Day 3: England vs Croatia | Austria vs North Macedonia | Netherlands vs Ukraine

UncleBob

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Where's VAR, if the goalkeeper had the ball in both hands then surely it's a foul
 

Dan_F

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Alioski is like a left back Ander Herrera. Always 100mph, niggling at the attackers legs, then falling over whenever anyone gets near him.
 

Withnail

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Yeah you might be right on the football - I’m sure there is an element of excitement and wanting the team to do well.

The original poster was hinting at a broader point though, and I do think there’s something about the English cultural identity which is particularly exceptionalist and self-gratifying imo. Like any identify this will have deep historical roots and in our case is at least partially a consequence of our imperial legacy and control on the historical narrative. I know it’s just football, but these sorts of identities tend to be sustained through everyday discourse and I think you can see it in the ‘patriotic pride’ we tend to take in these sorts of things.

I do take the wider point but I saw nothing on the BBC coverage today that would have been any different to what I'd expect to see on my own national channel if we'd won our first game in a tough group.
 

DWelbz19

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Not only is Pandev a gunslinger, he’s been braving that hairline since the early 2000s. Respect it
 

Dan_F

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Is this John Hartson arguing he should have been sent off for an elbow? Not exactly an angel was he.
 

Godfather

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We are so crap under Foda it's unreal. Why did we opt to a back 5? We looked half decent a couple of years ago when Arnautovic was in his prime. Now we turned to full shit again
 

The Corinthian

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Pandev scoring was a great moment, irrespective of who you support.
 

12OunceEpilogue

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We are so crap under Foda it's unreal. Why did we opt to a back 5? We looked half decent a couple of years ago when Arnautovic was in his prime. Now we turned to full shit again
Have you been playing Alaba as a libero during qualifying? I haven't seen much of you recently, now I've got Alaba in FF and am rather dismayed. At least he's taking corners :lol:
 

El Zoido

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I think it’s more to do with our fan base. After the game ‘it’s coming home’ being played and every single fans being zoomed in on were steaming drunk :lol:. When our fans go to major tournaments that what other nations see from us. We are a nation of piss heads.
Yeah I agree with that and I hate it. The drinking culture does my head in.
 

Godfather

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Have you been playing Alaba as a libero during qualifying? I haven't seen much of you recently, now I've got Alaba in FF and am rather dismayed. At least he's taking corners :lol:
Yep and I don't know why. We have not done that in recent years but decided to do it now... I don't know what we are doing.

But Alaba in your FF? Not a good idea. Don't know when he had the last goof game for us
 

Godfather

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Alaba going to Real is still the funniest shit. When was the last time they actually bought well?
 

12OunceEpilogue

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Yep and I don't know why. We have not done that in recent years but decided to do it now... I don't know what we are doing.

But Alaba in your FF? Not a good idea. Don't know when he had the last goof game for us
It was a late addition, and not one I'm particularly proud of.
 

do.ob

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It's quite amazing how disappointing Austria are at tournaments.
 

Lyricist

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Has any team looked great yet?

Italy were good but Turkey also offered nothing so it felt a bit tough to say much about that performance..