dontcallme
SC Supporter
- Mar 18, 2005
- 34,227
- 83,158
Just thought i'd try and get a general feeling on the best England team in the last 2 decades.
1990
Shilton, Pearce, PArker, Des Walker, Butcher, Waddle, Barnes, Gazza, PLatt, Linekar and Beardsley.
Scraped through an easy group drawing against Rep of Ireland and Holland before a Mark Wright header got us through the group against Egypt. We went onto beat Begium in the next round in the last minute of extra time after Belgium hit the post twice before beating Cameroon by two penalties. We put up a brave display against a great West Germany side before going out on penalties.
Verdict - A really exciting tournament full of drama and Gazza bursting onto the scene and Des Walker proving to be the best English defender I've seen in my 25 year life. The team though struggled past teams that the press and fans alike would slaughter them for nowadays.
1996
Seaman, Neville, Pearce, Southgate, Adams, Ince, Anderton, Mcmanaman, Gazza, Sheringham and Shearer.
A poor opening against Switzerland pulling out a 1-1 draw. From then on we beat the Scots and a very memorable performance against Holland with Sheringham and Shearer playing at their best. A dull 0-0 against Spain helped Seaman show his class as we beat them on penalties. A better display this time in the semis against Germany than 1990 but agonisingly had the same result.
Verdict - we played some great football and was the last time we'd ever see Gazza light up an international tournament. Horrible seeing us lose at home to the Germans but really got the whole country behind us and a very memorable tounament
2002
Seaman, Mills, A Cole, Rio, Sol, Sinclair, Butt, Scholes, Beckham, Owen and Heskey.
The golden generation that involved Nicky Butt, Trevor Sinclair, Danny Mills and Emile Heskey. Sven had the impossible job of taking a very poor England side to a World Cup where press and fans alike had built us up to make people believe we were great and had a chance of winning. Sven played this tournament very smartly and concentrated hard on making our defence hard to break down. A uninspiring draw against Sweden turned people against us before a deserved victory against Argentina. Nigeria was a match with little to matter and we preserved ourselves before Denmark put in a shocking defensive display and we took full advantage by hammering them convincingly. Unfortunately Brazil in the Quarter Finals was always an uphill battle against a far superior side. Owen at his predatory best gave us hope before Brazil passed and moved us off the field and deservedly went onto win 2-1 and the World Cup
Verdict - Didn't have the same excitement as previous tournaments but Sven steadied the ship after the disaster that was Kevin Keegan. It was great to see Becks taking on a major role but with a poor side we did as well as could be expected.
2006
Robinson, Cole, Neville, Terry, Rio, Beckham, J Cole, Gerrard, Lampard, Owen, Rooney
The tournament where all Svens decisions didn't seem to make much sense. Two unfit strikers, Peter Crouch and an untried teenager baffled the nation. After 6 years in charge the Swede didn't seem to know his sqaud very well and didn't know how we could progress better than previous tournaments. Despite this we comfortably got through our group and beat Ecuador. Playing 451 against Portugal with Rooney as the lone striker didn't work but to be fair Portugal were once again a far superior side to our over-hyped superstars and there was little Svencould have done to change this.
Verdict - The results were decent enough but we really didn't put in enough excitement that is expected of England. The players didn't do themselves many favours and only a couple really performed well. It was the end of the era for Sven whose record for England was good even if fans didn't like the way he got us to play football. His record wouldn't be appreciated by many until the disaster that was ginger Steve.
Personally i think the 1996 was the best team and came agonisingly close to winning the tournament.
1990
Shilton, Pearce, PArker, Des Walker, Butcher, Waddle, Barnes, Gazza, PLatt, Linekar and Beardsley.
Scraped through an easy group drawing against Rep of Ireland and Holland before a Mark Wright header got us through the group against Egypt. We went onto beat Begium in the next round in the last minute of extra time after Belgium hit the post twice before beating Cameroon by two penalties. We put up a brave display against a great West Germany side before going out on penalties.
Verdict - A really exciting tournament full of drama and Gazza bursting onto the scene and Des Walker proving to be the best English defender I've seen in my 25 year life. The team though struggled past teams that the press and fans alike would slaughter them for nowadays.
1996
Seaman, Neville, Pearce, Southgate, Adams, Ince, Anderton, Mcmanaman, Gazza, Sheringham and Shearer.
A poor opening against Switzerland pulling out a 1-1 draw. From then on we beat the Scots and a very memorable performance against Holland with Sheringham and Shearer playing at their best. A dull 0-0 against Spain helped Seaman show his class as we beat them on penalties. A better display this time in the semis against Germany than 1990 but agonisingly had the same result.
Verdict - we played some great football and was the last time we'd ever see Gazza light up an international tournament. Horrible seeing us lose at home to the Germans but really got the whole country behind us and a very memorable tounament
2002
Seaman, Mills, A Cole, Rio, Sol, Sinclair, Butt, Scholes, Beckham, Owen and Heskey.
The golden generation that involved Nicky Butt, Trevor Sinclair, Danny Mills and Emile Heskey. Sven had the impossible job of taking a very poor England side to a World Cup where press and fans alike had built us up to make people believe we were great and had a chance of winning. Sven played this tournament very smartly and concentrated hard on making our defence hard to break down. A uninspiring draw against Sweden turned people against us before a deserved victory against Argentina. Nigeria was a match with little to matter and we preserved ourselves before Denmark put in a shocking defensive display and we took full advantage by hammering them convincingly. Unfortunately Brazil in the Quarter Finals was always an uphill battle against a far superior side. Owen at his predatory best gave us hope before Brazil passed and moved us off the field and deservedly went onto win 2-1 and the World Cup
Verdict - Didn't have the same excitement as previous tournaments but Sven steadied the ship after the disaster that was Kevin Keegan. It was great to see Becks taking on a major role but with a poor side we did as well as could be expected.
2006
Robinson, Cole, Neville, Terry, Rio, Beckham, J Cole, Gerrard, Lampard, Owen, Rooney
The tournament where all Svens decisions didn't seem to make much sense. Two unfit strikers, Peter Crouch and an untried teenager baffled the nation. After 6 years in charge the Swede didn't seem to know his sqaud very well and didn't know how we could progress better than previous tournaments. Despite this we comfortably got through our group and beat Ecuador. Playing 451 against Portugal with Rooney as the lone striker didn't work but to be fair Portugal were once again a far superior side to our over-hyped superstars and there was little Svencould have done to change this.
Verdict - The results were decent enough but we really didn't put in enough excitement that is expected of England. The players didn't do themselves many favours and only a couple really performed well. It was the end of the era for Sven whose record for England was good even if fans didn't like the way he got us to play football. His record wouldn't be appreciated by many until the disaster that was ginger Steve.
Personally i think the 1996 was the best team and came agonisingly close to winning the tournament.
