I'm not talking about teams being technically better than England.I'm asking how many times the best footballing side have won an international tournament over the years.
Why is it a strange comment.You've been watching football since the 1970's.How many times have times have you seen the best footballing side win an international tournament ? Did the Italian team that won the WC in 1982 play the best football,did the Greece team that won Euro 2004 play the best football ?
I think the fact is , you only REMEMBER when the best footballing side loses . At least 70 per cent of the time , the team that plays the best football , and the one you expect to win , wins . I remember when Wolves ended Manures unbeaten run , i cant remember the dozen games before when united won . Why would i .
We must be of a similar age as we have children of the same age so you must surely rememember as many international tournaments as me and I can think of many where the team that played the best football didn't win
Blimey are you really as old as CYM ? I do remember you saying you'd been following Arsenal since the early seventies. Have to say, that anybody who watched the 82 world cup would have had Brazil as odds on to win it, they were by far the best team there.
Who expected Denmark to win Euro 92 ? Who would argue against the Dutch being the best footballing team in the 1974/78 World Cups ? One of the greatest teams ever was the Hungary side of Puskas etc,this was the team that demolished England at Wembley becoming the first foreign team to win there.Hungary were the overwhelming favourites to win the 1954 WC but they didn't win it
I think the point is that Denmark winning Euro 92 is not unusual, as has already been pointed out, Italy, Greece, Denmark, etc have all won tournaments when other better teams have been expected to win them.
You're the the one who said that the team that plays the best football or the team that you expect to win will win an international tournament at least 70% of the time.
You could argue, that 'Best teams' that have won World Cups in Brazil 58, Brazil 62, England 66, Brazil 70, Argentina 78, Argentina 86, Germany 90, Brazil 94, France 98, Brazil 2002, Spain 2010 European championships: Italy 68, Germany 72, Germany 80, France 84, Holland 88, France 2000, Spain 2008 and 2012
How many people have said Germany have been functional and disciplined over the years rather than praised their football ? There is no way they played the best football in 1990. How many people have said Maradonna won the WC for Argentina in 1986 rather than praise the quality of their football and I would argue Holland played the better football in 1978
so it WAS usual then , im confused . im saying that 70 per cent of the time , the team expected to win , ( because they play better football ) wins . and comments like " who would have expected Denmark to win " , reinforce my statement because NO ONE expected them to as it is UNUSUAL for ...ahh never mind .
I know what Cym is saying, but what is your definiton of best playing teams? Best in terms of attack, defense, strategy? There are times when the best attacking teams do not win the major tourny's eg. Brazil in the early 80s and Holland etc. But the best teams usually do. One of the biggest shocks of modern football was when Greece won the Euro's. They really were basic skillwise compared to others but solid defensively and got their stategy spot on.
