World Cup...

[SIR]

Being young players they will be more eager to play well than pose for the world cameras.

May I suggest they are equally eager to pose for the cameras but they actually recognise the need to justify the posing with exemplary performance?

[Scooby921]

Why did Alex Ferguson never coach the English national team? He seems like one of the better managers with an England connection (even though he was Scottish) so I’m surprised he never led the team.

Probably timing. SAF was on a mission when he started at MUFC and after those first few years of building I don't think he wanted to walk away, nor did the ownership want to let him go. By the time he retired I think he had built up enough other interests and investments that coaching the national team was stress he didn't need.

Being young players they will be more eager to play well than pose for the world cameras.

May I suggest they are equally eager to pose for the cameras but they actually recognise the need to justify the posing with exemplary performance?

I think it's more simple. I think friendship is the difference. The older generation had developed too many years of disdain for club rivals and didn't come together as a cohesive unit for the national team. The younger players, and Southgate as a manager, are developing and promoting friendship in the team. They get along. They want to play and fight for each other. Football is more fun and much easier when you like the people you are playing with.




Also...someone more competent than Joe Hart is between the goal posts. Stopping balls from going into the net goes a long way to helping the team win.

[mulrich]

Probably timing. SAF was on a mission when he started at MUFC and after those first few years of building I don't think he wanted to walk away, nor did the ownership want to let him go. By the time he retired I think he had built up enough other interests and investments that coaching the national team was stress he didn't need.

I also keep forgetting that a national team's manager is a full-time position, unlike basketball (which is my favorite sport) where the national coach is a part-time position.

[Scooby921]

I'm a Manchester United fan and a fan of English football in general. I want to see England win because these are the players I watch every weekend for 2/3 of the year. But being American I feel like a certain break-up letter in 1776 means I should be cheering for Croatia instead of the imperialists. I'm torn.

[mulrich]

I should stop picking teams to cheer for; every time I do they get eliminated. Sorry England for wanting you to win and making you my next victim.

I don't have strong feelings about Croatia but I can't root for France. Sorry Croatia but it looks like your run is about to end.

[Medieval]

That's ok, Mulrich. We played well but it wasn't to be. We just lost confidence in the later part of the 1st half and it went down hill from there.

[adhoc]

I'm happy Croatia won. They don't have money to just import the best players and give them citizenship. They have 4 million people to pool from and they beat an absolute favorite with near limitless amount of money.

[mulrich]

England should be a powerhouse but has underperformed for a LONG time. The fact that either England or Croatia were in the semifinal was surprising.

England started really well but seemed to quit after ~30 minutes and allowed Croatia to dictate the game (or Croatia imposed their will and England was helpless to stop them).

[Morgaine]

For once, I actually like this England team. They seem more genuine people, unlike some of the rich celebrity players of the previous decade, including the one who had a broken metatarsal.

[adhoc]

England should be a powerhouse but has underperformed for a LONG time. The fact that either England or Croatia were in the semifinal was surprising.

England started really well but seemed to quit after ~30 minutes and allowed Croatia to dictate the game (or Croatia imposed their will and England was helpless to stop them).

Looking at stats, I'd say Croatia pretty much dominated across the board.

[Scooby921]

I'm happy Croatia won. They don't have money to just import the best players and give them citizenship. They have 4 million people to pool from and they beat an absolute favorite with near limitless amount of money.

Is this a dig at England? I thought their entire team was natural born English citizens, unlike the USA where we import half the team and still can't find good players. Also, money has little to do with football talent. Brazil is nearly bankrupt and still produces some of the best talent on the planet, most of which comes from families who have no money. On the flip side, how many world class talents have come from families of Russian oligarchs or the House of Saud and all of their oil money?

England should be a powerhouse but has underperformed for a LONG time. The fact that either England or Croatia were in the semifinal was surprising.

England started really well but seemed to quit after ~30 minutes and allowed Croatia to dictate the game (or Croatia imposed their will and England was helpless to stop them).

Looking at stats, I'd say Croatia pretty much dominated across the board.

Yeah. It was pretty even for the first part of the game, but England just couldn't get the ball through the midfield and didn't have enough attacking support. As soon as they started playing long-ball it was over. They couldn't get bodies forward with the ball, Harry Kane didn't win enough (any?) headers to maintain possession. In England's defense, Dejan Lovren should have been sent off before half time. That early elbow to Kane's ribs to stop a counter attack really was worthy of a yellow card. Hacking late on Sterling's leg shortly thereafter was worthy of a second. Then in the second half he could / should have been cautioned for throwing Lingard to the turf after the whistle had blown. He's a first-rate asshole and would fit right in with Argentina. If you can't beat them, injure them.

England's other problem is Gareth Southgate's belief that Jordan Henderson is a good central midfielder. Eric Dier is better. Jack Wilshere is better (though still not as good as he believes himself to be). Scott McTominay is better and Southgate should have promised him a spot on the Cup squad to get him to play for England instead of Scotland. An old, retired Michael Carrick is better than Henderson has ever been. A retired and out-of-shape Gerrard or Lampard would have been better than Henderson. This is why I expected Croatia to win. Modric and Rakitic are better midfielders. They controlled the center of the pitch and made it hard for England to develop the play.

[Morgaine]

Raheem Sterling was born in Jamaica.

Does anyone wear waistcoats?

[adhoc]

I’m sorry, but there’s no logical cohesion to your post. You also make a bunch of assumptions I never said. Looks to me like England had a pool of 1.200 million africans plus 80 million people from UK plus probably another billion from the rest of the world. Croatia had a pool of 4 million people to draw from. The only reason I mentioned money is because one country can afford to import anyone and the other doesn’t. I didn’t say you have to be a billionaire to be good at football. That would be idiotic.

Yes, yes, the only reason Croatia won was because they cheated, the judges were on their side etc.

UK imports an entire Croatia worth of people every decade. If you don’t see how utterly impossible it should be for a small country like Croatia to win through statistic alone, then I don’t know.

[mulrich]

I’m sorry, but there’s no logical cohesion to your post. You also make a bunch of assumptions I never said. Looks to me like England had a pool of 1.200 million africans plus 80 million people from UK plus probably another billion from the rest of the world. Croatia had a pool of 4 million people to draw from. The only reason I mentioned money is because one country can afford to import anyone and the other doesn’t. I didn’t say you have to be a billionaire to be good at football. That would be idiotic.

Yes, yes, the only reason Croatia won was because they cheated, the judges were on their side etc.

UK imports an entire Croatia worth of people every decade. If you don’t see how utterly impossible it should be for a small country like Croatia to win through statistic alone, then I don’t know.

Croatia defintely deserves substantial credit; I thought they'd be gassed after the Russian game but they continued to attack against England and England did little to stop them.

I hope Croatia's streak continues against France.

[Scooby921]

I’m sorry, but there’s no logical cohesion to your post. You also make a bunch of assumptions I never said. Looks to me like England had a pool of 1.200 million africans plus 80 million people from UK plus probably another billion from the rest of the world. Croatia had a pool of 4 million people to draw from. The only reason I mentioned money is because one country can afford to import anyone and the other doesn’t. I didn’t say you have to be a billionaire to be good at football. That would be idiotic.

Yes, yes, the only reason Croatia won was because they cheated, the judges were on their side etc.

UK imports an entire Croatia worth of people every decade. If you don’t see how utterly impossible it should be for a small country like Croatia to win through statistic alone, then I don’t know.

If you want to talk statistics and impossibilities, you have to account for things in the other direction as well. China and India are the two largest populations on the planet. Statistically, Hong Kong, Shanghai, or Bejing as cities should be able to field a better football team than Croatia as a country. The United States should be fielding a better team than everyone not China or India. Yet this isn't what happens. Population and money have nothing to do with which teams are good. This is entirely my point. You've said, twice now, that countries with money are buying talent and that's why they are good. Yet historically that is not how it works in the world of football.

It is not the large countries or the rich countries which are always at the top. People choosing to emigrate to England or the USA or Germany or Italy and attain citizenship is not that country importing players. England didn't ask or pay Raheem Sterling's mother to move from Jamaica. Italy didn't ask or pay Mario Balotelli's parents to move from Ghana. Spain didn't buy Diego Costa. His professional career took him to a club there and over years of living and working in Spain he gained citizenship. He chose to play for Spain over his native Brazil.


Please don't mistake my disdain for Dejan Lovren as suggesting England only lost because of the referee. I believe the better team won. Croatia played harder. They played more cohesively. They earned it. I simply think Lovren to be an first-rate asshole. He pulls the same bullshit for Liverpool. Like Martin Skrtel he can't play clean or fair. He is constantly grabbing, holding, tackling, and attempting to injure his opponents to compensate for his lack of pace and ability. Had the ref made the right call and handed out a caution for that first hack on Harry Kane it might have kept Lovren under control. Instead he continue to kick and hack the entire game. Ignoring that asshole, I think Modric and Rakitic owned the midfield as expected. I think Perisic played his best game of the cup thus far. I am not the least bit surprised to see Croatia in the World Cup final. I know that doesn't line up with your statistics, but you can't judge football by statistics.

[adhoc]

I can’t believe I have to explain this...football isn’t a popular sport in China, India or even USA, really.

[titrisol]

Hravtska is home?

England only won in 66, thanks to the ghost goal...

[titrisol]

Uruguay has less pop than that and has won 4 cups

[Medieval]

I supported England but I have no hard feelings towards Croatia and wish them the best. The better side won and that's all the counts.

There was an interesting article in The Economist in June entitled: "What makes a country good at football?"
https://www.economist.com/internatio...od-at-football

[Morgaine]

Any Icelandic members here? They have a higher chance of being part of the national... whatever, team