I'm with Lardi on this. I'm f***** if I'd cheer on a spanner/palice cock. Club before country every time.
If England beat Sweden this afternoon that will be a praiseworthy achievement. I will then understand folks getting excited about the possibilities. Getting to only our second World Cup semi-final since 1966 (this is the 13th tournament since then) would be a cause for optimism. Being knocked out this afternoon however, will only go to show we have made very little if any progress under Southgate. The pity will be that an army of ridiculously over-positive pundits will seek to cover their backsides by claiming that England have still become much better since the humiliations of 2014 and 2016. A delusion only strengthened if Captain Fantastic (Mr VAR penalty taker "it's my goal I did touch it" himself) wins the Golden Boot. Once again the problems will be ignored rather than being dealt with.
Keep posting, Lardi. I'm sure once the game starts you'll be cheering your team on just like everyone else.
What a strange attitude. Don't you want your Country to Progress to the Semi- Final of the World Cup? It is not about jingoism, I am just proud of my Country.
I will concede my view is not shared by everybody. A bit like all the other stuff I plonk on here.........
I watched the England v Colombia game in London. People were hugging in the streets after the game, and singing on the Tube. At Bromley South it was good natured bedlam. Great to see - only anti English zealots - of which we have sadly imported quite a few - could possibly object.
Can't recall saying I don't want them to. Just don't care whether they do or not. Nothing against people feeling good about their national team, but in the media the hype has reached laughable levels. The England football team have become like the Royal Family. No commentator or pundit dares say anything cautious or in any way negative, for fear of being ridiculed by the mob. Broadcasters are gushing about how much better England are now, with virtually no evidence to back that up. It's a heatwave-fuelled national delusion which most other footballing nations are finding most amusing.
And if one Colombian had not bounced his penalty out off the cross-bar the nation would have descended on Gareth Southgate and his returning England flops like a pack of starving and very begrudging wolves. We did not beat Colombia playing football. We won a pot-luck post-match shooting competition. I know those are the rules, but the margins are ridiculously fine and nothing to go potty over in my view. England out in the round of 16 = flops, failures, same old story etc. The knives were out in Fleet Street and we both know it. England through to the last 8 by the slimmest of slim margins against a team missing their best player = it's a new era, give Southgate a Knighthood.
Ok, I think you have made your point on this one. I’m off to have a few beers with my sons & to enjoy the match.
Sorry. Here's hoping for an entertaining game at 3pm, and a result that will please everybody except Elfs.
I just like watching my Country do well, why would I not. Football is about fine margins. If my Auntie had wheels she would be a bike. You can keep on saying if. If the Lampard shot had been correctly given as a goal things might have been different. If Geoff Hurst shot in 1966 had not been given, things might have been different.Are we so cynical that we can't be excited by the possibility that England could reach the semi final of the World Cup?
Well, perhaps I should have said Elfs and me. If England lose I can be quietly satisfied with the correctness of my scepticism and you can cheer on Sweden in the semi-finals...
Get round mine Mr Lardiman, I have my Sweden flag draped over the balcony. Plenty of Kopparberg in the fridge.
