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?

What's not to like? Quality players playing a game many find entertaining to watch.

If you don't like it, there's so many other things to do/watch

@Gloriia

that must be the circles you move in. I know LOADS of people who are really into women’s football

Are you being sarcastic? I'll get accused of misogyny and being a women I'm certainly not but omg women's football? I've seem more excitement at school tournaments.

@randomchap

oh believe me I do support and celebrate the women’s team! They actually win stuff! Talent against all odds

It's also consistent with the fact that you can attain that ranking without having to ever play, never mind defeat a top ranked side, and also consistent with the fact that as soon as England do run into a top ranked side in Finals football, they lose

4th ranked does not mean there are only three better sides on the planet, it means you've accumulated sufficient ranking points to be ranked 4th in that table, which you can theoretically do by smashing Liechtenstein over and over.

This. Better than many though!

How about feeling pleased they got so far? England aren’t entitled to win the World Cup despite many thinking that they are (I’m English). Also, blaming tactics is nonsense, the other team were/are better.

They did ok against very mediocre teams. Norway were a better opposition but still ranked a lot lower than England.

The first top level team they face it was a capitulation

You cannot defend for over half an hour in the penalty box and doing that , well they were really giving up and hoping the best. The mgr did not help but England have done that the last 25 years go 1 nil up then sat back.

Beating Crotia, Panama the Congo (!) and Mexico is not 'doing well'. The a draw against Ghanna. Norway was the one good result.

Argentina had 2 off the post and missed 2 sitters could have been 5-1

England did not do well, they were in an easy group then folded once they met Argentina. The fact England were betting favs to win shows how after 60 yrs we are still deluded. and the players really are over paid!

Now Russia who were banned from the Olympics for state sponsored doping (which never stopped since the 70's) then invading Ukraine are bein allowed back in the Olympics despite nothing changing.

MatchResults:

Group L
England vs Croatia
4-2 Win
Group L
England vs Ghana
0-0 Draw
Group L
Panama vs England
0-2 Win
Round of 32
England vs DR Congo
2-1 Win
Round of 16
Mexico vs England
2-3 Win
Quarter-final
Norway vs England
1-2 Win (AET)
Semi-final
England vs Argentina
1-2 Loss

Yesterday was 100% down to bad management.
Anyone who knows a tiny bit of football knows that Argentina are bulldogs, they're not going to lose focus because they've taken a goal, quite the opposite (cf the match against Egypt). Scoring against them is like taunting a shark with a piece of meat.
Playing exclusively defensively against a team that has Messi makes no sense. The man is able to score or to assist in the busiest surface, letting him camp around the goal is just going to give him more opportunities to read the game and come up with strategies to break the defense.

It feels like Tuchel didn't even prepare for the eventuality of England scoring first.

Yep. Can not wait

Would you say the same thing about other sports where English competitors don't win? England are good, but Argentina were phenomenal. Can not wait for Sunday's game. It'll be so entertaining. The style, flair and energy of both teams will mean it's hard to call.

Oh we don't have that next year do we?!

Top 4 at the world cup. That's not bad at all.

Yes, it's disappointing that they didn't win.

If you want to celebrate a winning England team then there's always the women's. Can't wait for 2027.

"England ranked 4th" is a totally false picture of reality.

Yet strangely consistent with our perfomance over the past 3 world cups (semi-quarter-semi) and in the Euros (finalists in the past two tournaments).

We could still beat France and be 3rd best

Isn’t it obvious. They’re a brilliant team that made it a lot further than most but they’re not best in world.

Well exactly. Apparently they have an 'obscene amount of money pumped into them' that should make them good! Not quite sure how reaching the semis of the world cup isn't 'good'.

The argis are a load of tiny men who are indeed very fast and seem to rely on fouls. I hope they win and get their raggy bed sheet out again with another fake claim bless them.

@randomchap

yep. Still doesn’t change the fact that they’re not good enough to win though!

Many countries spend vast amounts of money and have a great grassroot system. Men's football is just that popular.

Maybe in some countries similar money goes further and elevate the talent from wider part of the population.

It just seems that the UK is used to being the ultimate powerhouse - but with bigger part of the world becoming relevant, it just can't last, it's mathematically impossible.

Isn't France specifically succesfull in naturalising talents from the african countries with french connections?

Women's sport is the good one to enjoy a few years of the highest relevance, before more countries catch up.

I'm a huge rugby fan not a football fan but did watch the match. I was very puzzled at the tactics once England scored - instead of going all out to get another goal or two there seemed to be a 'job done, now lets defend this lead' mentality. Once they did that the game ran away from them.

I do think there is a massive pressure on the players to be the ones to 'bring it home and end 60 years of hurt' which may weigh on them as well (mind you the same happens to any British tennis player at Wimbledon).

It could be of course that they are simply not as good as the Argentinians, who once they stopped trying to kick the shit out of the English players looked pretty skillful. Hopefully Spain will beat the dirty cheaters.

I'm also very hopeful that the England rugby team are successful at the weekend against the Pumas to get some sort of revenge

It's the post mortem I can't stand. It's a football tournament. Ergo, only one team can win it. Out of 48 teams (a lot more if you count the qualifying rounds) we came 4th; possibly 3rd. (I'd normally write us off in the 3rd place playoff, but I think France have suffered greater psychological damage than we have). 3rd/4th in the world is something we should be pleased with, not whinging about. I just hope Spain do the world a favour in the final and give the graceless, classless Argentine team a thorough beating.

Well, as I said further up, I don't know anything at all about football, but it must certainly be a unique sport if being in the Top 4 teams in the world makes you weak.

The issue is, the way ranking points work, you can elevate yourself into the top 10, top 5 or whatever simply by battering much poorer teams in Qualifying. This is how England got there.

The problem comes when you have to play other top teams. Like I posted above, in competitive Finals matches, England have one solitary World Cup win over a top-10 ranked side in the entire history of the World Cup, and have never beaten a top-6 team in the European Championship Finals.

"England ranked 4th" is a totally false picture of reality.

For example, prior to the World Cup Morocco were ranked 5th, Brazil 6th. Brazil were beaten in the last 16 by Norway, Morocco went down in the Quarters to France. Both of those teams also achieved their ranking by beating vastly inferior teams, only to be found out when they actually had to play good ones.

The money comes from the income they produce. Millions and millions from tickets, merchandise, and advertising

No it never said failed.

Sums it up. 🤣🤣