Ah yes, Euro 2028 I think is quite a coup for us. And to be quite honest given the utter corruption of FIFA (I’m sure UEFA is as well, but FIFA are on a whole other level) I don’t want us to host the World Cup any time soon given the gross kickbacks to FIFA delegates, white elephant stadiums etc that would be involved.Originally Posted by Marc Overmars
Pity Spurs are going to be one of the host venues and we aren’t….but overall still think it will be a great summer event
I don't have a particular issue with the thought that we could be favourites - or certainly one of them. I just don't think in international tournaments being favourites is as meaningful or clear as it in in some other sports, or in other areas of football. Partly because of the knockout nature of much of the competitions, that lends itself to shock results in a sport where there can often be fine lines. We were a marginal VAR call away from a Coventry/City FA Cup Final, and we all know how that would have gone. Partly because there's more depth of quality, you can't have a billionaire hoovering up all the talent and stacking the odds so heavily in the favour of one or two clubs. What you can do is get the grass roots stuff right, and I know at some times there has been hand wringing about that when we've been poor. That issue seems to be addressed right now, we do now have a lot of quality.
I don't think we would have won the World Cup under Southgate and the negative football was painful to watch. Southgate deserves some criticism, but I don't think our loss in the final is an abject failure. We lost to the best team in the tournament. They certainly weren't unbeatable but they were clear favourites for good reason. I'm pretty downbeat about our chances in 2026 although some of that is admittedly because of the decades of failure I've witnessed. I guess we'll see.
Your England/Arsenal dilemma is a tough one, for me. I am overall more invested in Arsenal than England but that is balanced out by being quite jaded generally by club football and the money sloshing around which so heavily tips the odds in the favour of one or two very rich clubs. It has been too long since we won a title, but England have never won the World Cup in my lifetime, the thought of a national celebration is appealing. Throw in an Arsenal CL and that would be clear, Arsenal all the way. The way you've posed it, I might actually lean towards England.
I'm Arsenal first for sure,
If it was the right team playing the right way I'd like England to win something, but I couldn't give a monkeys about a 'national celebration', I'd much rather a parade in N5 to celebrate a PL or CL
Whilst there’s no guarantees in life, most often than not a winning World Cup team will have the best players. In 2006 you had it that there was a big(ish) pool of potential winners. And it’s far less of a lottery than you seem to be suggesting. Yes there are fine margins but say take Spain they may have laboured to 1-0 wins in all their knockout games but absolutely the coaching team who would have planned this World Cup win for some considerable time and would have factored in teams playing deep blocks, trying to use physical tactics to disrupt their rhythm but they worked on their fitness and tactics to endure these type of games.
And yes even then anomalies happen that they lost their opening game to Switzerland, to break down deep block teams they had to play in a way that did pose risk at the back.
When you have a lot of teams that are similar there are loads more variables to deal with and the outcome is far less predictable. But if you have a team that has a) the best players and b) a coaching team that has prepared for every possible permutation of events….whilst it’s not written in stone….the groundwork is firmly laid
That is pretty much all I'm saying.
And what I’m saying is that’s not the case in most world cups.
2006 as I say was probably the last time there were more than say at most two-three teams that could win it
Good effort but not good enough. England's goal was very nice. Some good football played from time to time, odd for a final. Spain not a great team, not anymore. So could have gone either way. At some point, some manager will abandon Pep ball and his team will be head and shoulders above anything else out there. So only real question is who, with balls, replaces Southgate?
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