Dare we??

[with menace]

We beat two weak teams, lost to Belgium and scrapped home against Colombia.
Since 1966 England have promised much but delivered nothing and this is unlikely to change any time soon. I don't rate Southgate .Tin hat at the ready!

To be fair the Belgium game was a dead rubber( I bet Belgium wish they'd finished second now) other than that you can only beat who's in front of you. Are we the best team? No.
Is this even the best England team of recent past? No.
How many times have we seen a frankly crap Italian or Argentina side reaching the final though ?
I think that's why we could do it.

Good point - Germany, Argentina & Italy have made it to finals in the past with bog-standard average teams when much better sides went home earlier. This time nobody - literally nobody - look like 'world beaters' although somebody obviously has to be crowned as such. Makes for a fascinating tournament though and exciting for us - I think we can genuinely beat anybody or get beaten by anybody that's left. It really is 'up for grabs'.

You really think we could beat Belgium or France? Calm down dear.

Back to being an idiot I see, couple of little digs eh.cant help yourself can you. If you'd actually bothered reading what I'd written you'd probably not respondent with the rather childish 'except for the small fact Belgium and France are better' I never said they weren't,in fact I said sometimes as Argentina and Italy for eg sometimes it's not the best teams who win. Also it is not a 'fact' that either France or Belgium are better and it's totally possible we COULD beat them. I get the impression it'd actually give you pleasure to see England lose? Getting a whiff of vitriol from you a bit like a few bitter jocks I know tend to but that's possible just your general demeanour.
You can come back shrieking with delight when England inevitably lose because I sense you'd much rather massage that ego and see us lose than be wrong.

 

[Balham Green]

We beat two weak teams, lost to Belgium and scrapped home against Colombia.
Since 1966 England have promised much but delivered nothing and this is unlikely to change any time soon. I don't rate Southgate .Tin hat at the ready!

To be fair the Belgium game was a dead rubber( I bet Belgium wish they'd finished second now) other than that you can only beat who's in front of you. Are we the best team? No.
Is this even the best England team of recent past? No.
How many times have we seen a frankly crap Italian or Argentina side reaching the final though ?
I think that's why we could do it.

Good point - Germany, Argentina & Italy have made it to finals in the past with bog-standard average teams when much better sides went home earlier. This time nobody - literally nobody - look like 'world beaters' although somebody obviously has to be crowned as such. Makes for a fascinating tournament though and exciting for us - I think we can genuinely beat anybody or get beaten by anybody that's left. It really is 'up for grabs'.

You really think we could beat Belgium or France? Calm down dear.

Back to being an idiot I see, couple of little digs eh.cant help yourself can you. If you'd actually bothered reading what I'd written you'd probably not respondent with the rather childish 'except for the small fact Belgium and France are better' I never said they weren't,in fact I said sometimes as Argentina and Italy for eg sometimes it's not the best teams who win. Also it is not a 'fact' that either France or Belgium are better and it's totally possible we COULD beat them. I get the impression it'd actually give you pleasure to see England lose? Getting a whiff of vitriol from you a bit like a few bitter jocks I know tend to but that's possible just your general demeanour.
You can come back shrieking with delight when England inevitably lose because I sense you'd much rather massage that ego and see us lose than be wrong.

How old are you mate? When you grow up you might be able to have a debate without becoming abusive. Until then I prefer to discuss with adults and people who can accept a different opinion. Surprised you are on here when Cbeebies hasn't finished.

 

[SteveC]

We beat two weak teams, lost to Belgium and scrapped home against Colombia.
Since 1966 England have promised much but delivered nothing and this is unlikely to change any time soon. I don't rate Southgate .Tin hat at the ready!

To be fair the Belgium game was a dead rubber( I bet Belgium wish they'd finished second now) other than that you can only beat who's in front of you. Are we the best team? No.
Is this even the best England team of recent past? No.
How many times have we seen a frankly crap Italian or Argentina side reaching the final though ?
I think that's why we could do it.

Good point - Germany, Argentina & Italy have made it to finals in the past with bog-standard average teams when much better sides went home earlier. This time nobody - literally nobody - look like 'world beaters' although somebody obviously has to be crowned as such. Makes for a fascinating tournament though and exciting for us - I think we can genuinely beat anybody or get beaten by anybody that's left. It really is 'up for grabs'.

You really think we could beat Belgium or France? Calm down dear.

Yes I think we could. We have a good day, they have an off day then who knows.

Who would have thought both Mexico and Korea would be germany? Who would have thought Spain, Argentina and Brazil would be out by now?
Who would have thought Italy and Holland wouldn't even qualify?

So yes, I do think we can beat Belgium and/or France.

 

[Balham Green]

We beat two weak teams, lost to Belgium and scrapped home against Colombia.
Since 1966 England have promised much but delivered nothing and this is unlikely to change any time soon. I don't rate Southgate .Tin hat at the ready!

To be fair the Belgium game was a dead rubber( I bet Belgium wish they'd finished second now) other than that you can only beat who's in front of you. Are we the best team? No.
Is this even the best England team of recent past? No.
How many times have we seen a frankly crap Italian or Argentina side reaching the final though ?
I think that's why we could do it.

Good point - Germany, Argentina & Italy have made it to finals in the past with bog-standard average teams when much better sides went home earlier. This time nobody - literally nobody - look like 'world beaters' although somebody obviously has to be crowned as such. Makes for a fascinating tournament though and exciting for us - I think we can genuinely beat anybody or get beaten by anybody that's left. It really is 'up for grabs'.

You really think we could beat Belgium or France? Calm down dear.

Yes I think we could. We have a good day, they have an off day then who knows.

Who would have thought both Mexico and Korea would be germany? Who would have thought Spain, Argentina and Brazil would be out by now?
Who would have thought Italy and Holland wouldn't even qualify?

So yes, I do think we can beat Belgium and/or France.

Fair point but Belgium and France have proved better than all those sides. And we have still not beaten anybody yet of any pedigree without penalties so can't see it but hope to be proved wrong.

 

[SteveC]

We beat two weak teams, lost to Belgium and scrapped home against Colombia.
Since 1966 England have promised much but delivered nothing and this is unlikely to change any time soon. I don't rate Southgate .Tin hat at the ready!

To be fair the Belgium game was a dead rubber( I bet Belgium wish they'd finished second now) other than that you can only beat who's in front of you. Are we the best team? No.
Is this even the best England team of recent past? No.
How many times have we seen a frankly crap Italian or Argentina side reaching the final though ?
I think that's why we could do it.

Good point - Germany, Argentina & Italy have made it to finals in the past with bog-standard average teams when much better sides went home earlier. This time nobody - literally nobody - look like 'world beaters' although somebody obviously has to be crowned as such. Makes for a fascinating tournament though and exciting for us - I think we can genuinely beat anybody or get beaten by anybody that's left. It really is 'up for grabs'.

You really think we could beat Belgium or France? Calm down dear.

Yes I think we could. We have a good day, they have an off day then who knows.

Who would have thought both Mexico and Korea would be germany? Who would have thought Spain, Argentina and Brazil would be out by now?
Who would have thought Italy and Holland wouldn't even qualify?

So yes, I do think we can beat Belgium and/or France.

Fair point but Belgium and France have proved better than all those sides. And we have still not beaten anybody yet of any pedigree without penalties so can't see it but hope to be proved wrong.

France were awful against Denmark and belgium were pretty awful against panama in the 1st half and for the first 70 minutes against Japan.

 

[Balham Green]

France had nothing to play for v Denmark. Didn't think Belgium were bad v Japan. They struggled but still found a way in 90 minutes

 

[slingsbypobble]

Think it's curtains tomorrow TBH. England have not shown that we can compete with big boys yet. Our B team failed against Belgium's B team. More worryingly, very few goals from open play.

Yes Sweden showed fear against Germany, but they're Germany! Sweden are very confident against England and have a great record against us in major tournaments.

My biggest worry is that I cannot pick a passage of fluid, attacking play where we string 3 or 4 decisive passes together at speed in the opposition half. To get past Sweden we will need speed, one of our fastest players is Sterling, but he's misfiring badly. Kane is good but not quick, Vardy is a bit of an unknown quantity in this side and looks like he'll be out with groin strain tomorrow.

Part of me is missing the 'kick and rush' game of old England, even though it got us precisely nowhere. At least it worried the opposition's defence. Now, we do a few sideways and backwards passes outside of the box, and the opposition is perfectly happy to sit deep and let us have possession.

Don't think we've got what it takes I'm afraid: Swe 2-0 Eng

Gonna be a cracking party around your house ....

Fortunately I am going to a friend's house to watch the game. He knows less about football, and thus is as blindly optimistic as you are.

 

[with menace]

We beat two weak teams, lost to Belgium and scrapped home against Colombia.
Since 1966 England have promised much but delivered nothing and this is unlikely to change any time soon. I don't rate Southgate .Tin hat at the ready!

To be fair the Belgium game was a dead rubber( I bet Belgium wish they'd finished second now) other than that you can only beat who's in front of you. Are we the best team? No.
Is this even the best England team of recent past? No.
How many times have we seen a frankly crap Italian or Argentina side reaching the final though ?
I think that's why we could do it.

Good point - Germany, Argentina & Italy have made it to finals in the past with bog-standard average teams when much better sides went home earlier. This time nobody - literally nobody - look like 'world beaters' although somebody obviously has to be crowned as such. Makes for a fascinating tournament though and exciting for us - I think we can genuinely beat anybody or get beaten by anybody that's left. It really is 'up for grabs'.

You really think we could beat Belgium or France? Calm down dear.

Back to being an idiot I see, couple of little digs eh.cant help yourself can you. If you'd actually bothered reading what I'd written you'd probably not respondent with the rather childish 'except for the small fact Belgium and France are better' I never said they weren't,in fact I said sometimes as Argentina and Italy for eg sometimes it's not the best teams who win. Also it is not a 'fact' that either France or Belgium are better and it's totally possible we COULD beat them. I get the impression it'd actually give you pleasure to see England lose? Getting a whiff of vitriol from you a bit like a few bitter jocks I know tend to but that's possible just your general demeanour.
You can come back shrieking with delight when England inevitably lose because I sense you'd much rather massage that ego and see us lose than be wrong.

How old are you mate? When you grow up you might be able to have a debate without becoming abusive. Until then I prefer to discuss with adults and people who can accept a different opinion. Surprised you are on here when Cbeebies hasn't finished.

Sorry mother ,you're a bit like one of those unhinged Colombians crying that we cheated and they were the poor little victims. Spouts about abuse from his moral high horse immediately after throwing some abuse :clap: How about you get some context before you poke you big nose into something you don't have a clue about. I only respond in kind,when shown a lack of manners I'll put you in your place. Don't like it? Then don't instigate it,simple.
I'm off to watch the football in the sun with my friends and hope England win,I can see others would much rather fester in their darkened bedroom hunched over their laptops spewing bile so I'll leave you to it.

 

[Balham Green]

I prefer not to get in to discussions with children and the intellectually inferior who can't accept or understand a different opinion. Pasoti really should get a page for the under 8 s. I'm off to the pub to celebrate. Past your bedtime now

 

[Ham Green]

Still think France and Belgium look too good.

But then Colombia looked good. Picking off Poland at will, people thought they'd do the same to us. Instead they gave a Wycombish performance and justice prevailed.

But then Sweden looked good. Hard to break down, organised, skilful and dangerous. We had them in our pockets. Pickford made a few good saves but that was as routine a victory as we'll ever get at this stage of the world cup. It wasn't even tense after the second goal.

The way this world cup's gone, it wouldn't surprise me if De Bruyne suddenly can't trap a bag of cement, or Mbappe starts running down blind alleys.

We've already gone way further than most people expected. We've bested Spain, Portugal, Argentina, Germany and Brazil (and by default, Italy and Netherlands). And yet the pressure's still on because Russia and Croatia are beatable on paper.

Has there ever been a more bizarre, perplexing, surprising, brilliant world cup than this?

 

[Ave IT]

Well I'm sat in a hotel room watching Russia - Cŕoatia and both look pretty average. Croatia got rave reviews early in the tournament but have gone right off the boil whereas you get the feeling England are getting better. Sure, we could get beaten by either but on this showing we really shouldn't. Then if (OK, still a big IF) we do get to the final then it's a one-off and of course we have enough decent players to win the darn thing. I agree that Belgium or France would be clear favourites - but not massively so. We're not talking about facing one of the great Spanish teams, or a vintage Brazil, or Cruyff's Dutch side, or one of the relentless German machines. Southgate is right - we may have a better, more experienced team at the next world cup but may never have such an opportunity again.

So it might, just might....... really be coming home :thumbs:

 

[nick_PASTIE]

Belgium beat France
England beat Croatia
England win 3-1 in the final and decide to stay in EU after all.

 

[Metal Green Mickey]

It’s been better than we could have imagined. It’s great to see the England football team and English people get behind it’s football team once again.

Whatever happens it’s been a good tournament, not just for England, but for football in general because of so many great games. We have beaten teams than aren’t the elite teams in this tournament but we should be proud of the way we went about achieving those victories. Especially, when we have failed over recent decades to embrace the pressure & win. To win that penalty shoot out after years of going out to them was that momentum the England football team needed. We often fell short to teams using some dark arts eg Argentina Portugal. Against Columbia we came through this too. These are hopefully significant achievements for the England Football team given what we have endured in tournament football.

On the flip side, we have made the most of our opportunities against opposition that have been favourable to us. And this is where l think we have been fortunate.

I believe France or Belgium will beat us (if we get to the final) because of the space their attacking players would have. I feel they are a much better teams.

Croatia are a level before France and Belgium. They are intriguing because people say they haven’t been good in the last few games. This is true to an extent, but they have had to play teams like Demark and Russia who are sitting so deep and so they are swamping their midfield. England will allow them space to play, as Lingard & Del Alli like to get forward, so their midfield of Modric, Rakitic, Perisic etc....should thrive more in a game like this.


Even if we get through the Croatian game, and l think it will be a tall order because we are playing a team who can hurt us more than any opposition we have played so far, l still then can’t see anyway past a France or Belgium. I wish l could change my outlook but the truth is I think the half other of the draw has contained the real outstanding players in world football (and therefore teams), who we have avoided.

The eutrophic celebrations are wonderful to be part of now but the reality is there four teams left and 3 of them have more than 1 world class player. Those teams can match our work rate and spirit whilst having a team unit. Belgium and France also can boast stronger defence and attack options which they can turn to if they need to change a game. It’s wonderful to hear people and fans sing “it’s coming home”. We all probably have sang it at some point during this World Cup as emotions run high. In my heart l want England to win the World Cup. In my head though it’s repeatabiy saying it’s just not gonna be our time.

 

[moles40]

Think it's curtains tomorrow TBH. England have not shown that we can compete with big boys yet. Our B team failed against Belgium's B team. More worryingly, very few goals from open play.

Yes Sweden showed fear against Germany, but they're Germany! Sweden are very confident against England and have a great record against us in major tournaments.

My biggest worry is that I cannot pick a passage of fluid, attacking play where we string 3 or 4 decisive passes together at speed in the opposition half. To get past Sweden we will need speed, one of our fastest players is Sterling, but he's misfiring badly. Kane is good but not quick, Vardy is a bit of an unknown quantity in this side and looks like he'll be out with groin strain tomorrow.

Part of me is missing the 'kick and rush' game of old England, even though it got us precisely nowhere. At least it worried the opposition's defence. Now, we do a few sideways and backwards passes outside of the box, and the opposition is perfectly happy to sit deep and let us have possession.

Don't think we've got what it takes I'm afraid: Swe 2-0 Eng

Oh dear :lol: :lol:

On our way on our way :scarf: :scarf:

 

[slingsbypobble]

Egg -> my face. Feels good to be wrong though