World Cup 2018 | Page 106 | Vital Football

World Cup 2018

Needless to say, many will be expecting the same again next world cup and even European Championships, but as some have said, it won't be that easy in either competitions.

I can't see the next world cup with Italy or Holland not making the finals. I don't expect to see the likes of Germany, Argentina and Brazil to go out so early either..... this opened up the path for such an open couple of semi finals..... I'd never of predicted them, except France maybe.

The same scenario with the Europeans in most aspects. A lot of 'England supporters' claim we're a young squad and we'll be better in four years time!..... Will we? I doubt if they'll be much better if at all. The reasons are clearly made by Melon and david-avfc.
 
My hope is that we won't just sit back and say we've made it and not bother trying to change or improve the way we do things. We went into this tournament simply hoping to win a knockout game and ended up finishing 4th so I'd say it was a success but the last time we did this well at a world cup we didn't qualify for the next one!

Southgate seems like the type who won't get carried away with this and will learn from it, identify where we're weak and what he can realistically do to improve things.

England have been winning a lot of youth tournaments recently so there must be some decent talent coming up but will they get a chance? Or will it be the same old story of loan after loan till they fizzle out?

Personally I've enjoyed most of Englands games, more than I have done for a long while. Its been a nice distraction from the disastrous goings on at villa Park but now with just the final left and pre season friendlies going on I can't wait to get down the villa again and cheer the lads on.
 
CDX_EIRE said:
Part of why I couldn't stand the idea you'd win it and similar to Keane talking about the final and 'bringing football home'. Such a cringey thing, the other reason is the one sided rivalry Ireland has with England and typically seeing England fail gives us a good oul laugh.

Have to say in the end when I was able to separate the 'its coming home' talk from the rest I was just disappointed for England fans in the end.



Personally, (and I have to clarify I never actually seen the England team I am referring live but) since the Gazza days English national teams seem to lack any form of grit, spirit, pride, etc.

Its weird because the average person in England has it in spades but for some reason when the players go play for their nation they don't have it. Its been interesting to see comments saying they showed it against Colombia, they didnt they got dominated and outplayed as soon as Colombia got back in the game. It went missing against Croatia too.

I look at players like Lingard and maybe its just because they come through that system that they havent really faced much adversity. Harry Kane has it because he had to dig deep on loan and try and show his value but Lingard is a cookie cutter modern footballer who has had a good dare I say easy life coming through Uniteds academy. Maybe Im wrong, maybe Im ignorant but its the only thing I can think of to explain it. A lot of the Colombian or Croatian players wouldnt have had it easy and you toss in Croatia being a small nation of 4 million people it gives them some bottle and pride. Trying not to tar every english player because I think the likes of Kane, Maguire, Pickford relish it but you've lads like Lingard and Delle Ali who don't live in reality. I just couldnt see Lingard, Sterling, Stones etc. playing through injury and risking their careers like Vrisalko or Subasic have been.

Would have been a travesty against football if Lingard won a medal but I wouldnt begrudge a lot of other names, I've been very impressed with Pickford and even at this stage the man should win something.
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Any English ladies team - football, hockey, rugby - it’s there! Often under dogs who outperform constantly.
 
In my opinion, if internationals were played on an overall league basis, then England would be a mid-table Premiership team, somewhere between 8th and 12th.
The four other sides in these islands would be in the Championship, occasionally gaining promotion for a little while and sometimes dropping into League One.
 
JW1985 said:
Do people genuinely believe that zero Croatian, belgian or French people in the media or otherwise were talking up the prospect of playing in the final? Or is it just England that's apparently arrogant?
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Valid point, and yes I’m sure that plenty of people in other nations get excited too. But the media is, was and always will be a bunch of sensationalist hacks. Do you think any Croatian journalist would ask the question that was asked to Lovren in the build up? He was fired up from the get go and ended up playing the game of his life and laughing at the journalist who brought up his performance against Kane from 8 months ago. It’s self destruction courtesy of the media. And the rest of the world know exactly what “it’s coming home insinuates. “We invented the game.” Its arrogant. That mindset held this country back on the international stage for 50+ years. If I coached any opponent of England I’d be postering those articles all over the dressing room. No motivational team talk needed. Remember this the same media that have created a “scandal” prior to virtually every major tournament in my lifetime and have been directly or indirectly responsible for the sacking of numerous England managers. Not to mention destroying their personal lives.
 
100% what he said. As soon as the 'it's coming home' crap started the mood changed I thought in the real world, even if we remained relatively balanced on here.

We all wondered absolutely, I did, things were falling for us it seemed but we were all still "not the finished product" etc - it was caveated so to speak.
 
gmvillan said:
Valid point, and yes I’m sure that plenty of people in other nations get excited too. But the media is, was and always will be a bunch of sensationalist hacks. Do you think any Croatian journalist would ask the question that was asked to Lovren in the build up? He was fired up from the get go and ended up playing the game of his life and laughing at the journalist who brought up his performance against Kane from 8 months ago. It’s self destruction courtesy of the media. And the rest of the world know exactly what “it’s coming home insinuates. “We invented the game.” Its arrogant. That mindset held this country back on the international stage for 50+ years. If I coached any opponent of England I’d be postering those articles all over the dressing room. No motivational team talk needed. Remember this the same media that have created a “scandal” prior to virtually every major tournament in my lifetime and have been directly or indirectly responsible for the sacking of numerous England managers. Not to mention destroying their personal lives.
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The thing is gm, we actually did invent the game.
There's been games involving kicking ball like objects around played on this island for centuries. All the game of football is, is the game being given a set of rules, which we did.
Now if its 'arrogant' to remind ourselves and everyone else, so be it.
 
1958Villan said:
The thing is gm, we actually did invent the game.
There's been games involving kicking ball like objects around played on this island for centuries. All the game of football is, is the game being given a set of rules, which we did.
Now if its 'arrogant' to remind ourselves and everyone else, so be it.
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We invented it, and then a whole bunch of countries got better at it. The Wright Brothers invented the aeroplane. Pretty sure they wouldn’t have taken credit for the 747 though. Bottom line is, while we still hang on to the past we will never meet the present or future. Southgate has the right thought process, but I’m sure he’ll be hounded out after a few bad results.
 
Yep of course he'll be hounded out if he has bad results , that happens to all managers. Get it that he's trying to play like Pep but he really hasn't got the players to do it . Probably never will have .
 
Well they've built him up ready to be knocked down. Southgate definitely had the advantage that pretty much no one thought we'd even make the quarters but that won't be the case at the euros. The press will be ready with their knives out for him, I'm expecting some waistcoat related pun from the sun. Then he'll be out and Allardyce or someone like him will be in.
 
Villan57 said:
Yep of course he'll be hounded out if he has bad results , that happens to all managers. Get it that he's trying to play like Pep but he really hasn't got the players to do it . Probably never will have .
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I think that if Gareth gets a good offer from a decent club, he should accept it, otherwise the day will come when there will be a "SOUTHGATE IS A SWEDE"-style campaign in the SUN.
 
I think Southgate will be alright with regards to the press, as he is scandal-less - which suits the FA. Hodgson did alright on that basis.

Also the media, particularly the sun ride on public highs and amplify the lows - the nation adores Southgate (apart from those of us who think he’s good but not great) so they’ll sell papers for now.

One day it will come for Southgate, we had th easiest group for as long as I can remember but the European championships IMO can be tougher.
 
I doubt there are many under any illusions re England. We will continue to struggle against the present upper tier of teams in serious competition. Yes we had the luck of the draw but at least we were able to beat the lesser sides this time. I can understand non English folk looking in thinking oh there off again "footballs coming home etc". The truth is most of that sort of thinking is the press and media most England fans doubted we could win it and just like me enjoyed the experience albeit without meeting a serious power in a match that mattered.We are probably at the level of teams like Croatia its the jump to the next level that is difficult and until the prem. changes its rules so that a certain amount of home players have to be included in the team on the day we will continue to struggle.
 
If you look at the top teams, each has that player who makes everyone else better. A player who is not just a great technician, but has true football intelligence. Spain had it with Xavi (it’s no coincidence that they haven’t been the same since he retired) and I see the same traits in Modric. The Germans had it with Matteus then Schweinsteiger. DeBruyne to a lesser extent. Kante is more than just a runner and tackler although not as attack minded. Deschamps was that player for the French in the 90’s. The Brazilians had Zico, then Dunga. These are the types of players that don’t rely on speed or athleticism, but use their intelligence to supplement their skill.
I’m scratching my head to think of a single England player in my lifetime that would fit that profile. Gascoigne was gifted, but no intelligence. Hoddle was intelligent but lazy.
 
gmvillan said:
If you look at the top teams, each has that player who makes everyone else better. A player who is not just a great technician, but has true football intelligence. Spain had it with Xavi (it’s no coincidence that they haven’t been the same since he retired) and I see the same traits in Modric. The Germans had it with Matteus then Schweinsteiger. DeBruyne to a lesser extent. Kante is more than just a runner and tackler although not as attack minded. Deschamps was that player for the French in the 90’s. The Brazilians had Zico, then Dunga. These are the types of players that don’t rely on speed or athleticism, but use their intelligence to supplement their skill.
I’m scratching my head to think of a single England player in my lifetime that would fit that profile. Gascoigne was gifted, but no intelligence. Hoddle was intelligent but lazy.
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In my lifetime that would apply to Bobby Charlton sadly I would find it difficult to name another one.
 
1st 10 minutes here is reminding me of the play off final. 1 teams been told to start fast and get in amongst the opposition and the others seemingly been told to take a step back and see what happens.
 
I remember saying in the England - Croatia game that Croatia has several thuggish players led by Lovren who should have been sent off never mind yellow carded and it's clear to see they have started where they left off.

For that reason alone I hope France stuff them.
 
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