Gutted ... are you?

[FlipFlopF]

You did us proud England

The spitefullness on this thread.... Saddos

Makes for embarrassing reading.

It does. Imagine being 'motivated' by alleged criticism from foreign TV pundits than by the chance of playing in a World Cup final. Don't players have better ways of preparing for a match than tuning into English TV?

And I'd be interested to know exactly which articles/TV coverage Modric is referring to. All of the serious football journalism I read/saw was hoping that England would win, while acknowledging that Croatia were a very impresside side and on paper at least, superior to England. Maybe The Sun is Modric's rag of choice?

“They have to wait 4 years only for the team to fail again”

But what about Scottish and Welsh people who don’t see their teams qualify? How do they feel?

Some of the English are arrogant about the World Cup. My English family members have been insufferable since it started. You would think they were the only team in the cup All this “Its coming home” and “we invented football” To hear my cousins speak you would think England were in the final. It was a case of “When we play France this weekend”

When they got put out we were subjected to a barrel load of abuse. “You pricks didn’t even qualify, you can’t talk” I wouldn’t mind but my DH and I don’t follow football or care. England should be proud they did well but I’m so bloody happy I won’t have to here “it’s coming home” anymore. It’s a bloody game. And no I don’t care that Scotland doesn’t qualify. Couldn’t care less.

So why have we been subjected to an endless onslaught in the media of people saying with absolute certainty, "it's coming home"?

Oh FFS here we go again!

As I and others have pointed out numerous times, that slogan goes back to the time when England hosted the Euros - more than 2 decades ago. And the "3 Lions" song is about frustrated hope and looking back to past glories, not at all about the 'certainty' of victory. Quite the opposite.

People were tentatively hoping England would get to the final and maybe even win - as fans in any country would. There was no 'certainty' about it. You seem to have completely missed the mood of the country.

Icedpurple - so all the people who've been saying "it's coming home" actually meant 'we don't expect to win'?

- so all the people who've been saying "it's coming home" actually meant 'we don't expect to win'?

I haven't interviewed every single one of the millions of such people, and neither have you.

But I do believe, given the context of the slogan as pointed out above, that it is said more in hope than expectation.

And what is so wrong with expecting to win anyway? Yes, both Croatia and France are more gifted than England - as most serious football fans would readily agree - but in a world cup where Germany was knocked out by South Korea and Spain by Russia, anything could happen.

I'm absolutely gutted, I even cried when Croatia scored their second goal.
On the whole though, I'm immensely proud of our national team for how well they've played throughout, including last night, and for the passion and hope they helped reignite in the country for the England team.

Got to say, Croatia played really well though and tbh it was only for Pickford being so brilliant that we even got to extra time. I hope they go on to win the whole thing come Sunday.

P.S gonna be a bit awkward tomorrow afternoon when Scott Mills has to announce Three Lions as UK number one 🤦🏻‍♀️

Yes it quickly changed after the game last night from winning the thing to "overachieved".

Icedpurple -oh I see. Like the interviewer on the news last night who asked a fan how she 'knew' football was coming home, I've been puzzled by what I've taken to be absolute certainty and confidence in the team to deliver. Being a superstitious sort of person I've never wanted to jinx anything by saying anything like that so it's always seemed like tempting fate to me.

. Like the interviewer on the news last night who asked a fan how she 'knew' football was coming home,

Oh OK, one unnamed random 'interviewer on the news' settles everything!

People are certainly over invested in this game. A friend’s family have fallen out over it! Father not speaking to son, grandchildren no longer allowed to go to grandparents, because the father/grandfather doesn’t understand why his son doesn’t like football (which he calls “God’s game”) and calls his son “gay” for not liking it.

I’m not surprised his son doesn’t like it, it’s been rammed down his throat since he was a tot.

And I have the fathers/grandfathers side of the story!

It’s the wife of the football fan who I am friends with btw. I am serious when I say they may divorce over the game because, as he says, “football is life”.

🤔🙄

They truly believed they would be meeting France. 🙄

It was all in the stars.

The spitefullness on this thread.... Saddos

Would this also apply the thread that mocked Germany being knocked out? If you can't take it, don't dish it out.

*. Like the interviewer on the news last night who asked a fan how she 'knew' football was coming home,

Oh OK, one unnamed random 'interviewer on the news' settles everything!*

Ah - the interviewer bumped into the only person in the uk who truly believed. What a coincidence.

blueskypink, "absolute certainty" - are you sure?

I think people were saying it just to be optimistic and why not? Also as we got so much further this year it did begin to look like a possibility. Even I, and I hate football, said it a few times but certainly not because I was certain we would win.

Loads of my family, friends, facebook friends are football fans. Not one of them stated that we would win. They all hoped we would and some of them said or posted "it's coming home" but that wasn't because of arrogance.

I posted it on a thread on here just because I was sick of people knocking England, knocking the football team, knocking people who like football.

I don't even think the media said "it's coming home" with absolute certainty. Again, they were being optimistic and hopeful. But I am sure you think you know better

TBH, the result and score are exactly as I expected. Knew we would more than have our work cut out to get past Modric, Rakatic and co.
In fairness yes we did really well to reach the semis but did have a pretty easy passage. Still disappointed though!

However, personally I would much rather go out in the semis than reach the final and then lose. That really would be devastating for all involved - fans, players etc. alike. Good luck to both Croatia and France on Sunday - you both deserve to be there.

Ah - the interviewer bumped into the only person in the uk who truly believed. What a coincidence.

Look I'm not going to base an argument on the basis of a single random anonymous interviewer you just happened to see. I could just as soon quote the many random anonymous intervews with fans who said they were gutted but Croatia were the better team and they were just happy that England exceeded all expectations.

I don't think there's any point in continuing this conversation as you'll believe what you want to believe and see what you want to see.

www.theguardian.com/football/2018/jul/11/croatia-motivated-lack-of-respect-england-luka-modric

itsclaire

I've seen that attitude time and time again.

For some people football fandom is like a cult that brainwashes their children.
Parents force their interests on to a child from birth. Dress them in symbolic robes, teach them chants, surround them by thousands of others all with the same belief, teach them that those who think different are the enemy to be ridiculed, bully people that think differently even their own children...
but it's ok.. cause it's football..

Would this also apply the thread that mocked Germany being knocked out? If you can't take it, don't dish it out.

Bit of a difference in that Germany were the reigning champions and were knocked out at the group stage - beaten by South Korea, one of the weakest teams in the tournament.

By contrast, England entered the tournament with very few expectations and ended up in a semi-final. That's a major acheivement despite last night's defeat.

Oh and btw if anyone wants to see 'arrogant', try German football culture. Notably the behaviour of their management team after the last gasp victory over Sweden.

MinightAura, so you couldn't care less that Scotland doesn't qualify. Good for you. Can you not understand that many people do care?

I am not interested in football. I never watch it. I know very little about it. Couldn't name any player. I didn't even know who Messi is and apparently he is the most famous football player in the world. I have many friends and family though that do like it, do follow it, watch it on tv, go to matches etc. Because I like my friends and family I want them to be happy so therefore I wanted England to do well.

I can fully understand people being upset. I am a big fan of Lewis Hamilton. I so wanted him to win the British GP but he didn't. I was pretty upset on Sunday

The manner of defeat is irrelevant. Mocking Germany was apparently "banter" because they were "rivals". Same rules should then apply to England taking stick from rivals when they are knocked out.

Modric is only echoing the world view of Engerland. The rest of the world listens in disbelief and bemusement to the hype knowing that the fall will come with a mighty crash. And it does. Every time.