England finish 4th.

[Silvas' left eyebrow]

So who would you consider to be worthy opponents then?

Don't think in your wildest dreams would you class panama or Sweden as super powers would you. It has been a really low quality tournament. Should only have 16 best teams in it. Four groups of four. Top two in each group go to knock out. A bloated mediocre tournament. How many teams there would finish in top four in premier league ?

 

[JimB]

Let's simplify it . A country with a population of 11 is unlikely to put together a team capable of beating a country with 30 million people to pick from. The broader the base the higher the peak.........do you still not get the arguement . Sorry. FACT

Yep.

That's why China and India have slugged out every World Cup final since the tournament started.

 

[Metalartin]

Yep.

That's why China and India have slugged out every World Cup final since the tournament started.

Too sensible, let everyone moan about England instead of having a good tournament for once, actually tricked us with a "lucky draw" winning only against "crap" teams that were "probably" just gifted passage into the tournament.

 

[Silvas' left eyebrow]

Too sensible, let everyone moan about England instead of having a good tournament for once, actually tricked us with a "lucky draw" winning only against "crap" teams that were "probably" just gifted passage into to tournament.

Yeah your right. We are brilliant. Iceland just blew us out of last tournament because ther are no foreign players in their top division thus giving yout a chance. Panama was always gonna be tricky and we blew them away. Way! England did amazing well done. Only lost half our games. How plucky.

 

[Metalartin]

The way I see it is against the teams we should have won we won but in a tournament where:

Italy, Holland and Chile didn't even qualify!
Argentina struggled against teams they should be beating comfortably throughout the tournament.
Germany the previous champions finished bottom of their group!
Sweden who England beat comfortably in the quarter finals finished top of Germany's group!
Spain went out in the last 16.

To say it was all easy and we had a poor WC that was only disguised as good is a bit weird to me, ok things went well for us in the draw but the above points should tell anyone with an ounce of common sense that anything can happen in tournament football with so much invested in it(emotionally and otherwise). Beating the teams we should beat and doing so being the deserved winners each time is a great start and something not to be taken for granted based off previous tournaments and even based off competing nations with better squads than ours.

Where we came short is in the latter stages(which we all said we would accept beforehand) against higher quality teams who were able to exploit the main weakness we already knew we had, our midfield(I'd add our left hand side of the pitch too personally). The disappointing thing is we probably could have won that game in the first half before they adjusted to our system and took over the game starting in midfield. There was no shame in losing to Croatia on paper though I said that in the group stages their starting 11 had more good players in it than I realised. Oh and it helps when you have arguably the best performer in the CL for the team that actually won it this year.

Call me cynical but part of me wants to write those overly(as in way overboard) negative sentiments as sulkers and sycophants who repeat what rivals say in the hopes of appearing cultured and knowledgeable(kind of like some of the post match City threads where people suck up to the opposition and dig out our players)... however I just think the disappointment is clouding peoples minds a bit and they will eventually see things differently.

It wasn't brilliant, we never looked like the best team in the tournament(big deal because we aren't) but it wasn't bad at all.

 

[Metalartin]

Yeah your right. We are brilliant. Iceland just blew us out of last tournament because ther are no foreign players in their top division thus giving yout a chance. Panama was always gonna be tricky and we blew them away. Way! England did amazing well done. Only lost half our games. How plucky.

Yeah because I said England were brilliant didn't I.

 

[SpiritofBurnden]

It's funny how perceptions change over time.

We had a relatively easy route through to the semi-final in 1990.

We didn't play particularly well in that tournament until we met Germany but no-one remembers that.

That particular campaign is now looked upon as a success, as this one will be eventually, in spite of the moaners.

 

[Crouchinho]

Semi final with an above average team. Yeah we didnt face the best opposition but still got further than the powerhouses of Spain, Germany, Argentina and Brazil. We knew our limitations beforehand so I'm surprised there is so much negativity. We are a young team and can only get better. I'd be more worried if I was a fan of the teams mentioned above. They crashed and burned quicker than our lot

 

[Steve68]

England were shite long before the PL was formed. Importing foreign managers and players has at least improved the smaller number of players England has to pick from.

True they’ve bern shite for most the 50 years I’ve been a fan. For different reasons though.

 

[Blue Til Death]

I’m glad Kane got the golden boot, lots of shite about him having tap ins n penalties etc but he scored them, that’s what counts.. Seems like a decent lad to me and I wish him well..
Would I swap him for Jesus or Sergio??
No, not for all the busses in Trafford...!