Mummelmann said:
They beat Tunisia (barely) and Panama (who played their first ever WC), and then lost 1-0 to Belgium. They failed to beat a bruised Colombia without James Rodriguez without going to penalties and were dominated by Croatia in the second half and onward of their semi final. And now they lost 2-0 to Belgium. Belgium only conceded 6 goals the entire tournament and beat Brazil in the semi-finals (on regular time), and they have the highest number of goals thus far of any team (France or Croatia might beat them there, but it's very unlikely). How anyone could think that it was coming home is beyond me. They've had huge difficulties scoring open play goals against better sides and out of a total of 12 goals, 3 were penalties and 4 were set pieces, compared to Belgium with 1 penalty and 1 set piece goal (with a total of 14 goals overall). They never stood a chance. You need only look at the counterattacks in this last match to see the gulf in class and skill, Belgium move quickly, precisely and directly, whereas England lumber about and pass vertically for ages, allowing the opposition to come back fully. How Southgate has been dubbed some kind of genius is way, way beyond my comprehension. Now, for tomorrow, I still think Croatia are going to lose, but I'm still rooting for them. |
They're the youngest team in the whole tournament by a significant margin (26 with the age only being pushed up because of one player Ashley Young) and were only put together months before the tournament that's why Southgate is being praise he had to take over abruptly when the previous manager was sacked over a scandal, the fact that they placed 4th is far better then anyone hoped for but no surprise people are already trying to downplay it.
