Hope for a great game like yesterday! Croatia is vulnerable at the back and Kane is on FIRE. My prediction is that if England wins it will be because of SET PIECES (corners, free kicks..) They have been doing really well with those so that could be the difference....
Final is Sunday so they should get 3 full days but Denmark, Russia and now England took them to extra time...the legs have to be weary at some point. Was tired just watching them. Croatia has some high talent up front but wow...going to be a battle against France's speed...
England has an amazing talent at losing... You would have thought that by now these guys would have understood that endlessly running the ball down the sides and doing hail-mary crosses in for headers is a crap strategy. But no, that's all they know to do. Headers, headers, corners, and more headers. So pathetic. Since 1966, the last time they won a World Cup, France has had a go, Brazil, Germany, Argentina. But not England. The difference is because all these other teams understood a long time ago that keeping the ball low, dribbling and and taking a lot of good shots is the only way to win. But besides Lineker in 1990, they've never had a great striker, Kane is close but not quite. They also have never had good shooters
This is a young team with average ages 24-27 and almost all of them play in PL, most in top 5 teams. Surprising such a young talent pool with no representation in the Reals, Barcas, Bayerns etc. made it to Final Four. There are no world class players like Hazard, Mbappe, Modric, Nemar etc. on that team. Kane is just below that level. They overachieved quite a bit for a young team so the future looks bright for them. Granted their path out of all the teams in late stages was easiest they still had to get there. England, like Germany, loves to score on set pieces so no surprise they put one in first on a free kick. They do lack a playmaker at MF which is why you see mostly 1 v. 1 attacks down the side which is why they fall short. I do not see a Modric, Hazard, Neymar, Messi in their future so that will certainly be an issue at Euros 2020. MF is quite an issue as they often tend to develop good center backs and fullbacks. I still think they have an impressive future being so young and inexperienced to get to top 4 so we will see what happens in next two years. Home grown talent is being displaced by overseas talent in the PL so it will be tough. I doubt you will see any top English striker playing for the Manchesters, Chelsea, Liverpool or Arsenal (even Rooney was a disappointment). From the U.S. soccer perspective I would rather have their problem that ours with no creative talent at all haha. But England now has to see what they accomplished and do some internal study to figure out how to take the team to the next level and find their MF playmakers.
Good post above by el ocho. Just about sums it up. Some missed chances earlier on but it wasn't to be. Should do well in the next World Cup.