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England Tried To Cheekily Level The Scores Up Immediately Last Night

England Tried To Cheekily Level The Scores Up Immediately Last Night

Nice try, but it was never going to happe

Tom Wood

Tom Wood

How are you feeling after last night? Most of the country has probably been feeling a little delicate and hugely deflated after England's heart-breaking extra time defeat by Croatia, which saw them knocked out of the World Cup at the semi-finals stage.

Well, at least you could have got a free McMuffin this morning if you wanted. That's not much consolation though.

While it is no doubt hurting now, Gareth Southgate's team made a country believe for longer than anyone else in nearly 30 years, and they even tried to cheekily get themselves back into it.

You won't have noticed because you'd have been busy crying into your pint, or falling to your haunches feeling like you'd been punch in the guts, but England's players actually tried to hit back immediately after the Croatia winner. Even before the Eastern European side had finished celebrating.

Yes, while the Croatian pile-on was still well in effect, the England team noticed that all of their players were off the pitch, kicked off again, and tried to put the ball in the goal.

The TV cameras didn't pick it up, but Croatia fan Vlasta Jeseničnik sure did.


Unfortunately, the referee, Cüneyt Çakır, pulled them back and told them to wait. Spoilsport.

This isn't the first time that this kind of cheeky restart has been attempted during Russia 2018.

Panama even had a crack at it against England, but were called back by the referee. Maybe that's where the Three Lions got the idea from.

Or perhaps it was when Portugal left one player standing on the pitch while the rest of the team celebrated, so as not to fall foul of a rule in FIFA's Laws of the Game that states that for kick-off to be taken, every outfield player except the one taking the kick-off must be in their own half of the field of play.

PA

This rule has been (mis)interpreted by some teams (including, alas, the Three Lions) to mean that if all of the opposing team are off the field - for example, piling on in celebration having scored a goal that will take them to a first ever World Cup final - their opposition can kick off and score immediately.

The reason that the rule is misinterpreted is that the game still needs the referee's say-so to kick off again, and no self-respecting referee is likely to allow a game under their control to descend into the kind of farce that would surely ensue if he allowed the opposing team to kick off and score into an empty net, or with 10 men against just one goalkeeper.

Imagine the chaos.

PA

Sure, it would have been funny, and perhaps England would be in the World Cup still, but you have to see it from the referee's perspective.

Or maybe you don't. That's football.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: SPORT, Russia 2018, Football, FIFA, Croatia, Funny, England, World Cup