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.