England Forum - FIFA World Cup 2026: Other Teams Thread

Not many teams have 2 giant Nordic strikers!

 

Haaland with 2 goals from about 5 yards out in total

 

Every time I look away someone scores.

 

Tbf we very much produced Olise which is a major win for our football system. He might not play for us but he's every bit a product of English football.

I'd also argue that at least in terms of raw talent, midfielders aren't really an issue for us atm. It's more selection decisions and whether or not the players develop into roles that suit their qualities that I'm concerned about.

 

Haaland's going to be a handful for anyone.

 

Wasn´t Al-Hamadi born in Liverpool or am I misrenembering something?

 

Tremendous half of football that

 

At youth level over the last 10 years we've really caught up. But haven't created the attacking monsters France have apart from Olise and he choose to play for them anyway.

Edit:- Hopefully Dowman and Ngumoha change that.

 

lol thought that was in!

 

Absolute thumper of a hit.

The score bug here changed to 2-2 briefly

 

ITVs pundits are so much better than BBC this tournament.

 

I have to say the BBC seem to be missing something.

 

Be thankful you arent having to suffer Ibrahamovic refer to himself as "Zlatan" when he gives an opinion

 

The BBC feel like the budget cuts are really taking an effect coupled with the new director of BBC Sport stamping his mark.

 

Over here it didn’t but Senegal’s non goal in the earlier match crashed it back to 0-0 for a bit.

 

I laughed

We Asked AI To Make Soccer Less Boring pic.twitter.com/0vKwtV7JEE

— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) June 15, 2026

 

There are now English born players on the pitch for both sides.

 

Almost this entire French team is built on transition monsters. More so than any other team in history. There's no Zidane this time (1998-2006), there's not even Griezmann or a Giroud like they had in 2018-2022.
It is a very frightening attack, but the one thing that gives me doubt is that out of all of the elite teams France have had over the years, this one is arguably the most one dimensional (the only outlier I can see is Cherki).

And I dont mean one dimensional in a way that they are easy to play against. Its one dimensional but the most dangerous team in the world at playing that one way. Moreover their way of playing is not likely going to be any different to what we've seen from Deschamps in recent yrs. Its two midfield destroyers (Tchoumeni, Rabiot, Kante, Kone etc) and a bunch of world class explosive athletes who's sole purpose to wreck teams on the transition.

So IMO the best way of stopping this France team is not to try and 'match' them like England, Germany and Brazil are built to do.

But instead frustrate them to death by continuously denying them those transition moments. Croatia have been the prototype in recent years for the style that the French are vulnerable to. The Croatians rarely try and match elite opposition on power and athleticism (because they know they'll get destroyed). Instead they frustrate them and constantly recycle the ball just for the sake of slowing the game down and denying them the momentum. Its also why they're so dangerous in knockout football. And Croatia almost did this in the recent Nations League semi's where they lost to France on penalties in Paris.

But looking at the current tournament, I think Portugal and Spain are best equipped to beat this France team by refusing to play France's game and suffocating them..

 

If we score a goal like the Norwegian third - Guarantee that is ruled out

 

Yes 100% this is their flaw. Ironically they could put out a much more solid midfield three of Zaire-Emery Kone Cherki that could act as that connecting piece but Deschamps wants this attacking 4 defending 5 unit.

 

I don't know about the other teams but I don't think England have tried to match them. Maybe in physically but not style of play.

 

Norway vs France will be interesting