So unlike the previous years it looks like most people are sceptical about England's hopes of reaching far in the World Cup...I think that it's a very solid team though.

It does look like England could pass the group stage, but then again even Costa Rica could put up a fight against England in the past.

The squad is really balanced, attack is strong with Vardy and Kane having 25+ goals per season there is also Rashford and Sterling all good talents.
Midfield that can back them up is also pretty good maybe not as good as some other countries have but Wilshare,Hendersen,Alli,Chanberlain,Dier are solid.
The defense is maybe the weakest part of the team but it's not that bad at all, Walker, Stones are part of the best defense in the league...

How far can England go?

Again with this 'easy route' argument. Even though the powerhouse nations were either not in the same bracket as England, nor competing in the World Cup (Italy and Netherlands were knocked out by Sweden), the path to the final 4 is never easy, irregardless of whether you have big nations being obstacles to pass through or not.

You can get annoyed by the argument, but it has considerable merit in this case. I cannot fault England for knocking out what's in front of them, as I noted earlier. I can however express doubt at future ventures in tournaments. I don't care that Sweden knocked out the weakest Dutch team in the last 50 years or an Italian side that was so poorly balanced that De Rossi was throwing shade at his own coach in a crucial game. I'd rather play that than Brazil/Belgium/Uruguay/Argentina/Germany/Spain/Portugal/France etc.

Yeah, England didn't lose to a side that had the quality of Iceland. But they literally did not beat a side bigger than Columbia this WC. Good luck finding another way to a world cup semi that is that smooth.

England 2018 Summary:

Beat Tunisia, Sweden, and Panama
Drew against Colombia without James Rodriguez
Lost to Belgium and Croatia

That's is literally exactly the results you would expect of England. They won the games they were favored, drew the game that would likely have been a stalemate, and lost to the two teams that were better than them. It's just the sequence of events and the quality of opponents that allowed them to reach the semi-final. England has set the standard so low by getting eliminated by Costa Rica and Iceland that English fans rejoice when they beat the mighty Tunisia, Panama, and Sweden...

This is much like the Germany team that reached the final in 2002. That Germany team had to go through Ireland, Cameroon, Saudi Arabia in the group stages, and then Paraguay (Ro16), United States (QF), and South Korea (SF) to reach the final. Really easy paths to the final/SF, I don't understand why English fans have such a difficult time registering this fact.

Same goes to Croatian team. They have also had a very easy path to the final, particularly in the knockout stages. Russia, Denmark, and then England... whereas they had to really only take care of a dysfunctional Argentina, offensively-challenged Iceland, and extremely young Nigeria team in the group stages. They are not a team you would traditionally expect to make the final, but sometimes the WC just throws up easy paths like this and teams must take advantage of them while they can.

Props to England for actually making it this far and not blowing their chances against Colombia lol. Croatia are even more suspect as they require two penalty shootouts + another ET to reach the final... could have very easily been eliminated by Denmark.

Again, it wasn't an easy path. There were half the teams who topped their group. I don't think England having to face Germany Argentina Netherlands or Italy wouldn't change anything. Historically they are great but currently not so much. And in a WC it only matter what you do there and now.

England had great moments against Croatia but really squandered chances in the first half. Croatia adapted well and started to press at the right places and England had no idea how to overcome that so they started launching long balls to Kane and Sterling to bypass Modric Rakatic and Brozovic. The problem was Croatia gave 110% the entire 120mins meanwhile England started to fall off when things didint go their way.

Maybe that was Southgate a inability to adapt or lack of players who could have a real impact. I chose to say it was due to facing a team like Croatia more than anything else.

In the end Croatias goals were half chances that caught the defence off guard more than excelente play or anything of that sort. Obviously the forwards deserve credit for getting them but if the players had communicated and paid attention that shouldn't have happened at least not at that level and that deep in a WC.

Look, there really is no universal conclusion to this argument, but Germany lost to S. Korea, Spain lost to Russia, Portugal drew with Iran, and so on. It's the many reasons why I don't take anything for granted when it comes to the World Cup.

I don't care that Sweden knocked out the weakest Dutch team in the last 50 years or an Italian side that was so poorly balanced that De Rossi was throwing shade at his own coach in a crucial game.

The reason why I'm annoyed by your argument is because if you're going to establish excuses like these for the Netherlands and Italy ('powerhouses') then you might as well come up with an excuse for every other nation out there who got knocked out. How do you explain why England's previous golden generation (Beckham, Gerrard, Scholes, Lampard, Terry, Ferdinand, etc) never succeeded on any major tournaments?

It's not as if this current England squad were an easy bunch to work with either. After years and years of failure, the mentality and chemistry that these young lads had to establish for this WC campaign is no easy feat, irregardless of who they were facing (Iceland in the Euro 2016 made sure of that). My point is that every team has their own demons to work with, Croatia too. They did a tremendous job at beating them, but I wouldn't say that it was entirely convincing. I'm hoping they will give France a hard time, but France too look to be in phenomenal form, but who knows.

OH BOY

Germany played Cameroon who in 2002 were quiet good and reached QF to loose to Turkey, the team that only lost to Brazil ( champions). Turkey mate historically wasn’t good but that year they should have won against Brazil in group stage or at least draw ( refreee decisions were rediculous) and barely lost by 1 goal in semi final. Proves again that teams at times are amazing at tournament and what matters is now. Not later or before but how does the team performs now in competition.

Germany beat United States who were surprisingly strong too and South Korea who knocked out Italy, Spain and Portugal! Brazil beat England on simply stupid goal by Ronaldinho which Siemens should have saved. Luck or not but Brazil went through just like Germany went through to the final and both deserved to be there because they both had difficult paths!

Same is with England. Make excuses as much as you wish but those teams survived and some outplayed top nations yet England beating them made them suddenly weak teams. Insulting teams that prepared better and played better tournament than so called top nations.

Same goes with Croatia who beat Russia, team that knocked out Spain or Denmark team that wasn’t weak at all! So much insult to these teams that played just as good as giants and even better but yet their history matters. What matters is how they are performing in this tournament not their history.

I mean you said it yourself, South Korea knocked out Germany. Would you rather play Germany than South Korea as a result?

One game does not make a team. In a WC though, it's enough.

I mean you said it yourself, South Korea knocked out Germany. Would you rather play Germany than South Korea as a result?

Have you even seen the way they've been playing throughout the group stages? S. Korea were poor throughout too, don't get me wrong, but in that particular match, they were more composed than Germany. Their tactics exposed quite a lot of flaws in Germany's play style, the Germans were on a whole new level of dysfunction. And it wasn't just this match, they were like this in all three games. So yes, arguably it would have been an easier match up for England should they have switched places with Colombia or Sweden. The name of the nation has very little merit now, as this WC has clearly shown.

I heartily disagree, but it's a subjective topic and a moot point now. I suppose we'll see next tournament.

Marcus it’s not Cameroun it was Senegal who reached quarters with El Hadji Diouf, Dabo and co...

I think we all agree on the easy path, but this performance will boost their mental in the future...
Actually for the first time I have the sensation England didn’t underachieve, it’s even the opposite they got the quality to reach QF max and they did better. If they won WC with Lingard-Sterling and Henderson in the midle i would have been Shocked...

Kane and Trippier were something else, this Trippier is very underrated outside of England. I also don’t understand Young over Rose, young is a right footer playing LB, never expect him to make a cross and cutting inside was mission impossible most of the time.

The coach had incredible tactics, he played with his team strength, the corners placement were deadly, set pieces, the two lines complementarity. Reaching semifinals with Henderson Dier Stones MCGuire is better than what players expected themselves...

I want to support France but if they win Real Madrid with Ronaldo cash will come knocking to get GIroud.

Anyway, I thought it was a great game between Belgium and England today. Yeah, the scoreline seem harsh on England a bit but they had very good and convincing spell in that game. Things could have been completely different however if Dier could have scored his chance though.

Difference between Belgium and England. We can't finish our chances and we lack creative number 10. Belgium made some amazing saves and punished us on the break which was bound to happen when we have Jones as defender who was harassed by Hazard entire game.

England should be happy with the 4th place. Calculating with easy group stage, easiest route yet without any solid performance.
Shots on target from open play per 90 minutes, England rank 31st out of the 32 countries. Only beating Iran, who has played Spain, Morroco and Portugal instead of Panama and Tunisia says enough.

Be happy you finished fourth :)

No one is upset with the 4th place. I didn't expect from this team much as i have stated way before the tournament started. In fact they have exceeded expectations and shocked everyone but hey people who hate because they are just pitty small people inside, will always find something to poke on to minimize achievement.

That Colombia game was one of the funniest games I've ever seen. Though England are very much to blame. They did cause fights throughout the tournament. FootyRoom at one point put Rakitic and Alli's fights. At no point did I ever see anything wrong from Rakitic, and absolutely no surprises. Alli is one of the dirtiest footballers, whereas Rakitic is the exact opposite.

Anyways yes England exceeded expectations. Everyone believes someone is to thank, Trippier, Pickford, Maguire, Sterling... You name it. Personally I think Welbeck is the biggest reason for this success. He came on against Belgium in the last 10 minutes and missed that chance so England get 2nd and the easier route.I love Welbeck and I think he should stay at Arsenal for many years, because Danny Welbeck does Danny Welbeck things.

GOAT!

Exceed expectation. The hate is because of its coming home nonsense.
As modric have said most england media is overhyped and dont consider us as favorites.

I think epl culture has not allowed players to develop dribbling skills coz keeping the ball is a sin. This resulted in no players that can make a messi,hazard,ronaldo,mbappe kind of impact in the national team. In big matches, it proves that england need 1v2 dribblers to the very least.

What happened in a nutshell:

Poor display in last World Cup and Euro -> England fan bracing themselve for another poor performance at this world cup -> Team actually have decent results and goes far in the tournament -> Fan lose their mind

To be fair though, I'm impressed about England media, they aren't giving too many stick to this young English squad despite not winning anything and even thanked them to have let them dream. Personally, I don't get the people who are negative because of the fan saying stuff like "its coming home". Obviously its a long shot, very unlikely that England win it. But come on, as a supporter, its ok to dream! Its not a question of being conceited, its about supporting your team and sharing your wildest dream with the rest of the world.

Call me naive but I, for one, was glad to see the England NT winning back its fan and some of its reputation through this tournament even if what they did wasn't the most incredible feat possible.

No one cares if England had easy path or not, most important is that they had first good tournament in a while, with young squad and young manager, and built enough hype for people to actually support them and look forward to next tournament.
With players from U17-U21 getting experience, England can only build stronger squad now, unlike Croatia, we have to look for replacements to most of our key players, which will be tough, but we already do have few players who could fill the role in line (never thought I could say this but I see players who could be like Modrić in terms of importance to our NT).