England Expects (but should it) ?

We'll still not manage to get far cause we haven't got a big man to hoof the ball towards. That's right isn't it TheRonRaffertyFanClub?

For what it's worth, given we've got one of the youngest squads in the tournament, I'm not overly concerned where we go out although obviously I'd like us to get as far as possible. The fact that we've got a system and style that is being replicated at every age group, and that we've won nearly all the youth tournaments recently, puts us in the best position going forward that we've been in for a long. Any success this year would be a major bonus but we're looking at a bright future.

We struggled to beat Tunisia...last gasp winner....and we walked over Panama (ranked 55 in world football) ... and now we expect ??

Today's game will be a nothing game really with no clue at all as to what sort of chance we do have of progressing further.

It'll be the last 16 game, whoever we play when it should become a lot clearer.

Nobody ever remembers who you played on the way to the final, obviously, a good draw helps but we had it 2 years ago and lost to Iceland.  

I just assume we will lose every round and it's a pleasant surprise if we don't!

Getting to the knock-out phase is getting easier with every tournament. Qualification is a doddle, and with the Euros going up to 32 and WC to 48, we're nearly always going to get to knock-out football every 2 years with the top 2 qualifying from groups of 3 from 2026.

In Euro 1996 the quarterfinals were the knockouts, now there's one extra round and in WC 2026 it's going to be 2 extra rounds!

Portugal, Greece and Denmark all won the Euro's with pants teams. There is no reason if we lose today that we can't get to the semi's and then we hope Spain has an off day. Can't see us beating Brazil if we win or draw today in the quarters they've just got too many good players.

Quoted from horsforthmariner

Portugal, Greece and Denmark all won the Euro's with pants teams. There is no reason if we lose today that we can't get to the semi's and then we hope Spain has an off day. Can't see us beating Brazil if we win or draw today in the quarters they've just got too many good players.

When Portugal won the Euros they didn't win one game in their group and only won 1 game in 90 minutes during the entire tournament.

Quoted from Les Brechin

When Portugal won the Euros they didn't win one game in their group and only won 1 game in 90 minutes during the entire tournament.

That was remarkable

Quoted from moosey_club

We struggled to beat Tunisia...last gasp winner....and we walked over Panama (ranked 55 in world football) ... and now we expect ??

Was it a struggle to beat Tunisia though? We battered them for large spells of the game. 61% possession, 18 shots to their 6 and 8 shots on target to their one, which was a penalty.

Their goal was never a penalty in a million years and if we'd finished better we'd have been out of sight in the first half hour. Yes you can argue that we should have taken our chances but I'd rather be creating chances and missing than not creating at all, then you've got a fundamental problem.

also we should have had 2 pens, for the same thing we were given one against Panama.
As for the late winner, why were we lucky, when Germany did it, it was "what good teams do".

Super Belgium who are going to go far in this competition according to some have played the same two teams as we have and have the same record, so why are we derided?

Quoted from mariner91

Was it a struggle to beat Tunisia though? We battered them for large spells of the game. 61% possession, 18 shots to their 6 and 8 shots on target to their one, which was a penalty.

Their goal was never a penalty in a million years and if we'd finished better we'd have been out of sight in the first half hour. Yes you can argue that we should have taken our chances but I'd rather be creating chances and missing than not creating at all, then you've got a fundamental problem.

Germany "battered" their opponents, they had 75% possession yesterday and still lost without scoring. Similar to when we lost to Iceland. In football, the best team frequently doesn't win which makes it so interesting!