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Post by Helmut83 on Jul 4, 2018 16:39:50 GMT
Getting 'back to the story' - Expectation on this current England team was limited. "Not this World Cup - but, the next..." It's a tremendous achievement for them to gotten to the quarter final. Anything more will be a big bonus. They have the potential. Let's see what happens. tremblinwilbury , I disagree a bit here. I wouldn't call it a tremendous achievement by any means. For Sweden it could be a tremendous achievement, because of the weight of the opponents they had to face in the process (France, Netherlands, Italy, Germany). But England, their "toughest" opponents in the qualifiers were Scotland and Slovakia, and to advance in the WC group stage they had to beat Tunisia and Panama, surely the worst 2 teams in the whole World Cup. The only good team they faced was Belgium in a game they were allowed to lose, and they lost. Their biggest merit was beating Colombia on PKs (Colombia is decent but no powerhouse either). Up to here, I think it was the natural thing to advance. Credit to them for having done what they were supposed to do -not every team could do that-, but I wouldn't call it a tremendous achievement. And, when you look at the bracket, they could advance up to the final without even meeting a single World Cup champion or any major powerhouse!
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Post by Horacewimp on Jul 4, 2018 17:18:41 GMT
England have picked their penalty takers for Sweden. a
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Post by Helmut83 on Jul 4, 2018 17:37:55 GMT
Man, that guy is half your squad. He's so freaking good.
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Post by vlogdance on Jul 4, 2018 19:25:19 GMT
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Post by tremblinwilbury on Jul 5, 2018 7:35:08 GMT
I can see your point of view Helmut83 - but, I was considering the potential of the England team before they headed to Russia. So, we'll have to agree to disagree. Ho hum... ANOTHER day without football...
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Post by Buttler on Jul 5, 2018 12:00:13 GMT
A bit OT, but they say Cristiano Ronaldo is signing for Juventus.
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Post by Helmut83 on Jul 5, 2018 15:29:03 GMT
Ho hum... ANOTHER day without football... Yeah, what the hell? After 2 or 3 weeks of continuous action I'm feeling like I'm lacking something. They could at least play a monkeys vs bears game on a soaped slippery floor so we can at least have a bit of football in those days the World Cup is idle. It's not like it would be the first time Russians train animals to do something anyway.
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Post by queenofthehours on Jul 6, 2018 15:27:02 GMT
I remember the summer Gareth missed that penalty - the moment was like getting hit by a truck. I remember writing in my diary many pages about the whole sorry match. Who'd have thought that 22 years later the chap that I just wanted to hug because he looked so sad and disappointed would be an England manager WINNING on penalties? Someone should write a book or make a movie!
And, to make things worse, only 2 years later in the next big tournament, Batty and Ince missed their penalties against a certain team and you were out on PKs again... In your previous post, when you said "Gaz" missed the penalty in the Euro '96, where you referring to Southgate or Gascoigne? I seem to remember Gascoigne missed a penalty in that shootout too, and Gascoigne was called "Gazza", and maybe "Gaz" is an abbreviation; or maybe they call Southgate "Gaz"? Yes indeed Paul 'Gazza' Gascoigne did play but I meant Southgate. If I remember right, Gascoigne's behaviour wasn't the best even if he did play rather well.
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Post by Helmut83 on Jul 6, 2018 18:59:25 GMT
If I remember right, Gascoigne's behaviour wasn't the best even if he did play rather well. You could have said that about almost every tournament he played. Great player, but not exactly an English lord.
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Post by Helmut83 on Jul 6, 2018 20:02:00 GMT
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Post by Buttler on Jul 6, 2018 20:03:36 GMT
b)
1) Belgium
c)
I really don't know. Let me see... ok, I'll say Hazard (Belgium).
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Post by Helmut83 on Jul 6, 2018 21:35:53 GMT
"Belgian" celebrations in Russia for their victory on Brazil. For the record, Brazilian fans did the same when Argentina lost to France. This might sound a bit barbaric to Europeans but in South America it's the way people live football.
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Post by Horacewimp on Jul 7, 2018 16:40:32 GMT
Sweden never turned up, but well done England a clinical win and my heart beat didn’t raise above normal for the whole game. Croatia or Russia next.
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Post by dillwyn on Jul 7, 2018 17:37:45 GMT
Yes, they looked really good against Sweden fair play. Croatia should be a much sterner test .
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Post by Helmut83 on Jul 7, 2018 19:13:15 GMT
Well done, England. They did what they should, nothing extraordinary but were solid and played as an organized team.
Sweden picked a bad day to have a nightmare game. They did too many things wrong, and the few chances they created, they didn't finish well. Plus England's keeper was a beast today.
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