[Football] Finals at major tournaments since I started following the game:

[Pavilionaire]

In the last 9 years alone English clubs have won the Champions League 3 times, and 5 times been losing finalists. The likes of Gerrard, Carragher, Ashley Cole, Lampard, Terry, Rio, Gary Neville, Beckham, Scholes, Butt, Rooney, Carrick have all played their part at various times. I agree that we've had enough players do enough on the Prem and European stages to have certainly accomplished more than the likes of Czech, Greece and Denmark.

 

[Simster]

Except we have. We reached the last 4 in Italia 90.

Sorry, I stand corrected. ONE semi final in a major tournament held outside England since we first entered a World Cup in 1950. Same as South Korea, Belgium, Bulgaria, Turkey etc. It's not good is it?

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

In the last 9 years alone English clubs have won the Champions League 3 times, and 5 times been losing finalists. The likes of Gerrard, Carragher, Ashley Cole, Lampard, Terry, Rio, Gary Neville, Beckham, Scholes, Butt, Rooney, Carrick have all played their part at various times. I agree that we've had enough players do enough on the Prem and European stages to have certainly accomplished more than the likes of Czech, Greece and Denmark.

Most teams need a little bit of huff and puff in them and this is supplied by the English players. But when you only have huff and puff to select from you end up with the crap that is the England national team. As someone else pointed out; English players are good when they have a foreign player to pass to.

 

[The Large One]

The wealthy European leagues are English, Spanish, Italian and German, followed by the French league. Four of them are football power houses, and one is mediocre that hasn't gone beyond the last 8 of ANY major competition hosted abroad EVER.

A nation with as much money in the game as ours should be able to direct funding to where it's needed.

The difference is, in Spain and Italy for instance, only a very few clubs (maybe three or four per country) can afford the kind of salaries that English clubs all the way down to 16th can afford. Therefore, there's greater capacity for overseas players to come here and ply their trade, knocking English players out of the way.

Which takes us back to the original nub of the matter - early years coaching. Until that is resolved, the status quo will remain. All that will happen is the occasional country will upset the form book to get to a tournament semi-final.

 

[The Large One]

World Cup / Euro Championship semi-final appearances in my lifetime...

16 - Germany/ West Germany
10 - Italy
9 - Netherlands
7 - France
5 - Portugal
4 - Czechoslovakia / Czech Republic
4 - Spain
3 - Belgium
3 - USSR / Russia
2 - Denmark
2 - England
2 - Sweden
2 - Poland
2 - Turkey
1 - Bulgaria
1 - Croatia
1 - Greece
1 - Hungary
1 - Yugoslavia

 

[leo1901]

Just touching on that press issue and the hype stuff. We have an incredibly warped media, making godlike figures out of some and burying others distorting what should be the support of our national team in a positive level headed way.

Saying that I was watching the game with a german last night (god forbid) and she remarked on how the german commentators, when faced with a loss or draw, will start trying to cheer the team on looking for positives and willing the lads to go on. I know this has no affect on the game but last night I heard the commentator say something to the effect of , 'The Uruguayans just need to hold on now', towards the end. Obviously I know bias in the media is bad but gimme strength, I dont wanna hear that.

 

[Mellotron]

We REALLY should've won Euro 96. We were the best team in the tournament.


Oh well.

 

[sparkie]

World Cup / Euro Championship semi-final appearances in my lifetime...

16 - Germany/ West Germany
10 - Italy
9 - Netherlands
7 - France
5 - Portugal
4 - Czechoslovakia / Czech Republic
4 - Spain
3 - Belgium
3 - USSR / Russia
2 - Denmark
2 - England
2 - Sweden
2 - Poland
2 - Turkey
1 - Bulgaria
1 - Croatia
1 - Greece
1 - Hungary
1 - Yugoslavia

Why do you list USSR and Russia together, but not Yugoslavia and Croatia

In my opinion USSR should not be equivalent to Russia.

 

[The Maharajah of Sydney]

We REALLY should've won Euro 96. We were the best team in the tournament.


Oh well.

Bollocks were they.
Should of been knocked out by Spain in the quarter-finals.

 

[nicko31]

I honestly believe that the National Press are partly to blame with the expectation they heap on the team and almost always find a way to de-stabalise them just before a tournament.[/QUOTE

There was many reasons for England failure, the press isn't one of them

 

[Mellotron]

Bollocks were they.
Should of been knocked out by Spain in the quarter-finals.

We utterly outplayed HOLLAND and GERMANY. You can see the Germany full 120 minutes on ESPN Classic. It was like a cup game between a Prem side and a League one team. I've never seen a German team that disorganised and terrified. We missed 3 chances where it would've been easier to score.

 

[atfc village]

Since watching England from Euro 80,we have played in 15 Tournaments.Of the bigger nations we have beaten Spain 80 and 96 ,France 82 ,Holland 96,Germany 2000 and Argentina 02 .We just don't beat the big teams deep into a Tournament.

 

[CliveWalkerWingWizard]

I am not going to say we are world beaters but that record would look a lot better if we had won half of the penalty shoot outs.also had the sending off hand of God disallowed goals freak goals. Given a little luck we would have made one more final and a semi. This still would be a very average record.

 

[Mellotron]

I am not going to say we are world beaters but that record would look a lot better if we had won half of the penalty shoot outs.also had the sending off hand of God disallowed goals freak goals. Given a little luck we would have made one more final and a semi. This still would be a very average record.

Quite. We have underachieved but over the years we have a disgraceful amount of bad luck alongside poor performances.

 

[atfc village]

And Spain 96 was the only one at KO stage.