World Cup 2018 thread

[blake 10]

I'm over 6 feet but always seem to be a bit short.

 

are you always surrounded by taller than average soldier escorts/bodyguards like Napoleon was? That sometimes made bystanders in crowds, etc, think that Napoleon was shorter than he actually was. Many of the people around him were selected for their large size.

 

later, in the age of photography, leaders who really are short, like Russia's Stalin, Putin and France's Sahkozy always take care to surround themselves with no-so-tall people so they don't look like a midget. Trudeau's a bit short, for a Canadian these days, isn't he. Only 5.8. I bet he doesn't have too many really tall bodyguards.

[nikki-red 307]

Back on topic please.

[ALAN 58 10]

England have come a long way since the last Euro,s , but they still have a long way to go before we start winning competitions. We have far exceeded expectations for this WC lets see what happens in the future.

[tinfoilhat 11]

Same old England for me, no disrespect to the lads they gave their everything, but as I"ve said before, we don"t have world class players..

 

You aren't wrong. We've done really well, and the whole management of tournament football is light years ahead of what it was a decade ago. But we lack a modric or a pogba to push things along from central midfield. Souness had right the other day - I sort of said as much at the top of this thread - lingard and alli want to be on the end of things, not really driving forward or ticking things things over. It showed against Croatia and it showed against Belgium.

[hackey lad 3,950]

Said it all before . They've played a decent team 3 times (Croatia and Belgium twice ) and lost all 3 . Its all good beating Panama , Tunisia and a very poor Colombia but when the good teams come they have no answer. And Kanes goals were all against very poor opposition

Edited July 14, 2018 by hackey lad

[tinfoilhat 11]

Said it all before . They've played a decent team 3 times (Croatia and Belgium twice ) and lost all 3 . Its all good beating Panama , Tunisia and a very poor Colombia but when the good teams come they have no answer. And Kanes goals were all against very poor opposition

 

But we've been up against poor opposition in the last euros and a couple of world cups and have come undone. This is definitely a step up.

[hackey lad 3,950]

But we've been up against poor opposition in the last euros and a couple of world cups and have come undone. This is definitely a step up.

 

Im happy that you are positive about it but for me theres still a long way to go

[Padders 2,850]

Im happy that you are positive about it but for me theres still a long way to go

 

The general consensus among the media, pundits, etc. is this team will get better and better, I"m not qualified enough to give a valid opinion, so the jury is still out for me.

[MAC33 10]

It was a draw with Colombia over the 120 minutes.

 

Three losses doesn't lie.

 

There's no Da Bruyne,Hazard,Modric,Messi etc to play the final ball - that much is crystal clear.

 

Foden of Man.City should be given more game time for England as he appears to have that spark via his dribbling that most of the others lack.

 

I'm not seeing a Gascoyne,Beardsly or Hoddle on the horizon though.

 

From open play in the last third of the field - England were terrible in a creative sense for the whole tournament.

 

A win against Panama - it's like beating the Faroe Islands or Luxembourg.

[Ontarian1981 10]

are you always surrounded by taller than average soldier escorts/bodyguards like Napoleon was? That sometimes made bystanders in crowds, etc, think that Napoleon was shorter than he actually was. Many of the people around him were selected for their large size.

 

later, in the age of photography, leaders who really are short, like Russia's Stalin, Putin and France's Sahkozy always take care to surround themselves with no-so-tall people so they don't look like a midget. Trudeau's a bit short, for a Canadian these days, isn't he. Only 5.8. I bet he doesn't have too many really tall bodyguards.

 

LOL, I think my little joke flew over your cuckoo's nest

[pss60 10]

The general consensus among the media, pundits, etc. is this team will get better and better, I"m not qualified enough to give a valid opinion, so the jury is still out for me.

We've heard that 'general consensus' over and over again for decades and still won nothing, even when we had far better sides than the one we currently have, but by the Euros, it will be 54 years since we won anything, and if or when we fail to win that, we go into 2022 a full 56 years after the 1966 triumph. England need to be capable of beating the big five or six to actually win the World Cup or Euros. Beating sides like Panama, Tunisia and Sweden won't cut the mustard until we also start beating the more formidable sides in a major tournament, which is something we last did 16 years ago (Argentina in 2002) and counting. We simply got an unexpectedly smooth route to the semis, and convinced ourselves we only had to turn up to beat Croatia - who themselves beat Argentina 3-0 - and go all the way to the Final. We know what became of that. The route might well be much harder next time.

Edited July 15, 2018 by pss60

[pintor 32]

Belgium are lauded as the golden era, yet theyve won nothing, beat Panama & Tunisia & a so called poor England twice with so called world class (hazard Dr bruyne etc) players, and they finish 3rd, to our 4th!