Thread to discuss the football itself.
This is not a thread to discuss the hosting of the competition in Quatar.
You can discuss the hosting in the relevant thread.
Neville is blaming the ‘rank bad’ ref! It almost sounds like the ‘moral victories’ Ireland used to go on about.
Keane more cutting the top teams ‘find a way’ he said.
One thing about that match
Seemed devoid of atmosphere in comparison to others. Very flat at times.
Bit of needle like last night would have helped.
I know you are, that's why I said it :)
Yep.
You think of the abuse Southgate got when he played, think he missed one of the penos against Germany in 1996 ?! Next thing hes on a pizza advert with a bag over his head, trying to go with the mocking abuse he was getting. Sakho aswell, getting racial abuse 2 years ago, now doing his best for his team. I really hate the mob that go after these lads and then cheer them on when they turn it around (Becks another one).
Morocco might actually have a decent shout against that France team. Dare I even dream of a Croatia - Morocco final?
How fuckin Spursy was that lads, holy jaysus like.
..😄
Posts like this make the France win even sweeter, cheers 👌
I still find it funny that Englands best manager only got the Job cause the English FAs first choice was caught out in a sting . . Big Sam would of been Mike Bassett level bad!
I actually really like Southgate, theres no arrogance and solid humility that is usually the exact opposite to what England managers bring to the team.
I think Morocco might have just too many key injuries after today's match to beat the French but Croatia vs Argentina is very 50/50.
Who replaces him is the question? Eddie Howe is probably the pick of the bunch if they go domestic, and they don’t have a good track record with foreign managers.
What they really need is a manager who’s won an international tournament, whether as a player or a coach. There’s nobody in that England setup who actually knows what it takes.
Whoever they appoint next, you can be sure that it won’t be enough to get them over the line. For that reason, I’d leave Gareth in the job.
You can take the player out of Spurs, etc
My team of the quarter-finals (4-3-1-2):
G) Livakovic (Croatia)
RB) Juranovic (Croatia)
CB) Yamiq (Morocco), Gvardiol (Croatia)
LB) Allah (Morocco)
CM) Modric (Croatia)
DM) Amrabat (Morocco)
CM) Kovacic (Croatia)
AM) Griezmann (France)
ST) Weghorst (Netherlands)
ST) En-Nesyri (Morocco)
Manager: Walid Regragui (Morocco)
Honourable mentions: Martinez (Argentina), Hakimi (Morocco), Lovren (Croatia), Sosa (Croatia), Ounahi (Morocco), Messi (Argentina), Giroud (France).
There can be only one......
England's drop in quality from the first team to the bench is very big. Foden, Saka and Henderson off for Mount, Rashford and Sterling is big drop imo. Grealish is good though..
You'll be entering the land of nod during it anyway...
Sure if we can’t have a laugh about it at times, it’d only depress you more.
I still live in hope though, every single year.
Semi-finals
Tuesday 13th December
Argentina V Croatia - (19:00) - Live on ITV 1
Wednesday 14th December
France V Morocco - (19:00) - Live on BBC 1
Have RTE cut back on pre and post match analysis since the knockout stages?
See that’s more like it!
England only appoint managers with baggage, like Southgate bottling it in 1996.
Has Big Sam ever missed a penalty for England in a major tournament? Has he f**k.
Pay the man ten times his body weight in lager and gravy and anything is possible in 2026.
On form as always! 😂
Declan Rice for me just doesn't work in the English team, too cautious. Disrupts the balance of play and doesn't slows everything down.
Having him and Hendo in the same side doesn't work.
Same. I just hope Lee will give it one more year.
Yeah that’s crucial, losing himself and Oisin in the same year would feel like a death knell for this panel.
I'm sure it's disappointing for you.
But not for me.
He is so over rated, I really am Glad he not Irish . .
He is a serious shthouser.
Think people need to realise that this France team is missing a serious amount of players and yet England still couldn't beat them.
England fans very quiet because they aren't full to the ears in beer I'd say
I can see Southgate staying, like where will he go? Would a big EPL club hire him, I doubt it.
I'm not a huge fan of his, but he's done OK with them he's unambitious in his play, but then so is Van Gaal and Dechamps, and the remaining 4 teams play quite conservatively. And I wouldn't agree that England have better players than France England's defence is poor enough, Walker aside. Kane and Saka were primarily interested in diving and trying to win soft penalties, middle 3 were OK at times, but flitted out of the game for long periods too.
This was a tight game that could have went either way. I think England reached their level, there ought to be no recriminations in my opinion, but someone will have to be skapegoated.
The referee will get a bit of the blame, Kane too, but the likes of Sterling or Henderson will probably get a lot of stick, easy targets.
Great to see England losing.
Morocco- France should be a decent semi.
![Photo of [Deleted User]](https://w1.vanillicon.com/v2/11f397efbb618f280f346771bb290fe0.svg)