What's new
The Front Row Forums

Register a free account today to become a member of the world's largest Rugby League discussion forum! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Semi Finals

Pommy

Coach
Messages
14,657
Trippier for example was never that great but he has easily been England's best player.

Fixed

Trippier symbolises for me what was so great about this squad he isn’t the best player ever but he played his best and did the shirt proud.
Something plenty of previous big names can’t honestly claim to have done.
 

Smack

Coach
Messages
15,099
I dont think they ever have, its most been to so called big 4 who have all the decent English players although these 5 were not exactly world beaters, the whole 5 players only cost Spurs 13.5 million pounds all up. I think its more a tribute to Pochetino who has made international players out of them.

Trippier for example was never that great but he has probabaly been England's best player.

I'm going to add Walker in there as well, because he made his career at Spurs.
 
Messages
3,191
[


Best team seldom wins the World Cup though... before my time, but the great Hungarian teams missed out, the Dutch side in 74, perhaps 78 - 82 the first World Cup I watched as a kid because miraculously NZ qualified - the Brazil and France were brilliant, neither won..., not sure they were the best, but the Danes were brilliant in 86, and TBH Brazil or France probably the best here (Brazil only sporadically - Spain could have been close, Belgium, Croatia perhaps in that order)

That's kind of why I give England a hope of going deep in the next few - they have (word has it) better talent coming, and the coach has them playing as a team... if they can be organised and ruthless and add some quality to the midfield they will continue to be there or there abouts
1954 Hungarians were magic as were the Dutch circa 1974.

You've only got to watch the start of the latter Final to see what a freakish team Cruyff led. Still not sure how they lost although Der Bomber/Der Kaiser had a bit to do with it!

Brazil 1982 - so good up front but other than Junior, lacked defensive nouse. And he was always up the pitch too...
 
  • Like
Reactions: JJ

JJ

Immortal
Messages
31,738
1954 Hungarians were magic as were the Dutch circa 1974.

You've only got to watch the start of the latter Final to see what a freakish team Cruyff led. Still not sure how they lost although Der Bomber/Der Kaiser had a bit to do with it!

Brazil 1982 - so good up front but other than Junior, lacked defensive nouse. And he was always up the pitch too...
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1844324-10-greatest-national-teams-in-world-football-history

Lots of this crap about, but not a bad list
 

Jimbo

Immortal
Messages
40,107
37028780_1984328868564676_5952604847239856128_n.jpg
 

Game_Breaker

Coach
Messages
13,476
What exactly have England done to be proud of?

They had a Bradbury path to the final and still choked

They didn’t perform that great
 

GongPanther

Referee
Messages
28,279
Southgate did a tremendous job and should get a long extension.

But you're still over rating a very average bunch of footballers in attack.

I can only hope that the successful U17s and U20s have players of technical and playmaking ability because we'll never win a World Cup with the likes of Sterling Ali and Lingard.

How many passes did they overhit tonight in half chance situations? Very average players at this high level.

We scored one goal from open play in the knock out phase - a header vs Sweden.

I'm sure they'll get better but we're still miles below the likes of France and Brazil so no, I don't think we'll improve on that semi final spot going forward with this group.

IMO,this England squad are a mostly young,development team in the making.After the first half,the bubble suddenly burst. They simply lost structure,their clinical approach was non existant.A completely different side which I think was obviously due to mental exhustion.

Good luck to Croatia,but I'm quite sure the French will be too clinical and too fast for them.A 4-0 scoreline.

Belguim 1-0 for 3rd place on Sunday morning.
 

GongPanther

Referee
Messages
28,279
What exactly have England done to be proud of?

They had a Bradbury path to the final and still choked

They didn’t perform that great

They played what was in front of them pretty well.When you consider the big name teams that were knocked out early,and Italy not making the WC,this English side punched above their weight.
 

Pommy

Coach
Messages
14,657
What exactly have England done to be proud of?

They had a Bradbury path to the final and still choked

They didn’t perform that great

Well we didn’t perform that bad either, you have to remember we were knocked out of the euros by iceland only two years ago.
People look at england fans and think they’re all delusional. Some are but the majority are just having a good time in the sun watching some football. I don’t know of anyone who really expected England to win the World Cup yesterday, but it’s fun to ‘believe’
England fans are just glad to see a team who put in some effort and who played for the shirt and the nation.
It’s exactly the same as my club side Newcastle, the vast majority don’t expect a side that wins, we do expect a side that tries though.
 
Last edited:
Messages
14,028
I think England and Southgate will be better for the experience after this one. Croatia have a handful of class players and the rest of the squad will work their backsides off for those players. I felt they were a little unlucky in the Euros 2 years ago against Portugal (who would go on to win the tournament), and they've done extremely well here as well. I think France will be a step too far for them, but I definitely think they're in with a shot.

Big call: If Croatia win the final, will Modric break the Messi/Ronaldo stranglehold on the Ballon D'or. Champions League & a world cup in the same year has to have him in contention.
 

Tommy Smith

Referee
Messages
21,344
Modric should already have done enough for thr Ballon d'Or.

Unfortunately it's a popularity contest so unless they win I don't think he'll win the award.
 

Tommy Smith

Referee
Messages
21,344
Well we didn’t perform that bad either, you have to remember we were knocked out of the euros by iceland only two years ago.
People look at england fans and think they’re all delusional. Some are but the majority are just having a good time in the sun watching some football. I don’t know of anyone who really expected England to win the World Cup yesterday, but it’s fun to ‘believe’
England fans are just glad to see a team who put in some effort and played for the shirt and the nation.
It’s exactly the same as my club side Newcastle, the vast majority don’t expect a side that wins, we do expect a side that tries though.
Indeed.

It's like the song "it's coming home".

Very few, if any, passionate England fans actually thought we were going to win; but that's besides the point.

"It's coming home" is a classic song, bordering on a cultural icon given how big a role football plays in the lives of the English.

So singing the song was just a celebration, and for many like me it was tapping into those magic memories of Euro 96 (childhood memories for me).

Alas that hasn't stopped a horde of dense dolts going "hurr hurrr looks like it's not coming home afterall, hurr hurrrrr".
 

Jack_Napier

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
3,622
Modric should already have done enough for thr Ballon d'Or.

Unfortunately it's a popularity contest so unless they win I don't think he'll win the award.
It’s essentially a golden boot race between Messi and Ronaldo these days, with CL title swaying it either way.
 

Smack

Coach
Messages
15,099
Modric all day

Belgium/England was decent, some silky smooth passing from Lukakau, his first touch let him down a bit though
 

Latest posts

Top