World Cup 2014 thread

[Unknown Soldier]

It's a pity England can't display any of the passion and work ethic of the US, but then again they never will while they believe themselves to be a major force in world football, especially since they believe that the really big teams shouldn't have to play strictly around a work ethic.

I've been watching England play in WC's and EC's since the early 1980s and to be fair nothing much has really changed, always a team of a couple of good players at the top level, surrounded by average to good players and after every competition the post-mortem was the same and that was we're just not as good as the foreign teams or there are too many foreigners in our league. The last point was always a joke as the French, Spanish and German leagues etc usually had loads of foreign players as well and they've always done alright.

In fact the best England team I've seen was the one at Italia 90 that reached the semis and even then they got slagged-off all through that world cup by the press here

[William_the_Bloody]

Originally Posted by Unknown Soldier

It's a pity England can't display any of the passion and work ethic of the US, but then again they never will while they believe themselves to be a major force in world football, especially since they believe that the really big teams shouldn't have to play strictly around a work ethic.

I've been watching England play in WC's and EC's since the early 1980s and to be fair nothing much has really changed, always a team of a couple of good players at the top level, surrounded by average to good players and after every competition the post-mortem was the same and that was we're just not as good as the foreign teams or there are too many foreigners in our league. The last point was always a joke as the French, Spanish and German leagues etc usually had loads of foreign players as well and they've always done alright.

In fact the best England team I've seen was the one at Italia 90 that reached the semis and even then they got slagged-off all through that world cup by the press here

In Canada England is always hyped up because they're seen as the best football representatives for the Anglophone world, but as a soccer (football) fan, I just roll my eyes when the media begins speculating if this could be England's year.

The fact is they're are just not a world class team like the Germans, Brazilians, Italians, ect. They haven't made it to the semi finals in 24 years, the finals 48 years, and their recent WC record risks putting them on par with the United States.

I disagree with your comment on foreign players though, I do think the Premier League has crowded out young English talent in the last decade, the foreign players on the heavyweight teams are phenomenal in comparison to most German and French team leagues, so I imagine things will get worse before they get better.

The other problem with England is their population pool, it should be team United Kingdom, Gareth bale anyone...ah but sadly that will never happen, will it?