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Re: World Cup. England's chances.

Posted: 12 Jul 2018, 20:09
by ninestein
I was 10 when i first got into football by watching Italia 90. At the same time i started getting into watching the tennis at Wimbledon and the England test cricket team.

The cricket team were humbled by Australia in the ashes where Shane Warne tore us a new one. We were ranked the worst side in the world at one point shortly after. As the years passed i could see glimpses of improvement and hope that one day we could match the Aussies, only to get a reality check every couple of years. Then in winter 2004 we travelled to the West Indies and ripped them apart. A new side had evolved which had seen the benefits of reform in the domestic game several years prior. That led nicely into the 2005 ashes series. The rest is history, but for me personally it felt like a personal triumph that I'd stuck with the side and believed that one day they could get there as the best in the world.

As for Wimbledon, much was made of the lack of British talent in the early 90's. Then we had that hope every year that Tim Henman might develop into a player who could challenge the 2nd week of the tournament. Year after year he tested our nerves, and he just never quite made it to the final. Enter the new British player on the scene in Andy Murray. Once he had matured he showed he could mix it with the Federers and Nadals ofthe world. When he finally became champion, it was another little bit of my list ticked off. I hoped and believed that i would see a British champion one day. Then he went and repeated the trick a couple of years later.

What I'm getting at is that i still believe and hope that one day we will see our football team evolve and compete in finals. As with cricket, a lot has changed behind the scenes with our youth international sides. There's clearly some talent there as they are winning tournaments at U17 and U19 levels. We still need to solve the conundrum of getting those lads into Premier League first teams more regularly, otherwise the playersthey are coming up against internationally will develop quicker and overtake them. But for now i can see green shoots of growth following the dark days we've experienced in the last few toutnaments.

The manager and players need to remember that whilst we've done well here, this tournament is gone, it's the next one that matters now. Because we reached the semis in Russia, doesn't give us a head start in Euro 2020. We have to start again and prove that we can grind results out in knockout games like Columbia and Sweden on a regular basis. I'm excited to see what Gareth will do with this side next. Will this formation serve us well in qualification? Who is the next young player to step up and make a name for himself? I believe there are good times ahead. As much as last night was tough to take, we've been sorely missing these sorts of occasion.

I don't believe we will be waiting another 28 years to play in another semi final.

Re: World Cup. England's chances.

Posted: 12 Jul 2018, 21:12
by MCB
Wise words Ninestein. We're obviously of the same age.

The only sporting success for the country over a decade was Torvill and bloody Deen. We were awful at everything.

There was also the rugby world cup in 2003 which was awesome, but absolutely the ashes win in 2005 was golden. And we're right to see positivity in the football.

Re: World Cup. England's chances.

Posted: 12 Jul 2018, 22:34
by hoofer2
MCB wrote:Wise words Ninestein. We're obviously of the same age.

The only sporting success for the country over a decade was Torvill and bloody Deen. We were awful at everything.

There was also the rugby world cup in 2003 which was awesome, but absolutely the ashes win in 2005 was golden. And we're right to see positivity in the football.
Dont leave out the athletics. Gunnell, Backley, Black, Akabusi, McColgan etc

Re: World Cup. England's chances.

Posted: 12 Jul 2018, 23:11
by Mickbee
hoofer2 wrote:
MCB wrote:Wise words Ninestein. We're obviously of the same age.

The only sporting success for the country over a decade was Torvill and bloody Deen. We were awful at everything.

There was also the rugby world cup in 2003 which was awesome, but absolutely the ashes win in 2005 was golden. And we're right to see positivity in the football.
Dont leave out the athletics. Gunnell, Backley, Black, Akabusi, McColgan etc

can can also relate to this and I'll add a Brit winning the Tour De France.

Re: World Cup. England's chances.

Posted: 12 Jul 2018, 23:11
by Mickbee
hoofer2 wrote:
MCB wrote:Wise words Ninestein. We're obviously of the same age.

The only sporting success for the country over a decade was Torvill and bloody Deen. We were awful at everything.

There was also the rugby world cup in 2003 which was awesome, but absolutely the ashes win in 2005 was golden. And we're right to see positivity in the football.
Dont leave out the athletics. Gunnell, Backley, Black, Akabusi, McColgan etc

I can can also relate to this and I'll add a Brit winning the Tour De France.

Re: World Cup. England's chances.

Posted: 13 Jul 2018, 06:43
by hoofer2
Mickbee wrote:
hoofer2 wrote:
MCB wrote:Wise words Ninestein. We're obviously of the same age.

The only sporting success for the country over a decade was Torvill and bloody Deen. We were awful at everything.

There was also the rugby world cup in 2003 which was awesome, but absolutely the ashes win in 2005 was golden. And we're right to see positivity in the football.
Dont leave out the athletics. Gunnell, Backley, Black, Akabusi, McColgan etc

can can also relate to this and I'll add a Brit winning the Tour De France.
And Obree vs Boardman when track cycling began to take off

Re: World Cup. England's chances.

Posted: 13 Jul 2018, 07:53
by ninestein
Seeing our country being successful at any sport brings a feel-good factor to the nation, likewise when it's someone representing Great Britain as a whole. It brings a sense of pride to the nation. And when we are successful after such a long period of waiting for it, it feels even better. Our recent improvement in the Olympic games is something to shout about as well. I guess that when it happens in the sports you follow most it feels even more special. I still think our football team has a lot of work to do, but if you have the right people working on it, and the players, staff and clubs all buy into what we're trying to do, we will add that little bit of extra nous and quality we need to see out a tournament.

Re: World Cup. England's chances.

Posted: 13 Jul 2018, 08:54
by becbee
The difference is though that when England / UK are successful in most sports it will get mentioned in the news but really, it's only of real importance to the people who follow that sport. When this World Cup started out in June it was of interest only to football followers. But then, due to England's success, it became front page news, lead item on the TV News, it captured the enthusiasm of football and non football fans and it brought the country together.
Apart maybe from Andy Murray winning Wimbledon for the first time and to a lesser extent when England cricket team won the Ashes, I can't recall any such level of enthusiasm. The media wasn't so big in 1966 so I doubt we reached this level then either.

Re: World Cup. England's chances.

Posted: 13 Jul 2018, 08:57
by ninestein
Likewise, no social media in 1990 or 1996. I have to say, some of the little jokes and videos doing the rounds in the past day have helped lighten the mood a bit.

Re: World Cup. England's chances.

Posted: 13 Jul 2018, 15:45
by hoofer2
Riding the wave of hope, I have just booked to watch England vs Croatia in November.....£45 for one adult + 2 kids in family enclosure

Plenty of time for the bubble to deflate before then.

This article is a very good assessment of what it takes to get to the the next step:

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/44808192

Re: World Cup. England's chances.

Posted: 14 Jul 2018, 12:13
by Psycho
What a treat this afternoon - the conclusion of Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon followed by England v Belgium for the bronze medal.

Sport at it's best in terms of drama and hopefully quality.

Re: World Cup. England's chances.

Posted: 14 Jul 2018, 13:26
by Psycho
Full strength for both teams with understandably Jordan Henderson, Ashley Young, Dele Alli and Kyle Walker as subs. So much for the 'experts' predicting two reserve sides. Come on England!

Re: World Cup. England's chances.

Posted: 15 Jul 2018, 07:05
by Psycho
Disappointing not to win any medals at the World Cup, only pride and a reconnection with our country's footballers.

The game was almost like the Croatia match in reverse; we got off to a terrible start, failed to get possession and looked very leggy but in the second half we played some brilliant football once Marcus Rashford and Ruben Loftus-cheek came on and got stronger as the match went on. How Eric Dier failed to to knock the ball in I don't know.

So England's footballers fly back today. Thank you for a wonderful month, some wonderful memories and believing in you once again.

Football WILL come home very soon.

Re: World Cup. England's chances.

Posted: 15 Jul 2018, 08:26
by foxy
Good Luck with that!

Re: World Cup. England's chances.

Posted: 15 Jul 2018, 17:13
by alexbach
Ah
Mickbee wrote:
alexbach wrote:Comiserations to my English friends and big up Nikolja and Maja
Team that only scores from set pieces and penalties were always going to be found out
Doesn't matter how you score, our problems were always going to be at the other end, the two goals conceded last night sadly highlighted this. Both would have been prevented by proper defenders who can concentrate for longer than 5 minutes. Greece won the 2004 Euros on the back of defence and scoring from set pieces.
I would suggest that the same could have been said of our defence last season.
Ah that turned out well of course. Congratulations France and a shame Croatia s frailties were ruthlessly exposed. Deschamps could be entering a long successful reign

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