3.Trippier continues to impress:
A curling free-kick from 25 yards. His career has been a slow burner, showing promise at Barnsley, quietly impressing at Burnley, patiently waiting at Tottenham, and it is hard to conclude anything other than that this must have been another one of Gareth Southgate’s cunning plans, a stroke of genius to scurry away the best right foot in English football for the past eight years in order to unfurl it in all its glory in the fifth minute of a World Cup semi-final.
And what a right foot. He doesn’t drive his foot straight through the ball, nor does he wrap it around. Instead, he finds a sweet spot between the two, a furious whip that imparts bend and dip. The first-time volleyed cross halfway through the second period was sublime, while his delivery from set-pieces was consistently on point.