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