What we’re watching - the Congolese Challenge ahead
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30 June 2026; Luke O'Regan of Shamrock Rovers scores his side's first goal during the friendly match between Shamrock Rovers and Hibernian at Tallaght Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Paul Phelan/Sportsfile
Deja Vu all over again - nightmare of Swedes, turnips and makeshift right-backs could haunt England again
Rob Shepherd, Columnist
A Game of Two Halves that has become one of Four Quarters has reached the halfway stage and for many it is only now the World Cup Finals really kicks off.
It certainly has to kickstart Thomas Tuchel into cerebral action otherwise England won’t be far behind Scotland on a red eye flight of shame back home.
What might have seemed like a smooth ride to the last 16 against DR Congo suddenly looks like it could be a roadblock.
Unthinkable?
It’s not if Tuchel doesn’t swap that irritating baseball cap he wears for a thinking cap and sort out what has become a mess at the back.
And the increasingly vexed debate over England’s dodgy defence is one largely of his own making. When Tuchel announced his squad the big issue was leaving Cole Palmer and Phil Foden out.
Certainly Jude Bellingham’s contributions in the group wins over Croatia and Panama has muted that discussion - at least for the time being. It’s what is flashing up in the rear view mirror that is worrying right now, at right-back.
What many brushed off as a side issue of leaving out Trent Alexander Arnold, Harry Maguire, and to a lesser extent Lewis Hall, is coming to the fore. Trent’s omission especially.
It now seems ridiculous that he is chillin’ on a beach or even a yacht somewhere in the world while there is now a debate going on about who plays right-back to the extent of whether Declan Rice should return after being rested against Panama in that role for this Congo game.
Will 4 become 2? Rice (England’s no 4) with Trent Alexander Arnold (once England’s no 2 but not in this squad). Photo by Ben McShane/Sportsfile
You can’t legislate for injuries I hear some say after Reece James then Jarell Quansah became victims of what now seems a curse of the England number two.
Er, yes you can, that’s exactly part of the planning when it comes to selecting a squad. And with 26 rather than 23, as it was not so long ago, then it should be easier to legislate for mishaps.
Yet when Tino Livromento had to pull out just before the tournament, Tuchel opted to bring in another centre back, Trevor Chalaboah, reasoning that Quansah, picked as a shadow CB, could cover at No 2, rather than a specialist full back.
But Quansah had hardly played in the position for England and looked all over the place against Panama before he limped off. Djed Spence took his place but can he be trusted there?
As for Chalaboah? It doesn’t seem anyone is talking in terms of him as an option yet he was called up ahead of Trent, Hall or indeed Ben White.
I hear some sigh, it’s ONLY a full back.
Well back in Euro ’92 one of the things that did for Graham Taylor’s England was going into the tournament without a recognised right back after Rob Job Jones, Lee Dixon and then Gary Stevens all got injured just before the tournament.
Keith Curle was seen as a utility defender who could fill in there rather than say the more limited, but full time right back, Mel Sterland. It didn’t work. Winger Andy Sinton did a stint before we ended up with midfield minder David Batty at right-back against Sweden. And that was a shambles.
Anders Limpar and Thomas Brolin took full advantage, unpicking Taylor’s team and the infamous headline Swedes 2 Turnips 1 was writ.
Rice, whose name offers colourful headline writers plenty of latitude, has filled in during games at right-back for Arsenal and when he was coming through at West Ham was actually a centre half cum sweeper. He knows how to play in a back four - or even a 3/5.
So sure he COULD play there. There is even an argument that Rice COULD even be even England’s Cafu there .
Indeed back in the day of England’s Golden Generation the late Jimmy Armfield, a wise owl if even there was one, suggested the best way to accommodate Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Paul Scholes and David Beckham in the same team was to play Stevie G at right back.
“If he plays at number 2,” Armfield, one of the original overlapping full backs and Bobby Moore’s predecessor as England captain, claimed, “Then Gerrard would be the best number 2 in the world and give England that added dimension down the flank like Cafu does for Brazil.
“Imagine Gerrard and Beckham in tandem,” Armfield asserted as he did in his role as BBC radio’s expert pundit. Jimmy ranked Brazil captain Cafu, a World Cup winner in 1994 and 2002, as the best right-back of all time.
Sadly Armfield - one of the reserves on the sidelines in 1966 - is no longer with us but he would likely make a similar case with regard to Rice, and in so doing get around the sort of Lampard-Gerrard debate that is being uttered around Rice and Bellingham.
For all that, Jimmy would primarily just be perplexed why there is any need for such a discussion. And understand the counter argument you get the best out of Rice in midfield.
Like a lot of us he would be simply asking why a right back good enough for Real Madrid with a stellar career at Liverpool was not good enough for England as this World Cup in the first place and then not ahead of Chalaboah as a late call up.
Tuchel - whose straight talking was rightly acclaimed at half time in the Croatia game - has never given a straight answer to the Trent mystery.
It is to be hoped the issue is rendered irrelevant as England’s superior talent overwhelms Congo. That the problems of the back four are resolved perhaps with the return of a seasoned leader John Stones.
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That the gaps Ghana and Panama exposed on the break but failed to capitalise on, are plugged.
That we are not left to wonder why Maguire is not there too. Marc Guehi and Ezri Konsa have played like strangers and offer little with the ball.
That Stones alongside Guehi then is surely a better combination, and insurance for the right-back, especially if it is Spence.
That ahead of them the team has the wit and will to break down what is expected to be another test of unparking the bus.
Or more to the point Tuchel shows the X factor in team selection and tactics rather than some of the chest beating that he seems to be turning to.
After all, the rationale of appointing the German coach to lead England all the way this summer was to instigate more “Vorpsprung durch technik” than Gareth Southgate had at the wheel. Not resort, in the land of Uncle Sam, to the rah rah rhetoric of a Big Sam.
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Following on from Pico, Jack and the flag, our attention turns to all things Kinshasa, or more accurately, what do you do with a problem at No2. Cathal Dervan and Rob Shepherd discuss England’s Congolese challenge ahead of tonight’s last 32 tie.
Check our socials later (X here or insta here) to get the latest from the World Cup giraffes!
The key stories developing today
The FAI has released the wording for a motion confirming the transfer of the home Nations League game with Israel to Serbia but they still face opposition to the fixture going ahead at all at next week’s EGM.
The Irish Independent reports on the wording of the motion shared with members. It reads: “While acknowledging the strength of feeling regarding support for Palestine and the upcoming Uefa men’s Nations League fixtures, that the members recognise the profound impact that any non-fulfilment of Uefa fixtures would have on Irish football as a whole and on its future development, and accordingly endorses the Association fulfilling its obligations in respect of those fixtures.”
Opposition to the motion remains however. “PFA Ireland fully opposes the motion, we oppose the games taking place and hopefully others on the GA will follow suit when it comes to a vote,” union rep Stuart Gilhooly told the Irish Independent.
Declan Rice has made a very dangerous World Cup proclamation ahead of their last 32 clash with DR Congo and claimed that England possess the best penalty takers at the tournament.
The Irish Sun reports on England’s pre-match conference when Rice claimed this group of players are also the best penalty takers to play for England, the side with a history of shoot-out disasters!
The curtain has come down on Manuel Neuer’s international career following their World Cup exit against Paraguay but his inclusion in the squad never mind the team has caused uproar in Germany post tournament.
Former Chelsea defender Robert Huth has led the criticism of head coach Julian Nagelsmann with a blistering attack on Talksport over the decision to bring Neuer to the World Cup.
France are rapidly emerging as hot favourites to lift the World Cup after another attacking masterclass dismantled Sweden 3-0 in the round of 32 with the BBC asking if anyone can stop them.
The report states that the spirit and unity of this exceptionally talented Les Bleus team should also worry the remaining sides left in the tournament.
Shamrock Rovers are close to a deal to sign former Ireland Under 21 striker Jonathan Afolabi as they look to match their LOI title ambitions with the demands of their upcoming Champions League campaign.
The Irish Independent reports that Afolabi is a free agent after his contract with Belgian side Kortrijk ended last month.
