England as a footballing nation.

 This adventure is the first of its kind. I will begin my series of adventures in the football world with a hot take on English football. My take is that English people overestimate how far England I will go in tournaments.

I live in London and every 2 years when the World Cup and Euros come around the whole country comes together to support England, it is one of the few occasions where the entire country comes together. However to ensure that it is not a perfect occasion of the country coming together people will ruin it with their predictions on how far England will go. Some people are England haters and predict they lose in the group stages "grouped", on the other hand you have people who predict England win the whole thing. This is normal and is usually how it goes when it comes to predicting how far countries go (usually a small minority), but this is usually a small minority in the nation, in England predictions are roughly 50% think they win, 25% grouped and the other 25% tune in to enjoy football (people who don't watch football unless its exciting matches).

I reckon I fall into 25% that tune in for big games and international tournaments. For England I predict they reach the quarter finals for the World Cup and semi - final for the Euros at most resulting in me getting told I'm a fool for thinking England will only reach the quarters or semis. While they have proven me wrong in the last 2 Euros and 2018 World Cup I was correct about 2022 World Cup. 

The reason for my predictions of quarters and semis is due to Englands history in international football, in my opinion England is a good footballing nation, not a great footballing nation. When it comes to the World Cup is England capable of making it to the final, no. Semi finals, no. Quarter finals, maybe. for the Euros its the same only that its a maybe for England to reach the semi's. This is due to other European nations being far more dominant in international football.

The best football nations for the World Cup are Brazil, Argentina, Germany, Italy and France. These are the big 5 nations of the World Cup, the minimum expectation for these countries is to reach the semi - final of the World Cup, the best 4 countries in the competition, and historically these are the best countries (except Uruguay). Anything less for these countries is a flop. Therefore if England want to reach the final they must beat most likely at least 2 of the 5 nations I mentioned, which is very unlikely as they only have one World Cup from 1966. Once again I repeat myself, England are a good footballing nation not a great one. They have the best players and play them, however just because they are the best players it doesn't mean they work when you play them. together.

The Euros are the worst however as they are in the 5 best teams, yet they don't deserve to be. the top 5 teams in the euros are Spain, Germany, Netherlands, France and England. England have never won the Euros yet regularly make deep runs in the tournament, the issue is that they rely on the ability of their players as individuals and vibes to produce moments of magic rather than using a systematic approach to bring the ball up the field keeping it in the opposition's final third. England keep the ball and do sideways passes in their third of the pitch, which produces boring unwatchable football. Although England reached back to back European finals, they lost both as they relied on individuals to score through the tournament (with occasional team goals, when they are at their most dangerous).

Overall I believe England are a good footballing nation, not a great one. They need to create a style of football like Brazilian flare or Italian defending, England are known for boring possession based defensive football. The style of England though being basic still produces results however the country over hypes their players. England is on the level or Portugal or Uruguay when it comes to international football, The quarter - final is where they should reach and no further, English people need to accept that.