England's playing at their best when it's an open game and they can play into space with guided passes, showing off one and two touch soccer, connecting with teammates with an up-tempo pace. At these times the players show how thoughtful and aware they are on the field, putting the pieces together. No one can refute this. What can be refuted is that English teams cramp up when thrown into the half court offense, or as it's called the attacking third. It could be successfully argued that many teams outside of Spain, Germany and Brazil, share the same problem.
However, with all the quality that England can place on a field, is there something else going on? Have they merely been unlucky since 1966? After all, they had the classic 1970 quarterfinal with Brazil - the eventual champs - that could've gone either way. Brian Robson was injured in 1982. Maradona cheated against a talented side including Barns and Lineker in 1986. They made it to the semis in 1990 losing to the eventual champs, West Germany. 1994, not a good year for England. In 1998 they lost in the shootout with Argentina. Injuries from Beckham and Gerrard affected the team in 2002, and, yet again, they were eventually knocked out by the eventual champs, Brazil. They lost in penalties to Portugal in 2006. Then, in 2010, when a comeback looked inevitable and the ball "went over the line for a goal" Frank Lampard's shot was called back, forcing England to truly never know if they could have won that game against Germany. Then in 2014 England came up with two losses and a tie.
With all this bad luck on their side, and with all the quality teams they field, the general public still expects big things from them. So much so that each team feels a world of pressure to succeed, when success has not come there way in World Cups for years. Yet, their fate is to accept that pressure and find a way to bring England a championship again.
However, with all the quality that England can place on a field, is there something else going on? Have they merely been unlucky since 1966? After all, they had the classic 1970 quarterfinal with Brazil - the eventual champs - that could've gone either way. Brian Robson was injured in 1982. Maradona cheated against a talented side including Barns and Lineker in 1986. They made it to the semis in 1990 losing to the eventual champs, West Germany. 1994, not a good year for England. In 1998 they lost in the shootout with Argentina. Injuries from Beckham and Gerrard affected the team in 2002, and, yet again, they were eventually knocked out by the eventual champs, Brazil. They lost in penalties to Portugal in 2006. Then, in 2010, when a comeback looked inevitable and the ball "went over the line for a goal" Frank Lampard's shot was called back, forcing England to truly never know if they could have won that game against Germany. Then in 2014 England came up with two losses and a tie.
With all this bad luck on their side, and with all the quality teams they field, the general public still expects big things from them. So much so that each team feels a world of pressure to succeed, when success has not come there way in World Cups for years. Yet, their fate is to accept that pressure and find a way to bring England a championship again.
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