Are England fun again? Will Ronaldo ever be dropped?
episodePreviously titled “Are England fun again + will Ronaldo ever be dropped?” — renamed by the publisher on Aug 3, 2026
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
The Athletic FC.
Hello and welcome to The Athletic FC podcast with me, Emma Payton. England are off to a flyer, a 4-2 win over Croatia and two goals for Harry Kane. But it wasn't quite so good for Cristiano Ronaldo. And with all 48 teams having played, well, who has impressed so far? Here in the studio today, we have The Athletic's Liam Toomey and Liam Tharm. All the Liams. How are we doing? I feel like we might need nicknames today because Liam and Liam T, it's not going to cut it, is it?
Yeah, this is the problem. Liam T doesn't even work. We noticed this shortly after you joined.
Yeah, I've received emails that were for Liam and I'm sure he's received some for me. So it's a long-standing problem.
So what are we doing today?
We can go surnames, yeah, or squad numbers, but I don't think that works.
No. or I'll remember it either. So, right guys, only one place to start. England finally got their campaign underway with a 4-2 win over Croatia. What an entertaining game. Game of the tournament so far?
I think so, yeah. I think it's quite strange to be talking about England as the entertainers of the World Cup, particularly after the Southgate era, which as successful as it was, I don't think you could accuse it of consistently setting pulses racing. But England were really good and also deficient in some ways, which I think made the game more interesting. But they didn't have a lot of control in the first half, had more in the second, but they had this explosive scoring power there. And we saw Harry Kane really turn up. We saw Jude Bellingham have a quiet first half, but then produce maybe the moment of the game right at the start of the second. And you saw the quality that they have off their bench as well with Marcus Rashford.
So I thought it was a good statement because Croatia also showed enough to show that they're a good team.
Yeah, they've been a great tournament team as well recently, Croatia. It's a real banana skin, I think, of the first game in a tournament where Spain have tripped up early on, Netherlands have tripped up early on. It's been difficult, actually, for some of those top teams. Even France, kind of similar to England, had a good result and kind of a bit of a sketchy performance along the way. And four very different goals, I think, you always want your striker to get off the mark early. Came, you know, with two goals inside the first half and then kind of two very different goals again later on in the game. So having those different threats, I think, is really important.
Not just us being biased, because this is an excerpt from Jacob Whitehead's Day 7 recap. And this is from Bild, the German tabloid, who said, that was the best game of the World Cup. Thank you for these 90 minutes. What a spectacle. What a festival. Not going to argue with that. No one could say it wasn't exciting, could they? Before we chat more about England, let's check in with our England correspondent, Jack Pitbrook.
I'm here outside the Dallas Stadium where England just got their World Cup campaign underway with, I think, a pretty impressive 4-2 win over Croatia. It was an interesting game. England were pretty poor in the first half, much, much better in the second half after Tuchel told them that it doesn't really matter if you lose, it's all about playing our way. And England came out and they did play the Thomas Tuchel way. They were intense, they were aggressive, they won the ball back quickly. They played with that kind of high intensity style that Tuchel's been talking about ever since he took over. The big question really is, can they do this in their next few games? Next up, it's Ghana in Boston, and then it's Panama in New Jersey.
They won't have the benefit of the air-conditioned stadium here. And I just wonder whether they will be able to play with the same running, the same pressing, the same high intensity that they showed in this game. Because if they can't, then I just wonder if some of the defensive issues we saw, particularly in the first half here, could get shown up.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:02–3:39
2
How did England turn a shaky first half into a 4-2 win over Croatia?
3:39–11:10
3
What did England correspondent Jack Pitt‑Brooke report from Dallas about Tuchel’s halftime changes?
11:10–19:11
4
Which tactical adjustments produced England’s second‑half intensity and key goals?
19:11–30:38
5
How are Kane, Bellingham and the wing options fitting into Tuchel’s England template?
30:38–34:03
Speakers
6 identifiedMore from The Athletic FC Podcast
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