AHC: Have England win the 2014 World Cup

[SunDeep]

Two words: Tim Krul

And if they'd already been forced to use up their last substitution earlier in the match due to someone picking up an injury (easy enough over the course of 120 minutes), Tim Krul wouldn't have been able to come on for the penalty shootout.

 

[AgentRudda]

Even in this situation, I still see England bottling it. In a quarter-final against Dutch, their lack of resolve would be exploited.

 

[SunDeep]

Even in this situation, I still see England bottling it. In a quarter-final against Dutch, their lack of resolve would be exploited.

There's still a decent chance of them not bottling it though, isn't there? Comparable to rolling the right number on a dice, or at the very worst picking the right card out of a pack. It could have happened.

 

[funnyhat]

There's still a decent chance of them not bottling it though, isn't there? Comparable to rolling the right number on a dice, or at the very worst picking the right card out of a pack. It could have happened.

In one game, yes. But the England team that played in 2014 would need that kind of luck in basically every game, and by the final, you're talking ASB levels of good fortune. It just wasn't all that good of a team.

 

[mudhead]

How do you improve the defence?

Hart had come off an indifferent season with Man City; Johnson has no defensive talent (he's OK going forward, but that's not good enough, or shouldn't be, at international level); Baines, long the perceived heir apparent to Cole, wasn't good enough, it turned out; and Cahill was OK but not good enough to compensate for Jagielka not being OK. Cole should have been in, and maybe Caulker, who did well enough usually in a poor Cardiff team, or Hull's Curtis Davies.

Midfield: Henderson's very good at running round, but doen't have the brain to act as an anchor. Who else? Leon Britton of Swansea should have gone to Euro 2012, but Hodgson obviously saw no place for him, quite rightly, as the main England tactic was Hart big boot to Carroll. He was injured and sick for quite a lot of 2013-14, so probably not an option.

Two more from Hull: Tom Huddlesone and Jake Livermore both had good seasons in midfield: the former is a much better decision-maker than that egotistical donkey Gerard (my Everton-supporting friend calls him "Stevie Me").

I find Welbeck's continual selection baffling, though I'd stick with Rooney as a number 10.

I think only Theo Walcott of likely candidates was absent though injury: if he's available I'd use him in the middle, rather than wide - he's a better finisher than crosser.

I still can't see them winning the thing, though.

 

[Redhand]

Break the power of the English clubs or at least place limits on them around the time the Premier league was set up. Adopt the mindset that while profits for club owners and trophies for club trophy cabinets are good things, they must still be subordinate to the FA and it's goal of World Cup domination.

Oh, and never, ever select Wayne Rooney for England. Not even once.

Rooney had a part in both goals scored and came close to scoring against Costa Rica, despite being a sub. He was likely the best player England fielded for the tournament. Gerrard and Jagielka were bad, Lallana and Barkley were disappointing, Sturridge was good, and everyone else was meh. England needed Rooney just to qualify and he really isn't that bad, but he is obviously weak on the wings defensively.

 

[SunDeep]

Rooney had a part in both goals scored and came close to scoring against Costa Rica, despite being a sub. He was likely the best player England fielded for the tournament. Gerrard and Jagielka were bad, Lallana and Barkley were disappointing, Sturridge was good, and everyone else was meh. England needed Rooney just to qualify and he really isn't that bad, but he is obviously weak on the wings defensively.

And seems to have a problem with raising his work-rate and performing in competitive internationals. But hey, him scoring twice against Costa Rica isn't that much of a stretch.

 

[Generaloberst]

Can't do it with that POD. My two cents would be to have the League get reformed earlier on, so there is a set cap on how many foreign players can be in a club. Arguably the amount of foreigners in English club teams really kills them internationally.

 

[V-J]

Can't do it with that POD. My two cents would be to have the League get reformed earlier on, so there is a set cap on how many foreign players can be in a club. Arguably the amount of foreigners in English club teams really kills them internationally.

It's a fashionable view at the moment, but I prefer the view that the amount of foreigners we have playing in this country is simply a reflection of how bad English players are relative to their salary demands and pricing. Ultimately it all stems from the coaching system (sic) we have, or rather don't have. Produce an inferior product which is overpriced and of course you are out-competed from abroad. The EPL has become so foreign-dominated for a reason.

Just blaming foreigners is much more easily digestible for a lot of people of course.

 

[Alex1guy]

Okay England win what happens afterwards?

Probably the complete breakdown of the United Kingdom after England does nothing but drink, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all beg clamour for independence since the English haven't shut up since winning and the world economy takes a hit as the UK is unable to function with a large segment of it's populace are present at the giant party that has been going for the last three months. Eventually, the other major Football nations just nuke England as the world reserves of alcohol start to take a serious hit.

 

[SunDeep]

Okay England win what happens afterwards?

Probably the complete breakdown of the United Kingdom after England does nothing but drink, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all beg clamour for independence since the English haven't shut up since winning and the world economy takes a hit as the UK is unable to function with a large segment of it's populace are present at the giant party that has been going for the last three months. Eventually, the other major Football nations just nuke England as the world reserves of alcohol start to take a serious hit.

If this was an ASB scenario, then sure, that'd happen. But here in the real world? Don't think so. Even so, the bandwagon of England hype just got the mother of all superchargers.

 

[Redhand]

It's a fashionable view at the moment, but I prefer the view that the amount of foreigners we have playing in this country is simply a reflection of how bad English players are relative to their salary demands and pricing. Ultimately it all stems from the coaching system (sic) we have, or rather don't have. Produce an inferior product which is overpriced and of course you are out-competed from abroad. The EPL has become so foreign-dominated for a reason.

Just blaming foreigners is much more easily digestible for a lot of people of course.

It's an uncomfortable position but the amount of foreigners probably does hurt the English team. I'd honestly say the problem comes from the fact that English players generally lack the technical skill of Continental players and solid work rate doesn't really fix this problem; you have to look at the academies to figure out why this is occurring.

 

[Alex1guy]

If this was an ASB scenario, then sure, that'd happen. But here in the real world? Don't think so. Even so, the bandwagon of England hype just got the mother of all superchargers.

Was kidding of course, feel sorry for the French and such having to live near an England that won though

 

[HesitatedEye]

Okay England win what happens afterwards?

Probably the complete breakdown of the United Kingdom after England does nothing but drink, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all beg clamour for independence since the English haven't shut up since winning and the world economy takes a hit as the UK is unable to function with a large segment of it's populace are present at the giant party that has been going for the last three months. Eventually, the other major Football nations just nuke England as the world reserves of alcohol start to take a serious hit.

This makes me think of the running gag between my friends and I that if England did win the world cup the referendum in Scotland would have been brought forward to the week after the end of the WC because it would have guaranteed Alex Salmond a landslide win.

 

[Mike D]

Rooney had a part in both goals scored and came close to scoring against Costa Rica, despite being a sub. He was likely the best player England fielded for the tournament. Gerrard and Jagielka were bad, Lallana and Barkley were disappointing, Sturridge was good, and everyone else was meh. England needed Rooney just to qualify and he really isn't that bad, but he is obviously weak on the wings defensively.

Rooney was nowhere near the best player for England. Sterling was by a country mile. Rooney shouldn't even have been starting - he's not the best winger (Sterling), not the best striker (Sturridge) and not the best attacking midfielder/deep forward (Lallana or Sterling).

Lallana was brilliant in the pre-tournament friendlies then got dropped for the finals. Sterling was outstanding against Italy and got shunted around to accommodate Rooney where he wanted to play against Uruguay.

Gerrard was played in totally the wrong system and never had a chance of replicating his outstanding Liverpool form. Same with Henderson.

It all comes down to that fraud Hodgson, his total inability to coach good football and his total lack of balls to drop 'big players' that the media think should be playing (a perennial problem for England managers).

 

[Mike D]

Can't do it with that POD. My two cents would be to have the League get reformed earlier on, so there is a set cap on how many foreign players can be in a club. Arguably the amount of foreigners in English club teams really kills them internationally.

I disagree - the English league was almost exclusively British up until the mid/late 90s and England were awful for most of that time too.

Look at England's squad for the World Cup - the only players who didn't come from a top seven team were the two back up keepers and one of them played for the Scottish champions. Half of the starting line up came from Liverpool who played arguably the most attractive attacking football in the league, 13 of the 23 man squad came from the top four.

It wasn't a lack of decent players that made England so crap at the last World Cup, it was the lack of a decent manager. England were never going to be good enough to win the thing but they should have been looking at least at getting to the Quarter Finals.


What foreign players have brought into the league far outweighs the mythical affect they've had on the nation side - after all, who better for a young player like Sterling to learn from than a true world class talent like Suarez?

 

[Salamander]

I disagree - the English league was almost exclusively British up until the mid/late 90s and England were awful for most of that time too.

Look at England's squad for the World Cup - the only players who didn't come from a top seven team were the two back up keepers and one of them played for the Scottish champions. Half of the starting line up came from Liverpool who played arguably the most attractive attacking football in the league, 13 of the 23 man squad came from the top four.

It wasn't a lack of decent players that made England so crap at the last World Cup, it was the lack of a decent manager. England were never going to be good enough to win the thing but they should have been looking at least at getting to the Quarter Finals.


What foreign players have brought into the league far outweighs the mythical affect they've had on the nation side - after all, who better for a young player like Sterling to learn from than a true world class talent like Suarez?

Are you sure about having ANYBODY learning from Suarez? They might pick up that annoying tendency of his to view other players as lunch.

 

[Mike D]

Are you sure about having ANYBODY learning from Suarez?

Yes - whatever you think of his downsides he is one of the finest players on the planet, tears teams to shreds for fun and also works incredibly hard on the field.

 

[Bee]

Several teams with less resources than England outperformed them defensively. It was not so much because their players were better, but that they were better organized. If whoever trained the Costa Rican defense, for instance, had had the same role with England, they could have advanced from the group.

 

[DTanza]

This is ASB

Can we stop shouting ASB for things that aren't, you know, physically impossible?