Again just stereotypical bollox! You want 'arrogant' I suggest you read some 'other' boards including the English one! I'm sick of hearing this English arrogance nonsense because that's all it is - stereotypical nonsense. PS it doesn't always rain in London either! Sometimes you just can't fight stereotypes.
My 2 cents If we play poorly, sure, all 3 teams can beat us. But you can't say we need a miracle to advance out of the group.
I talked to the guy who sat next to me in Audi Field stadium yesterday. He said exactly the same thing. He also said US should get out of group but expects nothing further than that. He said US should beat both Wales and Iran but draw/lose versus England and exit from the WC in R16. However I believe all these three teams US, Wales, and Iran have chance to upset England.
I’d agree many of their fans are blowhards. At its root, it’s a defensiveness from realizing they have NOT been a dominant team in the world. They make the mistake of equating having the premier league with having a quality international side. When I was much younger, i remember playing with guys from all over the world. The Brazilians had a nose for the game and technique that was just superior. The Italians and Germans generally had good technique and played with a physical edge. North Africans were technical as hell and could beat you with a quick move. Etc… I always found the English sort of average in technique and harried in their approach to get to the goal. I sometimes would think “didn’t someone coach you on that?” while playing with them (I did get coaching from NCAA players who had just won the National championship, but I mean, I grew up when we didn’t have a league in the USA anymore!
The last group of people to believe that simply their nationality made them 'superior' were the Nazis! As for English football having 'never' been dominant they were once unbeaten at home for about 70 years, they are one of only EIGHT countries to ever win the World Cup, they are SIXTH in the ALL TIME world cup table and as for Africa England has NEVER lost to an African nation in any game in history. https://www.worldfootball.net/alltime_table/wm/ So perhaps they're not quite that bad eh!! But don't let facts get in the way of your xenophobic claptrap will you. Oh and recently England held the World Cup at 3 different age levels, were semi-finalists in the last World Cup and finalists in the last Euro's - I bet you can't find many nations let alone African ones that can better that can you?
Dude! I’m actually a fan of England! I love England and respect the people and culture. My ancestry is largely English. My father fought alongside English soldiers - against the Nazis - in World War II and always said they were some of the toughest and most able men he ever knew. He’d always say it in near reverential tones. Respect for England, it’s people, institutions, and culture is baked deep in me, my friend. And when England isn’t playing the USA, I’m rooting for them. And, while I get your sentiment, I still can’t agree England has been a dominant team at the senior level. Not like Brazil or Germany - the true top countries. And some English fans are blowhards (as are many Americans for that matter). Apologies for offending you. If we were in bar, I’d insist on buying you drinks the rest of the evening!
You seem to be under the impression that the English can't play football because............the'yre English! You then seem to suggest that Africans (among others) play better simply because they're African!!? Yet England has NEVER lost to an African nation, you go on to say they have never dominated the game but Llike I said England has been playing international football since 1870 and it didn't lose a home game to anybody outside of Britain until 1953! England were pretty dominant in the first 50 years or so of international football, even today England are among the top 5-10 nations ON THE PLANET only 3 nations were 'better' than England at the last world cup and at the Euro's England lost........on penalty kicks! So despite 'the English' perhaps NOT being all conquering and all dominant us poor lacking English souls can't all be inflicted can we? Historically the English national team perhaps should have done 'better' and yes a handful of other nations have historically been more consistent but for 152 years now England has always been 'there or there about's' To suggest a nation as football mad as England (probably THE most football mad country on the planet) are 'clueless' about the game just because they're English is simply ridiculous, and lumping in a country of 50 million people together IS pretty xenophobic
Ok, so we have perhaps established that: [1] A subset of English fans being Arrogant Blowhards is no logical reason to conclude that English fans are not in main Gents and Humble Folk who do but love a proper game of Footie. [2] A subset of Yankee fans pointing out that the fore mentioned subset of English fans does in fact exist, is reason enough to logically conclude that the fore mentioned subset of Yankee fans are Ridiculous and Xenophobic Lumpers... Already such Good & Amicable repartee....and it's only near half a year until the World Cup!
Oh man. I regret starting this. Full apologies to Crawleybus. The last thing I want to do to anyone is cause a stress attack on the weekend. Not my intent. I will stand by comments that, from my own humble experience, playing in the states (and Belgium, where I lived as a teenager), that the Italians, Brazilians and Germans impressed me more as players than the English. Sorry, but that’s just my experience. It’s called a “generalization.” And I think it’s fair to make a generalization when talking about general skill levels of players from different countries. Sorry to cause such a meltdown on a beautiful Sunday. Can we drop this xenophobia stuff, please?! I’m usually the guy being accused of xenophilia (love of other cultures). I’ll take a break from the board for a few days to avoid stirring the pot.
Ok. Just responded to the other humorous post… But I have to respond here. My original sentiment was: 1. From my own humble experience as a player, that Brazilians, Germans, Italians impressed me more as players than the English guys I played with in college and in Europe. Sorry to get you all riled up, but this was back in the 80s and the English players were less technical and tended to play the long ball too much. It’s a cliche, but that’s what I witnessed for several years. That was a long time and I’m now a cruster now. But I’m entitled to my observation. 2. Sorry to offend your sensibilities, but the English team has not been a top tier team in the last 40 years. A good team? Absolutely. A top team like Brazil, Germany, France, Italy or Spain? No, they’ve not been. Have they been close sometimes? Sure. But that sounds like us silly Americans when we whine about almost tying Germany in a World Cup 20 years ago. No one cares! No one cares! Please don’t let my silly post ruin your weekend, man. And, again, if we were at a bar I’d be buying you a drink and apologizing (but still holding to my pov). And I’ll still be rooting for England, when they are not playing the USA. Can we knock it off with the unnecessary xenophobia comments?
Oh, yes. Final point: I never said they were “clueless” (quotes are yours). Those are your words. I said, after playing with them, and against them, that they were not as good players as some other countries. That has to do, largely, with patterns on how the game is taught and then played in different countries. Sorry, man, but they were not the best players I played against in my life. Sorry to hurt your feelings. But friggin get over it. Go drink a beer.
Absolute claptrap!! You think a country that invented the game, has been playing it for 170 years, has the best league in the world and has one of the best national teams in the world, has some of the best players in the world doesn't 'know' how to play it!!? Xenophobic rubbish! That would be like me saying the US doesn't 'know' how to play baseball! Oh and I don't believe for one minute you've 'played against a multitude of Englishmen'!! Oh and if the Africans ARE so superior in the game how come no African team has ever managed to beat the English national team? Incidentally Spain or France were hardly 'superpowers' at international football until the last 20-30 years or so - so were they simply 'clueless' for most of soccer history until they 'saw the light' or were they just genetically inferior?
i think everybody needs to take a deep breath and remember we are talking about sports here- the increasing use of the word xenophobia really has no place here.
Dude, you need to take a chill pill. You are taking this way too personally. If your sense of identity is so easily offended, I suggest taking a step back and getting some perspective. You are sort of embarrassing yourself. And yes, I did play with many English guys back in the day in the 80s… and they were not that good compared to players from some other countries. I lived in Belgium and I played soccer in the Bay Area where many English guys lived all those years ago. Sorry, man. I tried to be conciliatory with you, but your hysterical behavior is getting on my nerves. If you are going to have a panic attack, go grab your pearls somewhere else. And, btw, you proved my point that some English fans are overly sensitive blowhards with massive inferiority complexes. Take a step back and read our exchanges in a month. You’ll see it. I’ve never put anyone on ignore in 20 years, but you will be the first.
YOU have accused ALL Englishmen as being sub-par at football (which is obvious rubbish) yet I am embarrassing myself!??
@The Clientele is relaying personal experiences and opinions, and you're tripping out. Chill dude. You're looking goofy as hell right now.
[Thanks for the reported post.] Given that one side of the discussion regarding the nature of English football and fandom has been given a timeout until such a time as his better angels prevail, this thread can return to its regularly scheduled programming.
Thanks… I didn’t mean to precipitate such a ruckus. My bad. But I think everyone could see I was just relating some of my (now ancient) anecdotal experiences and observations. Hopefully someone can jump back in to get this thread on track.
So, in now having absorbed the charms of "A World Askew" this thread has more than once indulged in, here's a question to bring us to Normalcy: "Bale to LAFC- a clever retirement plan for a once brilliant player who now is a shell of his former self? Or..... Or.... a genius move wherein one of the world's most gifted players, who almost singlehandedly has carried his nation to the World Cup after a half century of despair, takes on the role of Master Spy by embedding himself behind enemy lines so as to better prepare his beloved Wales for that first crucial match against the Yankee Colossus???? ...eh???
IMO, and in spite of the Hungary debacle, this English team is a good bit better in the last four years than the English teams from the last 20+ years. In 2018, England were deserving semifinalists and before that, England wasn't exactly bad either being perennial quarter finalists. With their new players, I can't see the squad as having dropped in quality at all.