Quote:
Originally Posted by Unknown Soldier
If the English press stopped building up England before every tournament, they might actually get somewhere. Ever since I`ve been watching football (since the 1980s) the expectations on the national team have been huge. The only time it was more relaxed, was actually before they hosted the EC in 1996!!! and that was largely due to the fact, that they had played badly at EC 1992 and failed to qualify for the WC in 1994.
The worst thing that can actually happen to England is if they beat Spain in this friendly, as it will have the press in hysteria and stamping England as favourites for 2012!
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Couldn't agree more. I've been watching England since Euro '96, and the level of hype surrounding the lads before each tournament they've qualified for is just unbelievable, no matter what they didn't do to earn it. I remember a mate of mine from Northern Ireland telling me the thing that annoys him most about the English fans is that they think their team has some god-given right to win every game they play in, and you can see where he's coming from.
I'd love to live to see us at least come really close to winning a major international competition in my lifetime but, until the press lowers their expectations, that's simply not going to happen. To be fair to the press though, I legitimately thought we'd reach the semis in South Africa only to see some team performances tht can only be described as nightmarish.