Who’s Going To Win The World Soccer Cup

[stubby]

Well i will still go with my original selection France and kudos to croatia for a team from a nation of 4 million to beat one of 66 million.

[javasumatra]

1 hour ago, stubby said:

Well i will still go with my original selection France and kudos to croatia for a team from a nation of 4 million to beat one of 66 million.

By that reckoning the Chinese should have the best football team in the world followed by india and the USA.

[MFKS]

17 hours ago, Captain Dave said:

Biased opinion with no depth.

 

Yes, I stand by that assessment, which you've just confirmed at length.

Now I could come on here and gloat right now

But I wont

 

My thoughts werent based on bias. They were based on reality of what I was seeing

Your Patriotism wasnt in question.

England just plain well had an easy path and at the end of the day were not good enough to get there

Cant dress it up any better than that

 

[stubby]

9 minutes ago, javasumatra said:

By that reckoning the Chinese should have the best football team in the world followed by india and the USA.

yes but they are not the home of football are they,all that aside England did well to make the semi finals.

[javasumatra]

15 minutes ago, stubby said:

yes but they are not the home of football are they,all that aside England did well to make the semi finals.

I'm very happy with England's World Cup performance. I think that they are an average team but for once the record books will show that we over achieved. We were beaten by a better team in Croatia and if they had not beaten us, I am pretty sure we would have got a pasting off France in the final. This defeat feels so different to the defeat in 1990 which was agonizing as I believe we were the best team in the tournament.

[faust]

first  half  England is better team,  they have chance  lead 2 or 3 to 0 and kill the match. after   croatia levelled the score,  England lost their focus.  this is a 50% to 50% match， and a more wondeful match than france to Belgium。

 

[pattaya mallu]

On the brighter side, England fans can continue to use all that merchandise with 1966 on it☺️

[usexpat46]

What odds were the bookies giving Croatia to win it all at the start of the tournament?

[Captain Dave]

1 hour ago, faust said:

first  half  England is better team,  they have chance  lead 2 or 3 to 0 and kill the match. after   croatia levelled the score,  England lost their focus.  this is a 50% to 50% match， and a more wondeful match than france to Belgium。

 

Agree, I'm gutted as we started so well and dominated the first half, Croatia came out

determined to do better and did, though there were chances for both sides.

It was indeed nip and tuck and could have swung either way, losing by one goal

in extra time is no disgrace, however annoying.

 

The referee was very lax on some of the tackling at times and I'm not sure how he missed a stone-cold

penalty shout in the 2nd half - but that's football.

 

Gareth Southgate and the boys did us proud this WC, we definitely performed much better than expected before

the tournament, playing with real attacking flair at times and our set-pieces were lethal.   

 

We all know this is a team in the making and were not forecast to do much more than get out of the group,

but some of the players - barely heard of by most three weeks ago, such as Trippier, Pickford and Mcguire 

matured visibly as the games went on.

Some of the passing and crossing was sublime at times and they played with real intelligence - something England 

teams are not renowned for and most importantly they played as a team with a notable absence of Prima-Donnas. 

 This England matured into a very good team whatever some nay-sayers try and say and at least Harry Kane should get the golden boot award. 

 

With the England youth teams having won their WC's we can hopefully look towards more success in the future,

for make no mistake, despite last nights disappointment this was a very successful World Cup for England.

I'm pretty sure its coming home soon.

 

I might add that it showed once again that this is the only sport that can grip and bring the Nation to a halt.

 

 

[javasumatra]

6 minutes ago, usexpat46 said:

What odds were the bookies giving Croatia to win it all at the start of the tournament?

I don't know but keep in view that this Croatian team are viewed as a "golden generation" and are mugs by no means. I reckon they were about 20/1

[Captain Dave]

2 hours ago, MFKS said:

Now I could come on here and gloat right now

But I wont

 

My thoughts werent based on bias. They were based on reality of what I was seeing

Your Patriotism wasnt in question.

England just plain well had an easy path and at the end of the day were not good enough to get there

Cant dress it up any better than that

 

So you keep saying, though you're far too negative for objectivity.

 

BTW, when did Australia fly home?

It was so long ago I've forgotten.

[Captain Dave]

Just now, javasumatra said:

I don't know but keep in view that this Croatian team are viewed as a "golden generation" and are mugs by no means. I reckon they were about 20/1

Croatia have some top players with plenty of experience at the highest levels of European football.

As they showed with their two goals, and some of their 'gamesmanship' - that's not a moan, its part of the modern game.

 

Good luck to them in the Final, and I suspect they'll need it as France, as well as being very good have had 24 hours

more time to recover and didn't need extra time.

[Taptap]

Harry Kane played well, but 3 out of his 6 goals are from penalties, it would be good if he can score in the next match and wins the golden boot cleanly i.e. without those 3 goals from penalties.

[Captain Dave]

3 minutes ago, Taptap said:

Harry Kane played well, but 3 out of his 6 goals are from penalties, it would be good if he can score in the next match and wins the golden boot cleanly i.e. without those 3 goals from penalties.

He's over-due a goal, but I agree about the penalties, perhaps they should only count for half?

 

Historically they have always counted the same as any other goal - even the great Pele's 1,000th goal was a penalty

and he racked up many dozens among that total.

[LOTTELLEE WINNA]

Over the 120 minutes Croatia were the better side and deserved their victory. Real talent in the England side was sadly lacking and that’s against Croatia, who under normal circumstances would never feature in a WC semi (FIFA ranking 20). I will give the team 10/10 for effort though. Special mention for Gareth Southgate who has enhanced his managerial reputation - good tactician, meticulous eye for detail, excellent motivator.

[Captain Dave]

We never said WHEN it was coming home!

 

A great slogan BTW, which not only summed up the dreams and hopes of the England fan,

but had the added bonus of really irritating and annoying everyone else,

(including, hilariously, Roy Keane on ITV).

So we kept saying it more and more - and you haven't heard the last of it.

 

A lot of us English chaps have re-discovered our love of watching England, something many had lost

over the last few years.

So thanks again Gareth, you gave us a wonderful few weeks, you and the lads will return to a heroes welcome. 

[stubby]

i just watched the replay and must say modric seemed to have the ball on a string and think england went defensive after the 1st goal but i am not a student of the game.(i watch the premier league everton fan)

[faust]

1 hour ago, Taptap said:

Harry Kane played well, but 3 out of his 6 goals are from penalties, it would be good if he can score in the next match and wins the golden boot cleanly i.e. without those 3 goals from penalties.

penalty is difficulty. Messi CR Neymal missed it. Kane had a big heart.  

[Convict]

2 hours ago, Captain Dave said:

So you keep saying, though you're far too negative for objectivity.

 

BTW, when did Australia fly home?

It was so long ago I've forgotten.

They flew home a couple of weeks ago. Just to be there was a good effort considering its about the 3rd or 4th most popular sport in the country.

[faust]

Croatia's first ball is foot over, the goal should be  disallowed. 

[MFKS]

3 hours ago, Captain Dave said:

So you keep saying, though you're far too negative for objectivity.

 

BTW, when did Australia fly home?

It was so long ago I've forgotten.

Mate Your living in a delusion

Not one of your players really is much chop in the grand scheme of things

Keep believing that you have turned some corner because it is only going to keep making this failing hurt more every 2 years

Media and your fans like blowing so much smoke up there arse

But dont let that fool you.

The best players in the World do not play in the EPL.

 

As for the game quite frankly Croatia wanted it more.

Two very average sides and it was settled by amatuer defending by a bloke who gets paid      £100,000 a week to defend and is pretty average at it

 Being paid a lot doesnt mean you are any good and all that

Not think I concerned that Australia went home after the group stage. Personally I would rather we hadnt of qualified

It is exactly as I expected would happen to us as there are a long list of issues preventing us from having any success at this level

[Mick Pattaya]

4 hours ago, LOTTELLEE WINNA said:

Over the 120 minutes Croatia were the better side and deserved their victory. Real talent in the England side was sadly lacking and that’s against Croatia, who under normal circumstances would never feature in a WC semi (FIFA ranking 20). I will give the team 10/10 for effort though. Special mention for Gareth Southgate who has enhanced his managerial reputation - good tactician, meticulous eye for detail, excellent motivator.

A great motivator, yes, but I disagree on the tactician part. In the second half when Croatia began to take control of the ball and dominate the midfield, he changed nothing to stop it.                         He just changed like for like players, but that did not address the midfield imbalance.

[Captain Dave]

12 hours ago, jimmy2sheds said:

Im CROATIAN AAAAAAHAHAHAHAHA. England are shit. Also who cares what Ian rush thinks.......Qatar 2022 will be your year. HAHAHAHAHAHA.

Pathetic.

 

I also note you've been very quiet the last ten days.

Been scared shitless?

 

PS: Remind us again how your team fared - last time qualified for the finals last Century wasn't it?

[LOTTELLEE WINNA]

12 minutes ago, Mick Pattaya said:

A great motivator, yes, but I disagree on the tactician part. In the second half when Croatia began to take control of the ball and dominate the midfield, he changed nothing to stop it.                         He just changed like for like players, but that did not address the midfield imbalance.

I take your point, but Southgate really didn't have the talent to change things around much. No Gazza, Hoddle or Waddle....oh and Kane is no Lineker (and no where near being Jimmy Greaves). The midfield lacked creative talent, someone (like DeBruyne) who could penetrate the tightest of defences with a killer pass. I thought Pickford had a decent tournament - but really needs to work on his distribution; Trippier did well too.  Many/most of the players will play in the forthcoming Euros and the next World Cup, so Russia 18 will stand them in good stead.

[whitespider - RIP]

1 minute ago, LOTTELLEE WINNA said:

 I thought Pickford had a decent tournament - but really needs to work on his distribution;

I thought he had a fantastic tournament, hopefully we have found our man. However, i agree about the distribution - I was having kittens in the Columbia game when he kept doing those short passes, even goal kicks, the Walker who was instantly under pressure.

Pickford and Trippier the best of the bunch and Maguire will have added a few Mill to his value too.