England to finish second in group could be best thing

[Nick Bateman]

Looking at the World Cup fixtures, if England come runners-up to Belguim, it would probably mean we would meet Germany in the quarter-finals.  But Belgium would meet BRAZIL!!

According to a chart I have seen, the winners of Group H, between Poland and Columbia will play England or Belguim in the last 16.  I am predicting Poland to win that group.  Belguim would by contrast play Columbia from the same group.

Germany are in pretty poor form, being humiliated at home to Austria and leaving out a quality wide-man in Leroy Sané.  Joachim Low has an aging team, same old faces for the past 2 or 3 tournaments.

Granted it sets England V Spain in the semi-final if we progress that far but there are no easy matches at that stage.

[Woolly Mammoth]

There are no easy matches at any stage, one match at a time I say.
England should not fear anyone, once you start thinking and worrying who we may or may not meet, that's when the pressure is built.
Expectations are lower and it's a very young team, and I would like to think they will play with freedom under Southgate.
Whoever is shoved In front of us, we will deal with.
It does not bother me who we play, we tend to do better against the more fancied teams anyway.
Let us just play without fear.
Also there is no guarantee Brazil and Germany will finish top of their group.
So let's roll our sleeves up and not do the worrying, leave that to the opponent.

[Maidstone Lee]

I don't know about you but I'd sooner England faced Brazil then Germany if we got through.

[Milo]

We will lose to both but rather have Brazil...

[gang]

I won't mind playing England, always high expectations with little delivery.

[Twig]

Winning is a habit. We should top our group and go into the knock outs with confidence.

[Bassey the warrior]

Either way we're not getting past the quarter finals.

[fulhamben]

You had me right up until you said Germany are in bad form. I can't remember the last time the germans went into a tournament in form

[cmg]

Bet Brazil and Germany are sh1tting themselves on the outcome of this one.

[Woolly Mammoth]

Football is a funny old game at any level, I would not write any team off.
The Germans are generally always good, but we have beaten them before and we will beat them again, they are not as good as they think they are, and somebody else could beat them.
As for Brazil they are also a team that can play a bit, but are nowhere near the Brazilian teams of the past in any shape or form, they rely on their reputation these days.
The Competition is in Russia a vast country, lots of travelling from different cities, with hostile receptions for some teams.
Not every team will settle as well as they would like. There will be surprises and dark horses, and even the so called unfancied teams will be fit and organised and well coached.
England cannot afford to underestimate anyone, and I don't think they will.
Let's leave the underestimating to others.

[mrmicawbers]

Not really taking much notice at the moment.There seems less hype around the England Team,which can only be a posative.I sure I will get a bit more excited when we start a game.

[nose returns]

I say we should follow the slava approach
take each game as it comes
only worry about what is immediately in front of us and not the game after
each team will cause complicated problems and we need to find a way to overcome them

Personally I think england will suprise a few people and do rather better than many think.
I do not think we have a team that is likely to win the tournament but we can surely go a long way if we play to full potential.
Like many I think our defense is not 100% reliable and I am not sure walker as part of a back three is the best use of hios ability
However, unlike other tournaments we have enough goalscorers and youth to make  it it exciting.
I remain optimistic

[Carborundum]

Well, it seems safe to surmise that first or second > third or fourth.  After that I'm afraid there's just too many imponderables.  Hope England win every game and who cares who the other side is.  It's only two years since the exploits of Wales and Iceland.  Anything can happen and pressure affects people differently.

[aaronmcguigan]

I reckon Panama beating England and watching the media meltdown could surpass any first or second place finish!

[bugsy]

Looking at the World Cup fixtures, if England come runners-up to Belguim, it would probably mean we would meet Germany in the quarter-finals.  But Belgium would meet BRAZIL!!

According to a chart I have seen, the winners of Group H, between Poland and Columbia will play England or Belguim in the last 16.  I am predicting Poland to win that group.  Belguim would by contrast play Columbia from the same group.

Germany are in pretty poor form, being humiliated at home to Austria and leaving out a quality wide-man in Leroy Sané.  Joachim Low has an aging team, same old faces for the past 2 or 3 tournaments.

Granted it sets England V Spain in the semi-final if we progress that far but there are no easy matches at that stage.

I'm with you on this Nick. My main concern is the first game against Tunisia.  Before the new FIFA World rankings came out last week(take from these rankings what you will), we were ranked only one place above Tunisia, 13 and 14 respectively. Their last 3 games saw them draw with Portugal and Egypt and lose 1-0 to Spain.  For your scenario to work out, and I really hope it does, 3 points against Tunisia is a must. Club and Country always. Come on you Lions!!

[Twig]

Well there are some truly optimistic comments on here.

[toshes mate]

It's pretty simple that you have to beat whatever is in front of you after negotiating the group stage which can throw up unlikely results.  As Woolly says there are no easy matches and successful teams are generally ones that win games even under pressure.  One step at a time is the only sure way of negotiating a mountain.  England have the ability within the squad to do well and you have to be in the last sixteen to have any chance of winning.  I am hoping England play every group game to win to provide the momentum for the later stages.

[Mitch]

I expect us to finish second on 4 points, and would take that. We aren't the best team in the group by a long way. Don't understimate Tunisia either.

After that, see how it goes, but yes you'd expect us to be Colombia/Poland and then face the Germans.

[grandad]

World Cup winners have to have World class players. How many do we have? One or two but not many more. Earning in excess of £100k a week does not make you a World class player.

[Carborundum]

World Cup winners have to have World class players. How many do we have? One or two but not many more. Earning in excess of £100k a week does not make you a World class player.

We don't know yet and the World Cup is where we find out.  World Cup winners also have to form a cohesive team that is greater than the sum of its parts and which responds well to pressure.  More uncertainty, but the only reason for pessimism is the inescapable fact that 31 of 32 teams will go home thinking about what might have been. 

I ask myself this:  when Harry Kane banged in a hat trick at the Cottage, how much better would a World Class player have been?  Perhaps he's out on his own in terms of quality, but one thing I know from other levels of football: having a great striker doesn't half give the rest of the team a lift.