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?

[GorgeousSpringtime]

Not an England-team bashing thread, but why, oh WHY do they - the men - keep falling at the final hurdle (well, virtually the final hurdle,) every time at the football (soccer) World Cup - and the Euro Cup too...?

They do so well, and get so far, and then BANG they're out. Nearly always in the top 8, or top 4, (and the top 2, in the World Cup once, and a couple of times in the Euros I think,) but never the winner. (Not since 1966 anyway!)

Is it nerves? Is it that they're so anxious to win that they keep making silly mistakes? Are they just not quite good enough? WHAT IS IT? Why do they keep getting so close, but just never manage to get the win?!

As I said, I am not bashing them, and they did well, and I am proud of them, but I just get so frustrated that they can't quite ever get the win!

!

We're a top 5 team. Sugababes were a successful pop group. Kim Clijsters was a successful tennis player. Jennifer Lawrence is a successful actress. We're just not Taylor Swift or Roger Federer.

But also we have a sort of annoying combination of entitlement and risk-aversion which leads us to try and defend when we're 1-0 up instead of trying to score another. We've historically had quite unglamorous footballers and tended to play boringly and defensively. Right now we've actually got unusually creative and attacking players and we can play attractive football but the national psyche hasn't quite caught up to this.

We didn't even qualify in 74, 78 and 94.

In 2014 we didn't make it past the group stage.

Historically the quarter finals seem to be about our level.

It lives rent free in some heads. 😁

It was Hart who tried to give the team credit (former England goal keeper). Rooney's criticism is an actual joke. He should rewatch his performances for England.

Argentina are the best team in the world. It's bloody hard yo win against them. The England players fought hard and did nothing wrong (but the manager made mistakes). However to get a barrage of criticism from a player who never had a sniff of a semi-final with England and was consistently terrible, it just beyond belief.

We won and if Pence had the courage to overturn the fake result we would have won. Forevermore jr will be known as the stolen World Cup. The fake news unpatriotic media will not accept this but we need to fight fight fight to get the cup.

The cheating foreigners stole it from us and it is our manifest destiny to win the World Cup.

I don't really follow football other than major tournaments like the World Cup but is it not simply that England get knocked out in the final stages so often because that's about their level?
Hockey is my sport and England men are currently ranked third in the world. The Hockey World Cup starts next month. It is not beyond imagining that they could win - a favourable draw, bit of luck or an outstanding individual performance or two could propel any of the top few teams into the final. I'll be very disappointed if they get knocked out early as they're a great team who should do well. But if they lose a semi? Que sera, sera. I'll be a bit sad but pleased that they've reached where the rankings would suggest they should (especially given that the top 2 teams have home advantage ths year).
I don't think it is so much that the England Men's football team fail to achieve, more that the nation has unreasonable expectations. Isn't it just that they get very close because they're very good, but don't win because they're not quite good enough?
(That said, I did think it was a bit bonkers to try to defend such a slender lead for so long against a team like Argentina who have form for this kind of thing, but what would I know?)

If there is an epidemic of anxiety amongst children because they do not have the ability to win at sport, then perhaps they need to be taught about resilience and finding their own talent where they can excel. Elite athletes should be applauded, not dumbed down because somebody’s feelings may be hurt.

Good question eastern because every single interview I've seen he couldn't do more to praise his team etc

We were the better team in the first half we just let ourselves down instead of opening up that chanel to our strikers we closed them down and let Messi rule

I don't think anyone in Norway ever thought our team was going to win the World Cup, so therefore we rejoiced for every win and were pleased they got as far as they did before they got knocked out. In England, it seems like there is an expectation that they are going to win, and so anything but that is seen as a failure. Maybe there needs to be a change of attitude among English fans? They did well and got far. They were never going to win.

Sorry to point out the obvious, but only one team can win, so every other single team will fall - whether at the first or last hurdles.

eg Scotland - haven't made it to the World Cup in 20+ years, and celebrated the fact they did this year. The fans were impeccably behaved, had the time of their lives, created lifetime bonds with the host cities' residents, tidied up after them, spent a fortune while there, and came home again having lived the experience of a lifetime.

England fans - behaved better than usual (my own theory is that this is so they weren't shamed against the Tartan Army's behaviour). Yet, last night, fights in Atlanta and New York - and possibly elsewhere - with arrests made. They got to the semis, yet fans kick off when they get beaten. My own FB yesterday was full of posts highlighting how much domestic violence increases on the day/evening after an England defeat.

It's horrific.

Anyone on here who is Scottish will tell you - when you go on holiday abroad, and any of the locals say, "Are you English?" When they hear, "No, Scottish," they are completely delighted, due to how they witness their behaviour. We were in Greece a couple of weeks ago, in a smallish resort, and one pub closed on the night of the match, saying that they didnt want to be involved if anything kicked off. They screened every other teams' matches.

Because they are a good team but not good enough. Argentina and Spain have a level of flair and style of football that we lack. The premier league is about huge men battling it out. The Le League teams play a completely different style of football and are just more creative.

I remember when we were falling at the first or send hurdle or were not even at the races

I will take this over that

A good take on it. Talent + hard work x killer edge = winner! It is a magic formula.

Either way, the field was tiny compared to what it is. Much harder to win one now

England is a very good team, but not good enough.

We played in the last ten mins how we should have been playing after Gordon got us the goal. It's how argentina played . We were too little too late.

Sorry I haven't RTFT so don't know if this has already been said, but when you think about it there are multiple teams at the start, and by the end, just one winner. All teams but one will lose a match and so be 'out'. Just statistically, the experience of not being the champions is massively more probable for every team than the experience of being the champions! And if you are a good team, then your experience will be - you got quite close (last 8, or even last 4!) and then lose.

As they progress through the competition, they meet better teams.

Objectively, they did fail. They lost the match.

I’ve been through too many of these not to know they’re just not good enough to win.

Spot on!

Mexico aren't as good as Argentina.

So the Norwegian team played but never expected to win? Really? I'd have thought that was the point of being in the tournament for any team and their fans.

Someone talks about you…do you just walk straight over and hit them in the head?!