This is just a nice story for all of the British/English peeps out there. On Tuesday, Team England won their round-of-16 game against Colombia in the World Cup. People were screaming, laughing, crying, singing “Football’s Coming Home” and there were near-riots in pubs all around England. Within minutes of the victory, Team England’s royal patron and honorary president Prince William of Wales got on the official Kensington Palace Twitter account to send a message:
I couldn’t be prouder of @england – a victory in a penalty shootout! You have well and truly earned your place in the final eight of the #worldcup and you should know the whole country is right behind you for Saturday! Come on England! W
— Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) July 3, 2018
It’s really cute that William sent a personal message – it’s like he couldn’t wait to actually make a formal statement in a press release, he just had to storm into the Kensington Palace press office and dictate a tweet. “SAY SOMETHING ABOUT HOW KEEN I AM!”
As for Team England, they’re into the quarterfinals. They play Team Sweden on Saturday. Does Sweden have a chance? Does England? I have no idea. This is why I rarely write about football/soccer: I really don’t know much about it.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
As a Colombian, and I think I speak for all of us, he can respectfully go f**k himself.
I’m not Colombian but I agree with you. The referee was embarrassing and English players were acting like Neymar
The Colombian players were super aggressive! Almost half the team got yellow cards. One Colombian player should have got a red card for head butting. The English players kept their cool, for the most part, against a very aggressive team.
Well, given the history of english footbal playing, noone cares.
The referee Mark Geiger is the worst and quite incompetent. Didn’t do a good job (objectively–both teams were affected). He even sucks at his job in the most basic league–the MLS. Big smh.
They only starting acting out once they got annoyed by the appalling antics of the Colombian’s. This is a very, very young team and maybe they didn’t have enough experience to just ignore and carry on when the other team pushes their buttons but they have gone through that experience now and they will be better for it. They weren’t as bad as the Colombian team with their headbutting etc..
Really? I will pretty much support anyone over England (except France) because I think englishfootie fans are obnoxious – but the Colombians played soooooo dirty in that game…like embarrassingly so. They deserved every yellow card plus a red.
As an argentine, I’m there with you. England wasn’t better. However, some players really outdid themselves fouling Kane and that gave them a penalty. Were it not for that, Colombia would have won.
This WC has been disappointing for me. Not because Argentina did not go through to quarter finals, but because so many undeserving teams made it through. The Denmark-Croatia game was the WORST GAME to date. Both teams should have been eliminated.
Brazil is blazing through but Neymar needs to stop. He’s turning the team into a mockery while Coutinho and Paulinho are bearing the actual weight. They’re the stars, not Neymar.
Anyway, my money is on England-Brazil for the fina and Brazil as champions. Sweden will most likely crash out (unfortunately).
I would love to see Uruguay in the final but France is playing so good! But Brazil will win that one.
Argentina vs France was probably my favourite game. But I started to hate it midway through because I knew one team had to go and it was so unfair. Later on I had to watch terrible games, terrible teams! But let’s be honest, ALWAYS every single tounrmanent the undeserving or ‘one hit wonder’ teams make it far. Just like recently every single world champions doesn’t advance! It’s a curse that even Germany didn’t break. France played amazing game, I wonder if they can sustain the momentum? Brasil looks very strong and frankly I’m kind of rooting for them!
I’m neither English or Columbian and I felt that the Columbian players were playing dirty and the ref lost control of the match early on.
Colombian.
As a Brit who has been following football probably since long before you were born I respectfully say you weren’t watching the same match.
The Colombians in the first half should have been down to 10 men after the head butt, they were in the ref’s face for 4 minutes after the penalty award, and there should have been bookings for that. And while that was going on they were scuffing up the penalty spot before Kane took the kick, which is gameship ad cheating. Kane was wrestled down to the ground so blatantly. I agree with you about the ref – he should have been tougher.
Agreed! So I’m very happy that they lost. I’d say I’m sorry for their fans but given their history and what some of them are tweeting now I’m not sorry at all! (I’m more concerned about the footballers’ fate!)
As an English person, your players need to learn discipline and how to play football with respect. Outrageously aggressive throughout, should have been given at least one record, one of your tech staff purposefully elbowing one of our players at half time and your players scuffing the penalty area before Kane took his during the match? Disgusting.
” scuffing the penalty area before Kane took his during the match? Disgusting.”
Yes, they did – plenty of videos on youtube confirming this. Ironic that this was the end they held the shoot out!
Thanks you for the kind offer to teach us discipline and respect, but we got rid of our colonial overlords 210 years ago.
I love you Sedano for this golden comment alone.
“Thanks you for the kind offer to teach us discipline and respect, but we got rid of our colonial overlords 210 years ago.”
If Celebitchy did top clapbacks in the year end round up this needs to qualify.
@Sedano’s where did I offer to teach your players disciplinee etc? It’s not a race thing but thanks for bringing colonialism into it…You need discipline to play good football and Colombia didn’t have that.
It is actually starting to feel like the East India Tea Company around here.
I’m glad that mentally England was strong enough to survive. They got punished for being too defensive in the second half. They could have easily won the game within the regular time. But at least England broke the “curse”.
Yeees. Completely agree with you. England was so dirty and their papers didn’t say a word about it, but when was about south americans they have tons of words. I hope England get’s knocked out soon. i don’t to want to see their xenophobia anymore
I’m French and I’m hoping for a France-England final so good luck to the Three Lions. I hope France can knock out Uruguay – nothing against them but first, they are playing againt France and Suarez is a huge A**SHOLE.
I’m Croatian and hoping for a Croatia-Uruguay final ( And then hopefully Croatia wins).
Can you imagine a country under 5 million people winning? It feels like Brazil has more football players than we have people.
The penalties against Denmark took 10 years of my life, Subašić and Schmeichel were superb.
@ JACIt would have been a travesty if you had gone out to Denmark due to that penalty miss after the blatant denial of a goal scoring chance. So glad when Modric scored his in the shoot out. Justice was done.
@ KATE France were brilliant against Argentina – so fast on the break. I really enjoyed that match and your new man Mbappe was a joy to watch – definitely one for the future.
Croatia England for me. I am happy that the English team won, it was such a nerve wracking game.
France played an amazing game vs Argentina. I wonder if they can do it again. My favourite game (along Portugal vs Spain). I was rooting for Croatia but their last game was terrible. I felt so bad for Modric since you know, it’s the worst to miss the penalty. I hope Croatia gets its groove back, I like the majority of the teams. I want Sweden and Russia gone. Tomorrow will be an interesting day! I’m sad Celebitchy isn’t into football because I’d love to read all the comments about the games!
England winning in a shootout was so amazing! That game was thrilling from start to finish. Good Job Team England! The videos of people losing their minds in London made my day.
I like soccer but don’t follow it at all (so if someone puts a game on I’ll watch and cheer for whomever, but I have no idea about any players besides the really big names) but apparently everyone on my Facebook and IG accounts follows the world cup very intensely lol so my social media feeds were blowing up after this one.
I think the tweet from William is cute. Is that the first time they have done that? I think they should do it more; it shows personality and excitement and people can relate to that, especially during the world cup.
It was a standing joke around the world that England have never won a penalty shoot out, and at Euro 1996 Southgate himself actually missed in a penalty shoot out, so it was particularly sweet for him the other night.
England winning a penalty shoot out, Germany not going to the last eight at least like they always do, half of all world champion nations already eliminated, it looks like an usual world cup.
I’m loving all the upsets. Did you hear about Nigeria? I believe it was the team captain who received notice four hours before game time that his father had been kidnapped and would be killed unless ransoms was paid. He is safe but I don’t know the details.
Also Wimbledon is shaping up to be the same series of upset stories. I watched yesterday and most of the women’s top ten seeds have been knocked out.
I’m looking forward to immersing myself in soccer and tennis.
What? I didn’t hear about the Nigerian team and kidnap!! Oh Naija, we hail thee.
And I was wickedly delighted when Argentina was sent packing. I actually rejoiced, just out of spite lol.
I miss Germany! I used to hate them for always winning so now I’m at at loss. Especially since quite some time they play offensive football which is nice to watch. I’ll miss Argentina, Portugal (sorry, I;m a cr7 fan, can’t help it, the team was bad though). Spain won’t be missed, they weren’t hungry. I was so ready for the game: Germany vs Brazil. Wanted to see the revenge!
William’s tweet was cute. He sounded very happy and enthusiastic about the match, as he should.
As for the WC, my country is out (Argentina), so now I’m rooting for Uruguay to win. If it’s not Uruguay, then Croatia maybe.
As long as Brazil doesn’t win, I’ll be happy
Jess, I can promise you that if needs be, France will knock out Brazil (and their number one drama queen Neymar Jr). Sorry, we’ll have to knock out Uruguay first!!
England doing well this WC has been a nightmare for our schedule as our company provides service for UK. Still can’t help but root for them though, esp. Harry Kane who has been great throughout. Fingers crossed Brazil gets knocked out today. I’m sick of Neymar and his drama queen antics. I’m looking forward to a Belgium-England finals, though I’m still not counting Russia out. Home court really does wonders.
I truly expected to see bones sticking out of Neymar’s ankle the way he was rolling around out there. Dude needs a drama llama.
Argentina went off like a champ. All the comment were like “what an amazing game, poetry”. the best game I think of this world cup!
It was amazingly tense! England are no good at penalty shootouts and it looked like that was going to continue – but then they won! I’m a long time immigrant to England who has always loved football, so I’ve been supporting England (and my “native” team, but they didn’t get through – it’s been a disappointing world cup for the African countries unfortunately). It was a big party when that penalty shootout was settled!
Future wise: Sweden are a good team. The England team are pretty much a new-ish, younger team, but I want them to continue doing well. There was a lot of sniping at such an untested junior team, so I’m glad to see them do well. Also Gareth Southgate seems to be a steady (and polite) pair of hands as manager.
Yeah, the curse! When they were the first to miss I was like “no, curse, please no”. I got my wish, finally.
It was an incredible game. I had popped into one of my regular haunts for a quick bite to eat on the way to a movie (air conditioning, I was in search of air conditioning) and my friend the bartender, who is Colombian, told me I had to stay and watch the game, which was just starting, with him. I had to represent England. Other staff and people sitting at the bar represented about 8 different countries. I stayed through the whole game and we all had a great time, screaming, cheering, cringing, explaining the game to newcomers. And my meal was comped because England won. There’s nothing like World Cup.
Hi there LP nice to see you here. We are in search of air conditioning here in England too, 31degrees today. It has been hot since May which is unheard of. But all will change on 14th when I go away again!!
It’s strange that everywhere in Europe it’s been hot for almost several weeks straight! I’m glad for your goalkeeper! He “broke” the curse!
The English are the worst footbal players, unfair cheaters (to put it nicely), I was hoping they would go home. I hope Swedes win the next match.
They have a long way to go in the cheating stakes compared to many to S. America teams – and a particular Portuguese narcissist.
Ugh, if England will they will be insufferable. They still don’t shut up about winning in 1966. I don’t think their team is good enough to win, and they haven’t really been tested yet so it’s fun to watch them getting their hopes up knowing how badly they’ll be crushed, very soon.
Tends to be talk of the 60 years of pain variety though. 🙂
I will be surprised if England beat Sweden who maybe the underdogs but they are playing well. The current team are largely young and untested on the international stage but they are the first England squad in a loooong time that are actually playing like they are a team and a team who cares about playing for their country. Southgate was a good choice for manager.
I don’t think they will progress any further but it will be a great learning experience for this young team for the next world cup.
Yes! I’ve been impressed with Southgate. And I totally agree – this team actually *plays* like a team instead of the disjointed, incoherent jumble of limbs they’ve previously been.
I like Southgate a lot, too. He seems like a gentleman who is teaching the young men on his team to behave like gentlemen, too, and to play like a team. I normally am super anti England football because of how shady the players have been in the past and because of obnoxious England fans, but this tram seems…nicer.
Also that picture of Southgate comforting the Colombian player who missed the penalty gave me all the feels.
I got such a pang watching that too – particularly because Southgate himself knew exactly what it felt like to miss a crucial penalty and the likely despair that was going through Uribe’s mind. It was a lovely and very poignant moment. He’s a good egg, is Gareth.
http://beta.ems.ladbiblegroup.com/s3/content/808×455/9c636b635b3cf8cea7a12b7de738346c.png
Mexico is out, so I no longer care. Gotta admit, I’m enjoying all the online videos of English celebrations. It’s just nice to see folks overwhelmed with joy. But my Colombian friends are heartbroken, so I have to be careful about what I say in front of them.
Have you seen the video of that lone British guy celebrating in a bar full of Colombians. Man’s got guts. In some parts of the world, this could get you killed
Italy didn’t even make it to the WC so I was tuned out before it even started!
Please don’t call them Team England!
And as a French person living in the UK I am 100% rooting for Sweden.
To be fair this England team is more modest than the past ones but they have won against v average opponents so far and yet the whole country is already claiming the World Cup…
I am rooting for France-Croatia in the final.
With us winning, of course.
Saying that seeing Ronaldo’s apocalyptic orange little face when Portugal went out was beautiful.
Englamd is extremly mediocre, there best player is Kane and he’s noting without service he’s not someone who can create a goal like Messi. You French are lucky you got griezeman 😍, Pogba, Kante, and mbappe well that boy is the real deal. 🔥
I think she said that because That’s an American thing or an athletics thing. You don’t call national football teams that.
Sorry for all my spelling mistakes in the post above I wrote that really quickly and didn’t check.
Ah, OK. Thanks for explaining. 🙂
Why not call them Team England?
Team *whatever the country* is a fairly recent American invention. I think it started at the Olympics one year when they were talking about all the athletes as a whole, all sports included.
In the real world (😉) teams are always called whatever the country is.
Griezman has had a rather average tournament so far, not like 2 years ago when he was the star.
MBappé is really steeping up though. And Pogba is improving every game.
My fingers and toes are firmly crossed. After all, we did win it 20 years ago. And we beat Croatia and Brazil along the way…
Thanks for explaining. I’m not a native English speaker and sometimes, even after all these years, I just have to ask questions because I don’t understand the nuance!
Mbappe is definitely standing out. France have a definite chance – the stars are aligning in your favor!
Frankly, I’m kind of wondering what the future hols for Mbappe. He might be a one hit wonder, I worry about longevity. It’s so easy to have a great tournament and then something goes wrong. France has a great team though and great potential and the last game was amazing. I would be crying for both Argentina and France if they lost. So I cried for Argentina!
@liriel I don’t believe Mbappé will be a one hit wonder, because he also is an amazing player in club (he plays for Paris St Germain)
What worries me thought is the amount of praise he is getting now in France. The pressure for a 19 y o must be crushing.
But he seems to have his two feet firmlu on the ground really has his head on his shoulders. Also he is a really good guy. He said many times that he doesn’t believe you should be pay to play for your national team. He is givin all his bonuses to non profit 😀
Coz’ You see, he didn’t score or show anything special today. He wasted a great opportunity. It happens but honestly the pressure is sky-high and over the top. He did great PR wise with money. Let’s be honest it’s close to nothing for him, still a nice gesture though.
I think referee was awful but made mistakes against both teams. I think the main responsible for the loss was Pekerman, he played too defensive against a very limited english team. He made the same mistake against Germany while coaching Argentina in the 2006 World Cup.
Imo for a football fan, there’s nothing better like winning a penalty shoot out and there’s nothing worst than losing in a penalty shoot out. so close to win. As chilean i’ve been in both sides . That penalty shootout in the 2014 WC against Brazil still haunts mje. That was sooo painful. So anyway, Arriba Colombia! Better days will come.
And i agree with one of previous the comments. If England wins this their fans will be insufferable. But they won’t . I want/ hope that one of the southamericans teams, Brazil and Uruguay wins it.
Mark Geiger is an awful, awful referee. It’s sad that they had to pluck this guy who does a mediocre job even refereeing MLS games for the World Cup.
Everyone saying Colombia was too rough, what game where you watching? The got all those yellow cards because the referee was absolute sh!t and it is not the first time it happens with that guy. That penalty was a joke considering Kane made a foul against the colombian player first. In the end it was sheer luck and a sh!tty referee that gor England through. It happened las WC with Brazil and they moved on to be anihilated by germany with 7 goals. We’ll just have to wait and see what awaits England 🤷🏻♀️
Also, behaving like Neymar leaves much to be desired by rhe so called superior team.
Everyone saying Colombia was too rough, what game where you watching? The got all those yellow cards because the referee was absolute sh!t and it is not the first time it happens with that guy. That penalty was a joke considering Kane made a foul against the colombian player first. In the end it was sheer luck and a sh!tty referee that got England through. It happened las WC with Brazil and they moved on to be anihilated by germany with 7 goals. We’ll just have to wait and see what awaits England 🤷🏻♀️
Also, behaving like Neymar leaves much to be desired the so called superior team.
The game where Colombia were head butting, pushing, shoving, kicking and then screaming in the referee’s face when pulled up on it. They were lucky a red wasn’t given for the headbutt as per the rules.
The referee who was shoved on several occasions by Colombian players?
I agree, the referee was giving the COLOMBIANS yellow cards back and forth, clearly on favor of the British. A LOT of yellow cards without justification
@Lightpurple. I agree they should not have been aggressive with the referee but if you were watching, things only got to that terrible point after it was clear he was gonna card them for breathing. The elimination was at stake and football is almost the only good thing happening in the county at the moment. For those guys it was everthing and I’m sure you can imagine the level of desperation they must have felt seeing such blantant favoritism. Then the English started diving and faking fouls and it all went to hell. And still they persevered and scored a goal to force the extra time. For an adversary the english look down so much and felt they were a sure thing, colombians sure put a fight.
The Uruguayan team with the serial biter playing for them?
Sorry that was aimed further up
As opposed to you rooting for the English team with a racist playing for them?
@Tia which player was that? Google is not being helpful in finding out.
Luis Suares! He’s the ‘biting’ footballer
They won’t win but they deserve to have some happiness. Worse teams had greater success in the past. Columbia played very dirty and the fans learnt nothing from the tragedy so I’m very happy about the results. I just hope that no footballer is going to be murdered, the twitter made me so sad.
I’m one of those football fans who are “watching” with eyes closed and sometimes tv off. The emotions are high. It’s pure luck (ok, 80%) and so many great players missed it. Do you guys remember Platini, one of the greatest ever and his missed one? Rough.
England weren’t better than Colombia and the English media was so racist about Colombia before the game that I rooted for Colombia during the game. And after seeing the English players goading the Colombians after they won the shoot out I am rooting for Sweden in the next game.
don;t count the Sun as representative of the English media – we hate that rag too.
Well you also have a guy who tweeted racist stuff playing for you. So it’s a pass for me.
http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/cardona-five-match-ban-south-korea-gesture/gr4et1yqjfvt1x9d1hizie6hu
Don’t get me wrong, I deplore racism of any kind
I didn’t know that thanks for posting but a lot of English people are calling out Brazil because of Neymar and Urugay because of Suarez for bad ethics when they are sitting in a glasshouse. I consider racism far more dangerous than neymars dramaqueen antics or Suarez petulant moments of madness. Not to mention the English player we are talking about was also charged and convicted for assault.
@spidee Cardona was not called to the national team for the WC precisely for that horrible offense. So yeah, Colombians don’t tolerate racism either. They are usually on the receiving end of it, they don’t condone it.
Seriously I lost ANY sympathy for Columbia because they THREATENED the players after a loss on twitter. If you know that is was close to anniversary of the death of the footballer killed by a fan.. So did they learn anything? Sorry, but that’s the worst offence. Worse than racism.
double post sorry.
In a grim Brexit-ridden, falling-apart UK, it’s just nice to have something positive to focus on. The change in atmosphere is tangible, it’s full of hope and expectation, and it’s providing a much needed and very welcome respite from all the things that seem designed to push people apart and make them look inwards and backwards.
I live in London but I’m not British so the teams I’d normally support either didn’t qualify (all my Celts!) or have now been eliminated (Mexico, Senegal, so sad to see you go!) so I’m 100% behind England doing well and continuing to do well and staying in as long as they can for the accompanying ‘on the street’ feelgood factor.
It’ll likely end soon so let’s just appreciate and enjoy it while it lasts.
I think it might not end soon. The next rival is within their reach.
@Kaiser, reading all of these comments, you don’t need to know about a sport to get all the enthusiasts posting here! Just a simple post about a simple tweet by simple Wills got the ball rolling. I love it!
I keep trying to catch games. Yesterday was Wimbledon because of the love of tennis here. I was laying on my bed in my gym clothes because I couldn’t leave the TV to go exercise. Then I felt fat because I never birthed a baby and went on to play tennis or anything and finally did 40 minutes on the treadmill after Serena won. That Wozniacki game was crazy. I thought for sure she would win after she came back from 40-0 and then tied it at 5-5.
It’s now my mission to go to a World Cup AND to go to Wimbledon (and maybe the French & Aussie too). My poor husband says we’re going to need to live in a van by the river with how many sports games are on my bucket list.
Well, imagine how hard it was for me to go to the gym when the games were at 4 pm and 8 pm. (not to mention the group stage at midday, 3 times a day). Like tomorrow. I simply can’t make it to the gym because I can’t miss the quartefinals!
English football fans will rightly be delighted for their team. Unfortunately, I am Scottish so will be in the “anyone but England” camp. On Saturday I will be an honorary Swede. Lol
I Liked all the tweets about “swederland”
Did you See Them?
It’s because many people outside of Europe don’t know the difference between Switzerland and sweden.
My Team ist Out (they were really bad- Germany) but i’m in vacation in france right now. Now i will root for them
Frankly I feel bad for your team because yeah, they were bad but not bad enough for me to not root for them. I felt like Germany is always strong and worse team made it. Even to 1/4. Germany could have played great in the 1/8. There are always teams in the 1/8, even 1/4 that had one great game or great luck or great deffensive and made it. Hate it.
Oh yes, I believe it was very genuine on William’s part. Frankly, I totally understand him.
After such an exciting game he wanted to express his delight right away and not wait till the next day when the emotions are no longer the same.
Loser should remember he’s the future king of a number of countries, not just England. Did he tweet his support of them?
If you’re talking about Scotland, Wales and Northen Ireland they weren’t good enough to qualify for the World Cup.
Also, he’s the President of the Football Association (The FA) which is the governing body for football in England. He’s not the President of any other country’s football governing body.
He is the President of the England Football Association.