This is true that England has been unlucky sometimes in the last 40 years. However, for their two best results since their WC win, you can't say that they didn't have chance on their side. WC 1990: In the 2nd round against Belgium the FK that led to England 119th minute goal (which was fantastic BTW) was for a non existant foul on Gascoigne. In QF against Cameroon they came back with two soft penalties. Euro 1996: They were unlucky to lose against Germany in the Semis but remember how tthey beat Spain in QF .Spaniards were denied a goal that was never offside.
I have not seen so many fans have tears, prayers and stress at England and Premiership matches than anywhere else. This passion and seriousness is apparent. The media just emphasises and exaggerates this even further, and makes the whole problem have momentum. Ask yourself, why are there such a thing as hooliganism? It's because people take the sport more seriously than others...up to the point where it means so much to them that these cases occur. Sure you get this in more than one country...But England players to me seem to have more pressure and less ability to cope with this pressure. England didn't just looked like they didn't train or have a plan...they looked like chokers. Much like some of the games SA players played in (which also has similar massive exaggerated expectations of fans). The problem is that some of these expectations are sometimes more than what the England or South African players have the capabilities of. Brazil has similar expectations by their fans...but their expectations are a bit more valid when they fail because they have shown and proven what they can achieve. The pressure to maintain that standard is there. Whilst England is basically compared to the 66 team as well as premiership and CL performances. England should lessen the overuse of foreign based players in the starting lineups in their leagues.
This might be right. I don't really know, but I do know the English media ia masterful in their distortions of just about everything. What you say does jive with the fan interviews I have seen. The most recent one I recall was a guy maybe in his late 30s and he was with his 8-9 year old kid and he was interviewed in south africa "Oh we lost. No surprise really. And look at this kid(his son).He's ecstatic. He thinks that the best English game he ever watched. And it probably was." They didn't seem surprised or dissapointed to go out so early at all. None of the dozen or so interviews I saw anyway.
Hooliganism in the UK from the 80's was all about gangs getting together for a ruckus, nothing to do with whether they won or lost a match, football was merely the vehicle they chose to express the violence they wanted to show. In England this gave a poor reflection on the English fans. These hooligans could have chosen any sport to wage their fight clubs just that football is the most popular in this country and one where they had a strong cultural bond with.
I'm reading How Soccer explains the World right now, in which the author describes a sort of 'gentrification' of English soccer sometime around the 1990's, his prime example being Chelsea, which seems to have gone from having one of the worst and most violent group of supporters to being a club for upwardly mobile yuppies. At the same time, going from being a very working class, down-home type team to one with barely any English players on the roster at all. Not sure if this is correct - confirmation from our British friends required - but if so, and if this is systemic rather than isolated, that could very easily lead to a sort of disconnect between English fans and players on one side and the actual clubs - and national team by extension. Not saying that you need hooligans in the stands to have a good team, but if local talent isn't being recruited and the guys fans cheer for are from elsewhere, you can't expect to put together a decent national squad.
Well there are some French posters but considering the animosity toward the French here (ok, everywhere... but especially here), we are not really encouraged to post a lot. Add to this that there is a very loud minority who despises the French more than anything. It is quite funny to see that Zidane is perceived as one of the third best player ever in many boards (not French but international boards), but here, to even consider him as a top 10 player is a sacrilege, the ultimate act of newbiness. They think it is a la mode to contest the obvious. Write something like this on Bigsoccer and you have immediately a bunch of Brazilian zealots trashing you, putting at least 25 Brazilian players before him. Not even mentioning Tesos, who does a daily research "Zidane" on this forum to jump in any threads, bashing whoever mentioning even his skills. Well now you understand why we are not many...
I'm sorry, but that's just lame... This is a big board with a lot of people, which also means that there's also a lot of hate. Everybody is at the receiving end at some point. It's not as if "hunting down the French and making fun of them" is what's on the mind of any of the people here. If I got worked up over every joke made about Germans or Germany or any player I adore, I'd probably better stay out of the evil internets...
Participation in online forums doth require thick skin. Regardless of whether the subject matter of the forum is soccer or anything else.
I always like reading this statistics and making fun out of the english media.I hope they shut up now forever.
Maybe it's because almost or more then half of the players in the Premier are foreign. Also because they have bad management in the roster selection. It was a shame that Theo Walcott wasn't on the roster with his explosive attacking abilites.
Every teams need a bit of luck. England 1996 did kick Holland's arse badly and Holland was a good team. England was probably one of the better teams in 1996.
English football fails because the players aren't as technically gifted or as tactically aware as players from the other big nations. The English thing that physicality, pace and direct football will prevail. Stereotypical but it's true. The English media also over-rate players and place too much expectations on them. Look at Owen and Rooney. When they were only 18, they had their best tornaments. Since they had their breakthough tournaments, there has always been a load of expectation on them, especially Rooney. Owen is past his best but Rooney is only 24 so maybe he can live up to the hype for his country. I also believe that the English care more about their clubs more than their country. When you hear statements such as "the CL is better than the World Cup" from a guy like Jamie Carragher, it tells you a lot. England need to learn to keep the ball, play a possession game and appreciate technique. It's not poncey. It's smart. The English also need to understand tactics. You can't give the opposition lots of space in defence and you can't leave players free at corners. If England produces another Paul Gascoigne or Stanley Matthews, play the guy! He can win you matches! He will create magic! Just don't overrate the poor guy until he has won a trophy for the Three Lions. England needs a style change. Other nations are doing it. If not, the likes of Gordon Banks, Bobby Moore and Bobby Charlton will be confined to history and the next one won't come along.
English football needs a league for itself. Brazil has a league for itself and it uses other leagues around the world. The Englishmen, allow imports to take over their spots and deny younger Brits to play high level football. Grass roots in England, die at the professional level it seems like it.
I totally agree with your post. I think England's direct play is at times costing them. This is why i believe teams of the Premiership kind of struggle against South African teams like Pirates in cups like the Vodacom challenge. Sure its pre-season, but it's still pre-season for both teams. The South African players are less direct, has a different pace and more skill...whilst the English seemed to be more direct, paced and tactical approached. They really seemed to have struggled against us, yet will do well against teams of similar styles of their own...
Dude, making the final 8 at the Euro is nothing, unless you are Moldavia, or Finland (with all due respect to these nations) ... England is the biggest failure (expectations vs REAL results) in the history of football. Excuses are cheap.
Because we don't CHEAT enough This is Schellenger in the 1966 final handling the ball with less than a minute to go which got Germany the extra time. Gordon Banks racing towards the referee after the goal tapping his forearm. Without this, no extra time, no Russian linesman. Needs no caption. It's fortunate that Norman Hunter didn't realise what the fat little CHEAT had done whilst the game was still on. He would have needed a hand from god to carry on walking.
Hate to have to put you guys through this again. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXo2nm2ODF0&feature=related"]YouTube- USA vs England in Lego[/ame]
I like how you have chosen to start this in 1970, and not 1960. Is it because England won the world cup in 1966? I also like how you have chosen to do SF's rather than QF's. Maybe it is because England has as good a record as anyone outside of Brazil and Germany in getting to the world cup QF's. The simple fact is that winning the World cup is a damn hard thing to do, There's only 6 countries that have ever done it and England happens to be one of them. Although this will be different after tomorrow, Spain and Holland have never won the world cup, Spain hadn't even reached the semi's before this year. Our U 21 side got to the final of the Euro's last year and our U 17's have just won the Euro's this year. The future of English football is on the up, not in decline.
What really happened with Paul the crazy octopus??? ) [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zsK9gH2iGM"]YouTube- Paul the crazy octopus- ??? ??????[/ame]
English football fails because the patriotism of the supporters is strong in fewer people because it is lost to the people that run the game. The F A think more about money than sport and have lost their way with the meaning of patriotism and sport. They are prepared to let Italians and Swedes manage our national team. It is a lack of respect for the quality of our own people and for International competition. The game was invented in England and so were many of the principles of sport. Unfortunately money has come in and the values have gone out the window. There is an article about Paul the Psychic Octopus being the next England manager that reflects the stupidity of the English FA
What are you saying that it's OK to cheat? That handball by that little fat buttfaced coke sniffing cheat directly cost England the game. When he got kicked out of the world cup for drug taking oh we did laugh. England needs to do what everyone else is doing and cheat a little more. 11 players in the German squad aren't German. There's your answer, if the England players aren't good enough then get some foreign players and make them English. Bayern Munich are sponsored by Adidas, the makers of the Jabulani ball. Which team does most of the German[?] squad come from?