England have made a dream start to the World Cup, winning their first two matches, booking their place in the last 16 at the first opportunity and sitting top of Group G. After their thumping 6-1 victory over Panama on Sunday afternoon the Three Lions overtook Belgium to go to first place in the group.
However, with England and Belgium now on equal goal difference, goals scored and goals conceded, why are Gareth Southgate’s men top of the group? It is all down to their superior disciplinary record.
After points, goal difference and goals scored, group position is then decided on the same three categories in matches between the tied teams. As England and Belgium have not played yet, this is irrelevant in this situation.
The next deciding factor is based on fair play points, which is why England have edged ahead of Belgium. Across all group matches, the following deductions are made for ill-discipline (only one deduction can be made per-player per-match). one yellow card: – 1 two yellow cards resulting in an indirect red card: – 3 direct red card: – 4 one yellow card followed by a direct red card: – 5
Over the first two games Belgium have picked up three yellow cards (Vertonghen, De Bruyne and Meunier vs Panama) and no red cards, whilst England have had just two bookings (Walker vs Tunisia and Loftus-Cheek vs Panama) and no red cards.
So England (-2) are just one fair play point ahead of Belgium (-3) going into their match. This means that if England vs Belgium ends in a draw and England pick up two yellow cards more than Belgium then they will drop down a spot in Group G.