I agree. England does not have a single player who I would rate as "World Class" - they have a group of very good players, they are solid as a team, but they have nowhere near the depth of Germany, Spain, France (all three also having a bunch of "World Class" players) to count as a main contender. They also do not have a player who could singlehandedly make a difference and win a game, like for example Messi, or Neymar. Even in the past, when England actually had players who could have made the difference (like Beckham, Lampard, Gerrard) they failed, so winning now is even more an illusion...
Yes, Germany will play with little pressure. They have already won it, and I think Germans may just care a bit less this time. Nevertheless, they will be ready 110%, and with their depth and effective system (they can miss a player on any position, and there always be someone who can replace him without loss of effectiveness to the whole formation) they are among main favorites.
Oh, yes, and I forgot to add their goalkeeper issues. Since Shilton left, all of their keepers were parodists at best... Without a solid keeper, your chances of winning will always go down.
The new manager hasn't really changed much of anything. Just brought more motivation and spirit to the team. Mostly same tactics. Uruguay is overrated and I'd say Round of 16 or Quarterfinals for them. Although Bentacur is a young midfielder that could be key.
When the World Cup is hosted by a UEFA member you can expect ... ... a team from UEFA to become World Champions => very high probability (Sweden1958 the only exception) ... UEFA to provide at least 1 finalist, pretty much a guarantee, and both finalists would be no surprise either => not a chance that there will be no finalists from UEFA, a good chance it will be an exclusively European final ... UEFA teams to take all final four places, which is quite fashionable, or at least 3 semifinalists will be from UEFA => 50/50 either event occurs and no chance of having less than 3 semifinalists from UEFA ... UEFA to have 6 out of 8 quarterfinalists ... it's commonplace that Brazil/Argentina fill the remaining two spots => there's a slim chance of increasing/decreasing the amount of UEFA teams that reach the quarters ... anything less than quarters means that at best this team just survived the group and got knocked out immediately after (meh) @Nico777 ... what was your prediction again? ... IIRC it had something to do with how well teams outside the powerhouses from UEFA would perform in Russia. In Russia even Germany, with their impressive record, can't take anything for granted ... successive titles would be extraordinary. Still 4 out of 5 titles were won by 4 (four) different UEFA sides since expansion to 32 teams ... France and (perpetual underachievers) Spain only won their very first title in the last 5 WCs (a second title might be on the cards) ... Italy and Holland are out (the former won't add yet another star and the latter won't come close this time) ... the teams outside the top 5 from UEFA (or top 6 if you include England, a bit of a stretch though) should be able to grab quite a few QF places and maybe make a deep run.
What do you mean? I don't understand what you are trying to say. I mean I watched every single game they played so far. Same tactics pretty much.
England is still rock solid in qualifying.Sooner or later they will get it right but Russia 2018 is probably a WC too early. Mind you,if Southgate is getting it right and old Harry has his scoring boots on..England could go pretty far upcoming summer. England is WCs in many under 22s age groups.Their time will come. Too big a football country to keep underperforming at world level. Sooner or later they will get it right.All it takes is one glorious month really..at the exact right time.
It is a shame that Italy hasn´t qualified.I think the whole world of football agrees in vast majority. I`m Sweden and this is the general opinion up north. However,not on our expense...
Yes, how are you coping with Italy being knocked out I hadn't seen one, but I assume there's a post by you somewhere with an Italian formation and lineup that you believed would at the very least make the final
Well I am bummed but there is nothing we can do about it now. Its really a disgrace because with a good coach we really should be competing to win this World Cup with the talent we have. The fact that we have so much talent and that we didn't even qualify means there are huge problems that have to be fixed, probably some that we don't even know about. However Ventura should never have been the coach of this team. I thought he might do ok at the beginning as he had reputation of investing in youth, but he didn't do anything with our youth basically. He played them and no results came. I still plan to watch the World Cup is a neutral, but honestly it is what it is. Nothing we can do about it now. However if we get a good coach I am optimistic about the League of Nations and Euro 2020. Also League of Nations will be a great test for us because we will be playing good teams.
I was genuinely sad when Italy failed to make it, I expected to find it funny like I did with America but I felt really blue about it.
Germany broke all the statistics and supposed confederational advantages and that by winning the worldcup in Brazil and even thrashing Brazil in front of their home fans. I don't think it matters that this worldcup is in Europe or not. I think the best teams are going to succeed and do well period regardless of where they are from. I don't see UEFA teams having some massive advantage at all. Football has moved on from all that. Most proffessionsal players from South America, Africa ply their trade and live in Europe anyways. I don't see any advantage at all.
Spain won in South Africa so it is not Germany that broke the trend. The trend is more about an UEFA team winning the world cup wherever it is played since a decade than about any confederation being able to win anywhere. There are world class players all over the world but when you look at the uefa and fifa teams of the year since few years UEFA got like 6-7 players if not more. When you look at the champions league winners since few years it is the same. Real Madrid starting XI: Navas carvajal ramos varane marcelo casemiro kroos modric isco cr7 benzema 8 uefa players 2 brazilians 1 costa rician.
I still think Belgium could be a much better team under better management. The coaching has improved since Wilmonts left, but I still think the team isn't managed well at all. I feel like there is a lack of game plan and tactics and the teamwork is not showing.
There are only four European NTs capable of winning the WC, and Croatia is not one of them: Germany, Italy, Spain and France. Italy will not be present, so that leaves three against two by Conmebol (Brazil and Argentina). Not such big of an advantage. On the other hand, overall head to head record since 1998 clearly favors Conmebol, as does progression relative to allocation. I also feel that Russia provides as much exoticism to Western Europe as to any other confederation. It may be more familiar to Eastern Europe, but none of these nations are capable of winning the WC.
Croatia, Portugal, and Belgium are capable, ok? The only South American teams capable are Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay, and even Uruguay I am not so sure about. Well Chile is capable as well, but they aren't there so its impossible.