Credit where it is due though. He didn't rush off the pitch feeling sorry for himself. He consoled his team mates and thanked the England fans. No baby tantrums and tears from Harry.
You're still butthurt that Italy haven't qualified since 2014 aren't you? Let it go CF, Maybe next time. England's next game? Italy in March for the Euros qualifying. Not some glorified friendly like the Nation's Cup. A proper competitive match. It'll be a nice change for you.
Haha, but since 1966 Italy won the WC twice, in 1982 and 2006. You're still butthurt that we can't say the same for England, right? How many WCs do you have? One. How many do we have? Four. Enough said. Yeah, bring it on. And the Nation's Cup is not a glorified friendly since it does grant to the finalists a path to the Euro qualifying playoffs, so Italy is guaranteed to get at least that. Unlike England. And if you were so sure that the Nation's Cup is a glorified friendly, your press would not have heavily criticized your team for not qualifying among the 4 Group A semi-finalists, unlike Italy. Nice try, though.
The Junior Eurovision Contest? LOL, I couldn't care less. Keep singing, big guy, if that's consolation for you after your team's choke job.
And that got him how many trophies? Participation trophies? Congrats for that! Seems like, unlike Italy, it's all you can get when not in home soil. The worst for you, Monte, is that you know I'm right. All these choke jobs you've been having since 1966, all these deep runs but failing at the last moment (which is the definition of a choke job) is for losers. Winners win, like Italy in 1982, 2006, and last Euro.
It's even worse. Choking is when you get close, then fail. And see, you've been losing to a team that hasn't even qualified to the two last WCs. What does that say about you? And I'll take my 4 WC trophies and 2 Euro trophies any day rather than your choking in the finals and getting "participation trophies."
Oh well, I mostly root for 1 team, 4 times is not to shabby, especially if you wip the home team with 7 goals. England needs Wembly, be it men or women, a goal that was none and a hand that did not exist. Or a penalty to score and a second to hit Orion. Orion brought it home, the ball, what a great mission that was. England needs Wales and Scotland to maybe win a WC. Now England has 4 years to train penalties, maybe, which I doubt, will help it. Because of my grand mother, who was Argentine and the deep roots my family has there for over 200 years, I will be behind Argentine. What a great story it would be if Messi would become finally World Champion. I would like that. France and Argentina, that would be a dynamite final. Are you Scottish Monte ? LOL, LOL Oooooooh boy are we a sweet and loving bunch
@Center Field, did you look at Girouds goal in slow motion. Wotans hand was in it. He hit the Scottish guys hands to score the goal, both of them and then it went into the Welsh net. Amazing
That would cheer up anyone. What a sook. Morocco getting to the semis is awesome. Beating Portugal to do it is beyond awesome. Ronaldo having a big cry is icing on the cake. Unfortunately for me the most likely final is Argentina v France - two teams I don't want to win. Morocco in the final would be an absolute highlight, but France just looks too good. Croatia could definately beat Argentina. We will see.
I got interested in the WC at a time when my nation (Australia) hadn't qualified for 15 years & looked like it never would (took until 2006). Courtesy of Euro 88 I adopted the wonderfully talented and frustratingly erratic Dutch as my defacto team. These factors have taught me to enjoy WCs in the absence of my own team or after it has failed spectacularly.
I don't know if you saw it, but there was an interesting article in The Wall Street Journal, of all places, titled "Croatia Is the World Cup’s Penalty Shootout King", detailing how remarkably successful the Croats have been in shootouts. What was really revealing were the stats on how good shootout teams get even better over time and poor ones get progressively worse, and that speaks to how confidence plays a role in this aspect of the game. One of the things I think most if not all of us can agree on is how mentally tough the Croats are - they're not a team that is going to choke under pressure, and once again they're the underdog in their next game, a role I suspect they relish. Should be fun. Go Croatia!
That was a shocker. An Englishman joins an American, an Italian, a sobbing Spaniard and a Jock in a bar....
The sobbing guy was Portuguese not Spanish. A mistake best not made in a Spanish bar. It would be like calling a Texan Mexican to a Spaniard. The Scotsman and the Italian couldn't even get into this bar in the first place.
No, the sobbing Spaniard blubbered in on Page 34. He's passed out in the corner with the bawling Belgian...
That's because the Italian had had enough "cups" of beer already. Six of them. 4 WCs and 2 Euros. The Englishman had had just one (which he stole from a bar back home 56 years ago) and so he had been thirsty for more than half a century, but the French barman didn't allow him to drink anyway.
Yeah, that's what losers say. Have you seen the stars above the Italian and Brazilian crests? Count them. And frankly, Monte, do you actually sustain that this result of the current WC shows that you are good??? If you do, you're displaying loser mentality, indeed. You weren't even able to finish in the top four!!! If that's what is "good" for you, then indeed you are confirming what I was saying, that losers think that finishing 5tth or something is "good" while winners only believe that the result is "good" when they finish first. I still remember what my then very young son told me after his team went to the the State Final in soccer, winning all games in the regular season and playoff bracket, until they got to the final, and after 90 minutes of a draw and 30 minutes of extra time, lost the game 1-0 when in the dying moments of overtime all kids were so tired that they couldn't chase down a forward of the opposing team that had a breakthrough and scored. I tried to comfort him saying that his team did very well, lost by a hair, and were the vice-champs. He said, "Gee Dad, thanks but no thanks; second place is for losers." For me, not even qualifying for the WC or qualifying but getting eliminated, whatever the final position is, means losing, and losing is losing, regardless of the point where you lost. That's what a winner mentality is. Clearly I display it, while you don't (you seem to be happy with a "participation trophy" given that you try to mock Italy for not participating this time). Sorry to break the news so crudely to you, but that's what it is. ---------- This might be paradoxical to my being proud of the USMNT. That's not the same thing. It was the second youngest team of the tournament (behind Ghana), from a country where soccer is only the 5th most popular sport (or 4th; it can be argued that soccer is becoming more popular than ice hockey, in the United States, especially if you also factor in the women's squad; but still, most great athletes here choose to play professionally American football or basketball or baseball rather than soccer, decreasing our talent pool for soccer). These kids of the USMNT showed evolution. This Cup was good preparation for them for the home advantage in 2026. They were never expected to go far, and they went as far as they could, losing to a very traditional power (The Netherlands) that featured players way more experienced. So they were there in Qatar to learn and earn experience. They accomplished what was expected of them: to get out of group stage and learn. They were never contenders for the title to start with. I anticipate great things for this team once the average age moves from 25 to 29 in 2026 and they play the WC again at the peak of their careers and way more experienced, at home. ----------- Now, for teams like Italy, Brazil, England, Portugal, Spain, Germany, Belgium, and The Netherlands that indeed are perennial contenders, being eliminated at any point before earning the Gold Medal is utter failure, regardless of the point when it happened, including the final game. This is also valid for any of the final four if they don't win the tournament. Any argument to the contrary displays a loser mentality, like even my young son knew. So, from a winner mentality standpoint, Italy lost, England lost, period. So your attempts to mock Italy are pathetic. Including, given that the two last official games between Italy and England, you lost. So if Italy is so bad, I repeat, what does it say of the English National Team that keep losing to our oh-so-bad Azzurra? LOL
