2018 FIFA World Cup

Yugoslavia does not equal Croatia though lol

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Not equal, but Croatia was part of Yugoslavia, and they had a really good culture in terms of football.
They were not a ā€œnobodyā€ that suddenly fell in love of football and miraculously get into WC final.
Prosinecki, Klasnic, Kovac brothers, Bilic, Stanic, Boban, Suker, Simic, Olicā€¦ they never lack of very good playersā€¦

A Yugoslavia side could be pretty tasty right now :giroud2:

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Yes of course, Croatia was part of Yugoslavia, but it is perfectly correct for @InvincibleDB10 to say that Croatia arenā€™t a footballing powerhouse. Yugoslaviaā€™s footballing reputation and history does not belong to Croatia, it makes sense to judge them separately because there were 5 other nations involved too back then

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I understand what you mean, but I donā€™t agree you can simply ignore the origin, tradition, culture, and all other connections by denying the historic relationship of Croatia and former Yugoslavia.

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If I were an England fan Iā€™d have been absolutely raging last night. All this talk about the team making everyone proud comes across as such hollow fair-weather fandom. Iā€™m not trying to rub salt into the wound anymore but I saw it as nothing more than a wasted opportunity.

I never thought Iā€™d see England in a final unless it was played on their home soil and even then it would have been a miracle. You can say that the team is young - building towards the future - but international football doesnā€™t really work like that, nor does club football if Iā€™m being honest.

We arenā€™t talking about young players who are scrubs either, the value of some of those players in todayā€™s market is absolutely astounding. There were warning signs throughout the entire tournament that Southgate entirely ignored. You canā€™t win every game from set pieces, nor by playing football that Stoke would be proud of. In the end I think England got what they deserved but far from what they were capable of.

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I donā€™t really see that fair weather is an applicable term here really in the context of your post, but otherwise its a solid post. Iā€™m somewhere in the middle if Iā€™m honest, I do agree itā€™s probably a wasted opportunity to reach a final and some things could have been done better but at the same time they still absolutely exceeded expectations and achieved something Iā€™ve never seen before.

For me it would be a bit much to be more critical than I am appreciative of even getting this far. Even with an easy run, because at the last international tournament we lost to bloody Iceland. I canā€™t stress enough just how low expectations were in light of that, but also how low theyā€™ve been for ages. I actually enjoyed this tournament, in a way I havenā€™t before. People from other countries might have found all of the memes to be annoying and maybe arrogant, but for followers of England they were great and just an example of having a laugh and enjoying ourselves, with a dash of actually being able to believe we could achieve something.

I rate this World Cup a solid 8/10 for enjoyment as an England fan

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I picked Spain as I thought France would be let down by having DD as a manager, but I suppose a poor manager is better than sacking your manager 2 days before the tournament.

I said a month or so ago, that this was the worst England squad I had ever seen, and I still stand by that. They have, however, performed admirably, well above anyones expectations. Its too easy to say that we only beat rubbish teams, its not their fault that the so called better teams, either failed to qualify or messed up the group stage, we can only beat what is in front of us.
That said, it is true that the only times we struggled, we were playing good teams. I do think Southgate missed a trick yesterday, Kane was very poor, and instead of taking off Sterling, he should have brought on Rashford for Kaneā€¦Still, a semi final was way above expectationsā€¦

Overall, I reckon this has been a fantastic World Cup, and well done to Russia for making it so good, just hope France win it nowā€¦

I guess fair-weather is maybe a little harsh as Iā€™m sure some true die-hard England fans were proud, I just feel if I was in that situation Iā€™d feel more anger than pride. However, I do consider myself a pragmatist and a bit of a petty cunt.

Though you went on to stress the issue yourself, Englandā€™s approach is so wishy-washy, fans act like they are shit and also -paradoxically- maintain a genuine belief that they are going to win it. Thatā€™s where my fair-weather statement comes from and why I believe that English fans are the most annoying cunts to ever grace international tournament football. I also feel this crisis of self is reflected in how the team approaches major tournaments. England absolutely could have won this tournament but they need to reform their culture, approach and mindset entirely.

Iā€™d start by banning that fucking song.

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It is sad that over all these yearsā€¦ EPL established for so long, foreign coaches implemented different styles and tactics and training of football, and England NT still has to rely on run-and-gun.

Doesnā€™t matter what the formation isā€¦ 4-4-2, 3-5-2, 4-5-1ā€¦ it is always the gung ho style come up less.

I miss Gascoigne very much.

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Serbs were great players as well. Croatia has developed a better football culture after the fall of Yugoslavia though.

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We could have 100% won that game with set pieces.

This guy doesnā€™t represent us @Electrifying

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top notch winding imo, he has caught quite the fish tbf :arteta:

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:joy::joy::joy:

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England have had 2 foreign coaches though, so thats not entirely accurate.

Dunno think he fucked it with the group thing as heā€™s now deleted his account :joy:

Edit: maybe he hasnā€™t his account is still there. The comments said he deactivatedā€¦ I take it back unreeeeeeeal :fishing_pole_and_fish: hah

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I meant EPL, not just England NT

This tweet didnā€™t age wellā€¦ :eyes::joy:

One for @JakeyBoy he loves his Simpsons memes :joy:

https://twitter.com/iresimpsonsfans/status/1017152077489983489?s=19

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