England vs Belgium: Stripped of all meaning this was the exact opposite of what the World Cup is meant to be about

Mousa Dembele has had a brilliant career in English football but even he must have been surprised by this hastily-arranged summer testimonial game held tonight in his honour in Kaliningrad. His Belgium XI strolled through the game, taking the lead from Adnan Januzaj’s left-foot curler from just inside the box early in the second half, then strolling through the rest of the game. Roberto Martinez had promised a “celebration” on the pitch here and that is what we got. Although it was a shame that their best players, Kevin De Bruyne, Romelu Lukaku and Eden Hazard, were still on summer holiday.

Their opponents, an England XI captained by Dembele’s Spurs team-mate Eric Dier, went close through Marcus Rashford in the second half but never extended themselves pushing for an equaliser. They never got out of first gear either, and why would they? Four of these players will be playing in the Community Shield at Wembley in a few weeks’ time. That will be a harder, faster physical warm-up. All proceeds from tonight’s game will be shared between two charities of Dembele’s choosing.

Or maybe not. But that is certainly how it felt, watching this most ludicrous of World Cup matches here in Kaliningrad this evening. Far more like a friendly or an extended training game than anything seen in this tournament for years.

We all know by now that World Cup games are not the peak of global football quality. But that has not stopped hundreds of thousands from coming to Russia, and half the world watching on TV. What they have come for is emotion, tension, anxiety, acrimony, love, loss, and above all meaning. And this game had absolutely none of any that. It was the exact opposite of what the World Cup is meant to be about.

It was the worst possible way to round off one of the great group stage weeks in modern tournament history. On Monday night Iran were inches away from knocking out Portugal in added time, and when the whistle went at the end the players collapsed in tears. On Tuesday night Lionel Messi scored a goal of super-human skill, Argentina were four minutes away from finishing bottom, only to scrape through, sparking more tears on the pitch and an all-night party in St Petersburg. On Wednesday the world champions Germany were knocked out after conceding two stoppage-time goals to South Korea, a spectacular collapse after their last-kick defeat of Sweden.

And on Thursday night, here in St Petersburg, the greatest drama was the two Belgian bookings in the first-half, and the brief wait to see the facial expressions of Roberto Martinez and the Belgian bench when Januzaj scored the only goal of the game. They did a passable impression of being happy, just as England did a passable impression of being sad. But the goal felt slightly out of place here, in a match neither team was trying too hard to win. And once it had happened, six minutes into the second half, the game went back to how it was before: some Belgian possession, some English possession, but nothing too aggressive. No-one wants to see that.

open image in gallery

Because ultimately this whole game was a 90-minute oxymoron, a World Cup game neither side was desperate to win. Roberto Martinez had freely admitted that, saying that his priority was not to win the game but to change his players. And if that left Belgium in the easy half of the draw, then no-one in the Belgian camp would be too upset about it. His nine changes were expected and explained.

Gareth Southgate had been clear all week that he wanted to win the game, saying after the Panama win last Sunday that anything else would be a “difficult mindset” for the English to adopt. And yet here in Kaliningrad four days on he found it quite easy to adopt. He made eight changes, resting all of his best players. He had said how important it would be to involve everyone, to make them all feel included, but it also sends a message about how much he wants to win the game.

open image in gallery

Jamie Vardy and Marcus Rashford were the only England players to play at any speed, with any intensity, but even then it is difficult to blame the others too much. Footballers take their cues from their environment, just like anyone else, and clearly the players involved tonight knew how important winning this game was compared to other competing priorities.

But having managed to win the game despite themselves, Belgium must make do with the prize they never wanted: Japan in Rostov and then either Brazil or Mexico in the quarter-final. England, who said they wanted to win, but belied that with their performance, will play Colombia in Moscow. Win that, and they face Sweden or Switzerland.

The knock-out rounds may eventually reward these teams for their approach tonight, or they may not. Winning the World Cup on 15 July would be an unanswerable response. But even if vindicated by history, the non-events of this evening will never feel right in the context of this competition, these teams, these fans, or the essence of the sport.