Third Place Playoff: Belgium v England (1500BST)

[chris79]

don't know if it was mentioned but England only won one of their last 5 games at this WC if you exclude pen shootout 

[Rob1981]

Last five England games: LDWLL.

It’s a new dawn! \o/

[GunmaN1905]

Apparently that corner at the end of first half didn't count because ref blew the whistle before it was taken. 5-4 total at the end of the game.

My friend that bet on 10 or more corners is absolutely mad right now.

[Weezer]

4 minutes ago, cyclonus1010 said:

I know only a few Chelsea fans and their biggest criticism is that he isn't greedy enough, looks to pass instead of shooting  

Not for Belgium it seems. He's an amazing player, and very exciting to watch but he does have a habit of trying to beat one too many players, and at times when he does pass he either leaves it too late or gets the weight wrong and the move stalls.

He must be very frustrating to play with. Probably more frustrating to play against though  

[EnterUsernameHere]

4 minutes ago, Weezer said:

He is. But he'd be a lot closer to Ronaldo and Messi's level if he got his head up more often.

I don't think it's that. I just think it's his consistency sometimes, and goals (he doesn't need to match then but needs a bit more). He opens up the game with his dribbling rather than passing.

[enigmatic]

1 minute ago, cyclonus1010 said:

I know only a few Chelsea fans and their biggest criticism is that he isn't greedy enough, looks to pass instead of shooting  

His most conspicuously bad moment this tournament is when he beat 3 or 4 players ridiculously easily, then casually laid the ball off to an opponent rather than dribbling past a couple more and smashing it into the top corner

[georginho_juventusygr]

#StillProudOfEngland

[Wigmore]

2 minutes ago, Hodgy said:

Let's not gloss it over, we only drew with Colombia and then won a lottery not an actual football match

 

I don’t think there is anything that annoys me in football as much as when a penalty shootout is described as “a lottery”.

[Djstu23]

Good job on how far you've come England. Yeah been errors in play and Southgate's made errors but still semis is way more then I thought.

Well done England but more to improve/learn of course, done the country proud.

[av3ry]

Oh well. Belgium deserved the bronze, loved watching their counter-attacks.

We improved in the second half, but that wasnt difficult really, if only Dier's chip never got cleared off the line.

[grff]

3 minutes ago, Hodgy said:

Let's not gloss it over, we only drew with Colombia and then won a lottery not an actual football match

 

I was trying to be generous.

[Hodgy]

1 minute ago, chris79 said:

don't know if it was mentioned but England only won one of their last 5 games at this WC if you exclude pen shootout 

 

2 minutes ago, Rob1981 said:

Last five England games: LDWLL.

It’s a new dawn! \o/

But, but, we're breaking new ground!

Sir Gareth Southgate 

 

[Marc Albrighton]

1 minute ago, chris79 said:

don't know if it was mentioned but England only won one of their last 5 games at this WC if you exclude pen shootout 

What a nonsense stat in the grand scheme of things. Croatia haven't won in any of their knockout games by that logic and yet they are in the final, do you think they are complaining?

[jjglvz]

We have progressed. We are now only about 20 years behind the rest of the world instead of 50.

[grff]

Please let Mbappe score 4 in the final. I can't bare to hear the words "golden boot" mentioned every time Kane is featured in a game.

[av3ry]

5 minutes ago, chris79 said:

don't know if it was mentioned but England only won one of their last 5 games at this WC if you exclude pen shootout 

Portugal won 1 game in Euro 2016 and won the tournament!

[Orzelek]

That's it, deserved win for Belgium.

 

The 3rd place is Belgium's best result at a World Cup

[ryan045]

3 minutes ago, Rob1981 said:

Last five England games: LDWLL.

It’s a new dawn! \o/

Or we got to a WC semi final and lost at ET. It’s easy to be negative when actually we played well this tournemant and over achieved massively.

[toon_84]

7 games at one world cup is something to be proud of regardless of results. 

Harry Kane looking like he's getting the golden boot 

[Bliss Seeker]

6 minutes ago, Rob1981 said:

Last five England games: LDWLL.

It’s a new dawn! \o/

LDWDL if you're doing that. Loving the symmetry.

1 win in 5 \o/

Regardless, what summer.  Lots of work to be done, but much more optimistic at the end of the tournament than at the start. 

[Hodgy]

2 minutes ago, Wigmore said:

I don’t think there is anything that annoys me in football as much as when a penalty shootout is described as “a lottery”.

Yet classing a penalty shootout as a W in a run of results is fine?

We drew the match and won a shootout but you're correct I suppose as there's much less chance of winning a lottery, it's actually a 50/50 so more like winning a flip of a coin right?

 

[Weezer]

Harry Kane's golden boot marginally above Oleg Salenko's in the pecking order   

[ryan045]

7 minutes ago, chris79 said:

don't know if it was mentioned but England only won one of their last 5 games at this WC if you exclude pen shootout 

Croatia haven’t won in there last 3 and are in a WC final. We can spin it how we like!

[Hodgy]

4 minutes ago, Marc Albrighton said:

What a nonsense stat in the grand scheme of things. Croatia haven't won in any of their knockout games by that logic and yet they are in the final, do you think they are complaining?

Other than beating England without the need for a penalty shootout you're almost right 

[SteveUK]

Overachieved but didn't play well in my opinion, we got beaten by the teams of equal stature to us and scraped through the teams below us.

[Baptista_8]

12 minutes ago, cyclonus1010 said:

I know only a few Chelsea fans and their biggest criticism is that he isn't greedy enough, looks to pass instead of shooting  

Yeah I've never seen Hazard labelled as a selfish player before.

[Hodgy]

Just now, ryan045 said:

Croatia haven’t won in there last 3 and are in a WC final. We can spin it how we like!

He hasn't dismissed extra time has he? Croatia did beat England without a shootout 

 

[Baptista_8]

10 minutes ago, chris79 said:

don't know if it was mentioned but England only won one of their last 5 games at this WC if you exclude pen shootout 

Croatia have won 0 of their last 3 then.

[Cedrik]

1 minute ago, SteveUK said:

Overachieved but didn't play well in my opinion, we got beaten by the teams of equal stature to us and scraped through the teams below us.

Exactly this. 

[Wigmore]

3 minutes ago, Hodgy said:

Yet classing a penalty shootout as a W in a run of results is fine?

We drew the match and won a shootout but you're correct I suppose as there's much less chance of winning a lottery, it's actually a 50/50 so more like winning a flip of a coin right?

 

Agree that a game won via penalties isn’t necessarily a “win” in a form guide.

But penalties aren’t a lottery! They are a test of technique and composure - in the long term, teams who are skilled in these areas (Germany) will win more shootouts than they lose.

[Pukey]

Jesus christ, we get to the semi final and everyone's loving it, we lose in ET to a very good Croatia team and then a meaningless friendly and suddenly we're the worst team in the world again

[bestbrother]

7 games this World Cup

3 Wins, 1 draw, 3 defeats

Im sure it will be alright though, we will turn over San Marino 2-0 at Wembley in the Euro Qualifiers and Southgate will go out and clap the fans with passion 

[Marc Albrighton]

1 minute ago, Hodgy said:

Other than beating England without the need for a penalty shootout you're almost right 

Pretty sure hes talking about 90 minute games without the need for ET and pens but regardless im pointing out the pointlessness of such stats.

Any stat that includes "if you exclude" is always nonsense anyway.

[CFuller]

I'm not too disappointed. We went into this tournament with arguably the weakest England team in over two decades, yet we greatly overachieved and enjoyed our best World Cup since 1990. I will certainly take 4th place this year, as we probably weren't even 24th in 2014.

It also looks like Kane will win the Golden Boot, barring a goal glut tomorrow. SO WHAT if half his goals were penalties? SO WHAT if five of his six goals were against Panama or Tunisia? He's still had to outscore all the other elite strikers at this tournament, and let's not forget that only Ronaldo has netted more goals at an individual World Cup in the last 40 years.

I'm not deluded; this England team is still a long way from challenging for European Championships and World Cups. With a few more years under the players' belts, a bit more creativity in midfield, and a willingness to show more attacking endeavour, we might eventually get there. Might.

[pearcey_90]

25 minutes ago, bestbrother said:

7 games this World Cup

3 Wins, 1 draw, 3 defeats

Im sure it will be alright though, we will turn over San Marino 2-0 at Wembley in the Euro Qualifiers and Southgate will go out and clap the fans with passion 

2 of those defeats lets be honest mean **** all. 

Knockout football is just all about the game that eventually knocks you out. Couldn’t careless if at Euro20 we draw every game in group like Portugal, then ET our way all to final and win it on pens.

[Pukey]

Croatia got to the final without winning any knockout game in 90 minutes, bet their fans are well pissed off that they've not won their last 3 games.

For Euro 2020 I think we can get far if these players continue to get better, so many are still so young. Might need a bit of luck again like this tournament but hasn't every team that's got far in a competition had some luck along the way?

[deltablue]

On the basis of the tournament as a whole it looks like England still aren't that good after all. Maybe there's been a step or two in the right direction but that's all it at this point.

[daylight]

4 minutes ago, deltablue said:

On the basis of the tournament as a whole it looks like England still aren't that good after all. Maybe there's been a step or two in the right direction but that's all it at this point.

I don't think there was any improvement, they got some luck and a few breaks went for them that in the past didn't. 

A perfect example of that was when they drew 1-1 with the USA and then 0-0 was it Algeria?

With a bit of luck or a break going for them they could have won both games.

This England side, I think, is poorer than that England side.

[Haiku]

10 minutes ago, deltablue said:

On the basis of the tournament as a whole it looks like England still aren't that good after all. Maybe there's been a step or two in the right direction but that's all it at this point.

Obviously. They had luck facing easy opponents till the semi-final. They are not better than half of the teams that participated in the WC imo. It was unfortunate, but Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Portugal, Spain even Russia could eliminate England have they faced them.

[bestbrother]

22 minutes ago, pearcey_90 said:

2 of those defeats lets be honest mean **** all. 

Knockout football is just all about the game that eventually knocks you out. Couldn’t careless if at Euro20 we draw every game in group like Portugal, then ET our way all to final and win it on pens.

If we beat Belgium everyone would be banging on about it... we didnt, they beat us twice with ease, no matter the circumstances.

As long as Southgate does this at the end of games, we will be alright

[Haiku]

I feel bad for Belgium. Have they lost the first game against England, they would have been on the Final tomorrow. They are stronger than Croatia, but I don't mind Croatia being there too.

[craigcwwe]

8 minutes ago, Haiku said:

I feel bad for Belgium. Have they lost the first game against England, they would have been on the Final tomorrow. They are stronger than Croatia, but I don't mind Croatia being there too.

Would they though? 

Football fans. Jeez.

[EnterUsernameHere]

1 minute ago, craigcwwe said:

Would they though? 

Football fans. Jeez.

Not definite but they probably would have been.

[craigcwwe]

2 minutes ago, EnterUsernameHere said:

Not definite but they probably would have been.

People speaking in absolutes just annoy. 

They may well have aye but to speak like another team wouldn't have beaten them is a little silly. 

[Andrew_]

Belgium would be there tomorrow if they were on England's side, yes.

[Firehouse]

If my grandma had a dong she would be my grandpa

[Anthrax Dave]

Just hope that some of our U20/U17 team get some games at club level this season.

Also hope that Phil ****ing Jones never gets near an England shirt again.

[pearcey_90]

54 minutes ago, daylight said:

I don't think there was any improvement, they got some luck and a few breaks went for them that in the past didn't. 

A perfect example of that was when they drew 1-1 with the USA and then 0-0 was it Algeria?

With a bit of luck or a break going for them they could have won both games.

This England side, I think, is poorer than that England side.

I'd argue against that. That 2010 team was very poor if you consider that all the team was supposedly in their peak (only 6 in squad under age of 27).

Had Gerrard/Lampard/Cole/Rooney, but a lot around that was rather poor. 

Just was a very poor World Cup. Even final game against Slovenia we only had to score more then USA, and still only managed one goal. Could have got Ghana instead of Germany.

Compare the football to the last two World Cups, it's moved a lot forward. Just Southgate needs to learn when to change things when games are slowly difting away from us.

[daylight]

14 minutes ago, pearcey_90 said:

I'd argue against that. That 2010 team was very poor if you consider that all the team was supposedly in their peak (only 6 in squad under age of 27).

Had Gerrard/Lampard/Cole/Rooney, but a lot around that was rather poor. 

Just was a very poor World Cup. Even final game against Slovenia we only had to score more then USA, and still only managed one goal. Could have got Ghana instead of Germany.

Compare the football to the last two World Cups, it's moved a lot forward. Just Southgate needs to learn when to change things when games are slowly difting away from us.

That's 4 world class players! Most sides are lucky to have 1 or 2, add Ferdinand and Terry to that.

I honestly think that team or any England side from the 00s and they could have won this WC, especially if they got the luck and breaks that this England side got.

Wrong team at the wrong time. 

[enigmatic]

Ferdinand was out with a knee injury tbf but I don't think many players from the current squad would have made the 2010 squad.

Based on the actual performances in 2010 though, I'm not sure that side gets through against Colombia or Sweden, never mind Croatia. The luck argument goes either way: England looked more in control for the first hour this tournament against a Croatia side that's actually good than they did against Algeria or the USA, but one goal from a rare chance from a deep cross and suddenly Croatia are all over them.