As gutting as it is, in the cold light of day I think this tournament will be remembered fondly for England as a turning point for the national team.
2 years ago we lost to Iceland, 4 years ago it was out in the group phase. This was a team that had declined so far and become crushed under the weight of speculation and press pressure.
One of the hardest tasks of an England manager is to keep the side playing without that restriction. Since Sven, who was a lot better than people gave him credit for, England just havenāt had a manager that could do that. Southgate deserves huge credit for getting a sense of identity beyond a group of individuals terrified of what the papers would say back in the team.
This is a group of players who seem to love, not dread, playing for the team and for each other. They have quality and youth and a lot of potential and weāve got a side worth being excited about.
That is prime time Luca talk lolā¦ Neither England nor Sweden deserved to be where they go to, sadlyā¦ At least Sweden played the part of the gritty underdog.
I understand there are a couple of very young attacking Swedes upcoming (not including Isak - wtf happened to him?) and they will always have a good core organizationā¦ but for such a small country they kind of have to hit the jackpot every once in a while with a King Henrik or a Zlatanā¦ still love my boy Freddie too.
Once France beat Belgium, I thought theyād be taking it back there. I just canāt see this French side botching it again. Plus, Croatia have played how many minutes now? Would be funny if Greezy scored a hattrick to take the golden boot.
England should be proud with their achievement, even though they should have won this game imo. Especially after the first half display.
If England had reached the final my money would be on France, but with this Croatia team I just donāt know. Crazy tournament this!
Honestly watching that game was just so fucking good. For the first time Iāve been able to wear an England shirt with some pride. Just hope we build on this and aim for the euros in 2020 (semis and final are at Wembley!)
Now Iām fully behind Croatia, they have a team full of fucking heart and I donāt rate deschamps
Honestly, in a one game final, with a manager as shit as Deschamps who fails to leverage properly Franceās massive advantage in talent, anything is possibleā¦thatās already been proven with Portugal, a more shit team than Croatia.
I hope France wins it but would not be at all surprised if Croatia wins in ET/penalties.
I think if weād had Wilshere, weād have smashed Belgium. Smashed Japan. Smashed Brazil. Smashed France. And would now be strong favourites heading into a final against Belgium
I love the fact that AC gives us a list of reasons as to why he hates England, whilst at the same time being the most obvious reason why we all hate feckin Spainā¦
That doesnāt even make sense as a response to what I said. A4tt was trolling the whole game about England owing Poland for fucking up the co-efficient which somehow supposedly meant England got an easy run to the final.
I reversed that bit of A4tt trolling in a nudge nudge wink wink way.
Croatia just outclassed you.