Croatia vs England

Peter_OHanrahahanrahan said:
'Arry will be disappointed

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That would have worked with Rooney.
 
noucamp72 said:
Let's be brutally honest.
The only reason these two teams are contesting a world semi final is due to the big nations being well below par...….Argentina,Brazil,Germany and Spain......this is also a world cup without strong Dutch and Italian sides.

England beat Tunisia and Panama in the group stages then Colombia and Sweden to reach the semis.....they will be lucky to get this chance again.
1-0 up inside 5 minutes...…...dress it up any way you want this was a massive failure.
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Absolutely.

Don't forget England also chose the easier route themselves by deliberately losing to Belgium, not to say the could have beat them if they tried. That was a cowardly act
 
Croatia deserved that.


But definitely think I'm gonna lump on France to win it, they're miles ahead of anyone it seems.
 
1 shot on target in 120+ minutes doesn't make World Cup winners.

Well done England getting to where you got but you simply weren't good enough.
 
To the folk saying England are sh!te....it’s probably worth remembering they could have 2 or 3 up af half time in a World Cup semi final.

Meantime we will struggle to qualify from a group containing Israel and Albania.....it’s like people who say Celtic are sh!te when clearly they aren’t .

The let’s bury our heads in the sand approach the SFA have adopted for years now........
 
One shot on goal says it all for me.
Four games,two wins,two losses ,one win with an extra time winner,and the other against the
weakest team in the tourney.
All said and done,they really done nothing.:)
 
Sasa said:
England’s World Cup:

Beat Tunisia 2-1
Pumped a pub team - still conceded
Lost a friendly to Belgium

Went through on penalties against a Columbia side missing their best player
Beat a poor Sweden side
Created very very little against Croatia

The commentator said he looks forward to seeing what England do going forward.

I’m sorry, all the “it’s coming home stuff” has been fun, but masks that the team are pretty poor overall.
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You forgot to mention the fact they managed a paltry 2 shots on target in every game since the Belgium game. For all the stick Sterling gets he was their best player tonight and suffered after he went off
 
mart22 said:
England can be proud. What an effort they have made. It wasn't to be this time, it's painful to lose, but England's players represented brilliantly. Well done to them all. Commiserations to our English bears, and any England supporters using FF. Next time !
Croatia will test France. They are a very, very good side and deserve to be in the final. Beating Russia, and beating England is no small thing. Croatia v France will be a fantastic final.
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Tell us this, what team of genuine quality have England beaten, thay were expected to beat a mediocre Tunisia, a very poor Panama and got through on penalties against a weakened and uninspiring Colombia and then beat a Sweden side starved of genuine quality. When they came up against a team of real quality they were found wanting. they got to the semi-final with a very easy route, fair enough that they got there but let's not go overboard about them, they couldn't hack it when the real games came on.
 
The correct result. It was a tight game and extra time seems fair but Croatia were the better team and it's a better way to lose than penalties.

England over achieved so congratulations.

I'd love Croatia to win the world cup but doubt they'll beat France
 
iaatpies said:
If they're going to play a back 3 then they need 2 proper wingbacks. They don't have that and probably only have 2 of a solid back 3.

The guys playing behind Kane need to do a power of work. Does Sterling fit the bill? Alli should but I'm not sure he has the game intelligence yet to really play that role properly. Midfield they have a guy who will sit and protect the back 3 or who will break up opposition attacks but one of the pundits I heard before the tournament started lamented their lack of a playmaker who can put his foot on the ball, look for a team mate and then find him with a pass that gets an attack going. It's telling that they were most dangerous from set pieces rather than from open play. Nobody was taking control of things in the middle of the park.

They're probably a centre half, 2 proper modern wingbacks, another attacking midfielder and a playmaker away from being the finished article. I'd have Dier in the middle of the park ahead of Henderson - he was hiding in the CL final and he hasn't had a particularly good world cup - and perhaps the likes of a Wilshire beside him is a better balance? Alli would be wasted playing deep but in that more advanced role he needs to be better at using the ball.

They'll be stronger in 4 years time. The Argentinians are facing a transition with the loss of Messi in the near future. Same for Portugal with Ronaldo. Germany probably need another overhaul as their lack of a plan B was badly exposed this tournament. Spain will also have to bring through some new players in key positions.

I think the big thing for England that would be a barrier to them going even further next time would be France and the emergence of Mbappe. France have a very good squad. Umtiti is still young. Kante will be 31 at the next world cup and still in his prime. They have Greizmann and Mbappe who will be world class for years t come.

Unless they can step up in 4 years time then I'd expect them to find at least France too good, even if some of the other big rivals will be looking to rebuild.
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Outstanding summary.
I think Walker could be one of the wing backs but they do need a centre back and a midfield rethink if not overhaul.
 
Glasgow Rangers (Sco) said:
To the folk saying England are sh!te....it’s probably worth remembering they could have 2 or 3 up af half time in a World Cup semi final.

Meantime we will struggle to qualify from a group containing Israel and Albania.....it’s like people who say Celtic are sh!te when clearly they aren’t .

The let’s bury our heads in the sand approach the SFA have adopted for years now........
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I don't think anyone has mentioned Scotland on here, as far as I can see. England were average at best. And if you do want to mention Scotland then England could only draw at hampdump.
 
Jacrispy said:
My heart bleeds for the plastic Nigel’s, still riding another countries coat tails to a semi final isn’t too bad either.

In all seriousness England did well, and Southgate deserves immense credit, but tonight was the first time England were really tested with any genuine quality.
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Fellow Brits/plastic nigels. Depends on your take I guess
 
The truth is England just aren't a good enough team to be the world champions.

How many of them should be in the team of the tournament?

Maybe the keeper, nobody else.
 
England just weren’t good enough on the night.

They could actually have been out of sight by half time, but over the 120 minutes, the better team won.
 
Glasgow Rangers (Sco) said:
To the folk saying England are sh!te....it’s probably worth remembering they could have 2 or 3 up af half time in a World Cup semi final.

Meantime we will struggle to qualify from a group containing Israel and Albania.....it’s like people who say Celtic are sh!te when clearly they aren’t .

The let’s bury our heads in the sand approach the SFA have adopted for years now........
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England are shite in the context of where they as a football nation should be....that can be said in isolation and without the context of Scotland and Celtic being attached to it.
 
At least we can all concentrate now on the only football team that matters...The Famous Glasgow Rangers.

Big season ahead and it starts tomorrow
 
Semi final was a great achievement for that England team. They will continue to qualify for World Cup finals and will get stronger.

Unfortunately due to the strength of the European teams, it is now almost impossible for teams such as Northern Ireland and Scotland to qualify. As only top seed qualifies and then is a seeded play off there is little chance of qualifying. For example, for this World Cup Northern Ireland are lucky not to be in a tough group such as the Spain and Italy group. Northern Ireland are drawn in Germany's group so Germany qualifies. We make the playoffs but it is seeded so chances are again reduced. Best chance is with the Euros and forget about the World Cup.
 
top_cat said:
Colombia was their death knell...the whole penalties thing...the media jumped on it.
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Southgates needlessly dull football with inexplicably attacking line ups was their death knell. Kane, Alli, Lingard, Sterling, Young. Rashford, Welbeck, Vardy, Loftus-Cheek in reserve.

Let's punt the ball then when we get it just play slow 2 yards passes and hope we can score from a corner.
 
Best team won.

Kane and Ali and others are just not top level players, they are just far to slow.

England have played 2 good teams at wc, and lost both.
 
The ITV studio now claiming England have 'actually overachieved'.

They beat Tunisia, Panama and Sweden. Squeaked it through against Columbia and then fluffed it against the first decent team they played. They ducked the hard side of the draw and with Argentina, Germany, Brazil, Portugal and Spain all out of the road and still they couldn't do it.

They will never get a chance like this again.
 
Not sure why there's a big love in for Gareth Southgate - England have had the best chance that they will ever have of getting to the WC final and they blew it.

Sure you can look at the missed chances and the inexperienced side but Southgate looked clueless when it came to subs and trying to change it when Croatia were on top.

He's really only manager because England aren't in a position to appoint a top class manager. A better manager would have looked at that draw opening up and had a real game plan and path to the final.

I thought England looked laboured the whole tournament and always looked like they could have another gear or two to go up. Never will they have a better chance as come the next WC those other countries will have got back to being stronger.
 
Goity said:
Harry Kane & Dele Alli were non-existent.

I'm hoping the Croats beat the frogs in the final mind you.

England had no killer instinct.
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They're Spurs players. They've never won anything. Did people really think the first trophy they won would be the phuckin world cup.
 
dh1963 said:
The truth is England just aren't a good enough team to be the world champions.

How many of them should be in the team of the tournament?

Maybe the keeper, nobody else.
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They won’t get a better chance than that, that would have been the easiest route to the final in a long long time.

They should be proud but I bet they’re kicking themselves too given they ended up dominated by the older team who’d played more minutes.
 
Ultimately, England’s luck ran out.

They’ve surpassed all expectations and can feel justifiably proud of their efforts, but that lack of genuine quality was there for all to see tonight.

Throughout the knockout stages England have struggled to create many clear cut chances and you can’t really expect to make it all the way through to the final of the World Cup on set pieces alone.

But Southgate now has the nucleus of a good young side there, so with that experience under their belt they could develop into a really handy proposition over the next few years.

So I say well done to them, but it was the right result tonight.
 
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