Search results

No one has England as strong favourites. We’re ‘slight’ and the consensus is that this is pretty much a 50/50 game.

When was the last time we beat Germany in a knockout game?

Losing to Germany would not be an embarrassment. If we overcome that hurdle, anything but ‘runners up’ would be a failure for Southgate.

All the important games at major tournaments are ‘win or go home’. Concede 2 goals in a match and you’re probably going to be on the losing side. It’s not like the champions league where you have another leg to tie things up or a long format game where the best teams will overcome temporary...

That tournament was the first one I really remember well. My primary school showed the matches before school - I think it was the 0-0 Nigeria game. I was on holiday in Cyprus for the Brazil game and remember the Ronaldinho goal really well. Heartbreaking!

2010 World Cup final and before that, you had the Netherlands v Portugal in Germany 2006 where the had 14 yellow cards, turning into 2 reds for Portugal. Crazy game of football!

Personally, I’m not a fan of the new format. Just extend the tournament to have 2 new groups and the top 2 going through remains.

We won a group people were arguing would be best had we finished second on the assumption we’d have an easy Round of 16 tie. Had we won our group in 2010, we’d have had a real chance of reaching the final, or at least the semis. But, we didn’t. It was a similar story in 2002 apparently. We...

Agreed. I’ve spent a couple of pages defending them. But, realistically, the biggest obstacle we will face en route to a potential final would be Germany. It’s shaping up to be a once in a lifetime opportunity for this team.

It’s also worth noting that two of the most impressive teams in the group stages have not looked anywhere near as convincing on their first knockout match. Which doesn’t bode well going into Belgium v Portugal because Belgium are my sweepstake team!

Czech Republic caused a lot more issues for the Netherlands even before the red card. Which is quite promising for us because they didn’t offer much against us. Set piece goal. Czech Republic will probably see this through. Huge opportunity for the winner of England v Germany, a semi-final is...

In fairness, I’m only listening to ‘98 in the build up to the Germany game because of the opening is Southgate’s penalty in ‘96. Otherwise, it is the original for me too - I just didn’t think anyone would be interested in me breaking it down!

That’s fair enough! I’m too much of statto to not have a clue! Even if I’m wrong. Ultimately, we all want England to do well and compete at these major tournaments and for too long, we haven’t got the fine margins. On Tuesday, if we beat Germany, Southgate is a hero and genius. If we lose, the...

I’m closer to 30 than I am 20, is there a relevance to that question?

I wasn’t alive for this tournament, but didn’t Denmark win the whole thing in ‘92 having only got their place at the tournament because Yugoslavia were disqualified?

This was a decent read. Like or dislike Southgate, it’s worth a read. It’s absolutely fair to say that Tuesday is a big test for Southgate. The culture in the England camp does seem to be different from the one under Sven, Capello and Hodgson. Beating Germany in a knockout game would be a huge...

With England, we’re always blessed to have at least 1 or 2 world class players in our squad. With a nation like Sweden, they just don’t have that. Ibrahimovic was a once in a generation player for them and that Isak looks like he could develop into a really good player. The only way nations...

So all of the weaker teams should try to play gung-ho football and get battered 5-0 by the better teams than them? You wouldn’t even make a good manager on Football Manager. Fair play to Sweden, they play a solid 4-4-2 shape and hit teams on the counter. They have a pretty average team with a...

If we beat Germany and got to the sem-final, most reasonable people would have to admit Southgate has done a good job. Italy a good outfit and really impressed in the group stages. However, the stand out performers in the group tend to go on to win it all. With Italy, they are a team who...

What would it take for you to change your mind?