One issue that England had was almost a sense on entitlement, like England deserved to win a trophy. Also England seemed totally incapable of practising penalties, even though it is a decent bet you will have to play at least one shoot out (or maybe more) en route to the final.Based on nothing more than the history of England in major tournaments I would suggest, had we beaten Argentina we'd have lost to someone else. We might have beaten the Dutch two years before but they were a much better side in 98. Brazil or France would have beaten us in the SF/Final.
Netherlands in 98 were a decent team, but I still think they would have lost to England. They only got to USA 94 because of Koeman cheating with the aid of a referee who gave one of the worst performances I've ever seen. Their Euro 96 was unimpressive (drew with Scotland and hammered by England before getting dumped out in the knock out round), and in 98 only managed to draw with Mexico and Belgium in the group stage. Frankly the Netherlands were pretty over rated IMHO in that era.The Dutch were the team of the tournament for me. They were at their peak.
One issue that England had was almost a sense on entitlement, like England deserved to win a trophy. Also England seemed totally incapable of practising penalties, even though it is a decent bet you will have to play at least one shoot out (or maybe more) en route to the final.
Research before posting? Strange concept on Bluemoon.Before coming up with threads, please research the subject matter beforehand so that you don't make a tit of yourself.
Regards, The Mods Team.
This is complete bullshit.At the time I doubted it, but looking back England really could have won it. In a pre-tournament warm up game, they beat the eventual champions France in Paris. They also held Brazil to a draw. When the World Cup proper started, England overcame an early shock to do really well. I think they had Argentina, and would have beaten them without the red card for Beckham. If England had won, that means the Netherlands in the semi-final (who England blitzed 4-1 just two years earlier at Euro 96) then Brazil in the final, and remember Ronaldo (R9) was invisible in the final due to sme mystery illness, so Brazil's main threat was gone. So yeah, England could have won.
I'd have plumped for the 1990 team over Hoddle's squad. If they'd got past Germany in the s/f, I'd have fancied them to beat Argentina in the final. We'll never know for sure of course.
Bloody penalties!
But fortunate against Belgium and Cameroon folk seem to forget that and we wasnt to clever during our group games where we ??????I took nearly as long to get over that as I did that absolute fuck-up in Mexico City in 1970. I don't honestly think we would have won the competition — that Brazil team was fearsome. But 1990 — yep, I think we had a damn good chance. England were better than West Germany in that game, by the way.
But fortunate against Belgium and Cameroon folk seem to forget that and we wasnt to clever during our group games where we ??????
Not putting a downer but along the way to our unlucky fails we have got fortunate to get there.
I loved that world cup my fave but i think out of the 6 games we only really showed our class in two and that was the Dutch and Germany games.Absolutely true. I saw those games. We got through by the skin of our teeth. But I do think that the team got better as it went along.
I loved that world cup my fave but i think out of the 6 games we only really showed our class in two and that was the Dutch and Germany games.
Its a what if question had we won these unlucky games but we may have won one of them but the rest not so sure............. i still think had we gone through in 98 some other team would have sorted us out.
Lets not forget that french team was one hell of a side anyhow
Good shout that one but we never know and there is always the issue of braindead moments like Beckham in 1998 and Rooney in 2006 ????? That may have appeared later down the line and lets have it right our best chance of winning was under the boring one and he managed to fook it up big time .........foot to the floor against an bang average Italian team and we probably wouldnt be having this competition ..............two decent generations of England players wasted on clueless coachesThe one that got away (during the 90s and 2000s era anyway) was Euro 2004.
England were the best team at the tournament by far but Rooney's broken metatarsal after 30 mins in the QF cost England that Portugal game. And that was before Campbell's legitimate goal was ruled out for whatever the fuck.
If they'd sneaked through they would have beaten the Netherlands in the semi-final and they would have given Greece as much of a fight as anyone else. 2021 is the bigger What If? scenario but England were really on it in 2004.
The one that got away (during the 90s and 2000s era anyway) was Euro 2004.
England were the best team at the tournament by far but Rooney's broken metatarsal after 30 mins in the QF cost England that Portugal game. And that was before Campbell's legitimate goal was ruled out for whatever the fuck.
If they'd sneaked through they would have beaten the Netherlands in the semi-final and they would have given Greece as much of a fight as anyone else. 2021 is the bigger What If? scenario but England were really on it in 2004.
The Dutch were the team of the tournament for me. They were at their peak.