Clean sheets win tournaments

MolteniArcore said:
I'm basing my pessimism on the past results of England which I believe are more relevant than how France or Portugal got on 20 years ago.

The Germany game will be as nervy as the Scotland game was but Germany are a step up in class. They have shown already this tournament that they know where the net is - something that we really struggle with. They have conceded a few goals though... if we can be resilient as the back we might sneak it 1-0. If we concede then I think it's game over.

I hope I am wrong.
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Its quite rare for matches to play out along those predictable lines though. The fact we've only scored 2 goals could also be interpreted to mean we are due a few more. Who knows, Germany might leave their shooting boots at home.

What I'm sure is pretty true is that its a match between arguably Europe's two biggest economic and footballing strongholds, one who tends to underachieve and one who is often the best. It might go the way you'd often expect, or the balance may be redressed. Either way, I am not gonna make predictions personally.
 
Sheriff_John_Bunnell_ret said:
Is there any reason why you think the Scotland result "speaks volumes". The OP pretty clearly sets out how irrelevant it is based on past results of winners.
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Yup, the Scotland result speaks in a whisper.
Look at past tournaments: the idea that the eventual winners cruise through the group stages is nonsense
 
All 4 teams to progress to the QF stage have kept clean sheets in 90 mins, whereas previously free scoring sides like Portugal and The Netherlands are heading home early, the latter at the hands of a team we beat without much of a scare.

Clean sheets are so important when it comes to winning international tournaments.
 
WilliamMunny said:
All 4 teams to progress to the QF stage have kept clean sheets in 90 mins, whereas previously free scoring sides like Portugal and The Netherlands are heading home early, the latter at the hands of a team we beat without much of a scare.

Clean sheets are so important when it comes to winning international tournaments.
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Cheers Jeff
 
MolteniArcore said:
We are very poor at scoring goals - in the last tourney we were fortunate with set pieces and that saved us until the semis.

I'm not getting carried away. We qualified in a poor group where 3 out of the 4 teams qualified and we couldn't beat the team that didn't. That speaks volumes.

I fully expect us to get knocked out on Tuesday. I hope I am wrong but I can't see an England win.
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Was it a poor group? World Cup finalists and European Championships Quarter finalists would suggest it was actually quite a tough group, especially as the only poor team in the group massively raised their game against us as it was their biggest match in a quarter of a century.
 
Uwefuchs said:
The question might not be as daft as it sounds, how many home nations have won international tournaments?
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Quite a few I think. Off the top of my head Uruguay Italy England West Germany Argentina France. Plus you've got teams who've massively overacheived at home like South Korea and Russia.
 
The Card Cheat said:
Quite a few I think. Off the top of my head Uruguay Italy England West Germany Argentina France. Plus you've got teams who've massively overacheived at home like South Korea and Russia.
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Fair enough a few have won tournaments even though some of those examples are from a pretty long time ago.

I was thinking of a few big home nations that have been knocked out late in tournaments more recently.
 
Uwefuchs said:
Fair enough a few have won tournaments even though some of those examples are from a pretty long time ago.

I was thinking of a few big home nations that have been knocked out late in tournaments more recently.
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It's not a guarantee you'll win if you're at home but surely its pretty obvious that its an advantage?
 
The Card Cheat said:
Was it a poor group? World Cup finalists and European Championships Quarter finalists would suggest it was actually quite a tough group, especially as the only poor team in the group massively raised their game against us as it was their biggest match in a quarter of a century.
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Yes, a poor group. This is nonsense about Scotland raising their game, they had a go in all of their games but weren't good enough.
 
Corcaigh_the_Cat said:
Hence England's wins so far?
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England have won 24 out of their last 30 games. Including Spain away and Belgium in competitive games, the only team to do either of these things since the last World Cup.
So no that's not entirely why England finished top of their group, but of course it helps.
I'm fully aware that England are not the finished article far from it, because I'm capable of having a balanced opinion. Your continued belligerent refusal to give England and Southgate even the tiniest amount of credit suggests to me that you are not.
 
Corcaigh_the_Cat said:
What evidence, are you saying they didn't try in the other two games?

Absolute guff, you just keep listening to the commentators, don't bother watching
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Of course they tried in the other games, where have I suggested they didn't. But it's an established fact that derby games produce more committed performances from players than other games, nobody without an agenda would suggest otherwise.
It doesn't matter anyway, it was one game, England played poorly and and only got a draw, then went on to win their group.

You seem to me like you want England and Southgate to fail. Which I think is a bit sad.
 
I was agreeing with your assumption that home advantage is favourable, are you re-thinking it because I agreed with you?

England have some excellent footballers, no doubting that. I'm waiting for them to have a convincing win or two against decent opposition at competition level before they get the plaudits so easily dished out by some.

We had a good draw in 2018, should have made the final. We've got a good draw this time and face our first decent side since Belgium, who beat us twice in 2018, by the way.

Let's see how that goes.
 
The Card Cheat said:
Was it a poor group? World Cup finalists and European Championships Quarter finalists would suggest it was actually quite a tough group, especially as the only poor team in the group massively raised their game against us as it was their biggest match in a quarter of a century.
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No it doesn't at all because it's misleading and disingenuous, especially regarding Croatia. Just how many more times are you going to refer to them as WC finalists and completely ignore their poor form in the three years since then, including the fact that they came into this competition having lost 7 of the 13 games they had played since September? And the Czechs are in the QF having beaten 10 men.
 
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