It’s just that the margins are so small in knockouts like this, and huge conclusions are drawn from tiny differences and chance events. The ball could have ricocheted off the post differently on Italy’s goal, or Rashford’s penalty could’ve been six inches to the right, and England wins; or Muller could’ve taken his chance and they end up knocked out two weeks ago. Or Italy could’ve lost the semifinal penalties, or Mbappe could’ve scored his, or, or, or.
Line up these same squads again, with the same tactics, and run the same tournament, and you’ll get a different result.
The thing is, I would agree with that but I think the “England ain’t nothing special” thing has become at least as big a meme in my lifetime. And frankly, talking about how “lucky” England were, and that it was an “easy draw” on the day where England were very nearly European champions suggests to me that the balance has swung way too far that way.
And also, which media? I watched the tournament on BBC and while they were quite upbeat, they were also quite nuanced and realistic about the England team, as usual. Both on TV and online. And of course they congratulated the team for achieving runners-up position, rather than berating them for not winning it all.
The tabloids might talk a lot of drivel but…that’s hardly unique to their football coverage.
Probably a widespread problem, many other teams have the opposite problem, they lack self-esteem and get rolled psychologically by teams with more storied names.
Then theres Germany who never underestimates or overestimates itself, they know exactly how to crush your dreams.
And based on the sampling of my father and brother in law, even if Argentina does win, there are still questions about the manner , style , margin etc etc on how they won and if the coach should be fired.
Unless it is the world cup
Maybe
Exactly, that’s why I said “and you better win it convincently”
If you win the WC… it still happens, not for the win itself, you are guaranteed a spot in the pantheon for that, but god save you if the team does not keep the level of play that gave you the cup.
Thanks, I think there were congratulations on the very small “Copa America” thread
When Messi heard the final whistle in the final and fell down on his knees the room suddenly got very dusty for some reason. I hear it happened all along the country, some freak weather phenomena I think.
James Carville was on Kornheiser’s radio show some years back right after a rare mediocre season from the LSU football team and he angrily proclaimed that LSU should never lose more than twice over a five year period or the coach had to go. I mean, he was livid.
I’ll never understand that kind of entitlement. Partisanship, be it in sports or politics, does weird things to some folks.
As usual, my sketchy memory prevents me from being sure that I’m relating events accurately but I did see the Italian squad performing the pre-kickoff kneel against racism, didn’t I? If so, did they do this in previous games or was it just something they did in solidarity with the England players?
If that is indeed the sequence of events, good for them, I remember thinking at the time. You could almost see the eastern European teams seething at the action in earlier games.
