Put Your Tracksuit Back on Walcott

Phew! Theo Walcott was five minutes away from starting for England in their next match. If Sweden hadn’t scored in the 85th minute to beat Paraguay 1-0, the result of Tuesday’s England v Sweden match would have been meaningless for England, and Walcott would have been certain to play.

Now both England and Sweden can tie on Tuesday. If so, both teams will go through and England will be top of the group.

But, think about this scenario:

Before England play their match against Sweden on Tuesday, they’ll know the result of the Germany against Ecuador game from earlier that day. Therefore, both England and Sweden will know what it’ll take to play either the host country or Ecuador in the next round.

So if Ecuador end up in first place in Group A, will England lose on purpose to ensure that they won’t have to play Germany in the next round, and play Ecuador instead? What do you think??