The Student Room Group

England have always been bad at football , admit it!

Ignoring 1966 ofcourse but since then England haven't made much progress.

1970 Quarter-finals
1974 Did Not Qualify
1978 Did Not Qualify

1982 Group Round
1986 Quarter-finals
1990 Semi-Finals
1994 Did Not Qualify
1998 Round
2002 Quarter-finals
2006 Quarter-finals
2010 Round of 16

Or, lets take the Euros instead:
1980 - Round 1
1984 - Did not qualify
1988 - Round 1
1992 - Round 1
1996 - Semi-Finals
2000 - Round 1
2004 - Quarter-Finals
2008 - Did not qualify
2012 - Quarter finals

Countries of similar size and population such as germany, spain, holland(much smaller), France, Italy have a much much better record. Even Portugal with only a population of 10 million have a better record recently.

For a football mad nation that claims to have 'invented' the game, it's embarrassing when you think about it.
(edited 9 years ago)

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I think that we have some really talented players, who are able to do really well at club level but it seems they can't get it together at the World Cup/Euros. However, despite losing the match against Italy on Saturday it showed that we have some really good young players (Raheem Stirling) and I think most of them played really well. So hopefully in the future we'd be doing much much better :biggrin:
We do have some good players, but supporting England is really not rewarding hence why I support Ghana instead :smile:
Reply 3
Sven got us to the last 8 of three cups, I honestly think he was one of the best england managers and underrated.


I think england do badly because all the foriegn players in england learn about english style tactics diet mentality etc and can anticipate how england will play , whilst english players dont have a clue about opponents
I don't know why people cite population size as any kind of argument for under achieving. It means next to nothing.

If it does mean something, however, then the countries that are actually bad are China, India, Pakistan, Indonesia etc.

So, I actually think we're great. We consistently out perform countries with a much greater population.
you know there are a lot of countries that play football right?

Like alot.

Fair to say - a shed load...

Out of those, england is not the best, no.. maybe once for a short period, and maybe for a number of times they have been in the top 4 nations, or top 8 nations... but certianly not the best..

But there are a LOT of countries that play football.. and a lot that have played football for many years..

Its like saying murray was bad at tennis before he won his first Grand Slam... he was still 4th in the world, but could never quite perform in the big tournements.. he got far a number of times, and was always there or there-about but never quite did amazingly well.. No one would claim he was rubbish though - he was in the top 10 players, out of hundreds..

Similar with england (though different sport structures, less tournements per year etc.) we are a good football nation, always in the top 10 or top 20 nations.. but ofcourse only 1 team can win, every 4/2 years.. so just being in the top 10 nations, is only going to win you the odd tournement every 40 years or so, maybe less...

By being in the top10/15/20 even 30, footballing nations makes you a good team.. it means your in the top ?% of footballing nations in the world...
Getting to the quarters of a WC as england have done 9 times, on your list of WC and Euros, makes you a good team.. it helps show your in the top8 of europe/world..

To argue that dispite this, england are not a good team.. is just silly..

Ofcourse they are not the best.. and I would say they are not one of the 'great' teams (brazil, germany, italy, argentina, france etc) - but I dont think anyone could sucesfully argue that they are bad..

Underachievers.. dissapointing.. boring.. there are many other words that could be argued for.. but in the grand scope of football, england are not a bad team.
Original post by MidnightDream
We do have some good players, but supporting England is really not rewarding hence why I support Ghana instead :smile:

You don't support a team based on whether its rewarding or not?!
Not sure if this would make a difference but every top international team has players all over the world whereas the English team only has premier league players.
Original post by billydisco
You don't support a team based on whether its rewarding or not?!


I'm only gonna support one of those two, so I choose which one is better and England isn't
Reply 9
Original post by James222
Sven got us to the last 8 of three cups, I honestly think he was one of the best england managers and underrated.


But he did that with arguably our greatest squad of all time. :holmes:

But yeah OP, our level is probably about 8th in the World historically and our record in major tournaments bear that out. It could/should be better but it's hardly a disgrace. Sometimes we overachieve (1966, 1990), and sometimes we underachieve (1994, 2008) but our level is probably Quarter Finals and that's where I'm expecting us to come unstuck this time out.
just to add to this..

England have the most 5th-8th place finishes out of any team in the world..

Just kind of shows where we have been for the last 100 years or so... never the best, but always a good team

Infact, we equal itally with the 2nd most top8 finishes in the world (both behind germany and brazil)

More top8 finishes then argentina, france, spain etc.

Not saying england are a better team then these.. but it just shows the levels your working with here, and englands quality, dispite not being the best/top tier
(edited 9 years ago)
Original post by MidnightDream
I'm only gonna support one of those two, so I choose which one is better and England isn't

How about you support whichever country citizenship you hold?
Original post by billydisco
How about you support whichever country citizenship you hold?


No thanks having a British citizenship doesn't mean I'm obligated to support England, so I'll stick with Ghana thanks :smile:
Original post by Stormie
England are not better than GHANA?!!!

U FOKIN WOT M8??

Don't piss me off!!


Did you not watch the world cup four years ago? :teehee:
Original post by Stormie
Someone back me up!! This girl is off her fokin rockers m8!!


I think you are :tongue:
I don't think we're that bad, there are a lot worse teams out there, and on saturday although we lost it was an improvement on the last world cup definitely, and there were some young players that looked decent there too.
Original post by scriggy
But he did that with arguably our greatest squad of all time. :holmes:

But yeah OP, our level is probably about 8th in the World historically and our record in major tournaments bear that out. It could/should be better but it's hardly a disgrace. Sometimes we overachieve (1966, 1990), and sometimes we underachieve (1994, 2008) but our level is probably Quarter Finals and that's where I'm expecting us to come unstuck this time out.


well we are a nation of 60 million takes a great manager to assemble a top squad put players in the right positions etc.

We achieve 8,8,8 rather than go out in the group stages on time and then make it to the final 4 years later
Original post by MidnightDream
No thanks having a British citizenship doesn't mean I'm obligated to support England, so I'll stick with Ghana thanks :smile:

I didn't say you are obligated- I said you should support the team of your own country (if they're participating).
Original post by billydisco
I didn't say you are obligated- I said you should support the team of your own country (if they're participating).


Why should I? I'll support whoever I damn want to :tongue:
I support GB on everything else, 'tis only fair :yep:
Original post by MidnightDream
We do have some good players, but supporting England is really not rewarding hence why I support Ghana instead :smile:


Because Ghana are more successful than England?
(edited 9 years ago)

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