world cup 2018

SOCHI, Russia — For a hint that things might really, really be different with England in 2018, check out its 21st-century history in dealing with the minnows, guppies and small carp of Concacaf, all the way up to that 6-1 blistering of Panama on Sunday way up in Nizhny Novgorod, a result that somehow managed to make the U.S failure at World Cup qualification even more macabre.

In 2006, England bested wee Trinidad and Tobago 2-0 in group play in Nuremburg, Germany, and it cheated to do that. Back then Trinidad and Tobago, long before it made the United States its … its … its … victim, stood as the smallest-ever World Cup contestant at the time, having wriggled through Bahrain in a two-leg qualifying scrap that followed the final round of regional qualifying out of North and Central America and the Caribbean. Yet England did not score for the first 82 minutes, and had you watched this in, say, a pub in Soho in London, you would have detected a mixture of tedium, long-rehearsed frustration, mild resignation and drinking.

In the 83rd minute of this occasion of both inspiration (a little country stays level) and dreariness (a “golden generation” of a major soccer country stays level with a little country), the 6-foot-7 English striker Peter Crouch needed a little extra propulsion to rise above the 6-1 Trinidadian defender Brent Sancho. Thus did Crouch yank himself upward by Sancho’s dreadlocks. Besides calling into question whether dreadlocks constitute an unwise gadget to carry around the sport, the moment managed to achieve preposterousness in multiple ways.

By now, the 1.3 million citizens of Trinidad and Tobago, roughly the same population as San Antonio, also can chatter about how last fall, they made the United States their … their … their victim, ousting from Concacaf qualifying the populous behemoth (if not soccer behemoth). From 2006 to 2017, they apparently often spoke of Crouch and dreadlocks.

“It is folklore here in Trinidad,” Sancho told BBC Radio Kent in 2015. “It is one of those things that anywhere I go, people will always remind me.”

A lukewarm England reached the quarterfinals that time, but never appeared worthy.

In 2010, Concacaf-wise, England opened the World Cup in Rustenberg, South Africa, by drawing 1-1 with the United States, a match of which the memory bank blares with one thing: English goalkeeper Robert Green’s blunder in the 40th minute.

Steven Gerrard had scored on four minutes for England, perhaps wreaking English optimism among young viewers who refused to listen to their parents about reality. On 40 minutes, that Texan Clint Dempsey whipped his left leg to propel one from atop the box toward Green, to whom it skittered directly and without any signs of mischief.

It then caromed off his glove and slowly trickled into the net as he slipped slightly and then lunged back for it in the kind of way that turns up in many an REM nightmare of human beings. Manager Fabio Capello, such a careful orchestrator of preparations, took on the kind of expression that shows there are so many things in life for which nobody can prepare.

England did emerge from the largely toothless group after drawing with Algeria and taking the measure of Slovenia, then went out convincingly to Germany immediately thereafter.

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In 2014, England lost to Italy and Uruguay before drawing 0-0 with Concacaf’s Costa Rica in an episode of a deadness that felt deader than dead. Here’s Daniel Taylor in the Guardian (with occasional dialectic spelling changes): “Imagine, for one moment, England’s bland ignominy and just reflect on the moments at the final whistle. Costa Rica — little, patronized Costa Rica — have won Group D and their manager, Jorge Luis Pinto, could be seen punching the air and bellowing to the skies. As one team traipsed away apologetically, the other reflected on the prize of a knockout tie in Recife on Sunday. They have done it from a country of 4.8 million people. Or the equivalent of 10 Bradfords.

“It’s a conundrum,” as England Manager Roy Hodgson said.

That mirthless failure to show even a hint of an EKG of reaching the knockout stage seemed to quash whatever expectations still lurked within England. The famous loss to Iceland at Euro 2016 lent further quashing. Yet maybe it’s true that, as in, oh, the NHL, destroyed expectations might help out somehow. In the days before this World Cup, England Manager Gareth Southgate welcomed the quashed expectations without a trace of bitterness, even as scribes and others spoke of a 2018 team less inchoate and more unified even if not as anticipated.

The England that decimated Panama did business in the manner one would expect of the nation with the world’s most-watched league. If things really are different in 2018, maybe you can measure it partly by using little old CONCACAF.Harry Kane struck a hat-trick as England marched into the round of 16 of the World Cup after with a record 6-1 win over a woeful Panama in their World Cup Group G match.

Sunday's result, a record win for England in a World Cup match, means England qualify for the knockout stage with a game to spare, along with Belgium who also have six points. Tournament debutants Panama are eliminated along with Tunisia.

England were 5-0 up at halftime after taking full advantage of a poor Panamanian defence. A header from a corner by John Stones, a penalty from Kane and a beautiful strike from the edge of the box by Jesse Lingard set them on their way.

A Stones header from a well-worked free-kick routine and a second Kane penalty gave them a 5-0 lead going into the break. Russia and Uruguay face off with first place in Group A on the line on Monday at 10 a.m. ET at the 2018 World Cup. According to the World Cup odds, this match is about as even as you'll see. Uruguay is posted at +165 on the money line, meaning you would need to wager $100 on a Uruguay victory to win $165. Russia is +190, while a draw is +200. The Over-Under on total goals scored is 2. Both teams are 2-0-0 in pool play and have clinched berths in the Knockout Stage, but critical bracket placement will be determined based on the result of this fixture. 

Before you enter your 2018 World Cup picks, you have to see what European football expert David Sumpter has to say. Sumpter is an applied mathematician who wrote "Soccermatics," a book that explains how math works inside the sport. Together with other experienced analysts, Sumpter developed the powerful Soccerbot model. 

The Soccerbot reads current odds and all team performance data, calculates key metrics and predicts upcoming matches. In nearly three seasons since its inception, the Soccerbot is up an incredible 1,800 percent on bookmakers' closing odds. 

The Soccerbot already called Brazil-Switzerland playing to a draw (+360), Argentina-Iceland ending in a draw (+385) and Iran upsetting Morocco (+275), just to name a few of its big wins. Anyone who has followed it is way up.

Now, Soccerbot has digested the film, crunched the numbers and broken down every single player for Russia and Uruguay. It has released a very strong money-line pick, which it's sharing over at SportsLine. 

The model knows Russia wasn't supposed to be in this position. It wasn't supposed to win a single game, let alone two. But the world's 70th-ranked team, which only qualified because it's the host team, shocked the world with a 5-0 rout of Saudi Arabia to open the 2018 World Cup and notched a 3-1 win over Egypt on Tuesday. 

The Russians, who hadn't won an international match in more than seven months, have the World Cup's top goal differential. 

Uruguay, the only team in this group ranked better than 45th in the world (14th), was the heavy favorite in Group A. But, it only managed to escape with 1-0 victories against Saudi Arabia and Egypt. 

Luis Suarez, one of football's top forwards, scored his 52nd goal in his 100th match for his home nation against Saudi Arabia. The squad is looking for a repeat of 2010, when it advanced to the semifinals. 

Coach Oscar Tabarez -- who at 71 is the oldest coach at Russia 2018 -- noted how important it was to get out of the first two games without yellow cards or injuries. "We'll see who we get now [in the quarterfinals]," he said.