Let's all get behind ENGLAND

timthumbni

The England v Belgium game may not be as revealing as many think. Both sides will likely field a lot of their lesser squad players and indeed it may suit either of them to not top their group, instead going through as second.

I hope England do well in this World Cup. Kane seems a decent lad who isn’t up his own arse like some. No doubt the Germans will win on penalties though.

Einstrahlung50

namloc1980 wrote: »

Belgium would be generally regarded as a far superior team to Tunisia or Panama....would you not think?

Tunisia have conceded 7 goals in 2 games. Safe to say they are pretty poor.

Yep they're better, didn't say they weren't.

valoren

The england team at this world cup has a feel of an Under-age squad and not a squad of over hyped, prima donna star players. Average age is 26. The star 'senior' players of old are gone. Rooney, Terry, Lampard, Cole, Gerrard et al are all gone.

valoren

valoren wrote: »

The england team at this world cup has a feel of an Under-age squad and not a squad of over hyped, prima donna star players. Average age is 26. The star 'senior' players of old are gone. Rooney, Terry, Lampard, Cole, Gerrard et al are all gone.

And Southgate seems to have instilled in them the understanding that representing your country is an honour and a privilege, not a right or an inconvenience.

andekwarhola

Lads, some of you do realize that the matches are being shown on Irish TV. You don't actually have to monitor English TV in the hope of getting offended by English people enjoying England winning games.

You can safely go back to being plastic Scousers and Mancs in August, don't worry.

jcorr

But they will probably get knocked out by Germany on penalties right?

valoren

jcorr wrote: »

But they will probably get knocked out by Germany on penalties right?

Depends on the last games if they can meet the Germans in the knockouts (if at all).

Although saying that, England are an equal opportunity penalty missing team.

Kane will blast home the first penalty, giving a sense of hope. Get in mah son.
Ashley Young will drill one low and hard sending the keeper the wrong way, suggesting this time it'll be different. G'wan Englund!
Jamie Vardy sends a pill driver into the roof of the net, vindicating the sense of euphoria. It's cummin 'ome.....it's cummin 'ome...!!!!


Then.

Raheem Steling will skip up to the spot, when the keeper doesn't commit, he will second guess himself and stroke a tame shot for an embarrassingly easy save. Gareth Southgate remains stone faced, looking like he's trying to compute the square root of 145642 in his head.

Sterling......you caaaaaan't!

For an added bonus, Gary Cahill will lumber up to the spot and blast it over the bar into row Z.

Cue: Endless shots of fans standing with 1000 yard stares in their retro blue "Italia 90" third kit, flags draped over their shoulders, fists clenched to their chests thinking "Fark sake".

Mutant z

Eh no thanks.

shaunr68

murpho999 wrote: »

Lived in Holland for years and you cannot underestimate how much the Dutch dislike the Germans and cannot stand it when the German teams does well and it's a real struggle for them when their own team is doing poorly.
They still regard the beating of Germany in the Euro 88 semi-final as one of their greatest moments in football history.

Yea always reminds me of Wim van Hanegem's words when they met in the 1974 final:

"I didn't give a damn about the score. 1–0 was enough, as long as we could humiliate them. I hate them. They murdered my family. My father, my sister, two of my brothers. Each time I faced Germany I was angst-filled"

As well as that dirty bastard Rijkaard gobbing in Voller's perm.

Perhaps, generations later, and with hardly any of the perpetrators or the victims still alive, it's time to move on from bitterness about the occupation.

murpho999 wrote: »

I do not understand why people expect Irish people to support England and get labelled as begrudgers or xenophobes for not doing so.

I don't think it is a case of expecting anyone not from England to support England as such, I mean why would they? I could understand someone being ambivalent about the result, or even rooting for the underdog as many of us do. Who here wasn't rooting for Croatia when they played Argentina last Thursday? However the fact that many as a matter of course actively cheer on England's opponents regardless, might sometimes indicate something of a nasty undercurrent.

A lot of English people especially those from the industrial northern cities have Welsh, Irish and Scottish heritage and generally have a soft spot for those teams as an alternative if England haven't qualified or have been knocked out. I'm English, my grandfather was Scottish. He met my grandmother while stationed at Liverpool during the war waiting for a ship to North Africa. A lad from rural Ayrshire, he ended the war with a scouse wife and malaria. When I was growing up I always had a soft spot for the Scots in international football, my second team as it were, because of family connections. However years of seeing the mean-spirited, bitter, jealous xeonphobia of the "Anyone but England" brigade up there in porridgeland has changed my attitude. Enough. F*** em. I am now a fully paid up member of the "Anyone but Scotland" brigade. I love to see them fail, and I'm frequently amused because they're very good at it.

riffmongous

shaunr68 wrote: »

I don't think it is a case of expecting anyone not from England to support England as such, I mean why would they?

Eh, thread title? :P

Taytoland

England WILL win the World cup. Quote this.

Star Bingo

Taytoland wrote: »

England WILL win the World cup. Quote this.

For posterity.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

xzanti

I will be cheering them on.

They're one of our closest neighbours and as a nation, they've been very good to our women when they were in crisis over the years.

I don't get the hate.

minikin

xzanti wrote: »

I will be cheering them on.

They're our closest neighbor and as a nation, they've been very good to our women when they were in crisis over the years.

I don't get the hate.

England is our nearest neighbour? Have Northern Ireland, Wales, Scotland and the Isle of Man moved?

xzanti

minikin wrote: »

England is our nearest neighbour? Have Northern Ireland, Wales, Scotland and the Isle of Man moved?

One of our nearest neighbours.

TOss Sweep

I don't get the mentality that we should support England because you follow English clubs. So what. Only 3 teams in the world I follow at home Shelbourne and Ireland and Liverpool in England. If Ireland don't make it to the tournament I enjoy watching the games and it doesn't bother me who wins it all. If England do fair play to them but I say the same for any of the nations.

Omackeral

TOss Sweep wrote: »

I don't get the mentality that we should support England because you follow English clubs.

It's not that you should support England. The point more so is that it's a bit rich people hating them when they support teams from Liverpool, Manchester and London etc. and call them 'we' and 'us' every other weekend of the year.

TOss Sweep

Omackeral wrote: »

It's not that you should support England. The point more so is that it's a bit rich people hating them when they support teams from Liverpool, Manchester and London etc. and call them 'we' and 'us' every other weekend of the year.

To each their own. Its hilarious watching people getting hot and bothered over things like this and harping on that they shouldn't say 'we' or 'us'. Really does irk people. Truly is funny.

Omackeral

It's hardly getting hot and bothered, it's just making an observation.

Just saying it's a tad hypocritical to say 'we' and 'us' every week. A lot of these people have convinced themselves that the English Premier League is their league. Then they hate the same players when they line out for their own country? I've seen people giving out when God Save The Queen is played at the FA Cup Final.

I'm not saying support England. I just think it's rich when the majority of those hating them attach themselves to their biggest clubs.

Yer Da sells Avon

Taytoland wrote: »

England WILL win the World cup. Quote this.

Would you like it quoted before or after England go out on penalties because of a useless shot by today's equivalent of Stuart Pearce, Chris Waddle, David Batty or Gareth Southgate?

jimmycrackcorm

sugarman wrote:

Why not? Sure 99% of Irish 'football fans' follow an English club all year around anyway.

Just because I like a burger doesn't mean I'll go into a field and eat a cow.

pleas advice

when i can have steak at home...?

Spook_ie

Fred Swanson wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Never knew you had to pledge allegiance to support a footy team, just shows eh?

KungPao

Most English people I know couldn’t be arsed about England’s football team, and neither could I.

But I’m sure they’ll get to quarters, maybe semis, then get a wholloping.

Spook_ie

namloc1980 wrote: »

They beat a pub team and the English media are going nuts. BBC news saying the world has now stood up and taken notice of England. A few days ago they laboured to a win over a poor Tunisia side.

Don't think there's any such thing as an easy match, Mexico v Germany, Argentina v Iceland, Spain v Morocco etc. they all labored to achieve a result against teams they were expected to beat comprehensively.

Berserker

pleas advice wrote: »

when i can have steak at home...?

Are you comparing domestic football in the RoI to steak?

Timberrrrrrrr

Spook_ie wrote: »

Don't think there's any such thing as an easy match, Mexico v Germany, Argentina v Iceland, Spain v Morocco etc. they all labored to achieve a result against teams they were expected to beat comprehensively.

This^

Portugal came close to being knocked out of the tournament last night by a team they should have comfortably beaten.

Spook_ie

So England won't be going out on penalties against Germany anyway..

Spook_ie

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=

jcorr wrote: »

But they will probably get knocked out by Germany on penalties right?

Ha-Ha

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rX7wtNOkuHo

IamtheWalrus

Spook_ie wrote: »

So England won't be going out on penalties against Germany anyway..

The Germans will find a way

Ipso

Taytoland wrote: »

England WILL win the World cup. Quote this.

News of the World Cup, maybe.

mick malones mauser

It will be fun when they crash and burn.

Kermit.de.frog

Omackeral

That's actually clever for the Sun. I'm sure the definition is well and truly appreciated and needed by their readership.

ohnonotgmail

I'm surprised the "journalists" at the scum were able to spell it correctly.

riffmongous

Don't forget your 5 pound off at the german supermarket

mick malones mauser

Big fan of Schadenfreude myself .
Have a feeling the ole sun reading beer bellied brexit loving empire missing types and their Wing Commander Ponsoby Smythe leaders will be providing plenty of it for us in the coming days.
There ya go

andekwarhola

So England have only beaten pub teams so far but Belgium are quality for beating the same teams. Am I doing this right?

FixdePitchmark

I haven't gone the full distance and actually be up for England (yet).

But something a little more acceptable about this bunch - manager not as arrogant. Seems a genuine good team spirit, no real star - model (Becks / Gazza type figure)- VIP in team.

They are a bit more under the radar. The build up to this world cup and this English team has been remarkably low key.

But even if the press have been below their normal mentalometer - the likes of that from the sun shows they will be well able to up the pressure by the weekend.

At some point the sun will mention - Churchill , Thatcher , The Belgrano, Brexit or a War - at that point you sadly know it is over for what seems like a decent bunch of lads in English squad

DEFTLEFTHAND

valoren wrote: »

The england team at this world cup has a feel of an Under-age squad and not a squad of over hyped, prima donna star players. Average age is 26. The star 'senior' players of old are gone. Rooney, Terry, Lampard, Cole, Gerrard et al are all gone.

Yeah they needed a good clearout.

That 'golden generation' of theirs never delivered on their promise in a major competition.


Time to see what these young lads are made of.

AllForIt

FixdePitchmark wrote: »

They are a bit more under the radar. The build up to this world cup and this English team has been remarkably low key.

Simply wouldn't do to be talking themselves up when they haven't won it since 19 you know when. There is noting worse to hear chants based on a sense of entitlement to win when they don't have a chance. I'd hardly think talking themselves down will really make any difference as if they can't do it in the first place what difference does it make. I guess they are getting a little tired of feeling embarrassed.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

I still don't think they have the defence to go all the way and will be found out sooner or later. They may have peaked too soon.

It's the teams that start slowly and progress as it goes on that you need to watch.

FixdePitchmark

AllForIt wrote: »

Simply wouldn't do to be talking themselves up when they haven't won it since 19 you know when. There is noting worse to hear chants based on a sense of entitlement to win when they don't have a chance. I'd hardly think talking themselves down will really make any difference as if they can't do it in the first place what difference does it make. I guess they are getting a little tired of feeling embarrassed.

Don't know

A couple of English teams in last 30 years were good enough to win it.

1986
1990

Then Early to mid 2000s there was a real "golden generation" of players that were close and were genuinely a bit unlucky with sending offs / penos

To give an example - France and Spain - would have leagues below English standard. Yes I know to a degree it has been damaging to the English national team - but there are very few below the top level in this English squad.

I think it would be a mistake to underestimate England as a soccer nation .

They easily could have won the world cup in the last 40 years - a couple of years above mentioned are examples.

I'd like to say 1990 in particular
Penos. Bad penos to eventual winners - in a poor quality tournament.

AllForIt

FixdePitchmark wrote: »

Don't know

A couple of English teams in last 30 years were good enough to win it.

1986
1990

Then Early to mid 2000s there was a real "golden generation" of players that were close and were genuinely a bit unlucky with sending offs / penos

To give an example - France and Spain - would have leagues below English standard. Yes I know to a degree it has been damaging to the English national team - but there are very few below the top level in this English squad.

I think it would be a mistake to underestimate England as a soccer nation .

They easily could have won the world cup in the last 40 years - a couple of years above mentioned are examples.

I'd like to say 1990 in particular
Penos. Bad penos to eventual winners - in a poor quality tournament.

I had to laugh at this. I actually know noting about soccer. I don't mind world football but I can't stomach English football.

I do follow other sports though. A ball in a tennis match was just a nano millimetre outside the line. A 'lkick' in a snooker match changed the whole face of the game. If only that shot when in or that pot was potted then it could be all so different. Yeah right.

If there is one thing I know about who is going to win is it never comes down to small incidents. On the whole the better side universally wins despite the grips the loosing side makes.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

AllForIt wrote: »

I had to laugh at this. I actually know noting about soccer. I don't mind world football but I can't stomach English football.

I do follow other sports though. A ball in a tennis match was just a nano millimetre outside the line. A 'lkick' in a snooker match changed the whole face of the game. If only that shot when in or that pot was potted then it could be all so different. Yeah right.

If there is one thing I know about who is going to win is it never comes down to small incidents. On the whole the better side universally wins despite the grips the loosing side makes.

If it's a round-robin tournament, yes, I'd agree. If it's knockout, no.

Case in point: penalty shootouts.

Hande hoche!

God bless the optimism of that chap that got the England world cup 2018 winner tattoo.

AllForIt

AllForIt wrote: »

There is noting worse to hear chants based on a sense of entitlement to win when they don't have a chance.

What chants are those?

valoren

AllForIt wrote: »

I had to laugh at this. I actually know noting about soccer. I don't mind world football but I can't stomach English football.

I do follow other sports though. A ball in a tennis match was just a nano millimetre outside the line. A 'lkick' in a snooker match changed the whole face of the game. If only that shot when in or that pot was potted then it could be all so different. Yeah right.

If there is one thing I know about who is going to win is it never comes down to small incidents. On the whole the better side universally wins despite the grips the loosing side makes.

It's the sports psychology aspect. Small incidents can change momentum in any sport, a lucky break, a poor one. It's why sport is fascinating and loved. Where the best lose and the underdogs emerge victorious.

A good read about football tactics is 'Inverting the Pyramid'. How a simple sport became beautifully complicated. Going from an attitude of chasing after the loose ball and trying to just score more than the other team to the emergence of systems, formations, player positions and tactics of famed teams.

On following England though, let's say England reach the Semi finals and are playing Sweden say. It's a drab, tight match with little more than half chances so it goes to penalties. A proper stale mate game. Which group of players are going to be feeling the most pressure.

Clearly it will be the England players. If a Swedish player misses a penalty it would be bad, the supporters would be gutted. Yet with England, since 1990 there was the vilification of the players who missed against Germany. They, Pearce and Waddle, were smeared as a laughing stock, embarrassments who had choked when the pressure was on particularly as it was against 'zee germans' of all teams. Their missing was an affront to 'Blighty' The reality was they were top professional players who hadn't choked at all. They just missed penalties. Like many before them. The same happened with Beckham in 98 after he got sent off. He was a national pariah and it against the 'Argies' poured salt in the wounds. So for the national team at major tournaments, there would be this finger pointing at who was to blame instead of the introspection that the team just isn't one of the best at all.

It feeds into the whole sense of entitlement in English football as they 'invented' the game I guess and winning the World Cup again ought to be an inevitability given that. Thus missing penalties becomes a psychological scar and the arousal of the players mentally as they step up to take one is that they will actually be lambasted and scorned for the rest of their lives if they miss. To that end, the media and the supporters who perpetuate that vilification are shooting themselves in the foot so to speak.

The swedish team clearly wouldn't have that same pressure or burden. If they miss it's a case of swedish equivalent of "Ah ****e". There would be an empathy for the player, he at least manned up to take one and well that's
football after all, it's a lottery etc. You see it now where after they beat Panama, a side Cork City would beat, this sense of expectation is rising again instead of tempering expectations and spare a thought for the poor chap who ****s it all up for the nation and ridiculously becomes a marked man forever.

FixdePitchmark

AllForIt wrote: »

I had to laugh at this. I actually know noting about soccer. I don't mind world football but I can't stomach English football.

I do follow other sports though. A ball in a tennis match was just a nano millimetre outside the line. A 'lkick' in a snooker match changed the whole face of the game. If only that shot when in or that pot was potted then it could be all so different. Yeah right.

If there is one thing I know about who is going to win is it never comes down to small incidents. On the whole the better side universally wins despite the grips the loosing side makes.

You can laugh all you want but your totally wrong.

Soccer is a faster dynamic game - with 22 people on the pitch

You have injuries
Red cards
Incorrect decisions in every tournament.

That is the reason they have had to bring in var.

But England have had teams good enough to win the World Cup (86 - 90) - but it is a knockout tournament

Fair enough if it was a season over 9 months and 38 games - but it isn't, it is a part cup event.

Spain and France and Belgium are better teams and squads - but England very close behind them. Brazil have a randomness to them performance wise.

Not all them 5 teams will make final - some will knock each other out - there is a luck of the draw too. There will be another top team removed due to an unusual goal or event. It happens a lot in soccer.

Germany are gone a pre event favourite.