World Cup 2018

luka

Well-known member
if you think of how much france, germany, italy, spain have won over the last 40 years
(roughly my lifetime) it does seem odd that the lads have won precisely nothing.
even minnows like greece and portugal have had their moment in the sun.
 

luka

Well-known member
Wasn't the Euro 96 4-1 win against Holland supposed to be a big deal or something?

it was a great moment. probably the most joyous game england have been involved in over the last 40 years but it didn't win the lads a trophy
 

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
easily the most accomplished England have been on the world/continental stage. Can't believe I missed that one. Again, without a Gascoigne-type playmaker, England are going to struggle for focus when the going gets tough.
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
building for the future
nearly all your core guys are 23-25. players' historical prime is 25-29ish. there's every reason to believe most of them will better in 4 years.

how much better, I have no idea, but just going by age their big shot should be 2022 as this WC was for Belgium.

and tho I firmly believe "knowing to win" etc is nonsense in all sports, if you do believe in that kind of thing then this was a great experience for a group of young players to get

I get that agonizing over soccer is more of a national pastime than the actual sport but the near future is relatively bright. brighter than the country's future anyway.
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
not that they'll be world-beaters, but you really only need to be good enough to get out of group and give yourself a fighting chance in the knockouts

also idk I mean granted I don't follow soccer closely but Italy and the Dutch missed this WC altogether. Maybe Croatia is significantly better than them right now?

I do grant it was very lucky to be opposite France, Brazil and Belgium.
 

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
nearly all your core guys are 23-25. players' historical prime is 25-29ish. there's every reason to believe most of them will better in 4 years.

how much better, I have no idea, but just going by age their big shot should be 2022 as this WC was for Belgium.

England may be better, but there's no way that Argentina, Brazil, Spain and Germany won't also be (much) better. And Italy and the Netherlands will be back. This was England's once-in-a-lifetime window, like Leicester had in 2016 in the Premier League. Except Leicester didn't choke, which suggests that having Vardy on from the start last night might've been a good motivator. Mahrez wasn't doing much except signing for City yesterday, and he's practically an English national treasure these days so I'm sure Southgate could've swung it.

Yep, and despite being in their prime with the best players the country has ever had, Belgium still couldn't even get to the final - because they played in a realistically difficult part of the draw, rather than the looking glass version that England were in.

A lot of sportsmen* don't realise while they're planning for future glories, that now is actually the best it will ever get. Rooney in 2004.

*English sportsmen.

Incidentally, strange that the most surprising football news didn't even happen at the World Cup. Ronaldo to Juventus - who could have seen that coming??
 
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craner

Beast of Burden
You have to love this team and Gazza though. I dislike football, but still get tingles from this story. All my mates in Swansea at the time, we were breathless and gripped watching this. The dumb parochial Welsh 'anyone but England' was not a factor (it wasn't for me anyway, my Dad is English and I was "posh" Welsh anyway)...

 

craner

Beast of Burden
I could be wrong but what happened this time doesn't have the epic, poignant quality of 1990. It seems blander on all fronts, less extreme and colourful and fun.

Probably nostalgia I guess.
 

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
This guy's videos are great, very interesting to see the game through this guy's strategic goggles, and shows Pirlo to be some sort of genius.

 

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
I could be wrong but what happened this time doesn't have the epic, poignant quality of 1990. It seems blander on all fronts, less extreme and colourful and fun.

Probably nostalgia I guess.

Sports science

Moneyball

Presumably more PR pressure from sponsors?

And so on

Although on the plus side they do often still gangbang page 3 models in hotel suites
 

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
I felt deflated after that final. I like France, but I've had enough of brilliantly functional teams punctuated by unstoppable attacking genius winning tournaments (see Real Madrid and the Champions' League). Also the VAR rules are a shambles - it's only meant to be used for clear and obvious errors, and that penalty was not clear one way or the other.

I have a bit of sympathy for Eden Hazard's whingeing after the semi-final about France's lack of expansive ambition, especially given the talent they have. They never set the tournament alight, despite being its best team.
 
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