England do the job in 7 mad minutes to meet surprise package U.S.A. in the Final!
Gary Neville
Published at 8:52PM, July 9 2026
England is in the Final!
Jim Priestley and Jack Wilshere inflicted pain to a wasteful Dutch side in Lanus Community Arena. Holland had more chances and will certainly regret their inability to score. We have to thank veteran Wilshere for a fantastic man of the match performance in midfield as he gave his every bit of energy and collapsed on the pitch with the final whistle.
It is only one game, one final game separating England from that elusive World Cup now! And to get it - isn't that ironic? - we have to face the man who conquered the Premiership.
This is both good and bad news. Good news is a lot of the lads actually play under Hristov at Newcastle and know his style inside-out. If they have the ability to win for him, I've no reason to doubt they have the ability to beat him. England will certainly field a team of better individual quality in the final.
The bad news is the U.S.A. have flown through their fixtures with remarkable ease. Indeed they didn't have to face any of the favourites so far but don't let that fool you. There aren't many who will lose their captain to a red card in the 19th minute and still manage to beat Portugal as convincingly as the Americans did.
Hristov's team was quick to appeal the card but I think the elbow was clearly visible and Michael Diskerud will watch the last game of the tournament from the stands.
If anyone is expecting Hristov to make us a favour he would be sadly mistaken. It is up for us to do our job properly and break his game plan. How can we do it?
Andre Villas-Boas has the resources to achieve that. What should he be looking to do? Hristov employs an extremely attacking version of 4-2-4 and likes to separate the phases of play by dividing his team in two 5's which regroup with fascinating speed. His wingers tend to cut inside while the wing backs overlap looking to stretch the defensive line or find space for a cross. If the defense stretches to cover them the ball is quickly moved to the center via one-twos. A good bet to avoid this would be to track their wing backs and employ wingers to keep them busy. I'd also like to see Arsenal striker Shane Chandler man marked as he is their main attacking threat. We can't ignore the fact he managed to break Landon Donovan's long standing U.S.A. top-scorer record against Portugal so he knows how to put it in the back of the net.
Villas-Boas might also want to concentrate on counter attacks as Hristov will often send central defenders to attack set pieces like corners and even throw-ins which tends to leave the back line pretty vulnerable.
Team news:
England: Greg Bennet out (groin strain)
U.S.A.: Mikkel Diskerud suspended (red card)
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