Interesting scenario for England now.
Whoever they play in the 2nd round, I think I'm right in saying that that team will be ranked below them and as such they will be expected to win. As such, there's still a banana skin ahead of them and the chance that the English media will end up putting the boot in, though not as much as after their last exit from a major tournament.
Personally, I've not welcomed the 'England can win the world cup' response which has begun to surface, albeit only here and there (thankfully). They are still, objectively, not among the favourites. To say that they can win is fine. That was always the case. But I'd hold fire on over-egging their chances just yet.
That said, they probably do have one of the best opportunities for decades of progressing. A win over a 'lesser' opponent would get them to the quarter finals (and probably immunity from blanket criticism if they at least play well but lose, if it's against a higher-ranked opponent). Not only that, but there are signs that the pre-tournament front runners (almost all of them) are not as daunting or playing as well (at least so far, which is not necessarily a guarantee of much, necessarily) as expected. Germany lost one game and scraped a narrow win in the other. Argentina are struggling. Brazil (who have already drawn with Switzerland and narrowly won, very late, against Costa Rica) are not masterly (yet). And Italy and The Netherlands are not even at the tournament. Even Spain don't seem to be at their very best.
If I had to bet now, I'd still go for Germany or Brazil. Other than that, Belgium are another team who have an unprecedented opportunity. In fact, several teams do, including England (Colombia looked good, Russia playing well, apart from today, where Uruguay are looking good against them, Portugal look good too, with Ronaldo, Spain still contenders) but I see no reason other than national optimism to single England out.
Finally, I think it was a great result for England against Panama, and they played well, but Panama were awful. Plus, I think England missed a trick in not scoring another goal, and in fact I was frustrated they didn't push for one (if only to give Sterling some confidence or Vardy a boost). I understand the thing about not necessarily wanting to win the group, but the 2nd round opponents are not known yet! So now it's left that if they draw with Belgium, group winner might be decided by drawing lots (depending on who gets more yellow cards)! Regardless of the uncertainties, they could and should imo have taken the reins of being more in control. If they had not wanted to win the group, they should have stopped at 4 goals. If they had wanted to, they should not have farted about so much in the (very boring) second half against Panama. Granted, the late Panama goal changed the dynamics, but why rely on not conceding? Even the hot temperatures does not explain it, for me. Someone said to me, 'well, you know how it is when you're 6-0 up, it's hard to stay on top of your motivation''. In a practice game or a league may, but in the 3-game round robin stage of the world's top tournament, where fine margins count?
