Oh, please. This game showed exactly how little importance Sterling has for England. He had a first half where he was making runs all over the place, so much so that the American Fox feed highlighted him as being massively important, yet he was yanked off early in the second half for Rashford at a time when the game still hung in the balance. Obviously, even the English staff thought his play was less than scintillating. Sterling’s results for England have been marginal at best this tournament. The trouble is that there are few options off the bench; Rashford is no better in front of goal, and Vardy requires that the whole team be set up to feed him the ball from deep.
How come England looked so much less threatening after Sterling went off then?
The English striker that went missing in this game was Harry Kane.
A striker needs to be fed. Kane was not except on set pieces. I counted 3 occasions wher Vardy counted at least 3 occasions where Sterling choose to take a shot rather than pass to Kane.
As for Brazil, where did they finish again?
Do you think Brazil’s team is more talented than England’s? I certainly do. On the other side of the bracket, England wouldn’t have beaten Brazil. I note further up this thread JJ has been taken to task over his opinion on Brazil-Belgium. In a narrow sense though, he’s right - look at expected goals and it should have been 2-1 to Brazil. It being the other way round is testament to some great finishing and some fabulous goalkeeping. The idea that because they got knocked out in the quarters, that makes them a worse team than teams that managed to get through is for the birds. This is a single elimination tournament which allows for random chance. It shouldn’t be taken as gospel that the rankings from it reflect actual talent or ability - particularly given the lopsided nature of this year’s bracket.
Sterling is not my favourite player. I wish he would pass more than he does and it’s not like he’s perfect. I think DSY says it best actually - he’s the best of what we’ve got and fits into what the team is trying to do - open space for others to score. I wish people would get off his back, as he’s doing a job for the team. I remember John Barnes being treated like this back in the late 80s/early 90s for England and it wasn’t pretty.
Many people can’t see past Sterling’s poor finishing record for England, he’s caused a lot of problems. It’s partly tactical, his pace makes it difficult for teams to push up and opens up space between the lines, Sweden in particular struggled with this. He is a bit frustrating but he’s grown into the tournament. I also wonder if there is lingering resentment over his transfer to Man City (not necessarily from Liverpool supporters), there was a lot of negative press over a young player being too big for his football boots.
Regarding strikers who don’t do much, I wonder if it’s similar to putting a number one cornerback on a number one wide receiver. Neither of them might get many plays because that side of the field has been shut down and the offensive team goes to the other side with a more favorable matchup. So it looks like they didn’t do much but they opened up possibilities that don’t show up well in the stats.
Yeah, but as **Cumbrian ** correctly says England’s biggest problem was lack of a good midfield pilot. The closest thing to a QB in football is the deep lying playmaker. Southgate would have killed to have a Pirlo on his team.
I like Sterling as a great disruptive influence.
And I like that the Millenials get their own team to lament, as we did in the Nineties.
My dislike of sterling stems from this springs disastrous run against Liverpool. Sterling missed a couple easy goals. He seems to fit into the athletically gifted but technically challenged category.
Couple thoughts.
Croatia deserved the win. They dominated good chances. Agreed with AK84 Modric is amazing and should have the Ballon d’Or wrapped up. Should. however goals get a lot more attention than distribution. If Croatia are soundly beat in the finals his performance here and for Madrid last season could be overlooked at the end of the year. Especially if Mbappe scores a couple and continues with PSG.
Disagree with him and agree with Cumbrian that Brazil has a significantly more talented roster than England. And also with JJ that Brazil was better than Belgium in that game.
Really hope Croatia pull it out on Sunday, but I just don’t see them creating chances against France like they did today. France is vulnerably down the wings, so maybe, but wouldn’t bet on it.
I just got done watching the match (DVR) - wow. Quite the exciting little scrape, huh? Like two different games. In the first half I was thinking France doesn’t stand a chance against England. Then in the second half Croatia just took over. They were far more aggressive in their marking and they were tearing England up with that diagonal pass into the box from out wide; it was only a matter of time before that worked. The final goal was Mandzukic wanting it more / having more gas / getting luckier, but he swooped in and poked it perfectly, just tucking it under Pickford.
I’m bummed. I was hoping for an England - Belgium final. Looks like I came up snake eyes on that one. Now, I suppose I’ll root for France in the final; I’m familiar with more of their players. Either way … looking forward to Sunday.
Same place as the professional cyclists a decade ago. I kid, but it’s absolutely insane how much soccer they’ve played. Their conditioning team needs a raise, no matter what they’re making.
Belgium v England play again Saturday in the 3rd place match.
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Yeah. It’s like kissing your sister. And my sister is a terrible kisser.
There will be second team players trying to impress their managers. There is the motivation to not finish fourth. At least its something.
That might be a small factor, but let’s face it: the match for third place doesn’t count much more than a friendly, two exhausted and disappointed teams playing for the consolation price and a useless medal. I’ll watch it for the entertainment and, well, nostalgia for the now ending WC, but it has never been really relevant.
Me too. Only two more matches to go. Its gone by so quickly. World Cup, I’ve hardly known you. 
:flowers:
But there’s still the final! And that might turn out a real interesting final, with a possibly very surprising outcome, Croatia impressed me much tonight (and in the games before), and in spite of the physical exhaustion they must feel after three extra times and two PK shootouts, I suspect they might be elated by those wins and win the whole thing on a wave of euphoria. I’m very excited about the final.
ETA: France is playing the technocratic and efficient football with touches of brilliance this time Germany has always been (in)famous for before. Let’s see how it turns out this time, effiency vs. passion.
I admire Sterling’s industry and directness but time and time again his end product is lacking and he is expected to create it all from nothing. Kane has ended ended up dropping deeper and trying to be the holding man and creator and as such isn’t being employed exactly to his strengths.
Modric is a class act and it is precisely that type of player that is needed. I don’t think there is much wrong with the squad in general and their mental strength and system is sound but, we are one key player short. The good news is that Southgate appears to be the sort of person who will be all over this and we should certainly trust him to find the fix for it.
The 3rd/4th playoff is irrelevant but I’ll watch anyway to see what Southgate tries out and there’s enough quality in both teams to make the final worth watching. There’ll be drama for sure.
So, he does not score, provide assists or create chances…besides that he is Bale and Robben combined?:rolleyes: