England World Cup Discussion Thread

[brahmburgers]

If England loses, I hope they and their fans don't resort to the tired old line of "we played badly....." crap.

That's what they did after the US game, they did it again after the Algeria game. That's a cop-out excuse mentality that pops up too often with English players and fans - and its denigrating to opposing teams that tie with, or beat them. It could as easily be said, with those two games, that England played as well as it could, but it couldn't beat their opponents.

It would be like the American and Algerian teams/fans saying, just after their matches: "We're much better squads than the English, it's just we played so badly, we only were able to draw with them."

England players play as well as they're able. They're certainly the highest paid bunch at the W.C. If the English team loses, they will have lost to a team which outplayed them, not because their players played badly.

[rixalex]

If England loses, I hope they and their fans don't resort to the tired old line of "we played badly....." crap.

That's what they did after the US game, they did it again after the Algeria game. That's a cop-out excuse mentality that pops up too often with English players and fans - and its denigrating to opposing teams that tie with, or beat them. It could as easily be said, with those two games, that England played as well as it could, but it couldn't beat their opponents.

It would be like the American and Algerian teams/fans saying, just after their matches: "We're much better squads than the English, it's just we played so badly, we only were able to draw with them."

England players play as well as they're able. They're certainly the highest paid bunch at the W.C. If the English team loses, they will have lost to a team which outplayed them, not because their players played badly.

Simply not true. Sometimes teams play well, sometimes they don't. Sometimes teams play to their potential, sometimes they don't.

England team is not a great side. Expectation of most England fans is not that they play great football. Expectation is that the play good football. Of that they are capable... at times. For the three games they have played so far, it hasn't been very good. That's a fact. It's not meant to take anything away from the sides we have played against. They have deserved whatever they have taken from the games.

As far as the England team being the highest paid bunch, do you have the figures on that, or are you just assuming? I would imagine they must be one of the highest, but i haven't seen any figures. Would be interesting.

[bkkjames]

If England loses, I hope they and their fans don't resort to the tired old line of "we played badly....." crap.

That's what they did after the US game, they did it again after the Algeria game. That's a cop-out excuse mentality that pops up too often with English players and fans - and its denigrating to opposing teams that tie with, or beat them. It could as easily be said, with those two games, that England played as well as it could, but it couldn't beat their opponents.

It would be like the American and Algerian teams/fans saying, just after their matches: "We're much better squads than the English, it's just we played so badly, we only were able to draw with them."

England players play as well as they're able. They're certainly the highest paid bunch at the W.C. If the English team loses, they will have lost to a team which outplayed them, not because their players played badly.

Jock, can I request a 3 day suspension in advance to save me the headache of having to get really worked up over this bunch of tossers?

[StevieH]

As far as the England team being the highest paid bunch, do you have the figures on that, or are you just assuming? I would imagine they must be one of the highest, but i haven't seen any figures. Would be interesting.

i would think that being made up of mostly madrid and barcelona that the spain squad are the top earners at the tournament. they're certainly the ones on the biggest potential bonus for winning it at 500k euro per man.

[rixalex]

As far as the England team being the highest paid bunch, do you have the figures on that, or are you just assuming? I would imagine they must be one of the highest, but i haven't seen any figures. Would be interesting.

i would think that being made up of mostly madrid and barcelona that the spain squad are the top earners at the tournament. they're certainly the ones on the biggest potential bonus for winning it at 500k euro per man.

Yes that would be my guess too but brahmburgers spoke with such certainty i thought perhaps he had some solid figures.

[StevieH]

As far as the England team being the highest paid bunch, do you have the figures on that, or are you just assuming? I would imagine they must be one of the highest, but i haven't seen any figures. Would be interesting.

i would think that being made up of mostly madrid and barcelona that the spain squad are the top earners at the tournament. they're certainly the ones on the biggest potential bonus for winning it at 500k euro per man.

Yes that would be my guess too but brahmburgers spoke with such certainty i thought perhaps he had some solid figures.

it's a world cup. all manner of purveyors of misinformed comment come flying out of the woodwork. was the worst thing about watching the world cup in london in 2006, every clown with a copy of the s*n suddenly considered themselves an expert and voiced nonsense loudly and publicly.

[mommysboy]

<P>As a general note to the England detractors, Germany most definitely would have prefered playing USA Im sure.  How on earth can you think differently? Just look at how their press is running scared already! do you think they'd mobilise like this if they were playing US.?<BR><BR>England played badly against USA and Algeria, so the lament of a poor result caused by a poorly performing side is logical and justified. Did USA or Algeria play well then? If so, how? No of course not, England were poor.<BR><BR>I agree though that If Germany win it will simply be a case of losing to another good team no excuses.<BR><BR><BR></P>

[oldgit]

I see Franz "Not Ferdinand" Bechenhauser is worried - going on about how the English blew it and ended-up in 2nd. He was hoping for an easy match against the USA I guess.

Calamity James.

[glegolo]

England - USA 1-1

England - Algeriet 0-0

Slovenien - England 0-1

Sorry to bring this up. I am swedish and as being one, I am also by tradition PRO-England what it concerns fotball (soccer).

THE thing that I always have hardest to deal with what concern England and their supporters, are their own expectation

when it comes to play against other nations.

I feel that the lack of humble attitude towards these nations doesn´t benefit Englands awareness of their own position in

the soccer world. If you are not aware, you will have a hard time to evolve your own play and the quality of your own play.

In my mind, England was number one 1966, but has never been since than.

As you can see above, England played against nations like USA, Algeria and Slovenia. The two last ones are in the REAL

bottom rankwise, and USA just above them... with that competition this should have been an easy "slam dunk", instead

England made 2 goals in total, and had huge problem even to get through from this group.

I am sorry about this, in fact I am sad. my own national-team didn´t qualify so of course, I, besides 100 of thousands in Sweden

cheer for England and really want them to do fine in World-cup. Well having said that, I hope I didn´t step too much on any ones

english toes... I just want somebody to tell me why in hel_l England and their supporters always STILL thinks they are the champion

of the world when it comes to soccer.

It felt really akward during the 90.ies when Sweden played England and beat the crap out of them, but England couldn´t give us any

credit. No it was the surface, the lack of this and that, and it was a bad coach and finally Sweden just had a lucky day, or was it 2 lucky

days... I think it should benefit England to be a bit more humble and trying to find out what the heck is wrong. You have wonderful, and

in my eyes fantastic players , but play TOGETHER... No I dont think so...

Glegolo

[rixalex]

I just want somebody to tell me why in hel_l England and their supporters always STILL thinks they are the champion

of the world when it comes to soccer.

They don't.

[carmine]

I just want somebody to tell me why in hel_l England and their supporters always STILL thinks they are the champion

of the world when it comes to soccer.

They don't.

Yours is a good post glegolo, but we don't think we are still champions. You are confusing this with the "weight ofexpectation" the English have, and i think at times it does'nt help the team. This is not arrogance, superiority as some want to mantain...fact is it's our national sport and a game we love.

[Moonrakers]

If England loses, I hope they and their fans don't resort to the tired old line of "we played badly....." crap.

That's what they did after the US game, they did it again after the Algeria game. That's a cop-out excuse mentality that pops up too often with English players and fans - and its denigrating to opposing teams that tie with, or beat them. It could as easily be said, with those two games, that England played as well as it could, but it couldn't beat their opponents.

It would be like the American and Algerian teams/fans saying, just after their matches: "We're much better squads than the English, it's just we played so badly, we only were able to draw with them."

England players play as well as they're able. They're certainly the highest paid bunch at the W.C. If the English team loses, they will have lost to a team which outplayed them, not because their players played badly.

Muppet

[brahmburgers]

<br>

<br>If England loses, I hope they and their fans don't resort to the tired old line of "we played badly....." crap.<br>That's what they did after the US game, they did it again after the Algeria game. That's a cop-out excuse mentality that pops up too often with English players and fans - and its denigrating to opposing teams that tie with, or beat them. It could as easily be said, with those two games, that England played as well as it could, but it couldn't beat their opponents. <br><br>It would be like the American and Algerian teams/fans saying, just after their matches: "We're much better squads than the English, it's just we played so badly, we only were able to draw with them."England players play as well as they're able. They're certainly the highest paid bunch at the W.C. If the English team loses, they will have lost to a team which outplayed them, not because their players played badly.

Simply not true. Sometimes teams play well, sometimes they don't. Sometimes teams play to their potential, sometimes they don't.<br><br>England team is not a great side. Expectation of most England fans is not that they play great football. Expectation is that the play good football. Of that they are capable... at times. For the three games they have played so far, it hasn't been very good. That's a fact. It's not meant to take anything away from the sides we have played against. They have deserved whatever they have taken from the games.<br><br>As far as the England team being the highest paid bunch, do you have the figures on that, or are you just assuming? I would imagine they must be one of the highest, but i haven't seen any figures. Would be interesting.

Frankly, I may have mispoke about 'highest paid......', I was thinking Premier League.salaries, and may have misplaced my statement. Maybe it's not meant 'to take anything away from the sides they played against' when saying England plays badly when it doesn't win. However, I still think it's a cop-out to say that. Naturally, fans want to see their team win every time. But every time they don't win, to go on and say they played badly, is too simplistic. It could just as well be true that their team played as well as they could, with the best players they could muster, and were simply no better (in the case of a tie) than the other team.<br><br>England didn't qualify for the 2008 UEFA competition, so logic would say there are at least 16 European teams that are better than they were, 2 years ago.<br><br>My prediction for the final of this year's W.Cup: Portugal 2 Uruguay 1

BB's note: ....too much auto applied html. not my doing.

[brahmburgers]

If England loses, I hope they and their fans don't resort to the tired old line of "we played badly....." crap.

That's what they did after the US game, they did it again after the Algeria game. That's a cop-out excuse mentality that pops up too often with English players and fans - and its denigrating to opposing teams that tie with, or beat them. It could as easily be said, with those two games, that England played as well as it could, but it couldn't beat their opponents.

It would be like the American and Algerian teams/fans saying, just after their matches: "We're much better squads than the English, it's just we played so badly, we only were able to draw with them."

England players play as well as they're able. They're certainly the highest paid bunch at the W.C. If the English team loses, they will have lost to a team which outplayed them, not because their players played badly.

Muppet

What does 'muppet' mean? Is it flattering or denigrating, or somewhere in between? Is it part of a secret language concocted by England fans, when normal words fail them? If it an apology for browning one's pants, as in "Muppet, I knew I shouldn't have eaten that whole box of prune scones in one sitting."

[rixalex]

br>Frankly, I may have mispoke about 'highest paid......',  I was thinking Premier League.salaries, and may have misplaced my statement.<br><br>Maybe it's not meant 'to take anything away from the sides they played against' when saying England plays badly when it doesn't win.   However, I still think it's a cop-out to say that.  Naturally, fans want to see their team win every time.  But every time they don't win, to go on and say they played badly, is too simplistic.  It could just as well be true that their team played as well as they could, with the best players they could muster, and were simply no better (in the case of a tie) than the other team.<br><br>England didn't qualify for the 2008 UEFA competition, so logic would say there are at least 16 European teams that are better than they were, 2 years ago.<br><br>My prediction for the final of this year's W.Cup:   Portugal 2  /  Uruguay 1<br><br><br><br><br>

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It's not a cop out to say that England played badly, nor is it simplistic. Most of us England fans spend many many hours watching England players playing in their club teams and know what level they are capable of. We know when they are performing below their level. And we know when they are performing above it.

We don't think the current team is great. We don't think we are likely to win or even get to the final. Nor do we think we have any right to win. We are very realistic about our chances. We are also the first to recognise those teams that are better than us. I really don't know what more you guys (who seem to love getting on our backs) want from us. You are very difficult people to please.

[Abrak]

It felt really akward during the 90.ies when Sweden played England and beat the crap out of them, but England couldn´t give us any credit.

You shouldnt feel too awkward about any of this. You see you obviously suffer from the same English disease. You hark back to the glory days of old when in the mid 1990s, Sweden was ranked number 2 in the World by Fifa. You obviously feel pretty sad about the current 40th position but I think if you keep at it you will move up.

You also have that selective memory lapse that us English suffer from. I dont recall Sweden ever 'beating the crap' out of England. In fact I dont recall Sweden ever beating England by more than 1 goal in my lifetime.

In fact, Sweden can now lose to Algeria and hold their heads up high as afterall Algeria are ranked a better team.

[glegolo]

It felt really akward during the 90.ies when Sweden played England and beat the crap out of them, but England couldn´t give us any credit.

-----------------------------------------------------

You shouldnt feel too awkward about any of this. You see you obviously suffer from the same English disease. You hark back to the glory days of old when in the mid 1990s, Sweden was ranked number 2 in the World by Fifa. You obviously feel pretty sad about the current 40th position but I think if you keep at it you will move up.

You also have that selective memory lapse that us English suffer from. I dont recall Sweden ever 'beating the crap' out of England. In fact I dont recall Sweden ever beating England by more than 1 goal in my lifetime.

In fact, Sweden can now lose to Algeria and hold their heads up high as afterall Algeria are ranked a better team.

---------------------------------------------

Hahaha, really good post. I like it. I must say ABRAK, that you got it right. It is a pity however that you got lost in the part where Sweden

"beat the crap out of you". I did spice up this post by that expression and didn´t mean any harm.

I think that the important message with my post was that having access to A LOT of so talented players and NOT being able to put

TOGETHER a team that can perform better is just sad. I see week after week in the premier league performancies that is just fantastic

to watch, and I am talking about englishman now, not imported players.

You really should have been able to perform much much better, and me personally, from the outside blame it on the lack of teamspirit and

the ability of performing as a TEAM.

I am hoping that England now in the playoff will do fine, and that will substitue for the absence of Sweden.

Good luck guys...

Glegolo

[rixalex]

---------------------------------------------

Hahaha, really good post. I like it. I must say ABRAK, that you got it right. It is a pity however that you got lost in the part where Sweden

"beat the crap out of you". I did spice up this post by that expression and didn´t mean any harm.

I think that the important message with my post was that having access to A LOT of so talented players and NOT being able to put

TOGETHER a team that can perform better is just sad. I see week after week in the premier league performancies that is just fantastic

to watch, and I am talking about englishman now, not imported players.

You really should have been able to perform much much better, and me personally, from the outside blame it on the lack of teamspirit and

the ability of performing as a TEAM.

I am hoping that England now in the playoff will do fine, and that will substitue for the absence of Sweden.

Good luck guys...

Glegolo

Spot on with all of that. We do have some good players in the squad, but culminatively, more often than not, they just don't seem to play well together. This is what frustrates England fans and this is what we spend a lot of time moaning about. Unfortunately, this moaning by some is interpretted as arrogance. It is anything but. England haven't had a team worthy of winning a World Cup for many many years. We know that. We don't need to be reminded. It sticks in the throat, especially when it comes from fans of nations that likewise are guilty of underachieving.

[noel2499rk]

Spainish TV made a little compilation of Fabio Capello from the Solvenia game very funny, Stuart Pearces job seems to be as a human punching bag for Capello.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqyvNmBhp6c

[mommysboy]

glegolo - we don't think we are the natural champions or the best in the world. We generally do think that we are a world power at football. The complaint is that we do not perform to our station.

[mommysboy]

If England loses, I hope they and their fans don't resort to the tired old line of "we played badly....." crap.

That's what they did after the US game, they did it again after the Algeria game. That's a cop-out excuse mentality that pops up too often with English players and fans - and its denigrating to opposing teams that tie with, or beat them. It could as easily be said, with those two games, that England played as well as it could, but it couldn't beat their opponents.

It would be like the American and Algerian teams/fans saying, just after their matches: "We're much better squads than the English, it's just we played so badly, we only were able to draw with them."

England players play as well as they're able. They're certainly the highest paid bunch at the W.C. If the English team loses, they will have lost to a team which outplayed them, not because their players played badly.

Muppet

An insult to muppets

[LaoPo]

17 days since the OP

24 pages

595 posts, discussing England who won't win the Worldcup.

It's time to discuss Holland, the next World Champions

LaoPo

[maccaroni man]

17 days since the OP

24 pages

595 posts, discussing England who won't win the Worldcup.

It's time to discuss Holland, the next World Champions

LaoPo

always the brides maid, never the bride

[LaoPo]

17 days since the OP

24 pages

595 posts, discussing England who won't win the Worldcup.

It's time to discuss Holland, the next World Champions

LaoPo

always the brides maid, never the bride

True...not yet...not yet.....but there's always the day that the brides' maid becomes a bride herself

Maybe that day isn't too far off..?

LaoPo

[glegolo]

[quote name='LaoPo' 17 days since the OP...24 pages...595 posts,... discussing England who won't win theWorldcup.It's time to discuss Holland, the next World Champions

---------------------------------------------------

Bla, bla, bla, Holland and France..... 2 nations with players that have seen their best days. And the upcoming guys in their team doesn´t seem to be that good. I think that the only team with scill and talent enough to threat Brazil is SPAIN, watch out...

Glegolo

[LaoPo]

Bla, bla, bla, Holland and France..... 2 nations with players that have seen their best days. And the upcoming guys in their team doesn´t seem to be that good. I think that the only team with scill and talent enough to threat Brazil is SPAIN, watch out...

Glegolo

If you are comparing Holland with France in Football, it shows you have no clue about Holland's strenght....

France is out of the WC without winning one single match.

Holland won all 3 matches so far and has, next to Argentina, 9 points. No other country performed like that.

I wrote elsewhere that Holland could face either Argentina, Spain or Germany...in the FINAL

Buenas Dias! Have a nice day

LaoPo

[Abrak]

I must say a number of friends of mine are worried about the violence that might erupt after 'red shirt' protests tonight after the game.

I have, of course, told them that the 'red shirts' that might cause trouble are in fact ignorant peasants who support the 'English Team' because they are all very rich. I have also told them that they are essentially harmless, maybe a little drunk and perhaps might throw a firecracker at you if you say 'piss off ignorant red shirt.'

They are best left alone. A couple of days later the 'team' they so vehemently supported in the height of their passions are now 'referred' to as 'useless f_ckers.'

[soihok]

Ok, changing the subject without going off topic.

This weekend is one of these very few weekends that we have an over load of sporting action.

Rememeber this weekend.

We have access to view:-

World cup footy.....two great games last night and Germany play England tonight as well as Argentina v Mexico.

Moto GP from Assen in Holland last night,...well done Jorge!

F1 from Spain...now.

World Superbikes from Italy, Max Biaggi half way to winning a double.

Wimbledon for tenis fans.

We should remember this weekend for weeks to come.

All thats missing is a local Sheffield United game and would be happy to stay in a time warp this weekend for ever.

Cheers

[soihok]

OK way off topic here but, Thailands Ratthapark Wilirot was only a couple of bikes length off winning a podium postion in yesterdays Moto2 at Assen.

WELL DONE RATTHAPARK.

[Abrak]

OK way off topic here but, Thailands Ratthapark Wilirot was only a couple of bikes length off winning a podium postion in yesterdays Moto2 at Assen.

WELL DONE RATTHAPARK.

OK..... far more on topic. Did anyone notice how beautiful the sunset was tonight. 'Red sky at night' bodes well

I think....

Or maybe not.... if the Germans are going to play in black again then it will actually be black or at least dark by the time the match actually starts.

And now the red dusk light is fading. Help!?