Is it about time we grew up and stopped gloating about England's misfortunes?

[Canalman]

For what it is worth I think this is the WC England needed to get out of their system and bid adios to  the last of the "golden generation" which cost them again last night imo.
Read somewhere that England had only 4,000 fans at the tournament so I suppose the English had the tournament written off anyway.

Don't see Hodgson's position in danger at the moment and only if they lose to CR will the knives come out.

Players not good enough at the moment but they will be a force imo again in the next few tournaments.

[J OGorman]

For what it is worth I think this is the WC England needed to get out of their system and bid adios to  the last of the "golden generation" which cost them again last night imo.
Read somewhere that England had only 4,000 fans at the tournament so I suppose the English had the tournament written off anyway.

Don't see Hodgson's position in danger at the moment and only if they lose to CR will the knives come out.

Players not good enough at the moment but they will be a force imo again in the next few tournaments.

this golden generation you talk of are not a golden generation of any sort. They've won nothing at international level and anything they have won at European club level is because they have been surrounded by very costly foreign players. This golden generation are the best players England have. If you take the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Utd, all teams who have reached the CL final in recent times, there was a scant amount of English players in the teams. This wont change. English talent isnt being given the chance as ready made foreigners are being bought in a bid for quick success. Managers cant nuture and bring through players from the youth setup as they need a quick hit or will be shown the door. The odd player will make it through but thats more the exception than the norm. Only a couple of years ago England played a player from the Championship (the old division 2) at Wembley (name escapes me now). Its common place now to see a team on top of the Premier league with no English players in the team, maybe one on the bench.
And for saying they will be a force in the next few tournaments, cannot for the life of me see it. Will continue as it has for the last while unless a cap on foreign players comes in again, and due to the greed and money that has polluted it, theres diddly chance of that happening. Workers rights and all that.
No odds to me really, as my immature nature likes seeing English teams getting beat in any sport! ;-) 

[Crete Boom]

I'd shout for England before I'd shout for Holland or Germany.
They are a bit like Mayo, really.

What they get to consistently to World Cup/Euro championship finals and lose year after year?

Now if only I could think of a county in Ireland that like England has some talent to work with , has a recent, albeit getting more distant, history of winning a major title , in recent years has been tipped as a contender in the media with no real concrete evidence to support this fact , takes a serious beating when the meet a county( perhaps a neighbouring county) a level above them , constantly blames managers for their major competition woes ( with outside mangers getting the most blame) and generally gets beaten by a team of equal or less talent early on with the odd heroic defeat to a major team thrown in for good measure!! That might be a closer comparison to England's current three lions heroes?

(P.S. Manly Meath can not be considered in this debate as all references to soccer are deemed to be not manly ( or dogged) enough for the manly men from manly Meath)

[ballinaman]

For what it is worth I think this is the WC England needed to get out of their system and bid adios to  the last of the "golden generation" which cost them again last night imo.
Read somewhere that England had only 4,000 fans at the tournament so I suppose the English had the tournament written off anyway.

Don't see Hodgson's position in danger at the moment and only if they lose to CR will the knives come out.

Players not good enough at the moment but they will be a force imo again in the next few tournaments.

And for saying they will be a force in the next few tournaments, cannot for the life of me see it. Will continue as it has for the last while unless a cap on foreign players comes in again, and due to the greed and money that has polluted it, theres diddly chance of that happening. Workers rights and all that.
No odds to me really, as my immature nature likes seeing English teams getting beat in any sport! ;-)

Not sure about being a force again either. Last time they were a force was 66...on home soil. They made Italia 90 semi final on the back of a fairly handy run.

[muppet]

They gave us the Beatles Oasis Daniel Day Lewis Paul mc Grath Morrissy Tony Casscirino Dermo O leary Spike Milligan Tony Blair Steve Coogan to name but a few! Why not support them ?

We gave them Oasis, Morrissey and Paul McGrath.

[ziggy90]

For what it is worth I think this is the WC England needed to get out of their system and bid adios to  the last of the "golden generation" which cost them again last night imo.
Read somewhere that England had only 4,000 fans at the tournament so I suppose the English had the tournament written off anyway.

Don't see Hodgson's position in danger at the moment and only if they lose to CR will the knives come out.

Players not good enough at the moment but they will be a force imo again in the next few tournaments.

And for saying they will be a force in the next few tournaments, cannot for the life of me see it. Will continue as it has for the last while unless a cap on foreign players comes in again, and due to the greed and money that has polluted it, theres diddly chance of that happening. Workers rights and all that.
No odds to me really, as my immature nature likes seeing English teams getting beat in any sport! ;-)

Not sure about being a force again either. Last time they were a force was 66...on home soil. They made Italia 90 semi final on the back of a fairly handy run.

England had a far better team in 70 than in 66, and they were a real force then. It just so happened that they lost a game they were in control of (this happens) and were knocked out in the q/fs. I don't think they'd have beaten Brazil (still for my money the best team ever) but they'd have made a match of it. J O'Gorman, just for your info, one of the full backs in that side was a Second Division player, and that was in an era when there were homegrown players a plenty.

[deiseach]

They gave us the Beatles Oasis Daniel Day Lewis Paul mc Grath Morrissy Tony Casscirino Dermo O leary Spike Milligan Tony Blair Steve Coogan to name but a few! Why not support them ?

I can hear the Uruguayan version of Bjørge Lillelien warming up...

[deiseach]

J O'Gorman, just for your info, one of the full backs in that side was a Second Division player, and that was in an era when there were homegrown players a plenty.

Are you talking about the 1966 England World Cup winning team?

[ziggy90]

J O'Gorman, just for your info, one of the full backs in that side was a Second Division player, and that was in an era when there were homegrown players a plenty.

Are you talking about the 1966 England World Cup winning team?

No, the 1970 team. Keith Newton of Blackburn Rovers.

I've just looked it up on Wikipedia and it seems he'd just transferred to Everton in the December of that season. The old memory playing tricks again? ?

[deiseach]

J O'Gorman, just for your info, one of the full backs in that side was a Second Division player, and that was in an era when there were homegrown players a plenty.

Are you talking about the 1966 England World Cup winning team?

No, the 1970 team. Keith Newton of Blackburn Rovers.

I've just looked it up on Wikipedia and it seems he'd just transferred to Everton in the December of that season. The old memory playing tricks again? ?

Okay. I don't think it matters either way. It's certainly interesting that there was a Second Division player who might have been floating around the England squad that was defending the World Cup, but the maximum wage wasn't long gone and wage inflation hadn't gone supernova so the incentives to move to the bigger clubs were less. It wouldn't really until the Premier League era, so you had a greater spread of clubs boasting England internationals. Trevor Brooking is an example of a more recent Second Division international that springs to mind.

[laoislad]

Steve Bull.
3rd division player when he won his first few caps and a 2nd division player at Italia '90.

[Crete Boom]

Steve Bull.
3rd division player when he won his first few caps and a 2nd division player at Italia '90.

Ah yes I fondly remember the rants of Jimmy Greaves on tv while he was wearing his bring in the bull t-shirt!

[ziggy90]

Steve Bull.
3rd division player when he won his first few caps and a 2nd division player at Italia '90.

Ah yes I fondly remember the rants of Jimmy Greaves on tv while he was wearing his bring in the bull t-shirt!

Probably the most wholehearted player I've ever seen. I remember Terry Butcher talking to him at a corner and looking at him as if he was from another planet (he couldn't understand a word he was saying in his thick yam yam accent).

[Maguire01]

They gave us the Beatles Oasis Daniel Day Lewis Paul mc Grath Morrissy Tony Casscirino Dermo O leary Spike Milligan Tony Blair Steve Coogan to name but a few! Why not support them ?

We gave them Oasis, Morrissey and Paul McGrath.

You got there before me!

[Wildweasel74]

OOPS my oh my, the Giants of England and italy over shadowed by Costa Rica, i need to look at the map to get my bearings, have they even got a league?