FIFA 2018: A consolation 3rd spot for England tonight?

The Belgium-England clash tonight (July 14, 2018) for the 3rd place will be a fitting precursor to the grand finale of the FIFA World Cup 2018. Having previously met in the Group stages, the game is already being touted as a revenge match between the two teams. An English victory is difficult to vouch for, seeing how England has barely inched past their earlier opponents. 

Neither teams are expected to fight too hard for the 3rd place position, however, England does have a bone to pick with Belgium for stealing the top place in their Group. Another significant factor that may motivate England to push hard for victory is the fact that Harry Kane still stands the chance of securing the prestigious Golden Boot trophy. 

It is hard to imagine Belgium losing to England, especially after their exciting plays against France. We saw every Belgian player – from Eden Hazard to Vincent Kompany – make dangerous moves in France’s penalty area. They have other promising players, such as Michy Batshuayi, Chadli Mertens, and Mousa Dembele. With so much talent to choose from, England’s chances don’t look good at all. Recently, at the press conference, Belgian defender Thomas Meunier even stated that the team was committed to winning the 3rd place as it was the bare ‘minimum’ they could do at this point in the tournament. From the looks of it, Belgium isn’t going to pull their punches in the coming match. 

England got too comfortable with a one-goal lead against Croatia, and they know that a single goal lead won’t be enough to win against Belgium. Harry Kane was fed two excellent opportunities to score against Croatia but failed to create a goal. Jesse Lingard also missed his mark when at the 56th minute his shot on goal was deflected. Apart from these two players, few others managed to standout in the match against Croatia. Each player will have to level-up their game if they want to hold their own against Belgium. 

Catch their match Live at 7.30 pm IST on SonyLIV, the official mobile and internet broadcaster for the FIFA World Cup 2018. It is the go-to destination for all football fanatics. 

Check out the Match Centre on SonyLIV, where viewers can see live scores, player positions, team data, match statistics and live commentary. For a more engaging experience, users can set reminders or view the entire schedule, while the points table gives a quick update on the standings, scores, etc. Additionally, SonyLIV has also created a fan-zone on the second screen that users can access on their mobile phones or tablets and experience features like match predictions, emotion meter, polls, and contests, even as they watch the game in real-time. 

Other features include viewing missed games with snippets and clips of key moments from every match along with highlights. To cater to the widest possible range of viewers, SonyLIV will be available in six simultaneous audio feeds - Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and English.