Semi Final: Croatia vs England - Wednesday 7PM (Continued)

[WilsdenBantam]

Don't worry we'd have still missed.

 

[WilsdenBantam]

You'd hope the players would know the rules of the sport they are paid to play, bit embarrassing really. Modric turned around during the celebrations, I wondered why he looked so confused, lol.

 

[Abertawe]

Knowing all players must be in their own half is like nursery level understanding of the rules surely?

 

[Renegade]

Even if they had scored legally I imagine they would have been pressured by fair play to give the goal back. It is a really pathetic desperate move to be honest.

 

[Bobbin']

“What happened in 2018 Dad?”

“Well son, England went off to compete in a World Cup and left the rest of us at home as they so often do and we changed flags on our twitter bio.”

“Bloody hell, Dad, that sounds pathetic”

“Fuck off kid, that summer is one of the greatest in the history of Welsh Football!”

 

[Abertawe]

Can only imagine it was to try and get the ref to hassle the croation players not to waste time.

 

[Abertawe]

“What happened in 2018 Dad?”

“Well son, England went off to compete in a World Cup and left the rest of us at home as they so often do and we changed flags on our twitter bio.”

“Bloody hell, Dad, that sounds pathetic”

“Fuck off kid, that summer is one of the greatest in the history of Welsh Football!”

Except it ain't. Our success in the euro's exceeds what England have done in this finals and it isn't even close. Any impartial football fan with half a clue will agree.

 

[Gassy]

Tbh, I cant help but think they're also trying to make a point to the referee for the time of celebration. It was a good 2 minute celebration

 

[WilsdenBantam]

Knowing all players must be in their own half is like nursery level understanding of the rules surely?

I'd hope so, next they'll be say you can't tackle from kick offs. Crazy if professionals actually believed that, most of them get paid £100k per week, the least they could do is know the rules.

 

[Renegade]

I'd hope so, next they'll be say you can't tackle from kick offs. Crazy if professionals actually believed that, most of them get paid £100k per week, the least they could do is know the rules.

It's happened a few times in recent months, so I think it's a common enough myth amongst players and fans. To be fair to players, it's a simple game, I doubt many have sat down and read a rulebook when the most complicated thing you really have to understand is offside.

I hope they were just trying to get the Croatians to hurry up, didn't look like they had such noble aims by their expressions though.

 

[T.A]

Except it ain't. Our success in the euro's exceeds what England have done in this finals and it isn't even close. Any impartial football fan with half a clue will agree.

Do you get a trophy for that mate?

 

[valefan16]

The Kick off rule has been suggested throughout the tournament.

Panama tried it against England and when Portugal scored against Morocco all the players went off the field except one who was told to stay on the line of the pitch to prevent a restart by Ronaldo!

 

[Skinner]

Whatever, I'm done with this shit team.

You support Carlisle mate

 

[T.A]

He’s a troll, ignore him.

 

[rudebwoyben]

Whenever St Juste posts one of his tl:dr posts on here, an angel dies..

 

[PaulHaddock]

Except it ain't. Our success in the euro's exceeds what England have done in this finals and it isn't even close. Any impartial football fan with half a clue will agree.

And we beat still you that tournament.

 

[dedwardp]

Best kick off I can remember was an FA Youth Cup game between Colchester and Chelsea at Layer Road - Colchester scored, all the players ran off to celebrate, sliding on the floor in front of the dugout. All of them were in their own half though and hadn't left the pitch so Chelsea kicked off, cue the whole lot scrambling up and running off to quickly defend.

 

[Gassy]

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=2652984578100317

 

[St. Juste]

You reckon you can talk on behalf of all England fans? Please find me 1 serious England fan on this forum who genuinely said after the Tunisia game that they believe we would win the World Cup.

Again, article headlines mean nothing - one paper one day tells you in the UK that England are crap. The other tells you they're heroes. What do you do then? You speak to the people and get a true sense.

Another point you've misunderstood is that I am not calling Croatia shit. Re read my point and maybe you'll get it.

On a separate note, I can't actually believe you think that Croatia are a bad team/Scotland are a good team because you beat them in 2013

No, I clearly talk on behalf of any England fan. Also, that's twice now you have misunderstood "1st knockout game"

When England drew Colombia "footballs coming home" started and it ramped massively straight afterwards before going into fever pitch after the Sweden game.

Don't believe me?

Look at what Luka Modric had to say - https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...motivated-lack-of-respect-england-luka-modric

And the Croatian media has ramped it up since. England were bragging before the game and it blew up massively in their faces. Not for the first time, and not for the last.

As for the final point, you really haven't understood that at all, but more than a few of the Croatia players who beat England played in those games. Vida, Corluka, Lovren, Strinic, Modric, Mandzukic and Perisic, with the first six starting. So yeah, they're not great.

Honestly some of the most ridiculous shite I've ever seen on this forum and that is really saying something.

Yeah well maybe you should come back when you learn how to use the quote function.

Regarding 1) and winning it, I assume you mean winning the whole tournament? It's hard to have a serious conversation when you assert something that patently isn't true.

Now if we could modify that slightly to take your exaggeration out of it, if you'd said 'England fans and pundits were talking about the possible route to the final since the first knockout round (or before even)' - and that was getting ahead of ourselves too early.

Then I could consider that and indeed agree to an extent.

Then you yourself seem to have imagined out our possible route to the final earlier in the tournament. So it seems fair actual England supporters might do likewise with varying degrees of optimism or pessimism.

Have you been living in a cave for the past week? It has been wall to wall expectation and has been picked up by the Croatian players, media and fans.

It's astonishing England fans are still playing the 'not me guv' card. It's clear, it's documented in many articles and it is now why you are being pilloried in Croatia.

 

[Abertawe]

Apparently Corluka was asked for a word by English press and he stopped and said "it's not coming home" and walked off.

 

[Gassy]

I’ll reply to St Juste tomorrow - clueless

 

[Nilsson]

The people saying that this tournament isn't a success are having a laugh or overestimate English football.

We got to the World Cup semi finals. That's a big deal for England (our first in 28 years). You can disrespect our opposition all you like, but the likes of Spain and Germany weren't up for it this year, who cares? This has been one of the most exciting World Cups in ages overall. Comparing our run to France -- the best team they faced before beating Belgium was a Cavani-less Uruguay (probably worse than a James-less Colombia, who have more talent in more areas than Uruguay imo). They also beat a shocking Argentina side who were lucky to finish above Nigeria with a late goal from a CB (would anyone bet against 2018 WC's Sweden beating 2018's WC Argentina?).

The players did themselves proud and made their own history -- scoring the most goals for England at a World Cup (I'm pretty sure that's the case now?), finally winning a penalty shoot out and as said before, getting us to our first semi in 28 years.

And Southgate has shown that he's the right man to lead this young team. Tactically we could get someone better (although I'd expect him to have learnt a lot from this experience). I'd love for him to get a more experienced assistant but his man management has been exemplary. For the first time in my lifetime it seems like we've got a happy England camp, the players enjoy playing for England and look confident. I'd trust him more than anybody to integrate the potentially top young players we have coming through into the squad.

With further reflection I’m more upset that we didn’t put it beyond sight of Croatia before they scored. But what you gonna do. Imo Kane should have showed more on this occasion — but then you also have to take into account that trio. It never quite clicked for them. A lore talented or experienced forward line would have finished them off. Oh well

That's the biggest disappointment about last night. It was a very winnable game. The first half felt no different to the Sweden game -- we were in control, creating chances and not looking in any real danger. I was so disappointed Jesse missed his chance, that's normally a shot he's good at and to see him miss the net completely was pathetic. But credit to Croatia, they used all their experience to get back into the game and we weren't at the races for too long after the break. They deserved it.

Agree on the trio. I think Oxlade Chamberlain proved to be a massive miss. He plays in a similar role at Liverpool and looked very good in this system against against the Dutch earlier this year. Plus he loves a long shot, something we were missing.

 

[JJ1532]

No, I clearly talk on behalf of any England fan. Also, that's twice now you have misunderstood "1st knockout game"

When England drew Colombia "footballs coming home" started and it ramped massively straight afterwards before going into fever pitch after the Sweden game.

Don't believe me?

Look at what Luka Modric had to say - https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...motivated-lack-of-respect-england-luka-modric

And the Croatian media has ramped it up since. England were bragging before the game and it blew up massively in their faces. Not for the first time, and not for the last.

As for the final point, you really haven't understood that at all, but more than a few of the Croatia players who beat England played in those games. Vida, Corluka, Lovren, Strinic, Modric, Mandzukic and Perisic, with the first six starting. So yeah, they're not great.



Yeah well maybe you should come back when you learn how to use the quote function.



Have you been living in a cave for the past week? It has been wall to wall expectation and has been picked up by the Croatian players, media and fans.

It's astonishing England fans are still playing the 'not me guv' card. It's clear, it's documented in many articles and it is now why you are being pilloried in Croatia.

Wait, England made their first World Cup semi-final in 28 years and people got carried away? Well, colour me shocked. Wonder how many German pundits thought Germany would win the World Cup? Wonder how many Spanish pundits thought Spain would go deep in this tournament?

Yes, expectations rose when England got through and a path to the semis emerged. That isn't unreasonable. We were better than Colombia, far better than Sweden, but caught out by the occasion against Croatia. Are Croatia 100% a better team than us? No, I think we're incredibly even, as proven by the fact it was 1-1 after 90 minutes. They were just slightly better when it mattered.

Was it arrogance to say England would be Colombia? Sweden? Croatia? Nope, I'd say the prediction was justified, given how England were playing and how these teams were playing.

I'm really not sure why you think people predicting England to win these games was unreasonable. It wasn't and it still isn't.

 

[Kopper]

I don't understand this take. I think one of our major problems is being too slow, too pedestrian both with the ball and players moving off the ball to find space. We slowly dink it among the back 4 before realizing there's no real options on and aiming an diagonal into a channel or into Kane.

We run more than most teams. The Croatian players didn't out run us in terms of speed on or off the ball. They were simply more efficient. They press as a unit and can anchor the ball in midfield. Croatia midfield had (I think I'm right in saying) a height advantage. Which late on the game with tired legs began to tell.

Passing the ball back to our keeper alerts the opposition the midfield has been won and they can dictate play. Which is what happened.

Argentina in 2010 couldn't compete against a physically larger German team. Whereas in 2014 Brazil couldn't cope with the same German side. They lost to Belgium for the same reason. Brazil won't win another world cup until they address this issue.

 

[SALTIRE]

you were our Scotland in football

Another dig eh Dirk. Fine, we are content with having invented the game, and the passing game, to give you lot a chance in the 20th Century of being remembered for something other than causing two world wars.

 

[Kopper]

Wait, England made their first World Cup semi-final in 28 years and people got carried away? Well, colour me shocked. Wonder how many German pundits thought Germany would win the World Cup? Wonder how many Spanish pundits thought Spain would go deep in this tournament?

Yes, expectations rose when England got through and a path to the semis emerged. That isn't unreasonable. We were better than Colombia, far better than Sweden, but caught out by the occasion against Croatia. Are Croatia 100% a better team than us? No, I think we're incredibly even, as proven by the fact it was 1-1 after 90 minutes. They were just slightly better when it mattered.

Was it arrogance to say England would be Colombia? Sweden? Croatia? Nope, I'd say the prediction was justified, given how England were playing and how these teams were playing.

I'm really not sure why you think people predicting England to win these games was unreasonable. It wasn't and it still isn't.

Yes it was.

English fans were talking about winning the tournament.

We weren't better than Colombia as we need penalties to separate us. They also scored from open play and we didn't.

Croatia on the balance of play were the better side. They kept their shape and pressed when they needed to. They also never panicked, even after the goal and Kane's miss.

 

[Carver]

He’s a troll, ignore him.

I'M NOT A FUCKING TROLL.

I have an opinion and just because it might be an unpopular one doesn't mean that I'm just here to wind people up, ffs like.

 

[Benji]

Just about to head out for the national parade to celebrate England being knocked out. Everyone gathers in the village square wearing the state sanctioned Anyone But England kit (multicoloured) and we sing hymns. We do pints for a pound for the week after all of England's knock outs. The Severn Bridge is free for a week, and working hours are reduced to 11-3pm.

Best of all, BBC Wales finally stop asking if we should all support England.

 

[T.A]

Yes it was.

English fans were talking about winning the tournament.

We weren't better than Colombia as we need penalties to separate us. They also scored from open play and we didn't.

Croatia on the balance of play were the better side. They kept their shape and pressed when they needed to. They also never panicked, even after the goal and Kane's miss.

Colombia scored from a corner mate.

Find it ironic that a Liverpool fan is criticizing another team for having the audacity to think they can win a competition. LIVERPOOL.

 

[Renegade]

I don't really understand the arrogance accusations, I think other nations have taken the whole "football's coming home" thing a bit too literally based on previous English attitudes to their national side. From 1998-2010 I noticed arrogance, as though both fans and pundits believed they had a right to be in the latter stages of every tournament, but English fans grew gradually more apathetic after 2010 and even downright pessimistic come 2016.

This time the chants, the punditry and even the memes felt more like a renaissance of hope that the England team can compete on the biggest stage. Yes, the montages on the BBC of hope that they could win a World Cup were awfully saccharine, but they did not come across as arrogant to me. In Ireland most people took this as the old arrogant attitude, when really it should have been obvious that they were almost poking fun at the idea of daring to dream again. Most of the "football's coming home" stuff was ironic, I don't think people in other countries appreciate that the chant itself is about England failing over and over again and merely hoping that this time they won't, that they can be good. It's not meant to be arrogant, but the "golden" generation made it seem that way. The BBC team were very much joking about winning it all until they reached the later stages of the tournament, but of course this was interpreted as arrogance by many. The self-deprecating humour seemingly going over a lot of heads.

I encountered few English fans that actually believed they were going to win the World Cup and even less that overlooked Croatia as an easy game on route to an inevitable showdown with France. Come the knockouts, there was a lot more confidence, but just because you believe you can beat a side like Croatia, it doesn't mean you are arrogantly looking past them. Football managers and players aren't so one-track minded that they can't both respect their opponent, but also believe that they can/should beat them and potentially look forward to the next round. If this forum is a decent representative sample of English football fans (surely it should be?), then the predictions before the tournament were quite pessimistic (most fans would have been happy with a quarters appearance) and quite measured before the Croatia game (most thought this was going to be a tough game that they could win). Hardly arrogant.

And yeah, there were a few cocksure pundits (Rio) and a minority of the support who thought England beating Croatia was inevitable, but they were dwarfed by mostly apprehensive predictions that Croatia are a good side with better midfielders and could easily knock England out. Maybe it's not the smartest thing for anyone to speak about finals before you get there as it gives your opponents easy ammunition and extra motivation, but I don't think it's much of an issue at all though. Roy Keane slammed them for it last night, but even Ian Wright was arguing that no one thought they'd make the semi-finals. The idea that England were preparing a victory bus parade is just an inane notion based on prior experiences of English arrogance.

Croatia's media today has both slammed the English arrogance and then gone on to pretty much guarantee that they are going to win the World Cup on Sunday because nothing can stop them. Maybe arrogant people exist in all countries, eh?

"The national broadcaster, HRT, started its post-match programme with presenters and studio guests jumping around and chanting, while Robert Prosinecki, a member of Croatia’s bronze-winning side in 1998, said: “We murdered the English in the second half!” Josko Jelicic, Croatia’s self-styled answer to Gary Lineker, added: “They [England] have nothing to cry about – they were knocked out by the future world champions. We played a mature game, the English were unbelievably inferior.”

The Vecernji list newspaper went with the headline “We knocked the English down, Croatia are in the World Cup final!” with Zeljko Jankovic writing how Croatia and France will now decide “who plays the best football on the planet at the moment”. It turned out to be rhetorical as he answered it himself by adding: “It’s Croatia, don’t even doubt that!

Vecernji’s website devoted an unusual amount of space to gloating over the fate of the losing team, with headlines such as “Football’s not coming home”, “The arrogance hit them back”, “The English are sore losers” and even published a photo gallery titled “Look how the English cry after losing to Croatia” with pictures of downbeat players and fans.”