FIFA World Cup 2026: England Tournament Thread [R]

It’s his not positive reputation among many fans that means he gets more criticism. If he starts vs Croatia he needs a good match or the criticism will just get louder and louder.

 

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— England (@England) June 11, 2026

 

Rogers miss was worse because rogers had more time. Madueke made that chance for himself and was a bit unlucky

 

Pretty happy with last night and the way we seem to be cranking things up, particularly with the high press, in readiness for the Croatia game.

To be honest, it will just be nice now to see us playing a competitive match that doesn't simply involve us having to break down a team with everyone behind the ball. Still not too sure about Nico O'Reilly at left-back if l'm being picky. That highly tailored inverted role he plays at City doesn't make him an easy plug-and-play in England colours. But overall, we look in decent shape.

 

Sort of shows the reputation. Rogers has a positive reputation and has had a good season so errors are not focused on. Madueke is the opposite.

 

Not taking a second left-footed left back and not taking another deep midfielder with a lot of on-ball quality to back Anderson up are probably the two selections most likely to come back to bite us.

I like Spence but these wide triangles Tuchel likes England to play with become so much more difficult to execute if you have a right-footed left-back. You could see the difference O'Reilly made last night.

Like Anderson it means we effectively need O'Reilly to stay fit, not get suspended and not fatigue throughout the tournament. It might happen but we're walking a tightrope.

I also think Lewis Hall would be more effective than O'Reilly in those wide areas when overlapping. O'Reilly was a huge threat last night but his final ball was quite poor.

 

Kyle Walker backs Bellingham to start over Rogers and also says he thinks Croatia are better now than at Euro 2020(1). https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/39370674/kyle-walker-jude-bellingham-world-cup-england/

 

If anyone from yesterday's game should be getting heat for appaling finishing it's Rogers.

 

Oh look what you've gone and done you've jinxed it now.

 

On horris's point. I'd have taken Lewis hall and left Henderson behind. Had o'reilly as a left back/midfield hybrid.

 

Why all the finger pointing? We've seen horrible misses from Rogers, Toney and Madueke, and some wayward shooting from everyone, over the last two games.

But isn't that what these warm-up matches are for? To build up some sharpness, get your groove back and rediscover those shooting boots?

The movement to create those chances was terrific at least, and if it takes a bad miss now to motivate a player into converting one in the actual tournament, then bring it on.

 

Lewis Skelly over Henderson would have been an infinitely better selection.
He's a better CM and his left footedness, can fill in at LB in an emergency

 

Thought the Friendlies were OK all told.
Despite being down on O'Reilly I thought he did OK yesterday, Not tested defensively, but just being a left footer and standing outside Gordon helped. When he moves inside he also is one of the few players who are trying to create something in the middle and not just send it wide. Still think Hall would have been far better as a LB in this system.

Only player I didn't understand is Quansah. He just isn't it as a RB. White now looks like he would have made far more sense.

 

Yeah I don't understand the criticism Rogers gets on here tbh. He played well when he came on despite the miss and will be a great sub to bring on in the world cup. I also thought Madueke had a decent game but also missed a chance he should have buried. it doesn't matter because we won comfortably in the end anyway and was only a friendly, but like you say we could do with these players scoring those chances when the tournament actually starts.

I think most on here agree that Jude should be our starting number 8/number 10 and Saka should be our starting RW but the subs last night certainly didn't make us weaker and kept up the intensity. It was a good all round performance from everyone, albeit against limited opposition.

 

I know and as I’ve said I like Madueke. But for whatever reason a lot of people don’t so he gets a lot of hate on social media.

 

I still think we have very little chance of winning it but I think we have a fair chance of the semis. We don't seem to have any significant injuries this time unlike previous world cups barring a slight doubt over saka. If we get a bit of luck we could go deep

 

I'm going for Qtr Finals. History shows that's about our level. Unless we avoid all of the big teams until the Semi's, which is the only time we've historically reached the Semi's. But this time the format makes that very unlikely.

 

I think our level is beyond quarter finals now. We've shown we're a different team to 10 years ago. I think we're still some way short of winning the world cup but I don't think for a minute there are 7 better teams than us

 

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— England (@England) June 11, 2026

 

I also dont think there are either. But I'm still not convinced, because apart from 2014, in every World Cup I've watched us enter from France98 until Qatar. I never used to believe there were 7 teams better than England. But we still saw a consistent pattern with England.

Even the WC campaigns under Southgate haven't convinced me England are psychologically different to 10 years ago.

Btw if England were to knock out France or Argentina in the Qtrs. Then that would be a game changer for me and would even convince me we can go all the way..

 

one of the most underrated players in the world among fans

 

Southgate never beat a top nation in the world cup for what it is worth. In the Euros he beat Germany and Netherlands. In his reign from 18-24 those were his two famous victories.

If we compare that to 98-2016 where England never beat any top nations in euros or world cups in a knockout game then it is an improvement. You have to go back to 96 where England got past on Spain on penalties after 0-0 to the last time they eliminated a top nation.

From 1966 to 2024 England's only knockout wins over nations that had won either a World Cup or a European Championship were:

• Argentina (1966)
• West Germany (1966)
• Spain (1996, on penalties)
• Germany (2021)
• Netherlands (2024)

 

It's a shocking record

 

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