3rd/4th Play-off

 

ENGLAND played FRANCE and neither of these two teams had played well in their semi-final games. England had a really bad game against Argentina after going a goal up, lost the game 2-1. France lost 2-0 against Spain in a game that they really did not want to play in.

England started off well in the first-half making most of the moves. It was not long before they went a goal up in the 3rd minute with a lovely individual goal and his first of the tournament, Declan Rice captain of the day. Saka nearly made it two after 12 minutes, but was rules off-side. France responded with a few quick attacks but they had poor finishing. England scored again from Ezri Konsa with a header coming off the post in the 18th minute. Why could England not do this against Argentina? France nearly came back in to the game with a Mbappe, but was off side in the 28th minute. England still had control of this game and another goal was added from Bukayo Saka in the 37th minute. The French heads started to look low as England kept up the pressure. Just before half-time, Saka scored again in the 45+1 to give England the 4-0 lead. It was an incredible first half for England.

In the second half you just knew that things were going to change as the French changed four subs at the start of the second half. What a difference that made to the game. Kylian Mbappe scored in the 48th minute with his 9th goal of the tournament. England started to struggle with the French attacks, as Bradley Barcola scored in the 54th minute his 3rd of the tournament. Mbappe score’s again in the 66th minute. 4-3 England now all over the place as their attacks end with bad finishing. France could have been in the lead at this point with great saves from the England keeper, Dean Henderson kept the score down. Jude Bellingham came off the subs bench in the 79th minute and that made an immediate impact on England’s momentum. England get a penalty in the 87th minute as Spence is brought down in the box. Saka takes the penalty and scored his hat-trick. 5-3 now. France never gave up and scored another goal in the 90+6 by Ousmane Dembélé his 6th of the tournament. 5-4 and the ending of the game is not over yet as Jude Bellingham scored a fantastic individual goal, England’s 6th goal and his 7th of the tournament. The game ends 6-4 to England who have finished in third place in this World Cup.

This was England’s best performance since they won the World Cup in 1966. Both teams finished on a total of 20 goals each. This game could have been the final of the World Cup it was fantastic to watch these two teams in action. Mbappe of France is now in the lead for the “Golden Boot” with 10 goals.

Sheet Seven

Well here we are with our next news sheet. The last one will be here after the final has been played. Here are our top 15 players in our winning frame.

     SEMI  QUARTER                                                    GOALS    

          FINALS   FINALS    NAME                                      TOTAL   

                1               3           D. HARRINGTON (A/E/F/SP)    62 

                2               1           RICH WILLIAMS (A/F/SP)        62 

                3               4           A. STUBBS (A/F/SP)                   61 

                4               2           B. BURROUGHS (A/E/F)           60 

                5               6           I. SMITH (A/F/SP)                      59 

                6              5            R. WOOD (A/E/F)                       59 

                7              -            M. GREGORY (A/F/SP)              58 

                8              9           P. REEVE (A/F/SP)                      58 

                9              8           M. LIDDLE (A/E)                        57

              10            12           B. SOPER (A/E/SP)                     57 

              11            14           B. MORAN (A/E/SP)                   56 

              12            11           K. RATTLE (A/F/SP)                   56 

              13            10           S. THOMSON (A/F)                    56 

              14            15           A. NEWMAN (E/F/SP)               54

              15            13           D. BARRETT (A)                        53 

Here is how the table stands after all of our teams that were left after the Semi-Finals. Their scores have been added to your totals. You will see that I have printed a red BOLD letter’s against your name. This letter indicates the teams that you have left in the World Cup 2026. Please note to re-cap on our rules that extra time goals DO count, but penalty shoot-outs DON’T!

The letters are for (A) Argentina (B) (E) England (F) France  (Sp) Spain

As you can see from the table above, that we have joint leaders with Danny Harrington and Richie Williams both on a total of 62 goals. Danny has Argentina, England, France and Spain while, Richie has Argentina, Belgium, France and Spain.

We had just three players who picked up the highest score after the semi-final games, with a total of 5 goals each. They were Danny Harrington, who still has all of his teams in action, and could be our Champion. Bailey Moran and Bob Soper.

So who are the best teams that we have in the 2026 World Cup after the semi-final games. 

ARGENTINA (19) FRANCE (16) BELGIUM (14) ENGLAND (14) total of 63 goals

All but one of our teams have scored in the semi-final games, and they have collected a total of 5 goals. The team that did not score was FRANCE.

GERMANY still holds the current record for the highest score, with that 7-1 win over Curacao in Group E in their opening game.

SCOTLAND from Group C are our worst team, as they have only picked up one goal in all of their first round games.

The fastest goal has been scored by Matías Galarza for Paraguay in Group C after they won 1-0 against Turkey in their second game in the first round. It took just 64 seconds (1 minute and 4 seconds)

Top goal scorers in the World Cup 2026 “Golden Boot” are at the moment Argentina’s Lionel Messi, and France’s Kylian Mbappe both with 8 goals. In Second place we have Norway’s Erling Haaland on 7 goals, In third place we have England’s Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane both with 6 goals each. In fourth place with 5 goals each we have France O. Dembélé and Spain’s Mikel Oyarabal. 

In the last Golden Goals World Cup 2022 we reached a total of 124 goals after the semi-finals, In this World Cup, our teams have scored a total of 5 goals after the semi-final games and a fantastic total of 238 goals over the tournament to date.  

So we can now confirm that in the 3rd and 4th play-offs to be played this Saturday

between ENGLAND v FRANCE and in the Final on Sunday, it’s ARGENTINA v SPAIN.

World Cup Semi-final

 

This was billed as the match of the tournament between rivals ENGLAND and ARGENTINA, but the first half was such a mess. All that really happened was a lot of shirt pulling, pushing and shoving and not much football being played. But saying that England did have a few tries at playing their set pieces. After the hydration/commercial break nothing changed. England had one shot at goal but not on target. Argentina had two shots at goal and none on target. So not much of a game, as the first half ends, 0-0.

In the second half both teams had a change of heart and started to actually play some decent football. England did most of the attacking but they had to wait till the 55th minute when, after another set piece, Anthony Gordon score a fantastic goal, his first of the tournament. Argentina tried to respond but were playing some good football. Argentina then made a series of substitution’s, and the play went in their favour. After England went into defence for over half an hour, holding on to that one-goal lead, With 85 minutes played, Argentina’s Enzo Fernadez, scored from a lovely strike outside the England box. England’s Pickford made some really good saves to keep Argentina out. After it looked like England could be in the final, the pressure was too much for England and Argentina nearly scored again as Mac Allister’s low shot hits the post, shortly after they scored their second goal in the 90+2 from Argentina’s Lautaro Martinez headed in from a well placed, ball from Messi. With the rest of the injury time, England pushed back but we unable to equalize as each player was drained of energy. The whistle goes and Argentina win 2-1 and into the final against Spain on Sunday. Argentina are on a total of 19 goals and have now scored in all of their 7 games played. England will play France in the 3rd/4th play-off on Saturday. England are on a total of 14 goals.

World Cup Semi-Final

 

The first game of the semi-finals was between FRANCE and SPAIN, and I thought that we were going to see a fantastic game between these two top teams.

The match started off with a lot of pushing and shoving and even the odd stamp on the opponent foot. Spain started off well and managed to get a free kick just outside the French Box, but it all came to nothing. Then we had a spell of both teams just pushing the ball around with the odd attack which broke down. Spain then got a penalty in the 22nd minute and although the French goalkeeper dived the right way, Mikel Oyarzabal scored his 5th goal of the tournament. Soon after the dreaded hydration/commercial break. Not a great start from both teams. Both side struggled to get any shots on target although Spain nearly got a second goal in the 35th minute. Spain started to look like the strongest side before half time. A very Disappointing display by the French. Spain nearer to the finals 1-0.

In the second half Spain started off well once again and really had the French on the ropes. It did not take them long to score again from a lovely build up, from a very bad defence. The goal came from Pedro Porro in the 58th minute, his second of the tournament. France could not respond to the goal. Spain scored again but was ruled off side in the 61st minute. The French had the odd attack but most shots at goal went well over the bar. Mabbe had a good chance to pull one back in the 67th minute but went wide. That was the nearest to a goal that France got to. Spain started to take the shine off France with some lovely play. Mabbe again had a free kick just outside the Spanish box, but that also went over the bar in the 88th minute. The game ends 2-0 to Spain and they are in the final after a well deserved win. Spain are on a total of 13 goals. France have picked up their first blank of the tournament and are on a total of 16 goals. This is the worst game that I have seen France play in.

Update on Season 44

We have not had a bad start for our first day for the New Entry Forms for the Golden Goals Season 44. We had a total of 49 entries back to date. Last season we had 54 and the previous season 51 entries back on the first day. So we could be looking at the same numbers as last season, but we still have a long way to go before we close the books on midnight 27 July.  

So how is how the team selection are looking so far 

We have just 29 English teams with once again, Manchester City picking up the most votes with 20. In second place we have West Ham United with 17 votes. Third place we have Arsenal with 11 votes, while in fourth place we have Liverpool with 10 votes. We have 8 teams at the moment from our Scottish leagues with Celtic leading the votes again this season with a total of just 17. Rangers are currently in second place with just 3 votes.  

Although we have a long way to go yet, we still need more players to beat our biggest season’s total of 149 players although we still have a lot of our regulars waiting for their teams. Please note that it will be very hard to have Manchester City and West Ham with another team now.

Well if you would like to know more or to receive your free entry form to join in, then you can email me, Steve at goldengoals1983@gmail.com

Sheet Six

After a bit of hic-up on my part here is the latest positions for the top wiinning frame. The winner will win £46.

QUARTER   LAST                                                        GOALS    

          FINALS        16         NAME                                       TOTAL   

               1                 2         RICH WILLIAMS (A/F/SP)          58 

               2                 1         B. BURROUGHS (A/E/F)             57 

               3                 6         D. HARRINGTON (A/E/F/SP)     57 

               4                 3         A. STUBBS (A/F/SP)                    57 

               5                 -         R. WOOD (A/E/F)                         56 

               6                 8        I. SMITH (A/F/SP)                         55 

               7               10        M. GREGORY (A/F/SP)                54 

               8                 7        M. LIDDLE (A/E)                          54 

               9               11        P. REEVE (A/F/SP)                        54 

             10                 4        S. THOMSON (A/F)                       54 

             11               16        K. RATTLE (A/F/SP)                     52 

             12               17        B. SOPER (A/E/SP)                       52 

             13                9         D. BARRETT (A)                           51

             14              20         B. MORAN (A/E/SP)                     51 

             15                -         A. NEWMAN (E/F/SP)                   51 

As you can see from the table above, that we have Richie Williams out in front with 58 goals. Richie has Argentina, Belgium, France and Spain.

We had just one player who picked up the highest score after the quarter-final games, with a total of 9 goals. They were Danny Harrington, who still has all of his teams in action.

Here is how the table stands after all of our teams that were left after the Quarter-Finals. Their scores have been added to your totals. You will see that I have printed a red BOLD letters, against your name. This letter indicates the teams that you have left in the World Cup 2026. Please note to re-cap on our rules, that extra time goals DO count, but penalty shoot-outs DON’T!

               The letters are for (A) Argentina (B) (E) England (F) France  (Sp) Spain

So who are the best teams that we have in the 2026 World Cup after the quarter-final games. 

ARGENTINA (17) FRANCE (16) BELGIUM (14) ENGLAND (13) total of 60 goals

All but one of our teams have scored in the quarter-final games, and they have collected a total of 12 goals. The team that did not score were MOROCCO.

GERMANY still holds the current record for the highest score, with that 7-1 win over Curacao in Group E in their opening game.

SCOTLAND from Group C are our worst team, as they have only picked up one goal in all of their first round games.

We have all of our 4 teams that have made it through to the Semi-Finals. The teams that have gone home are BELGIUM, NORWAY, MOROCCO and SWITZERLAND. 

The fastest goal has been scored by Matías Galarza for Paraguay in Group C after they won 1-0 against Turkey in their second game in the first round. It took just 64 seconds (1 minute and 4 seconds)

Top goal scorers in the World Cup 2026 “Golden Boot” are at the moment France’s Kylian Mbappe and Argentina’s Lionel Messi, both with 8 goals. In Second place we have Norway’s Erling Haaland on 7 goals, In third place we have England’s Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane both with 6 goals each. In fourth place with 5 goals we have France’s O. Dembélé. 

                                               The Semi-Final games are as follows

FRANCE v SPAIN 

ARGENTINA v ENGLAND

Entry Forms For Season 44 Out Today

 

Today we launch Season 44 which means that the New Entry Forms are now available as from today. Last season we managed to have a total of 111 players but we hope to beat that total this season.

So what about you who are looking at this blog today, for just £8 (English pounds) you could be part of our history and become our 44th Champion of Golden Goals. To receive your free copy of the rules and entry form send email to Steve at goldengoals1983@gmail.com