World Cup - FIFA Warns England And Belgium Not To ‘Play To Lose’ Tonight

The World Cup will see its final four matches of the group stages tonight. Whereas in the group H, three teams (Colombia, Senegal, and Japan) can still qualify, in group G all decisions have already been made, except for who finishes first. England and Belgium both have six points whilst Panama and Tunisia have zero.

Belgium-England is going to be excellent fun, as both teams desperately try to lose to avoid a quarter-final vs Brazil.

— Wings Over Scotland (@WingsScotland) June 27, 2018

In order to decide who wins the group, England plays Belgium tonight, with both teams being promoted to shadow favorite for the final win due to Germany being knocked out and none of the other remaining major favorites (Spain, Argentina, France, and Brazil) having seduced football connoisseurs so far.

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However, due to the makeup of the remaining schedule, it would be far better for both teams to lose as that would mean ending up in an easier schedule towards a possible final in Moscow and would mean less travel for the remaining play days.

England v Belgium could be the first game in history that both sides try to lose. pic.twitter.com/V8NHuU5W7t

— Mr Fixit's Tips (@mrfixitstips) June 27, 2018

Both managers, Roberto Martinez for Belgium and Gareth Southgate for England, have already announced that as their teams are already qualified, they would be changing the entire squad, thus fielding a B-team. Mr. Martinez even went further, admitting during the press conference yesterday that ‘winning is not a priority,’ as far as he is concerned.

I think that both England and Belgium secretly want to lose tonight, by finishing second the chances of reaching the final are huge, how do you lose without making it look obvious though

— MR DT © (@MrDtAFC) June 28, 2018

In fact, the only reason that England is ahead of Belgium in this part of the group stage (both teams have six points and a similar goal difference) is that Belgium has taken three yellow cards for fouls made during the tournament whereas England only has two. In other words, the message for Belgium is quite clear, either lose or play a 0-0 draw without any yellow or red cards and you’re through to the easier path to the final.

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FIFA has seen the chatter on the sidelines and given the size of the UK’s sporting press, who all, in between lines, advised their team to do the same, sent out a strong warning to both squads yesterday, stating that any footballer who ‘played to lose’ tonight would be severely sanctioned.