FIFA World Cup 2026: England Tournament Thread [R]

for sure not that the nations England did beat were easy games but they struggled to beat/eliminate teams in games where they were not the heavy favourites for decades. Or outside England if we consider that 66 and 2021 against Germany were both home games that leaves Netherlands 2024 as the biggest victory off home soil.

Tuchel will likely need to eliminate two top nations to get to the final. The 2018 path is highly unlikely to repeat.

 

I've heard the Scottish - sounding England fan before but I can't stand the ill-informed ego that is Goldstein.

 

I wonder if last night was closer to the 11 we will run with? I thought guehi over stones though?

…………….kane
Gordon……Jude….madueke
……….rice…Anderson
Oreilly….guehi…konsa….james
……………Pickford

Saka isn’t fit, I think maybe we see him and madueke rotate and we might even see rogers come in as an attacking 8 with Jude as a false 9? Quite different in terms of an attack

 

Well apart from Holland 2024. They were also all home tournaments. But the 96 Spain game is notable, because back in 1996 I wouldn't consider Spain as a top tier nation. Dutch football ideas hadn't 'yet' worked their way through Barcelona and into the Spanish national teams and didn't begin to show fruition until 2008.

Therefore I give Southgate even more credit than all his predecessors (inc the 1990 & 96 teams) and I've even debated with others that Southgate is quite possibly our greatest ever coach.

 

Yes it is safe to say Holland 24 is Englands biggest ever win off home soil.
At the same time if you discard history we can say that in the last 4 tournaments England has eliminated two top nations and assume that this is the current trend going forward for this generation/era. That is the glass half full take.

But you still have to give the nod to Alf Ramsey for winning the world cup.

 

Looking at the new expanded format, I don't think it's as realistic for teams to have an easy run to the Semi's as often as we saw in previous WC's.
I'm not just talking about England here, but there are other examples where teams avoided the heavyweights until the Semi's and included few eventual winners too..

Then there's the extra round in the knockouts of the new format which completely flips everything because it creates more possibilities.

So in older tournaments, a team topping their group might get:
Round of 16: mid-level opponent
Quarter-final: mid-level opponent
Semi-final: first heavyweight

Now that same team likely gets:
Round of 32: easy opponent
Round of 16: decent opponent
Quarter-final: very strong opponent
Semi-final: elite opponent

But also, as that extra Rd creates more possibilities, it may not always be as straightforward as my above example. More rounds = more possibilities may increase the chances of;
-The favourite gets eliminated early in an upset
-An underdog plays a very strong team (not a heavyweight) but knocks them out in the Rd32
-Or even because the knockout brackets are so big now with 16 teams each side. One side of the draw could end up with 6 elite teams and suddenly that one side turns into a slaughterhouse..

 

Yes we have to look at the last 32 as part of the group stage in many respects but it is more difficult because you cant be ok with a draw to get to the last 16. Thats where we will see the groups of death paths emerge. There is a random element. Finishing 1st vs 2nd makes a massive difference.

England could play Portugal in the last 32 then it becomes a group of death. England could have to beat 3 top nations to reach the final and a 4th to win it in the worst case. Same goes for Portugal. A few simulations I have done have England having to beat Columbia Mexico Brazil before the semi final where it could be Portugal or Argentina and then France/Spain but then France could easily finish 2nd from their group and throw the whole thing off.

It is a very strong world cup France England Portugal Spain all have near golden generations while Arg Brazil Germany Netherlands are very strong and then teams like Ecuador Norway Senegal Japan Morocco all have their best ever squads while 3 nations have the home soil advantage.

 

The difference is Argentina were eliminated by drawing Sweden 1-1 not by losing to England in 2002.
There's no reason why we can't also mention something like this for context but it is very obvious that eliminating big nations in knockout games is how you win a world cup/euro. Surviving a group is another topic entirely it's not that it does not count.

Like Ronaldo has a boat lot of goals across Euros/World Cups since 2004 but only has 3 goals in 21 knockout games for a fairly dismal record. This isn't cherry picking to make Ronaldo look bad thats just the reality of what happened.

We can also remind people that 74 78 82 all had a two group format. So what was a "knock-out" game was different. But this does not bring England into play as 74 78 they did not qualify and 82 they went out in the 1st group.

It's also relevant because what Southgate did in 18/22 is actually no different than what other England managers have done. They did well until they faced a top nation/squad of equal quality. So now we will see if Tuchel can do one better with the same generation albeit many new players.

 

Or even Germany in 2002 getting to the final playing Paraguay, USA and South Korea.

 

Also you have to include fhe hype and pressure. The buildup to Argentina in 2002 was intense. There hasn’t been a group game that build up since even the home nations clashes,

 

That's probably the best example of the contrast between the previous and current format. That Germany side was the worst finalist I've ever seen. But nonetheless, it wasn't their fault they got such a lucky draw of Paraguay , USA and Korea all the way to the final.

But with the new format, I absolutely cannot envision a team getting a run that easy to the final as Germany in 2002.

 

I don't have to mention it that's just what happened. Hypothetically if it was the last game and it was Argentina vs England and only a win would do for both teams with one going out and a draw being no good for either which is kind of impossible then yes you could compare a group stage game to a knockout. It's just not a one to one.

If England tied with Argentina but beat Nigeria in the last game it would have been the same result for them. If Argentina beat Sweden they would have advanced despite losing 1-0 to England. This does not mean it was not a massive win it is just not equivalent to eliminating a top nation in a knockout game. Argentina were eliminated by Sweden not England.

Italy tied Spain 1-1 in the 2012 euro groups and lost 4-0 in the final it's just a different scenario to be in psychologically.

 

Listened to it this morning aj

 

It's not a point I am making it is literally what happened. Argentina needed to beat Sweden in the final game and failed regardless of what England did in their final game Argentina had their destiny in their own hands. England literally did not knock Argentina out the group collectively did.

And yes you can knock a team out with a draw just as England did in 96 with Spain after going 0-0 and then PKs but I would not give Sweden the same credit as England because again knockout football is its own thing that should be measured against itself. Remember Sweden finished 1st in the group after that draw and would have been eliminated if Argentina beat them.

I have no bias here. If you "feel" England vs Argentina 2002 was equivalent to a knockout game I can't take that away from you. It was of course a massive game in the rivalry between Argentina and England at World Cups.

 

What happened to opening ceremonies being about football? It's more like pop concerts nowadays

 

I think opening cemronies have always been like that. They have never worked in the World Cup unlike the Olympics where they are a genuine event

 

Right we’ve had months of pre tournament controversy (very justified) surrounding 1 of the hosts now let’s get to the football. The World Cup could be held in North Korea and I’d still be desperate to win it.

 

Thomas Tuchel reveals why Elliot Anderson transfer battle can help England star at World Cup https://t.co/PYKr6jXcfw

— John Cross (@johncrossmirror) June 11, 2026

Thomas Tuchel sets one rule for players after giving England stars a day off in Florida before hard work begins in Kansas City ahead of World Cup opener https://t.co/rFCPJCcEaR

— John Cross (@johncrossmirror) June 11, 2026

Thomas Tuchel reveals he is considering playing Jude Bellingham as a STRIKER for England at the World Cup https://t.co/DUkuVd6Q5T

— Daily Mail Sport (@MailSport) June 11, 2026

 

Wonder if they'll be surprised if Rashford does similar.

Why Barcelona are having a second doubt on keeping Rashfordpic.twitter.com/YODezwq5Mg

— ArgentineCuler (@FCB_Argentine) April 18, 2026

There was another one against Madrid that isn't even in the video.

 

Think there's a decent chance Jude will be England's starting striker once Kane retired... but for now let's just enjoy Kane in his prime