Croatia vs England

Did you mean Lewis Cook? If so I think he is a couple of years away from England class yet ( if he continues progressing) he still has a few mistakes to get out of his game. I think they should have taken Wilshere, having seen him up close, he can create but, more importantly, he is very hard to dispossess without fouling. But it's all opinions.

Yeah, Lewis Cook, apologies. I know he's not ready yet, but him & the likes of Loftus-Cheek & Grealish are the next generation coming through I suppose. I think for England's sake they need to hope the likes of these guys progress over the next few years and can really kick on to provide options for the National team.
 
Imagine being joyous over Roy Keanes smugness.......

Planning for a final?

It happens. On here the prospect at playing Zenit over Bayern was greeted with joy despite their emphatic win 2 hours before our semi-final against Fiorentina.
 
I haven't said anything to the contrary - it's been a great tournament and tonight's game was tense and enjoyable.

At the same time, it's unavoidable to watch and not be disappointed that Scotland haven't qualified. After all, it's football not political. So why aren't our team there?

I'm generally indifferent to England. I just find it hard to understand the pleasure in seeing them defeated when we're so dire.
I'll be honest. I couldn't muster any sort of joy in watching Scotland. I never have. It really doesn't impact on how I view other football games. Maybe that would change if they were loaded with Rangers players.
 
Unfortunately Sterling pulls defenders and ties them in knots,which is great team play.
But in front of goal he's like bambi on ice and ties himself in knots.

He's a 6 and 2 3's kind of player.,
England's game was based around drawing teams out and playing over the top to Sterling. It's a bit pointless when his end product was awful time after time. Try something else.
 
P

Pish. It sport. Grow up and drop the Westminster angle.
Of course it is and that's why my social media is full of nationalists , those of a certain nature that support eire and Palestine. Sport my arse. The same idiots would cheer Justin rose if he won the open for example.
 
Croatia were abysmal in the 1st half and the game should have been away from them-against other opponents it might have and probably should have been.

England have every right to rue tonight. They should because it doesn’t happen often.

France’ only problem on Sunday is complacency.
 
Worst England team of the last 40 years.

Their draw allowed them to reach the semi's.

Kane was horrendous yet is going to walk away with the Golden Boot.
This level of rubbish goes beyond the pale. Worse than the team papped out of the group stages by Iceland. Behave.
 
I'll be honest. I couldn't muster any sort of joy in watching Scotland. I never have. It really doesn't impact on how I view other football games. Maybe that would change if they were loaded with Rangers players.

Fair enough. I'm a Scotland fan and it's hugely disappointing to see continual failure.

We'll read the usual snide 'humorous' articles from the Scottish media about England - we won't, though, see them taking the governing bodies to task on how the national game has been destroyed.
 
England's game was based around drawing teams out and playing over the top to Sterling. It's a bit pointless when his end product was awful time after time. Try something else.
Partly.

It was also based on set plays where they actually did well at but seldom played and decent football.
 
Why do you want them to lose? What benefit is there to you? That's the bitterness

I want Celtic to lose in Europe. Them doing well adversely affects Rangers. That's not bitter that's logical.
It does affect us because it knackers the Co efficient,so when we win the league we'll be playing 3/4 qualifiers.
 
I honestly think the internet has ruined football.

20 years ago no one would have batted an eyelid at Scottish football fans having a laugh at the expense of their neighbours, yet as we can see from threads like this it has to become bizarrely politicised these days. I seriously doubt anyone here, on a Rangers forum, wants England to lose because of the SNP or Nicola Sturgeon or any other nonsense reason.

Its a game of football ffs.
On the button buddy. It is the ones who think what you say are the lunatics.
 
That Kane miss in the first half was huge, he should have buried it and given how clinical he normally is he seemed to choke.

Now can you imagine the dogs abuse Sterling would be getting if it was him who’d missed it?
 
Agree with a post above regarding the luck of the draw...having said that they must be gutted they didn't press home their advantage.
 
To be fair, some of those set pieces did come after Sterling made an arse of the easy chance he had an it was cleared.

Sterling should have been off in most games.

He should have been off tonight after 35 minutes when it became obvious that despite feeling the heat, Croatia were happy to deal with that tactic.

That should make it obvious that anyone thinking GS is tactically astute is in for a shock if they’re going to give him a club gig.
 
I was going to go to bed for work in the morning, but just been texted by my boss that our place is having a public f*ck alls coming home holiday tomorrow.. :D
 
You could argue England carried their luck in the tournament so far, but it deserted them tonight. Kane hits the post in the first half, when that would have put the game to bed (linesman flagged, but if it's a goal, VAR would surely have overturned that?) It could easily have been over by half time, with a rub of the green.

In the second half, and extra time, their inexperience showed, and ultimately Croatia deserved to win.

But Croatia have had a very jammy tournament, and it's hard to believe they're in the final. France should beat them with a bit to spare.
 
I predicted right at the start that England would get to the SF, but I felt that was as far as they would go, just not savvy enough.
 
It does affect us because it knackers the Co efficient,so when we win the league we'll be playing 3/4 qualifiers.

If Celtic qualify for the champions league and get pumped every game like they usually do it has minimal impact on the coefficient when Aberdeen, Motherwell and hibs (and us last season) get pumped out at the first stage.

Cost benefit analysis:

Cost: minimal coefficient points
Benefit: rivals not getting £30m advantage each year.

Hoping for a Celtic loss is logical.
 
The hatred, and it's the only word, in my local tonight was palpable. It got so bad that a very sensible individual went for the most vociferous "Croatian supporter" in the bar with an offer to step outside. Nothing came of it, but the venal dislike of our fellow Britons is shocking. England didn't do enough to win. I thought their limitations were obvious, and they didn't do enough to WIN the game. Croatia once they equalised grew into the game and were the better team. England need to improve, callers to Five Live are deluded if they can't see this.
 
That Kane miss in the first half was huge, he should have buried it and given how clinical he normally is he seemed to choke.

Now can you imagine the dogs abuse Sterling would be getting if it was him who’d missed it?

To be fair to the interviewer he did challenge Kane on his performance.

Sterling hardly matched his tournament performance though did he? So to suggest they’re on a par for criticism is a bit harsh.

Kane will be thinking about 1 minute. Sterling should be thinking about 200 ffs.
 
Well, you can always bank on England for glorious failure. They will never have a better chance to reach another World Cup final, after having the easiest possible route and a semi-final against a mediocre team, yet they still can't get across the finishing line. Having said that, a number of their players did themselves very proud: Pickford, Trippier, Stones, Maguire, Lingard, Kane, Walker all had excellent tournaments. England were written off before the World Cup began, and a semi-final is very good.

The better team won overall. England did nothing from the second half on.

Some very odd comments on this thread regarding politics and irrelevant issues. I personally don't know anyone beyond the internet who wanted England to win the World Cup, but, whatever floats your boat. No need to get all indignant either way. I'm glad we won't have to endure the hype of the pundits and media at least.
 
One word ... haaaaaaaaaa.
What a fud.
You criticise a whole country on a football game?
You need yer whole sir...seriously.
Not a country, just its people who are incapable of giving England credit when they richly deserve it.
I'm a Scot. I supported England, watched all their games in this WC, and really enjoyed their run. I'm embarrassed of Scots like you. Your anti social comments point to you being a low life.
 
England's game was based around drawing teams out and playing over the top to Sterling. It's a bit pointless when his end product was awful time after time. Try something else.
Croatia were a proper team hardly lost a second ball big and physical, a must watch for school kids, never gave up
 
You could argue England carried their luck in the tournament so far, but it deserted them tonight. Kane hits the post in the first half, when that would have put the game to bed (linesman flagged, but if it's a goal, VAR would surely have overturned that?) It could easily have been over by half time, with a rub of the green.

In the second half, and extra time, their inexperience showed, and ultimately Croatia deserved to win.

But Croatia have had a very jammy tournament, and it's hard to believe they're in the final. France should beat them with a bit to spare.

If it’s anything other than a repeat of 1998 I will be genuinely surprised.

Only Frances’ pragmatism would affect things if they take a lead.
 
Someone said Scotland could have beat them tonight.....

England played well tonight in the first half, they seem to have come a long way since that game at Hampden.

If Sterling continues to improve and Wiltshire and the Ox stay fit they will be a stronger side going forward.



Scotland couldnae beat an egg, Croatia were there for the beating and the English football team blew it.

Football ain't fuukin comin home. And I'm watchin the telly from my holiday room in cala d'or.


Two teams that ain't top class, even Italy, Spain and Holland are gash.

They all need tae start again. All of them.
 
The hatred, and it's the only word, in my local tonight was palpable. It got so bad that a very sensible individual went for the most vociferous "Croatian supporter" in the bar with an offer to step outside. Nothing came of it, but the venal dislike of our fellow Britons is shocking. England didn't do enough to win. I thought their limitations were obvious, and they didn't do enough to WIN the game. Croatia once they equalised grew into the game and were the better team. England need to improve, callers to Five Live are deluded if they can't see this.

Except England aren't there to represent Britain. If you're English then fair enough. Put those same players in Team GB shirts (can't come soon enough IMO) then we'll talk. But until then you can't say anything about fans cheering against their perceived biggest rivals.
 
Modric is a fantastic player when he is creating,today he created zero.Still love him though,and Sunday he will create the winner against the Frogs.:)

Modric was man of the match. Bossed the midfield from half time onwards.

England started fast. Croatia settled from 25mim onwards (although defence was still flapping massively). They started to come into the game and then dominated from half time onwards as defence settled.

England were sitting deeper and deeper from about 50mins. Almost a back 5 and croatia started targeting Walker and Trippier as they were both clearly toiling. The team froze and so did southgate.

Being honest with themselves, England didn't beat anyone in the tournament you didnt expect them to beat. Ultimately it was a huge opportunity missed and i think they will really regret the moments which could have made the difference
 
Spurs are shite, apparently. They had Lloris,Dier,Kane, Alderweireld, Vertonghen,Alli, Modric, Trippier, Rose, Dembele, Chadli as players or ex players. Not bad, I'd say.
 
And this is the problem. A meaningless result that you are referencing to talk down England. Their qualification was never in doubt. We failed. Again.

In the meantime, we haven't qualified for a tournament since 1998 and don't look like doing so in the foreseeable future.

Maybe we'll get the Scottish media addressing the problems in our game. Instead, it'll be a snide article about England losing.

Ey! OK a Scotland England game in anything meaningless! If we had won our chances of getting to a playoff would have dramatically improved. It had nothing to do with talking down England. Yes we failed again! but what is the richest league in the world and where do we come in? With a population 10 to 15 x larger than us. I agree about the media not addressing our footballing woes, but for me anyway it comes down to money available and getting the kids off PS and X-boxes.

England lost because they are a poor international side. Most England teams form the mid 80's up until even 5 years ago would smash this lot. I will never ever talk any English sports team up and want every team that plays them to beat them , as far as sports go they are my enemy. Plus i hate that my country and the other two countries which are part of the Island of Britain are continually force fed English sports propaganda by the English controlled media. Remember when Andy Murray stated he was Scottish at Wimbledon? The English press went into meltdown and yes i know because i live in England.
 
Full of Twitter going on about how this england team "over achieved", it took them 28 years to reach another world cup semi, why do they think this time will be any different? ‍♂️ surely the aim is to win the thing, might not get next chance for another generation.

This was their chance. The window to win these things is remarkably short. Another countries team like germany, spain etc comes again before you know it.
 
If i was an England fan i would be f###ing raging at Rashford for his TWO free-kicks before the finale whistle. What was he thinking with these chip-in balls? I have never understood how a professional football player can actually believe that these kind of freekicks (and corners) can work.
Just get the Ball into the box with power and drive and just hope for somebody to get a touch.
And apart from that i really hate it when a (center) forward takes corners and free-kicks from far away. Rashford should be in the middle and battling for a space, instead he wasted two good chances for his team.
 
Especially when he sees Sterling square for a tap in.


Croatia were a proper team hardly lost a second ball big and physical, a must watch for school kids, never gave up

The Croats knew they were still in it at 0-1 half- time. Tbh, if any team decides to concede possession and sit in as England did in the second 45 minutes, then they're almost guaranteed to lose, no matter how good or poor the opposition. Christ knows what Southgate said to them during the break. o_O
 
This place is nuts. For the record, I didn't think I really cared who won tonight, but once England went ahead, I realized that maybe subconsciously, I preferred Croatia. I'm not sure how much of that was down to want the underdog to get back in the game, to make it worth watching, but that's where I was.

England making the semi-final, regardless of opposition, was a great achievement. People basking in their failure and lumping on with criticism of the path are ridiculous. You could probably look back to almost every World Cup and see teams that had an easier path to the semi-final than England had. Think the mentally challengeds European Cup. The opposition to the final was crap. Think they give two shits about that today?
It was a young team, with limited leadership. I hate when team captains are goalkeepers or strikers. Captains should be defenders or midfielders. They have the best combination of involvement and view of the game. Kane is a great striker, but how can you captain your team from being the lone striker? It doesn't make sense. Understanding there was no better option, since the rest of the team was pretty inexperienced. Personally, I'd have played Cahill and made him captain. It's not like Walker was up to much in the back three.

Southgate's inexperience was found out in trying to match the Croatia midfield. Young, attacking and energetic doesn't match savvy. Alli and Lingard were non-existent. I felt a little bad for Henderson, but then I've always felt he hides a bit. Fine sitting-in defensively, but not willing to take responsibility going forward. When you're one central midfielder doesn't have both aspects of their game, you have no chance.

All-in, neither of these teams would have beaten France. It might have been fun to see a France-England final, but Croatia deserved it. Some of you should be happy with that, without feeling the need to stick the boot in.
 
Not a country, just its people who are incapable of giving England credit when they richly deserve it.
I'm a Scot. I supported England, watched all their games in this WC, and really enjoyed their run. I'm embarrassed of Scots like you. Your anti social comments point to you being a low life.

Hahahahaha... let it go lol.
You are making an arse of yerself and yer comments about me reflect this.
Grow up.
 
People are too bothered about laughing down their noses at England losing in extra time in the semi final rather than focus on the fact we weren't at the party. Yet again.

We're too small minded as a nation to progress.

I think that is a tad simplistic as to why we do not reach finalso_O
 
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