1. England may or may not be favourites

When it comes to football, it’s hard to take any of this favouritism stuff genuinely - except for England, who take being favourites for the World Cup and not living up to expectations very seriously.

Before the World Cup, there were low expectations surrounding England chances for success at Russia - with the superstar names gone and FIFA ranking old Blighty in 12th place fans weren’t as cocky.

But some betting agencies took a different view and had England fifth just below fellow Group G opponents Belgium and two behind reigning champions Germany.

Regardless, a last-minute goal against the 21st-ranked nation in world football Tunisia has fans of the Three Lions dreaming again.

If England can beat mighty 55th-ranked Panama then FIFA might as well hand the trophy over. Especially as Russian government-run media agency TASS has now hailed the Three Lions as World Cup favourites.

England v Tunisia player ratings

2. VAR fails to tackle penalty calls

Everyone's least-favourite acronym, VAR, hasn’t got a problem in ruling innocuous challenges in the box (*cough*, Joshua Risdon, *cough*) as penalties but full-on shoves and rugby tackles are all good.

During the Three Lions' win over Tunisia, England striker Harry Kane was tackled twice in the area and the Tottenham star would’ve been forgiven for thinking he was playing Rugby at Twickenham.

Speaking before the finals, when Kane vowed that England would be “tackling” the World Cup head on, I bet he wasn’t thinking he’d be the on the receiving end not once but twice.

3. Donald Trump isn’t the only one building a wall

With Tunisia switching to a 5-3-1-1 in the second half against England and Panama defending for their lives, the two underdogs of Group G were parking the bus and then some in their opening group fixtures.

After watching his country beat Panama 3-0, Belgium journalist Gillaume Maebe from the newspaper Het Nieuwsblad told FourFourTwo the Central Americans were busy building a defensive fortress.

“Poor, poor Panama, they tried to build a wall, but failed miserably,” he said. “Panama may be one of the worst teams at the World Cup, but they're enjoying themselves the most.

“Group G isn't, however, an argument in favour of a World Cup with 48 teams. It's just an extra preliminary round, but Panama is the kind of story that helps lift up the myths of the World Cup.”

Belgium: The good, the bad and the ugly

4. England are actually pretty good

Against Tunisia, England’s play featured slick passing and lovely combinations in midfield and looked pretty good playing out from the back and in transition.

Belgium journalist Gillaume Maebe reckons The Chocolate Makers will not be having it all of their own when they meet Gareth Southgate's boys in the final group game.

“England are good,” he said. “They play a three-at-the-back system, but don't face a lot under pressure when losing the ball.

“Belgium gives away a lot of space behind the wingbacks and England uses counter pressing to regain the ball as fast as possible so opponents can't exploit the space behind their defence.

“I'm extremely curious to see if this will work in the game against Belgium, who have a higher technical skill and could get out of the pressure.”

5. But are Belgium better?

Belgium's three goals against Panama, a long-range volleyed strike from Dries Merterns and two well-taken goals to Romelu Lukaku, were a signal of the third-ranked football nation’s intent.

Not surprisingly, Gillaume Maebe is excited about Belgium’s front third.

“We know how to attack,” he said. “We knew that before and we showed it once again.

“The problem was that it took a while to break the deadlock. In the first half, Belgium were pure drama, and extremely bad in the build-up.

“But it did look like we've worked on set pieces. Look at our corner kicks. The first three were all taken short, in three different ways and created three clear chances.

“It showed that Belgium has worked on it, especially as our former coach Marc Wilmots thought set-pieces weren't important.”