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A successful tournament on the whole. I think the majority of this squad sticks around, plus a few of the injured players (Ox, for example) will return plus there's the next wave of youngsters to blood in too. Semis / Final / Winning Euro 2020 is not a ridiculous goal.

Just gonna leave this here:

So what happened to Harry Kane after the Colombia match? Was he even playing?

Black Wizard wrote:So what happened to Harry Kane after the Colombia match? Was he even playing?

Yeah, that's erm, thats not working.

As ever, genuinely, best of luck for the euros. I am always happy for other home nations to qualify and do well; and, unless there playing England, they will always have my support. I have ancestors from evey nation, just like most British people, so it makes sense to me. The ABE thing comes of as deeply insecure and pointless - and all this from the nation with the strongest identity of us all.

metaldinosaur wrote:

Black Wizard wrote:So what happened to Harry Kane after the Colombia match? Was he even playing?

Yeah, that's erm, thats not working.

I'm being serious - what happened to him? He was anonymous in the semi-final.

The ABE thing comes of as deeply insecure and pointless

It's how football works. Fulham fans don't support Chelsea and Bradford fans don't support Leeds. I doubt people in Belgrade will be cheering for Croatia today either.

How about this:

Black Wizard wrote:

metaldinosaur wrote:

Black Wizard wrote:So what happened to Harry Kane after the Colombia match? Was he even playing?

Yeah, that's erm, thats not working.

I'm being serious - what happened to him? He was anonymous in the semi-final.

The ABE thing comes of as deeply insecure and pointless

It's how football works. Fulham fans don't support Chelsea and Bradford fans don't support Leeds. I doubt people in Belgrade will be cheering for Croatia today either.

How about this:

Speaking as an England fan, the whole "two world wars, one world cup" thing really is beyond tired now and just needs to get in the bin.

And to be fair to Black Wizard, he's right - I certainly wouldn't support Scotland in a football tournament and would probably find myself cheering on whoever was playing them so I get that it works both ways.

However, whilst Kane might have been somewhat ineffective in the semi-final, at least he was there, which is more than you'll be able to say for any Scotland players for a long, long time

I wouldn't necessarily 'cheer on' Scotland, but I do prefer British teams to win - due to been British. I always keep an eye out for the others qualifying for major competitions.

Excessive partisan rhetoric is indeed part of the fun of football, and when England play other home nations I play that rivalry out and tease my mates from the other countries.

However, I feel no animosity whatsoever towards the other British sides, and a lot of other English people take the same position. Why would we feel any other way?

Tbh the ABE thing just looks like insecurity.

The Germany thing isn't really a thing anymore, but the war Second World War WAS a fair enough reason for a bit of sanitised and safe animosity. Is ABE due to you guys still being upset about Culloden perhaps?

I personally vaguely want England to do well, but the reason most of my friends give for wanting them to lose is that they just don't bloody shut up when they do well. This world cup for example, has been non-stop coverage of how proud we all are of Southgate and his men. To the detriment of the football. Between, and even during every game it's just England England England and as a football fan, I kind of want England out of a tournament really quickly just so they can all just shut up and get on with watching the games.

I'm a weirdo - I'll happily support all home nations (plus Republic of Ireland!) against others.

Black Wizard wrote:So what happened to Harry Kane after the Colombia match? Was he even playing?

The thing I don't understand was that he was playing in a much deeper role. He's one of the best poachers in the game, but he needs to be near the goal to do that. Most of the time, Sterling, Rashford and others were our furthest forward players. Whether that was a deliberate policy from Southgate or whether there were other reasons, I don't know.

bloodofthekings wrote:I certainly wouldn't support Scotland in a football tournament and would probably find myself cheering on whoever was playing them

You won't be getting the chance to do that anytime soon though.

However, whilst Kane might have been somewhat ineffective in the semi-final, at least he was there, which is more than you'll be able to say for any Scotland players for a long, long time

If only we could make Kenny Dalgleish young again.

bloodofthekings wrote:I certainly wouldn't support Scotland in a football tournament and would probably find myself cheering on whoever was playing them

Really? That seems bizarre to me. In my case I'll obviously Scotland because my mum's Scottish, but I still support Wales and the two Irelands, even though I have no direct connection to them.

I often find myself cheering on other home nations, though that's often because they're the underdogs and I normally support them unless one of my teams are involved I would like to see more home nations in competitions myself.

Now that it's over, England/bias aside I would it was the best WC since 2002 easy, few teams played negatively and apart from 3 matches all of them were entertaining in their own ways. The shocks and dramas throughout were enthralling as well. Would go to say the right team won, they were slow to get off the mark but once into the knock out rounds France were the best team for me; especially against Argentina, best game I've seen in years!

It was definitely the best World Cup final I've ever seen.

Best tournament in my lifetime from start to finish.

To the surprise of many I actually wouldn't have minded England winning this. What's good for the English league system will inevitably be good for both Irish national teams, but also because it would've pissed off all the right people.