Who will support England?

I thought it was 3 of the English squad were Irish eligible but it's actually 6, Kane, Grealish, Rice, Kalvin Phillips, Connor Coady and harry Maguire. So in an alternative world, we could have ended up with the following Irish team
  1. Randolph
  2. Coleman
  3. Maguire
  4. Coady
  5. Egan
  6. Rice
  7. Grealish
  8. Phillips
  9. McClean
  10. Kane
  11. Parrott
 
Gordon Gekko said:
Southgate and the team he’s built are likeable. They are humble and they’re good.

I find myself wanting to cheer for them and wanting them to do well.

And then I remember Piers Morgan, Ross Kemp, Nigel Farage, Jeremy Clarkson, Boris Johnson, Priti Patel, Jacob Rees-Mogg, hooligan fans singing about the IRA, and almost every tabloid journalist in England.

And I come to my senses.

Lest I forget, I was in Lansdowne Road in 1995. Not the much-publicised little fella with the tears in his eyes, but my brother and I were spat on as we were shepherded out between the old West Stand and North Terrace. We were in the West Stand Lower, although in the middle, so not directly under the epicentre of the trouble. There was also a section of England fans in the North Terrace and they spat on us and sang “No Surrender to the IRA” as we left the stadium.

Mum picked us up on Mespil Road and when we got home it would bring a tear to a glass eye watching the Gardai batter the hooligans.

I met a member of the Garda band some years afterwards and he told me that they more or less put down their instruments to be handed truncheons and went in wielding them hard amongst the hooligans. Great work by an Garda Siochana.
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No.

I get it, but no.
 
This Irishman makes a very funny plea to the Italians to beat the English... even willing to forgive our disagreements in America when we "tried to steal from the same people"

 
Good point from Liam Brady at half time that England are playing like a classic Italian team with wingbacks alternating between three and five at the back.
 
I got scoreline wrong but masterclass performance by Italy in second half.
Nullified England, got the goal back, dominated the play.

Extra-time, to hard to call.
 
I do not understand Southgates logic. It is as if he is trying to establish a new format of football. This idea of bringing subs on, to then take them off - Grealish, Henderson, wha?

It couldn't be a decision for penalties as Henderson and Grealish have both have taken (successful) penalties at club level.

It's makes little sense to me.

As for Italy, what a job. Chiellini, pure class. Even when he was caught out he knew exactly what to do, but that was his bad bit. Aside from that, his whole performance was examplar. Pity we don't get to see this guy week in, week out.
 
I admire anyone putting their hands up to take penalties in these situations but the three penalty misses were very poor kicks. When will they ever learn to take them. Southgate said that he picked the best five from the training sessions , if they were the best then the rest must have been very poor. Rashford was the worst. With the keeper going the wrong way he still managed to hit the post.
Well done to Italy though they were very good throughout the tournament Chiellini was super.
 
Southgate got England to the final through analysis, good preparation and a plan for each opponent. Everything was well thought out and it almost worked. The one thing he didn't prepare for was the emotion of the occassion. In fairness you can never really tell how lads will react to that.
Italy wanted it last night and they brought it on the night (Chiesa was outstanding until he had to go off). England had the dream start but from that point on never really performed until a brief spell in extra time when they finally realised they had to come out and play a bit if they wanted to win this thing.
Penalties are a God awful way to end what was a brilliant tournament and I really feel for the lads who missed theirs. But the better team won and Italy were the better team over the whole tournament so are deserving winners.
It was also disappointing to see the old English fans come crawling out from under rocks in the past week. Fighting on the streets, bottle throwing, it's no wonder they are hated the world over. Not only that but very few English fans stayed behind to congratulate the Italians when they lifted the trophy after.
 
Luke Shaw is trusted with all corners and free kicks so can obviously strike a ball. Instead you have a 19 year old kid walking up to take the 5th penalty which is more often than not the deciding kick. I don't care what they did on the training pitch. That was just ridiculous. As was bringing on the two players with seconds to go and not even allow them work up a sweat. Rashford and Sancho are probably worth €150m between them. Sticking them on with 5/10 minutes to go wouldn't exactly have been a gamble......
 
Sunny said:
Luke Shaw is trusted with all corners and free kicks so can obviously strike a ball. Instead you have a 19 year old kid walking up to take the 5th penalty which is more often than not the deciding kick. I don't care what they did on the training pitch. That was just ridiculous. As was bringing on the two players with seconds to go and not even allow them work up a sweat. Rashford and Sancho are probably worth €150m between them. Sticking them on with 5/10 minutes to go wouldn't exactly have been a gamble......
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Yeah, the guys might have been the best in training but sending them on into that pressurised atmosphere without a chance for the adrenalin to kick in was a mistake I think. If Shaw misses, well he missed, he has the goal and his performance to fall back on.
 
Rashford and Sancho were not best prepared for the shootout because of not been on the pitch for long enough but both have to be able to take better penalties than what we saw last night.
 
The universe gave its answer. I feel sorry for the 3 lads, the racist abuse didn't take long - the usual scumbaggery in evidence all day, booing the anthem, "karma is not a bitch it's a mirror" - said the lad who beat McGregor (another "character" lest we get too smug....).
 
Despite poaching some of the best Irish players of a generation, England failed again. Italy were worthy winners as has already been stated and I have to say they looked the class act on the field last night despite the tight scoreline. Chiesa/Chellini, take your pick for man of the match (man because it's a men's tournament)

I don't buy all this nonsense about nerves and atmosphere and pressure and expectations "getting to the lads". They are professionals, paid big money to perform in the theatre of dreams week in, week out. They allegedly love their jobs and the lifestyles that come with them. Surgeons, EMTs have people's lives in their hands, is there any more pressure than that? Do we hear that the pressure got to them?

Just not good enough and Footballs Gone To Rome, to be blessed by Il Papa.
 
Peanuts20 said:
I thought it was 3 of the English squad were Irish eligible but it's actually 6, Kane, Grealish, Rice, Kalvin Phillips, Connor Coady and harry Maguire.
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mathepac said:
Despite poaching some of the best Irish players of a generation, England failed again
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Harry Kane was born in London, he's English
Declan Rice was born in London, he's English
Kalvin Phillips was born in Leeds, he's English
Jack Grealish was born in Birmingham, he's English
Connor Coady was born in Lancashire, he's English
Harry Maguire was born in Sheffield, he's English

Why on earth would anyone who was born and raised in England declare for Ireland unless they weren't good enough to get into the English squad?
 
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