The Football Thread

[Meini Again]

Low will be available you mean ?

[buttsie]

Defending WC champions haven't gotten out of the group stage for long long time
putting Brazil aside

France 1998 (Euro 2000) winner - 2002 - 1 draw 2 losses - Zidane injured goodnight

Italy 2006 winner 2010 - 2 draws - also rans even with Pirlo

Spain in 2010 (Euro 2008,2012) winner - 2014 - 1 win over minnows Australia

Germany 2014 winner 2018 - 1 win - leading in they were losing to all and sundry

Only Brazil has bucked that trend dating back to 1994/1998 & 2002/2006

[m100]

Originally Posted by Roger Allott

England is in pretty much the same situation as Russia was before today - two convincing wins against quite/very humble opposition.


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I agree but in the past we would have 'settled' for the draw against tunisia and beaten Panama unconvincingly 1 or 2-0. So far here we've done some hollywood body swap movie deal with the germans ie persevered to get a result against tunisia and brushed panama aside. My only argument with them is not going for 10 against Panama because it really was on.

[Meini Again]

Yep Buts... I saw those Stats on the Beeb, and Opta....

It doesn't make Germany's FAILURE to R16 any more understandable.

Neither Italy's FAILURE to qualify.

These are issues that their National FAs will have to address

~ and I doubt they'll consider your Stats/References...Coincidences as being relevant

[Roger Allott]

England v Belgium


I hope I'm wrong, but I don't think tonight's match is going to be a classic. Both teams are going to want to maintain the momentum of two clear and impressive victories, but neither is going to be at all upset if they finish second in the group.


By kick-off we'll know which team will be waiting for the winners and runners-up of our group. I'd prefer to avoid Colombia in the first knockout round compared to either Senegal or Japan, but the real benefit of finishing second is at the quarter-final stage when the opponents would be either Sweden or Switzerland (followed by a semi against Spain, Russia, Croatia or Denmark) instead of Brazil or Mexico (followed by a semi against Uruguay, Portugal, France or Argentina).


With both England and Belgium content with a bore-draw and absence of bookings, sendings-off and injuries, I'm firmly expecting to see a bore-draw tonight with lots of uncontested passing sideways by the defenders. The only way the dynamic would change might be if Colombia end up as winners of Group H this afternoon.



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[Meini Again]

I want Japan

England are the New Germany

PENALTIES ??

Pfffhhhttt

[footstep]

Belgium was the best team I saw.
My France the worst.

[Meini Again]

Bloomin Eck Like ....

SOME of ....Us elder people have 'bad feelings' about EVERY England game

Unfortunately our journo's are in 7th Heaven now, their new, alcohol/drug fueled optimism is making the coming crash worse ~ for the new Generation of kids.

I've had bad feelings about every England game, from 'the Hand of God' onwards.

The only respite I have from my negativity, is that...barring Vardy.... Southgate has worked with and knows every single Player from his Youth/U21 years.
Which beggars the question.... doesn't it ?

[scoundrel]

I can remember when it was going to be a nice easy little introductory game against Cameroon to get us straight through to the last eight...

That was before anyone had heard of Roger Miller - only good for 20 minutes at his age before he needed an oxygen tent, but they were 20 very deadly minutes.

How England squeaked by that game I will never know.

[pierrelm]

Originally Posted by Meini Again

Bloomin Eck Like ....
SOME of ....Us elder people have 'bad feelings' about EVERY England game

The only respite I have from my negativity, is that...barring Vardy.... Southgate has worked with and knows every single Player from his Youth/U21 years. Which beggars the question.... doesn't it ?

Southgate seems to actively favour those he has worked with previously which is understandable but I think it is colouring his judgement. I reckon it's Southgates Achilles' heel.
Although that doesn't necessarily explain Young, Dier (he IS getting worse with every international game, isn't he?) or the woeful Sterling, for whom the kindest thing to do is just let him sit it out from now on: even the peripheral Welbeck offers more.

For me, Pope is frustratingly, clearly better than either Pickford or Butland; both of the latter have an error in them and obviously so, Pope looks a really sound all-rounder and is tall, giving him a better reach than Pickford, whose lack of height and questionable technique against Belgium won't have gone unnoticed. He was also the outstanding English keeper this season but was serially overlooked by Southgate who stuck to 'his' players. I suspect that will be his and our undoing.

I'm old enough to remember the opening game against Uruguay in 1966. That's a lifetime of waiting for something to go wrong. Couple this with being a Leeds supporter for the same period and you'll perhaps begin to understand the fatalistic approach.