The England World Cup Thread

[cwy21]

Sorry in advance about you guys going out in the group stage in 2022 with the whole champions curse.

 

[Riandor]

Sorry in advance about you guys going out in the group stage in 2022 with the whole champions curse.

Would bite your hand off for that!

 

[nattydredd]

What probably happens if we lose tomorrow..or win.

A loss seems ideal..........

 

[hutchiniho]

Uruguay .......... Spain
Portugal .......... Russia
France ............. Croatia
Argentina ........ Denmark
Brazil ............... Sweden
Mexico .......... ..Switzerland

1st Group G vs 2nd Group G ?

2nd in the group not all that bad.

I reckon plenty of changes from Southgate tomorrow night. Trippier rested. Rose, Dier to start. Maybe Dele (or a good 30mins from the bench). Keep the back 3. Rashford to start. Sterling would be a question mark (needs a good showing for confidence) Vardy for Kane if Southgate rests him. I think I would (He will be top scorer going into the last 16 either way with Lukaku out)!

Finish with a draw from the back ups, keep the momentum (Out yellow card them as necessary).

 

[Timberwolf]

We can't underestimate the importance of how group H turns out. It's not unlikely that Colombia top the group and I'd certainly rather play Senegal or Japan over them.

 

[aliyid]

Love those promo shots of our boys. Where are they from?

Loads scattered around esp love the ones on Getty (will link to the Dier & Tripps one as we can’t post copyrighted images)

https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/event...ose-for-a-portrait-during-picture-id974067606

 

[spursfan77]

We want to finish second

 

[Streetspur77]

No we need to win football matches, dangerous to start plotting how we should lose to decide who we’re gonna play in a round we’re not even in yet.

 

[spurs]

It’s a no-lose scenario...



... unless we win

 

[LexingtonSpurs]

No we need to win football matches, dangerous to start plotting how we should lose to decide who we’re gonna play in a round we’re not even in yet.

This. All day long.

Win. Gain confidence. Win again.


The funny thing is - to win it all a team has to win 4 more matches.

Rd 16 - no meaningful difference in quality

QtrFinal - Brazil/Mexico or Sweden/Switzerland = advantage on paper to playing Sweden/Swiss

Semi = top bracket has a good team (France/Argentina/Uruguay/Portugal)
Bottom bracket has a good team (Spain or Croatia) (I'd rather face the top bracket than Spain/Croatia right now - but its a tough match either way).

Final = good team, no matter how you get there.


So - hoping to lose to Belgium results in 1 marginally easier game on paper - the quarterfinals. Its not worth it. Play to win the game.

 

[Shadydan]

Yup plus getting knocked out to Switzerland would be utterley depressing as opposed to Brazil.

It we want to win the thing then we got to play good teams at some point.

 

[fortworthspur]

finish second gives you an easier path to the semis. whoever comes out of H, 1 or 2, shouldnt be the problem. Brazil will be the problem. They are starting to get their chit together. And since what we desire has no effect of the actual outcome, be practical. sometimes you need a little luck.

 

[fortworthspur]

Yup plus getting knocked out to Switzerland would be utterley depressing as opposed to Brazil.

It we want to win the thing then we got to play good teams at some point.

the fewer good teams you play the better your chances.

 

[Yid-ol]

We can draw with Belgium, just pick up more yellow cards! If we come to 80th minute and still a draw I would throw in a few of the squad players and tell them to get a yellow card! If we don't have more by then.

 

[slartibartfast]

Start fkin about with the team and planning to lose and it'll bite us in the bum.
Play kane, keep confidence flying, sub him once jobs done.
1 game at a time.
None of the so called big teams look very good at present.
Make them worry about facing us.
Bring it mfs.

 

[Shadydan]

the fewer good teams you play the better your chances.

Depending on who goes through in Group H, if Colombia win their group which I think they will then the chances to progress on both sides are even, let's see what happens.

 

[Riandor]

I’d rather play one of the big teams right now frankly.

We’ve seen that the so called smaller nations want to play on the counter attack and are quite defensive. Rather play someone like Brazil etc... who look more than prone at the back to a fast paced attack/ a team good at set pieces.

 

[hughy]

Our path with be Colombia, Brazil, France, Spain. And we will beat them all.


Jokes we'll probably get the easier run and lose to Japan or Sweden.

 

[Marty]

What probably happens if we lose tomorrow..or win.

A loss seems ideal..........

View attachment 39086

Brazil in the quarters wouldn't be fun, but I think both Spain and Croatia are better sides than any of the potential semi opponents on the other side.

And anyway, I can't see us doing anything but playing to win.

 

[spursfan77]

Nobody looks back at World Cup winners in 20 years time and says they had an easy route to the final that’s why they won it that year.