World Cup Thread

[Tarkovsky_Mikluzhkin]

Brazil 58 crap. They beat Sweden, Wales, Austria and Russia.

Pele

Meh

[Bristol Red Rover]

..... I at least have the main prize won already

Of course you do, is there anything you haven't won?

[Copps is Magic]

Pretty straightforward to me. I can want England to win and be realistic about the quality of England and their opponents at the same time.

Of course you can. Just as long as you do it at least a few years after the event in a retrospective kind of way. ('they were better than them', 'they were good but didn't achieve anything' etc. etc.). Not directly after the event. It's a knock-out tournament full of drama, luck, irrationality, surprises, styles, tactics. Basically the irrational half of the game you have to submit to if you're ever going to enjoy it.

And you clearly aren't being realistic about the quality of England at all. I think there's a distinct chance England are the best team in this competition. I didn't at first but I do now. To say they're only playing the likes of Ipswich or Rotherham so we can't properly judge if they deserve to make the semi- final- really is doing that.

[drfchound]

I got a wee bit emotional towards the end of today’s game.
I vividly remember watching the 66 Final as a 13 years old lad and as time has passed I wondered whether I would ever get to see my Country play in the WC Final again.
On a couple of occasions I thought we MIGHT do it but this time I really do think we will win it again.

[bedale rover]

I saw England win the world cup in 1966!
But there was only 16 teams in the competition that year and 10 of those were European teams a couple from south America and North Korea

Good god - I was calming a couple of lads down in local Sainsburys today - and they were singing / chanting etc. I said whoa whoa dont go too early ! Its different for me I said as I have seen England WIN the World Cup so even if Sweden do us (which is unlikely) I at least have the main prize won already

What I did not realise (and I have the Progs etc) was there were so few Teams in it. Never mind we - still won and my other magic memory was that North Korea were the "underdogs" and well supported as well !
Still can only remember Pak doo Ik as a NK Player

Remember watching North Korea beat Italy 4-3 at goodison park
Awesome game and a massive shock!

[BillyStubbsTears]

Brazil 58 crap. They beat Sweden, Wales, Austria and Russia.

Pele

Meh

You missed France.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Copps. Great. You think we might be the best team in the tournament. That’s your prerogative. I think it’s impossible to tell as we’ve played some very ordinary sides. That’s my prerogative. It sort of escalated very quickly from there into folk giving their two pennorth about how one ought to behave and think. Odd really, but there you go.

[drfchound]

I saw England win the world cup in 1966!
But there was only 16 teams in the competition that year and 10 of those were European teams a couple from south America and North Korea

Good god - I was calming a couple of lads down in local Sainsburys today - and they were singing / chanting etc. I said whoa whoa dont go too early ! Its different for me I said as I have seen England WIN the World Cup so even if Sweden do us (which is unlikely) I at least have the main prize won already

What I did not realise (and I have the Progs etc) was there were so few Teams in it. Never mind we - still won and my other magic memory was that North Korea were the "underdogs" and well supported as well !
Still can only remember Pak doo Ik as a NK Player

Remember watching North Korea beat Italy 4-3 at goodison park
Awesome game and a massive shock!

A bit dodgy that memory of yours Bedale.
NK beat Italy 1-0 at Middlesbrough.

Maybe the game at a Goodison that you are thinking about was the one when NK went 3-0 up inside 25 minutes against Portugal but lost 5-3.

[rtid88]

What ever anyone's opinion on the England team is, everyone must agree that this current match has been awful and neither team are anything to worry about!

[Chris Black come back]

We have played only average teams to the extent that the only unbeaten team we have played was Tunisia and only then because it was their first game.

BUT we would usually trip over our laces against one or more of these no worries AND this is tournament football where the aim is to win the trophy, not to play great football or to play every single one of the top-ranked teams. We are a clinical tournament team which at times can play good and intelligent football. That will do me.

[Wiltshire Exile]

Just a thought: I wonder how well we would have performed under Sam Allardyce? Would we have even made the Finals themselves?
Only wondering!

[Filo]

Just a thought: I wonder how well we would have performed under Sam Allardyce? Would we have even made the Finals themselves?
Only wondering!

No, what Southgate has done is ditch the old gaurd and picked a squad on form, not reputation. allardyce what not have picked the same squad, things are looking good at the moment for England, are n't we World Champions in one age group and European Champions in a couple of the other age groups?

[drfchound]

Just a thought: I wonder how well we would have performed under Sam Allardyce? Would we have even made the Finals themselves?
Only wondering!

No, what Southgate has done is ditch the old gaurd and picked a squad on form, not reputation. allardyce what not have picked the same squad, things are looking good at the moment for England, are n't we World Champions in one age group and European Champions in a couple of the other age groups?

Probably only because the standard of the opposition was crap though.

[Bristol Red Rover]

Despite playing so so teams, we've at least done okay, good in places and most importantly warming up nicely. Many of the WC winning teams have had a slow build up to form during the finals, peaking at the right time. The question is, can we hit that higher gear when we need to?

A big plus for us too is the teamwork, the squad spirit, and I think the age of the squad is a plus in terms of fitness, and the attitude supported by the squad spirit.

[Tarkovsky_Mikluzhkin]

I remember a friend of mine saying
"can you believe how stupid France were in 98? No Cantona! No Ginola! What idiots"
I responded "err yeah they did win it though"
then he countered "But they would have won it better with them two in the squad"....... just to remind you they won it 3-0 vs Brazil.
I've had quite a few conversations with England fans from this sort of weird perspective and I genuinely don't understand it.

[Wiltshire Exile]

Just a thought: I wonder how well we would have performed under Sam Allardyce? Would we have even made the Finals themselves?
Only wondering!

No, what Southgate has done is ditch the old gaurd and picked a squad on form, not reputation. allardyce what not have picked the same squad, things are looking good at the moment for England, are n't we World Champions in one age group and European Champions in a couple of the other age groups?

Very true!

[RedJ]

Jammy bas**rds

[DevilMayCry]

2-1 for Croatia, Vida scored. I don’t think Russia can score their second one

[drfchound]

Man on the post and that header would never have gone in.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Just a thought: I wonder how well we would have performed under Sam Allardyce? Would we have even made the Finals themselves?
Only wondering!

No, what Southgate has done is ditch the old gaurd and picked a squad on form, not reputation. allardyce what not have picked the same squad, things are looking good at the moment for England, are n't we World Champions in one age group and European Champions in a couple of the other age groups?

Probably only because the standard of the opposition was crap though.

I’ll help you here Hound.

Saying England have progressed AND the opposition has been poor is not the same as saying England have progressed BECAUSE the opposition have been poor.

There’s enough rows on here as it is without finding reasons for one that don’t exist.

[vaya]

Jammy bas**rds

Nice to see Vigo the Carpathian get on the scoresheet though.

[RedJ]

Croatia the latest team to have shat it.

I would be much more confident playing Croatia than I would Russia, if I'm honest, mad as that sounds.

[DevilMayCry]

Wow, I really didn’t expected Russia to score their second. At penalties everything can happen

[Filo]

Extra time is doing nin of these teams any favours

[Bristol Red Rover]

Extra time is doing nin of these teams any favours

In one way for sure, in another, if Russia win their team spirit will be through the roof.

[RedJ]

Croatia it is, then.

[drfchound]

Just a thought: I wonder how well we would have performed under Sam Allardyce? Would we have even made the Finals themselves?
Only wondering!

No, what Southgate has done is ditch the old gaurd and picked a squad on form, not reputation. allardyce what not have picked the same squad, things are looking good at the moment for England, are n't we World Champions in one age group and European Champions in a couple of the other age groups?

Probably only because the standard of the opposition was crap though.

I’ll help you here Hound.

Saying England have progressed AND the opposition has been poor is not the same as saying England have progressed BECAUSE the opposition have been poor.

There’s enough rows on here as it is without finding reasons for one that don’t exist.

Who said anything about having a row BST?

I am going to help your remember a couple of your recent posts though.

“There is an unreality about getting this far into a WC against such an awful set of opponents”

and

“it was a competent performance against a Championship standard side”.


Now those two posts do suggest that you think we have only progressed because the opposition has been poor.

Whether you meant it that way or not, it does read that way.

[rtid88]

We have some of the most miserable fans in the world. We're into the Semi Finals of the World Cup. I have just seen an awful performance against the next team we play which to me suggests we have a very good chance of reaching the Final. Cheer up and get behind Gareth and the lads!! 

[BillyStubbsTears]

Hound.

You’re reading it wrong.

The “unreality” was a comment on how odd it has been to get this far without playing a real contender. So it’s very difficult to judge just how good or not England are.

And yes. It WAS a competent performance against a side that is full of players that are nowhere near the top rank. What’s to take issue with on that comment? It’s an observation of fact.

I thought those comments were clear enough but I guess you never know on the internet

[steve@dcfd]

We now have to play two good technical sides to win the World Cup if we do then we can forget the other sides we played if we don’t then we did better than a lot thought.

It’s coming home