To ask why the England team (the men) keep falling at the final hurdle, (well virtually at the final hurdle,) at the football World Cup ... and The Euros too?

We def need to re brand the kit and the songs.
The football song is so low and grungy. Also the national anthem ,Jerusalem is far more rousing.

I don't think it's that England 'went defensive'. It's that they couldn't get the ball in the late second half and once Argentina had the ball, England defended themselves really badly. They didnt run to get the ball off the attackers

I was watching the second half again there. Argentina attacked England's goal at least six times in a row.

85 mins we held them off and were one up.

That's not a lesser team

People don't forget rivalries and grudges though. That's humans!

I mean I can't see Ukraine supporting Russia in sport any time soon

Yesterday was just a tactical error, going far too defensive and inviting them on when we only had a single goal lead. There was no way we could sustain that for 30 minutes. But that’s high stakes sport - you gamble and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. There’s no shame in going out in the semis to the reigning world champions.

yeah for the love of god -get rid of that song. I could see people cringe at English people singing it when I was on holiday.

I did “let him be”!

Doesn’t stop me thinking his preference for a bunch of dirty playing cheaters to win over England (indeed, the whole ABE movement) is fairly illogical and rooted in ancient rivalries which should really just be long forgotten.

Basically England are a good team but not a great team. The British media whip the country into a frenzy of its 'coming home' 1966 etc over and over and over and over and over again. This is why the rest of the world find this mantra so boring, monotonous and overinflated that they litetally support anyone but England. The media then spends the next month's and years denigrating every losing player and manager for daring to exist in its losing aftermath.

I do believe the refereeing has been atrocious in this tournament and even last night i feel the referee allowed the Argies off with alot. Ultimately the Argies are better players overall and of course there was Messi who is a footballing genius. The Argie manager knew what he was doing also.

England needs a reality check though, yes you hope for the best , but while i supported England last night I really didnt think they would win, and most honest supporters would say the same. Yes they could still have won if youre in the match of course you can, eg Messi could have gone out injured or sent off although Messi is highly unlikely to be sent off given that any referree doing such a thing would likely be on a hit list for the rest of their lives. Last night's ref is a 'favourite' by Messi. (Wtf) The ref allowed Argentina to mess with the sideline balls to prohibit England from taking quick throw ins . (Fifa needs an absolute overhaul)

Ultimately though England were outplayed and out managed. Who knows whether different tactics would have meant a different result either.

Ps I will be ardently supporting Spain in the final.

It won't be England for a while anyway

What a shame ! It should be worth somerhing I will be watching ! Jude v mbappe! Their last hurrah

I guess because it's actually quite hard to win the world cup and there can only be one winning team - that's the whole point!

@Gloriia

women’s football is just as good as men’s football, in fact it’s better because the women stuff and the men lose. FACT.

I think your argument is weak. Why should neighbouring countries support each other? They are different countries.

Your husband didn't want to support England, so let him be

They bring in millions and millions for the companies that employ them. Why shouldn't they get paid well?

@mindymoo11that’s a really weak argument. “A Canadian woman told me she’d never support USA so Scottish supporters are right not to cheer for England, even if the match isn’t England V Scotland”.

OK, then.

Because cheering for only one team is what people “usually” do is another weak argument.

it does annoy me how much football players get paid. There's a video on social media showing Erling Haaland's collection of Birkin bags. He has loads at around 50,000 each (at least).

When I think of how we throw millions and millions of pounds at football players, than I think of the people I know who are struggling to survive, I think 'what kind of world is this'

Yeah it was really odd regarding France, I don't think I've ever seen them play so badly it was weird...

England were holding on to dear life at the end of that match and that was against 10 men and no real star player.

You can't do that against a better side.

I think Argentina will win

This thread has cheered me up a bit. The media have done their usual tearing England down rather than celebrating the fact they got to a WC semi final, so it’s nice to see people seeing the positives!

It’s pretty obvious where it went wrong but the Argentinians are such dirty players and bad sports, they’re just not a team I can root for. I hope Spain beat them on Sunday.

You seem to think that because Scotand and England are neighbours, that Scotland should support England.

But plenty of neighbouring countries don't like each other!

I know a Canadian woman. She told me that she would never support the USA in sport

Lets look at your husband. But why would he support England. It's not his team?

Its football. People usually choose one team and stick with that team. Once that team is out, they're out.

Me: Why on earth wouldn’t I? Ireland’s not in the World Cup and England’s my adopted nation.

As to my husband: Scotland isn’t in the tournament any longer, so no dog in the flight any longer and no shade cheering for England, surely?

well why would people cheer for a different country?

I grew up in 1980s west Belfast, where you’d be hard pressed to find an England fan.

However, having lived in London over 20 years, I was cheering for them last night (tho interestingly my Scottish husband who’s lived in England over 15 years couldn’t bring himself to).

I find this attitude so odd, but it’s clearly ingrained.

Agree with PPs, TT’s defensive strategy was never gonna work at 1-0 down V. Argentina - even A’s stats from their previous clashes in this tournament would tell you that. To paraphrase the commentator, Messi was just sliding past defenders “like they weren’t even there”.

Argentina is an unlikeable, dirty-play side, though: anyone can see that.