comment by (U19770)
posted 11 seconds ago
Beat Egypt 1-0

We did have lady luck on our side in 1990, apart from maybe the semi final.
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Ahhh the mighty Egypt. I forgot them .

Still nothing special overall. We performed better in 04.

comment by (U19770)
posted 6 minutes ago
Beat Egypt 1-0

We did have lady luck on our side in 1990, apart from maybe the semi final.
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very true

i remember the belgium and cameroon matches england being lucky to get through...without playing particularly well

best england teams in my lifetime

tournoi team 1997 (the WC the following summer came a year too late !)

euro '04 team

2006 should have been our year, but Rooney got injured, and was poor.

England don`t have a world class manager either

2006 was arguably our best squad, from top to bottom. It was a shame about Rooney getting injured but the rest of the team under-performed anyway. I remember being unconvinced in a lot of the games. The Gerrard/Lampard partnership was at its most ineffective then. Should have had one of them playing alongside Hargreaves who was our star player (along with Cole) in the Portugal game.

comment by BruceAndPally (U8201)
posted 41 minutes ago
It's the term "world class" which always bothers me in football, world class means amongst the best in the world, so that could mean the top 5, top 10, top 20, 30, 40 etc etc, it depends on what the person saying the phrase means by "world class" IMO.

Is Harry Kane among the top 3 strikers in world football? No, so he isn't world class.

Is Harry Kane among the top 10 strikers in world football? Yes, so he is world class.


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Let's look at the definitions of the terms then.

World-class:

of or denoting someone with a skill or attribute that puts him or her in the highest class in the world

Class:

a collection or division of people or things sharing a common characteristic, attribute, quality, or property

So as a standalone, 'world-class' denotes a person in the highest *group of people* in the world sharing a particular skill or attribute.

Therefore a 'world-class striker' denotes a person who sits in a group of strikers considered the best in the world.

Note that the definition rules out a single member of the class and suggests a broader group in using the term 'collection'.

I've heard people before say, "Yeah, but so-and-so is the only real world class so-and-so right now." Clearly that statement is false, and regardless of the current crop of, say, right backs in elite football, there will always, by definition, be a group that should be considered 'world-class right backs' because they are amongst the best in the world at that particular time.

Back to numerics and unfortunately the terms 'collection' and 'division' don't help; but I've never understood limiting the 'world-class' for any given position to a tiny number (3 or 4) of players when there are something like ten thousand professional players playing in any given position worldwide at any given time (never mind the countless numbers of semi-pro and amateur players).

Even only ten 'world-class strikers' would mean less than 0.1% of those good enough to make a living playing the game full time, and probably less than 0.001% of those playing the game competitively.

england haven't had a player of isco's class since that drunken lunatic gazza

Comment deleted by Site Moderator

england should break away from FIFA and begin their own variant of football...like ozzie rules or gaelic

the british game is on a tangent to what the rest of the world plays

"anglo-rules" footy

comment by peks-Grandmaster B (U6618)
posted 14 minutes ago
england should break away from FIFA and begin their own variant of football...like ozzie rules or gaelic

the british game is on a tangent to what the rest of the world plays

"anglo-rules" footy
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Or we could just get with the times and bring our approach in nurturing of young talent, technical and tactical practices, and coaching methods up-to-date.

comment by rossobianchi (U17054)
posted 44 seconds ago
comment by peks-Grandmaster B (U6618)
posted 14 minutes ago
england should break away from FIFA and begin their own variant of football...like ozzie rules or gaelic

the british game is on a tangent to what the rest of the world plays

"anglo-rules" footy
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Or we could just get with the times and bring our approach in nurturing of young talent, technical and tactical practices, and coaching methods up-to-date.
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god forbid "tackling" and n stuff should be curtailed

"Beckham when he came second to Rivaldo in the Ballon d'Or, why not? Not saying he was world class for the majority of his career.

His delivery into the box was always pretty exceptional."

There is no doubting Beckham was a very good player. World class he just wasn't though.

I judge someone being world class on their ability.

Comment deleted by Site Moderator

Greatteams

Do you put Beckham at the same level as Bale?

comment by Greatteamswinit4times- a terrible enemy (U6008)
posted 1 minute ago
There was a period when Beckham was definitely world class. You see how easily he slotted in at Madrid and never looked out of place.
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well , when he started at madrid they used him, in the centre of midfield and he was rather poor

capello eventually dropped him and then through injuries n stuff started playing him wide right, were he began to play much better (with his crossing ability)

he was a big part in madrid winning the title on the last day, after clawing back a big points deficit to farza

he left after that for the MLS

comment by Clay (U21628)
posted 58 seconds ago
Greatteams

Do you put Beckham at the same level as Bale?

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Immaterial.

Beckham's long and short range passing was magnificent. Add to that, being the best crosser in world Football. I'd also say that at times played better for England than he did for Utd, especially when Sven first arrived.

Comment deleted by Site Moderator

comment by Greatteamswinit4times- a terrible enemy (U6008)
posted 6 minutes ago
There was a period when Beckham was definitely world class. You see how easily he slotted in at Madrid and never looked out of place.
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He had a truly world-class delivery from open play and set pieces, and I think it's difficult to argue he wasn't amongst the best in the world on the right side of midfield for several seasons at United and Real.

By the way, because it's relevant here, 'world-class' is an adjective; it requires a noun to make sense.

"Beckham was world-class" doesn't make any sense.

"Beckham was a world-class right winger" does.

In 2006 I went to the Bernabeu to watch Senderos, Eboue, Fabregas and Henry boss Carlos, Zidane, Beckham and Ronaldo.

Real were so human it was untrue.

We get fed a lot of glamour and hype on the telly.

comment by Greatteamswinit4times- a terrible enemy (U6008)
posted 36 minutes ago
comment by peks-Grandmaster B (U6618)
posted 1 second ago
england haven't had a player of isco's class since that drunken lunatic gazza
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Isco's game compliments Spain's style and international football. Gerrard and Lamparf were easily in Isco's class. Their game was tailored to the way prem football is player though. You put isco in Liverpool or Chelseas team from 2004-2010 and he wouldn't have made the same impact as those two.

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Well said.



"Beckham was world-class" doesn't make any sense.

It does.

Case in point: She is/was beautiful.

It is not any less accurate than she is/was a beautiful person.

I am all for grammatical rigour but let's not be so antediluvian.

comment by Clay (U21628)
posted 2 minutes ago
In 2006 I went to the Bernabeu to watch Senderos, Eboue, Fabregas and Henry boss Carlos, Zidane, Beckham and Ronaldo.

Real were so human it was untrue.

We get fed a lot of glamour and hype on the telly.
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the "galactico" team was past it bvy then

uncle flo had sold makele.
hierro had retired
and alot of the quality squad players like santi solari
and pedro munitis sold by that point, to be replaced by substandard players from the cantera

So peks are you suggesting that you can only be world class for a while?