England finish 1st:

Round of 16 vs Japan
Quarter final vs Brazil or Mexico
Semi final vs Uruguay, Portugal, France or Argentina

England finish 2nd:

Round of 16 vs Colombia
Quarter final vs Sweden or Switzerland
Semi final vs Spain, Russia, Croatia or Denmark

That changes things. Play to win and start with Japan.

I'd rather face Columbia than Brazil.

So the World Cup is just sensationalized bull**** so people can brag that their team got to the semis or the quarters or the finals, regardless of whether they deserved to get there?

Exo!

He’s trollin’!

What are you going on about?
If you score more goals than your opponent you deserve to progress to the next round.
You don't get awarded more goals based on how good your opponent is.
You beat what's in front of you.

This is some rationalized bull****. You should be celebrated for being the best, not for racking up the most points in pinball.

Lol Exo doesn't read this thread.

Says who?

Wigan won the FA Cup a few years ago, Greece and Portugal won the Euros in 2004 & 2016, Chelsea won the Champions League in 2012 and none of these teams were the best in the competitions when they won them but that is quite rare and you don't really see it in league format. As I said it's knockout format.

How about we just award the trophy to the team with the best squad? :rolleyes:

You're right. We'll just award the trophy to the squad that avoids the best teams.

That doesn't make sense. By your logic we should award it to Senegal or Poland for getting knocked out as they have avoided all the best teams by being eliminated early and having no top teams in their group.

It's not what I've argued anyway, it's awarded to the team who scores more goals than their opponent in each round. You have a better chance of doing this with a favourable draw.

You're rationalizing a flawed tournament structure. Just accept that it's bull**** that rewards teams who get lucky with their "draws".

It's not flawed though.

Not sure if guys understand what a knockout tournament is.

This is all reminding me of this...

Sounds like a bollocks concept tbh. Why should you be rewarded for scoring more goals against a ****e opponent when a better team is penalized for scoring less goals against a team that's still better than you?

It's not flawed. It's a knockout tournament not a league. The aim is to progress to the next round. It is a different challenge to league format which requires more consistency over a long period of time.

Also you are acting like it's no marks who make it to the final which doesn't happen.

Let me ask you this: why do you care how far England gets if pure luck of the "draw" is the only reason they got that far? Isn't it just an arbitrary accomplishment that's not particularly worthy of praise?

No.

You need to develop players in your own country. There is no transfer market. You are limited to what you can produce through your academies and resources, top players have to lift average team mates and only have one opportunity every four years to try and put together your best squad and challenge. One mistake and you are out. It can actually be argued the flaw of league format (which is what you're arguing for) is that it's more forgiving to mistakes and allows teams to rectify poor performances over 38 games as opposed to 7. A poor performance in a World Cup knockout = eliminated and you may never get the chance to play in it again. Guys need to grab that opportunity and prove how good they are in the moment.

And I want to see England win something. It's our national sport and a lot of people would be happy. If you don't get it you don't get it.

I mean there's a ton of luck involved in winning a single elimination game in a low event sport not just the draws

I know Kane and Lukaku are out, who else is sitting?

That's often true as well.

Most of them lol.

m8

Rashers up front :cool:

hope Fellani breaks his leg

Sir Harry will be leading England's Lions again soon.

:D

Yes sports are stupid.

I'm watching Panama vs. Tunisia. At least they're both trying to win.

More pointless than this game tbh.

More pointless than watching millionaires halfass it? Must be pretty pointless.

Because Tunisia and Panama won't be half arsing it when they both know they're already out :D

Yeah, nobody plays for pride when it's the World Cup.

there’s no pride in going home

Januzaj just scored a belter.

There's no pride in going winless either. Anyway, enjoying the game.

its the THRILL

Just 15 minutes to go lads :cool:

Just one more post, Ninetales

Looks like it's gonna be main line up v Columbia

Rashfords curl attempts from left were pitiful tbh.

Couple of nice crosses, all n all, not great but not bad imo.

:cool:

i loved him at United, shame he never really had a chance to show what he was capable of because of Moyes and LvG’s system.

Well, congratulations on your loss. :rolleyes:

Thanks buddy!!!