It was always expected that England would make the World Cup quarter-finals – and it’s always been risky that they’d overlook a team like Senegal – and now they’ve cruised into the last 16 with a comfortable 3-0 dismissal of Wales. Dan McDonnell was in the stadium in Qatar was impressed with how efficient Gareth Southgate’s side were, without having to show too much quality. “I’m not saying England are like Brazil but, in saying that, they just killed this game with a burst.” Meanwhile, did Wales underperform or is it just the level they’re at now? It very much seems like the end of the line for this team that made it the whole way to a semi-final at Euro 2016 but the sight of Gareth Bale being consigned to the bench for the second half was a sign of where they were at physically in the winter of 2022, and the winter of their cycle. “They don’t have a Champions League winner coming through,” Aidan O’Hara said about Wales’ impending transition. “And Aaron Ramsey is only 31 and he just looks like one of those players like Wayne Rooney or Cesc Fabregas where the accelerator was just pressed and there’s not much there.” Today, Argentina are in a lot more danger than maybe people have thought and face a battle to cling onto their World Cup hopes.

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