Probably late to this, but have just realised - there's a fair chance we *really* don't

...want to win our group, isn't there?

Must be a decent chance that Brazil will still win their group - whereas Germany may well now come 2nd.

If that happens - and still a big if, obviously - but if it does, then whoever finishes runner-up in our group suddenly gets handed a draw to the semis that you really couldn't better. (Looks like it would probably be Japan or Senegal, and then one of Serbia, Switzerland, Mexico or Sweden in the QFs.)

Loads of ifs, obviously. And still perfectly losable for us. But as much as you could ask for. Losing to Belgium (or only sneaking past Panama) might turn out to be fairly sensible.

Posted By: Tricky Hawes, Jun 20, 09:04:24