Martin Samuel

Past 12 months have been so frustrating because everyone except the manager could see England had a generational talent. Let’s hope that nonsense is over now

Heads were all over the place in New Jersey before first-half stoppage gave one of football’s finest minds chance to restore order against Morocco

The nation that held the Netherlands to a draw used to ‘act like little children against the best’. That all changed under Philippe Troussier

Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham, Bukayo Saka… like it or not, someone has to be ‘The Man’ if England are to win the World Cup, however strong their team ethic is

France 3 Senegal 1: Striker inspires side after awful first half to go past Giroud as nation’s top scorer, with 58, and show why they are World Cup favourites

Complaint about oppression gave Fifa’s president chance to put years of toadying to good use. Instead he served up most lightweight, sugary response imaginable

Bayern striker shows his commitment and leadership even when heroics were redundant in stoppage time as England beat Croatia 4-2 in opener

I’ve ranked the opening games of the World Cup and although England’s win brought hope not seen since 1982, it’s only the second best of the tournament so far

Hoboken has zebra crossings everywhere and plenty of mandatory stop signs, which calm traffic at junctions, and everyone is polite

The 41-year-old deserves a better end than this but by continuing to pick him, Roberto Martínez is almost guaranteeing he is unlikely to get it