I’d agree with the accolades for Mainoo but am surprised there hasn’t been equal mention for Guehi. I was worried about our central defensive pairing but Guehi has been brilliant.
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Wholly agree. What no one mentions is that the Spanish midfield haven’t functioned in this competition at all. As a team their perpetual running and movement has hidden some dreadful defensive errors and some awful passing. Lamal may take goal of the tournament but that was the same game when his pass completion rate was around 30%. When they have won possession they can look impressive but don’t necessarily create anything unless you push up on them as Georgia did. However, they can lose possession cheaply and if England play as they have then it could actually be the Spanish without the ball for long periods. The Germans almost got it right but changed tactics and personnel after 45 and blew it. Seems unlikely Southgate will be that daft.
You are 100% correct. He’s had a couple of poor 10 minute spells but mostly when left exposed by Rice. Outside of that both he and Mainoo have been superb.
As a Welsh man I’ll be pleased if England lose. As a football fan and a fan of decency in football I genuinely hope they do it for Southgate and rather than get caught up in the minutiae I’ll not care how they do it.
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Success in International Football is measured in trophies. Nothing else.
Southgate has the chance to be successful tonight. If they lose, he will remain on a par with Englands other unsuccessful managers.
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Watching the Iceland friendly last month I confidently predicted that I wouldn’t live long enough (now nearly 69) to see England win a second major tournament, or even get to a final.
Looking forward to my third final I find myself reflecting on two things from the first one:-
My late mum & dad had about 20 friends & relatives around for the ‘66 final. Not because they were party animals, solely because we happened to have the newest television at the time. For the younger ones amongst you, as well as being black & white in 1966, TVs’ were also hopelessly unreliable. If you set was more than a couple of months old you were extremely lucky to get more than a few weeks out of it before it broke down. Hence, as well as family, most of the immediate neighbours came to our house to view the final.
Mum, then 33, & her sister, a couple of years younger, had never shown the slightest interest in football & had not seen any of the World Cup matches. Mums’ take on the semi-final win was ‘Oh, we’re in the final? That’s nice’. It was therefore all the more surprising that they were both as vocal as anyone throughout the match & both broke into floods of tears when West Germany equalised with virtually the final kick of normal time!
These memories are as clear as if they occurred yesterday & they make the past 58 years appear no more than the blink of an eye!
I am now wondering whether I will be fortunate enough to see a second England triumph &, if not, whether I will live to see us in another final in the future. Here’s hoping for the former!
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Great memories, being born in 1969 I’ve never seen England win a major tournament luckily for me a big Rugby fan too so at least I have those memories but winning tonight will be hugely special for the whole country.
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I remember the 1966 final and had the pleasure of serving the team while working part time evenings and weekends at a pub close to their training ground at the time in Hertfordshire. Unfortunately although Moore, Ball, Shilton etc were still around, it was in the fallow years of 1973 to 1976 that I was there. Generally nice chaps and appreciated the service and the chance to have a quiet drink ( not all alcohol free) but not their glory days.
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From a recent post of yours on another thread I note that you are a lot younger than me & a whole host of others here. In 1982 I had been at work for 9 years.
Also in 1982 I was living 2 doors away from a regular Norwich City first team player, & being similar ages, became quite friendly with him. One of the many things he told me about first division footballers lives was that training consisted of 6 hours a week & 2 of those were on a Wednesday morning when the first team played a full 90 minutes against the reserves. The players considered this a hard life!
This was 1982, 16 years after the World Cup win. My point being that times have changed immensely since then & I suspect that Ramseys’ preparation was perfectly acceptable for the time &, probably, more rigorous than many of the countries then top teams.
You must also bear in mind that media coverage of virtually all footballing matters was almost entirely in print so it was extremely difficult for even those in the game to find out what anyone else was doing. As an example, Scotland played Brazil in a pre World Cup friendly & the papers the following day were full of just one thing. Pele. Hardly anyone outside Brazil had seen him play bar a few grainy newsreels of the 58 & 62 World Cup finals. The man was literally just a legend spread by word of mouth by the relative few that had actually seen him play.
You youngsters were brought up in an era when media expanded greatly & those inside the game found it much easier to gain insight into what others were doing, enabling a far more professional approach to be taken in most aspects of the game. With respect, you have little idea what it was like in the 60’s when even the smallest snippet of information had to be tracked down with Sherlock Holmes type tenacity & then eagerly passed on, largely by word of mouth!
Amongst his colleagues & rivals at the time, I suspect most found Ramsay to be professional & organised.
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I think that fallow period began with Ramsays’ disastrous decision to substitute Bobby Charlton when we were 2 - 0 up in the quarter final & coasting to the semis.
I’m not alone in thinking that the 1970 team were better than the '66 side, as evidenced by the narrow loss to Brazil in an earlier game. The Brazil side that most consider the greatest the game has ever seen.
The unexpected loss to West Germany shook many established players in much the same way as Hamilton has been affected by his '21 title defeat by Verstappen, when victory looked ‘in the bag’ for both England & Hamilton. Some of the England players never appeared to get over it when playing in an England shirt.
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Well, it felt like 109 years at the time…
I was 14 years old in 66 and the England preparation appeared to be the standard for all teams at that time and therefore amateurish is a bit unkind.
The biggest argument was Alf wouldn’t win anything without wingers. His methods demonstrated he was like Martin Peters ahead of his time.
When comparing Ramsey to Southgate at the moment Ramsey is ahead because a. He won the World Cup and b. Regardless of tonight’s score it is a bigger competition.
One also has to take into consideration that for the last five years the other major nations do not appear to be at the same level they were in the past.
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Come. On. England.
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Let’s go!
Starting to feel v nervous. All the sentimental stuff on Southgate and the back stories to various players in the BBC not helping me at all. Cmon England!!!
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Also giving Southgate credit for getting all the players to sing the national anthem. I remember in the past most players not bothering at all.
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Stones does well.
