What went wrong for England at the 2006 World Cup? Cole and Crouch look back at the tournament

In a team with some of the great England players in recent history, the side was expected to go deep in the World Cup of 2006, but failed again. Joe Cole and Peter Crouch look at what went wrong with the size.
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[@rkdl17]

England disrespected Defoe on too many occasions, unforgivable not taking him ahead of Walcott

[@arsenalfan9213]

Same with the 2010 wc Capello kept on picking heskey over defoe and crouch

[@amann7166]

Yeah with him England had won the world cup😂

[@countbasi4680]

@@arsenalfan9213 and when he did finally pick him, he scored in our only win!

[@tristanwhite3472]

Yes Defoe definitely should of gone instead of Walcott. Rooney shouldn’t of been playing upfront on his own he has isolated he had no support no service. Walcott should of come on against Portugal. Carrick should of played more often

[@tristanwhite3472]

451 was the wrong formation playing gerrard and lampard together didn’t work either. Joe Cole was a fantastic player team could off been built around him more.

[@mkdisciple]

Couldn’t believe Lampard and Gerrard missed their pens when they dispatched them with no remorse week in, week out in the Premier League. And Carragher stepping up WTF.

[@gdgdhdhhd9556]

shiv .s carra in trading was really good at pens just got unlucky he missed and if wasn’t he the one who had to take it again .

[@l1videoz481]

Let’s be honest club before country..

[@Onmysheet]

They score pens in the premier league with little amount of intensity. But the World Cup is a different kind of intensity, with much more pressure with millions of fans watching them. I'm not using that as an excue because they're professional players who should be able to handle pressure, which they can't.

[@miroa12004]

Penalties are a crapshoot and every top player missed one in the World cup, they played 120 minutes just before shooting their pens and both had long seasons that knackered them before the World cup. Carra took one because Sven thought he scored at Istanbul.

[@tonynesbit9673]

Me to mate.

[@FalseSheps]

Joe Cole lives on the stairs to the weatherspoons toilets 😂

[@one2many162]

😂😂😂

[@IWTBF]

😂😂😂

[@Lonewolfx124xxx]

😂😂😂

[@nope2dat]

The problem was England were obsessed with how do we get all our players in the starting XI rather than what’s the tactic which best facilitates our best players

[@magentalane27]

Honestly this question applies to England at almost every World Cup.

[@notthisprickagain8499]

Only English people seem shocked when they lose

[@teey1287]

None of the squads were as good as 06 tho wouldn’t of expected any of the other ones to win it other then maybe 02

[@notthisprickagain8499]

@@teey1287 Other teams around at the time were just as good. Do ye not remember the teams France and Brazil had?

[@teey1287]

notthis prickagain I’m talking about the other England teams at world cups

[@keithlard3544]

@@notthisprickagain8499 euro 2004 was probably the tournament they should have got closest to winning, as it seemed most teams were a shade off their usual quality.

[@Tomherbs]

Gerard and Lampard never gelled together and were over run in midfield. Michael Carrick should’ve been in there and Scholes should’ve been there too.

[@soad4verr]

Scholes retired from International football in 2003

[@Crowned-Qwesi]

@Sulaiman Hamzah ..or a 4-4-2 diamond.

[@fatbelly27]

Scholes did have some health problems in 2006 - doubt he'd have been up to playing.

[@alilovic1]

Scholes retired after Euro 2004 and developed a Vision issue which is why he missed final half of 2005-06 season.

[@Gg-zd8xz]

Carrick never did much even when he was playing. He played almost every game in 2006 and was anonymous

[@briansergeant]

Calling up Walcott at 17 after playing no games at Arsenal was stupid. Sticking rigidly with 4-4-2. Tabloid media’s usual jingoistic pressures and of course because “Footballers Wives” and “Dream Team” were a thing in those days, the WAG obsession.

[@Onmysheet]

What's even more stupid is that Sven never even used Walcott as a sub once. Why bring an untested overrated teenager who was still learning the game into the World Cup! I mean have we ever seen the best of Walcott since?

[@crypticalibi]

I Mean we brought Rashford into the latest Euros with no Man U appearances and he did wonders but saying that Walcott didn’t even play so it was pretty pointless

[@Onmysheet]

Yeah but wasn't didn't Walcott playing for a championship team when the media overhyped him and Sven believing in the hype.

[@fraz6354]

@@Onmysheet I was at the friendly against Jamaica just before this world cup. Sven brought Walcott on as a substitute, he looked like a boy on a field with men, physically he looked tiny, and he looked clueless positionally. I wasnt surprised when he didnt get a game at the tournament. Sven ballsed up, big time.

[@FCMolde99]

Luke Opieler Rashford had played games for United before the euros though...

[@Ninja-gt3zi]

2006 had so many legends in one tournament. Although england had a decent squad look at brazil Italy france they were superior

[@captainwin6333]

It's the same every tournament and yet the English media can't seem to see it.

[@Ninja-gt3zi]

keith Johnson yeah but i feel Argentinia are blessed only attacking wise. I guess theres cambiasso in the middle but the three I mentioned had world class most positions. People talk about the italy defence but forget they were blessed with attacking options have a del piero inzaghi luca toni on the bench

[@Elcapitaan5]

@@Ninja-gt3zi In 2006 Argentina had a first class back line. Samuel,Ayala,Sorin,G.Milito and Heinze. They also had Zanetti available but for some reason didn't take him. It was after 2006 that their backline slowly got worse.

[@Ninja-gt3zi]

Societyne the team selection was awful. Only samuel was great in that list. Others wouldn’t get in the other nations

[@andrewjoyce9038]

Superior my arse. England had better players than Italy. France's squad wasn't Superior either

[@thebonnarman1287]

Might wanna reconsider Joe Cole as a pundit, said the same thing 6 times and took 3 years to say it. Painful.

[@hamishkerr8934]

Alex Bonnar very true took him about 2 minutes to say 20 words

[@brianybrianbrian]

I can feel my IQ dropping when I listen to him talk

[@nickm8874]

Alex Bonnar I honestly don’t know how some of these simpletons get paid to talk. Merson, Owen ....

[@jamesmourant9079]

Nick M maybe cuss they were decent at football . Something u clearly weren’t

[@tombutler6451]

Nick M Merson is unarticulated yes but he’s great to listen to and has strong views 🤷🏼‍♂️

[@willcroot5528]

The awkward silence between Jake Humphrey asking questions and the replies is ridiculous

[@GamingOneOnOne]

... “Peter?”

[@blahqwe]

should be called zoom talk, it's the norm now.

[@kieranmoore8894]

It's lag between the calls. Happens all the time especially on international calls.

[@rogerrabbit2902]

delays mate

[@briansukhu4392]

Definitely Defoe should have been there

[@Fondrom]

I was just thinking yesterday as BT and Sky are clearly running out of content to post, who is going to cover the "Why didnt the England team of the 2000s win anything" topic first for the 373728th time?

[@camdened123456]

I know this feels like a lot but having seen ESPN reach that number for Lebron vs Jordan on the second day of the lockdown, this feels like a breath of fresh air

[@1STMAN]

352 Terry, Ferdinand, Campbell Scholes, Gerrard, Lampard, Beckham A.Cole Rooney, Owen

[@notthisprickagain8499]

France, Brazil, Germany and Italy were better

[@1STMAN]

@@notthisprickagain8499 Yeah, we have this thing in England of thinking our players are a lot better than they are. I believe this group were exceptional, however it's players like Lucio who we overlook on other teams and they end up doing a number on our top players

[@notthisprickagain8499]

@@1STMAN It was a great team but I find it hilarious how some English are totally flabbergasted that they didn't win tourmanents during that period. There were 4 or 5 teams just as good if not a bit better.

[@1STMAN]

@@notthisprickagain8499 Yeah, we do put a lot of expectation on the team. We all started singing it's coming home around the group stage haha. Just think Italy won in 2006 and haven't got close since. Took France around 20 years to win it again. Brazil haven't looked likely for 18 years. Spain didn't come close for decades. It's hard to win, the competition is fierce. It's only been 12 attempts since we last won it, with around 2 realistic teams who could've done it, not sure why it's focused on so hard as if we haven't won it for 3000 years.

[@davidvarey5072]

notthis prickagain no way

[@rockyrampersad4131]

What went wrong? Crouch decided to pull Brent Sancho's rass during a game against Trinidad and Tobago in the group stage

[@guinnessharvey4476]

The main issue was never having a World Cup keeper during these golden years:)

[@paulwright2264]

Totally agree. The lack of a safe pair of hands meant panic as soon as the opposition got into our half. Contrast the David Seaman years, when so much seemed possible.

[@S97777]

Robinson was alright. He wasn’t the reason England failed in 06.

[@fatbelly27]

It helps to have a Banks, Shilton or (maybe) Seaman. But I don't think that was the main problem.

[@arsenalfan9213]

@@S97777 he not a robert green at least

[@81chipper89]

Robinson kept 4 clean sheets in 5 games.

[@tulgabadrakh3110]

Simple, the manager had no clue and kept using that awkward, outdated 442 formation. Gerrard and Scholes on the wings, Lampard as a deep lying midfielder, Rooney constantly isolated up top and the criminal underuse of Defoe and Crouch. I don't buy the club rivalry logic, Barcelona and Real Madrid absolutely despise each other but Del Bosque found the right system and managed the players perfectly. Something Eriksson, McClaren and Capello failed to do.

[@SeekTruth300]

Well said. But this convo is about World Cup 06, and Scholes had retired at this point mate.

[@accountuser5588]

SeekTruth He was giving an example of Eriksson’s bad tactics. Rooney wasn’t fit enough and Michael Owen got injured. The squad simply wasn’t as strong as others like Italy, France, Brazil, Germany and co.

[@Atib93]

Well said! Poor decisions from FA with the hires.

[@rogerrabbit2902]

England management from the manager to coaching staffs during 2000s until 2014 was very poor tbh, they played the most outdated football in history of mankind with the legends at their dispostal, but to be fair they didn't have any flair players during those times either. The only flair player I could think of is the man in the video, Joe Cole, but besides him? Rooney is a striker, wouldn't call him a No.10/playmaker at the time, I really can't recall any names. They had to rely so much on long balls and set pieces that was the only thing I remember of England during those years.

[@IMMORTAL508]

Southgate has brought England players down to earth its team work now and everyone is together back then it was me me me no team work like we have now and wags and bollocks

[@nikeshmistry1790]

Taking young Theo Walcott to the WC 2006 was the biggest mistake SGE, as at that time England had decent top Strikers

[@Dylan-fc1ce]

How many times are they gonna go over this went too tournament’s under performed went out can blame management and Tactics but players weren’t up to it simple

[@thrilla72]

I wouldn't say underperformed.

[@Dylan-fc1ce]

thrilla72 definitely did

[@crypticalibi]

thrilla72 massively underperformed

[@lewisgapper1063]

Luke Opieler due to questionable and outdated tactics.Scholes should not have retired and that England team should have played an expansive 4-3-3 with scholes as the holding midfielder and lampard and Gerard as the other two.Have Beckham on the right,Owen up top and Rooney on the left and that team would have destroyed teams.Instead they played a rigid and outdated 4-4-2 and were knocked out ultimately because of it.

[@crypticalibi]

Lewis Gapper the team underperformed in games cant just blame the tactics all the time a team doesn’t perform it was clear the players didn’t have the hunger to go win the World Cup by watching the games

[@petethurston8774]

In 2006 we were billed as one of the genuine favourites for the first time since 1970. I think this created a probelm for the squad, as they were used to being a quarter final team that hoped for a bit of luck, or rather to be in the second group of decent teams behind the real favourites. The players media strategy or natural reaction was to talk their chances up which caused the German media to label us "the self appointed champions"; but I don't think it was arrogance that lead them to talk this way but inexperience. This is the world cup where "playing with fear" came in, the build up and the top billing had a part to play in that. The other issue was that our top billing was based on a fully fit and available team, we ended up without Owen (who wasn't fully fit in the games he did play) and then an unfit Rooney. Imagine if Germany had been missing Klose and Podolski or Italy had lost Del Piero and Inzaghi? No team can lose two class strikers like that and live up to the pre world cup billing. Even with all that, we eventually went out to a Portugal team that couldn't beat a 10 man England, after the referee (who should not have been given the game) sent Rooney off because of a slow motion big screen replay that didn't show the whole story (Rooney was being fouled by two portugal players - the one hanging off his right arm let go and his weight righted itself cuasing the accidental "stamp" when the ref gave...a freekick to Portugal). Yes I know he sent him off for the push on the winker - but at the time it was generally accepted that was just the presentational excuse for the "stamp" the ref saw on the big screen.

[@arifssaid]

Joe flexing his iPhone 6s 😂

[@happygilmore7115]

England have had some great squads, plenty of talent to compete, a big thing for me that people seem to miss is there are so many other countries who have top top players throughout there squads at each of these tournaments

[@michaeldavidson6965]

Or Maybe england just aren’t as good as their fans believe...

[@soldierofchrist4447]

English players are very over-hyped outside the field but in the field we know the truth

[@keithlard3544]

@@soldierofchrist4447 Which players were overhyped? What level were they hyped to and what was their real level?

[@Lang7]

They should’ve won Euro 2004, that’s one of the greatest starting XI’s ever. 2006 WC squad was weaker and for BT to open this segment with “we should’ve won” highlights the unbelievable arrogance of the English media.

[@garethbraint]

It's funny because I always thought the euro 96 squad was the best

[@Grandmastergav86]

Defo

[@happygilmore7115]

Agree

[@demoslotTV]

The Braint Family yep also agree

[@alfiedix1385]

Euro 96 squad far better

[@davidvarey5072]

Not player for player but had a better team

[@denzel9086]

The team was simply not good enough, English hype is crazy as usual

[@matt94alexander32]

Denzel Ndirangu in fairness this was one of our better teams, Gerrard, Lampard, Terry, Beckham, Owen, Rooney, Ferdinand, Neville, A.Cole & J.Cole in one team is pretty decent. Owen injury vs Sweden was a huge blow, Rooney had been struggling with injury prior to the tournament also. The fact Joe Cole was the most effective midfielders in that 4 suggests that the formation or style of play was off & we did lack a world class keeper like Seaman or Banks. It’s a better team on paper than England 2018 who got to the semis... I think Management, culture, egos & injuries are to blame for 2006.

[@matt94alexander32]

Lack of squad depth too.

[@KingKong-ee8hc]

Denzel Ndirangu and the word world class drives me up the wall

[@peternicolaides7679]

Exactly!!! Very few English players would have made the French or Italian squads from 2006

[@nickm8874]

Clee King of the Hill I’m English and couldn’t get the hype about us in 2018. Lost three games at that tournament. And beat nobody at all of note

[@mardayrudy3669]

That italy team was an unbeatable one especially that defence. Even france 2018 and argentina 2022 squad wouldn't be able to beat them. Buffon conceded 2 goals only one was own goal and 2nd was a penalty. Lippi once said that defence wouldn't let pass even their mother to the goal😂😂

[@leematthews5697]

A lot of Erickson's decisions were bizarre, his dodgy tactics and player selections could be infuriating at times putting Scholes on the left was one that springs to mind.

[@badabing8884]

Same problem since 1966 with every other England team to play in a World Cup - players not technically good enough on the ball to keep it in the right areas of the pitch, to defend well enough and score goals.

[@chxrno8711]

The thing they ignore during these conversations is that a lot of other nations had world class squads at the time too, with Portugal being one of them

[@danielvenning1044]

Theo Walcott became a "top, top player?" ummm?

[@thesamuraiduke9900]

This is the way I see it as an England fan. We had an amazing team but so did many others. Brazil, Argentina, Portugal, Netherlands, France, Italy, Germany and Spain all had fantastic teams but obviously one was gonna win and others were gonna falter. That’s why 2006 was such a brilliant World Cup because there were so many legends and world class players in so many teams. We could’ve reached the final for definite but we simply took our chance and didn’t deliver whereas Portugal did. And then France knocked them out. The biggest mistake for me for England that year was bringing Walcott and not bringing Jermain Defoe since Spurs had an amazing season that season in 5th with English players like Robinson, Carrick, Lennon and Defoe all playing superbly. The other big mistake was not bringing Scholes idk why Sven didn’t select Paul Scholes when he had another amazing season. My starting 11 would’ve been this Robinson G Neville A Cole Ferdinand Terry Gerrard Scholes Lampard Beckham J Cole Rooney I wouldn’t have started Owen. Plus when Rooney got injured in the match vs Chelsea when Chelsea won the league, we knew we had to replace him in the line up for the first game of the World Cup. And our best options were Peter Crouch and Jermain Defoe. We started Crouch against Paraguay but I would’ve not started Owen. I would’ve started Scholes and I still don’t understand why we brung Walcott and not Scholes or Defoe. That for me is what let England down. Regardless of what happened we did have a brilliant squad and reached the quarters when we got knocked out by Portugal. But then it all went wrong after 2006 when Sven stepped down and we had our worst ever manager in modern times, Steve McClaren...

[@paulgray7014]

Why did we fail? simple we cant keep possession of the football well enough. The top players we had at that time were Brilliant individually for their clubs because they were playing with technically gifted foreign players. But when gelling them together for England it didnt work no cohesion at all.

[@Onmysheet]

Lampard, Gerrard & Ferdinand have already covered this. They said they played as individuals rather than a team, and Rio had doubts lurking into the back of his mind constantly, and Gerrard was sick of the stuff going around the international games. England have been average to bad for over the past 20 years.

[@aidang12]

Tbh I don’t think either of these have anything to be ashamed of. Crouchy’s record for England is incredible

[@socialmedia1107]

Also people always talk about bringing Scholes back but SHEARER retired just before that maybe he would have wanted one last swansong like Zidane. Would have been perfect for our striker crisis.

[@tonydee9850]

Ferdinand did say,they were more interested where they were going that night,

[@Elcapitaan5]

Look at the names in the Italian,french and Brazilian squads in 2006.

[@heinkle1]

It was peak individualism in the squad, no real motivation or strategy. Style over substance.

[@eponymous7910]

England's fortunes dissolved when Owen got injured against the Swedes

[@Domino13334]

England getting eliminated whenever they face the first big opposition at WC‘s 1982: Spain and Germany two 0-0 draws were not enough in second group phase 1986: Out at the quarter finals vs. Argentina 1990: Out to Germany on penalties in semis, also losing to italy in tge match for third place 1994: - 1998: Out in R16 to Argentina on penalties 2002: Out in the quarter finals vs. Brazil 2006: Out in QF vs. Portugal 2010: Out vs. Germany R16 2014: Out in group stage after being beaten by Uruguay and Italy 2018: Out in the semis vs. Croatia, also losing third place to Belgium 2022: Out in QF vs. France

[@docwhat8370]

No chance we should have won this one! The big missed opportunity was 2002. Us and Brazil were the best teams left in the tournament, if we could just have found a way past them we would have played Turkey in the semis and a distinctly average Germany in the final. Should have won that one. By 2006 other teams had gone past us.

[@guinnessharvey4476]

The same discussion is happening with ex Holland, Italy, Argentina, Brazil, etc. Lots of countries believed they could win. And the truth is it could be any of them:)

[@seanmccombie6379]

Italy were different class from england

[@Gg-zd8xz]

They also had a much easier group and path to the semi final, which was the first time they faced a good team. Even then, they massively struggled against the footballing superpower of Australia in the second round.

[@rigsby1454]

Best squad since 1966? Wasn't even as good as the squad in the mid 90s mate

[@MrGoalissimo]

England didn't too badly in that tournament ended top of the top got into the quarters that is not too bad all things considered.

[@abbaszaidi8371]

MrGoalissimo their path to the quarters wasn’t awe inspiring and they usually get to the quarters because there’s at least 7 international teams in the tournament who are better than they are. If that team had to play Italy and Uruguay in the first round like in 2014, they would have been finishing 3rd or 4th

[@thewolverine1913]

Sven tried to do with Walcott what Brazil did with Ronaldo at the 1984 world cup. And even though they were both 17 a massive difference was that Ronaldo had been playing first team football and scoring goals for Cruzeiro in the Brazillian championship whereas Walcott hadn't even played for Arsenal yet.

[@Sparkledash1]

When i watch this, i sometimes wonder if english football fans actually watch anything other then the premier league. Do they watch the Bundesliga, Serie A or La Liga? It always seems like "we have the best league, so our national team who all play there, should win the World Cup." It makes them very unlikeable.

[@shesbaldbutiwould]

Honestly this shouldve won the world cup is ridiculous France: Zidane Henry Vieira Makelele Ribery Lirazaru Pires Trezeguet Brazil: Ronaldo Ronaldinho Kaka Adriano G silva R carlos Cafu Dida Lucio Italy: Cannavaro Materazzi Pirlo Del Piero Totti Buffon not to mention a decent Argentina team a really good young German team,the genesis of a Spanish team that would go on to win the next 3 international tournaments they competed in,it was always going to be a tall order. It would be more apt to say they shouldve won Euro 2004.

[@abbaszaidi8371]

shesbaldbutiwould I agree- but I thought after Dec 2005 after beating Argentina in that friendly post qualification that we could win the World Cup. Euro 2004 was a great team and squad and should’ve been the launch pad for the World Cup

[@shesbaldbutiwould]

@@abbaszaidi8371 Tbh that performance against Argentina wasnt even that good,couple crosses and some expert goal poaching from Owen glossed over a distinctly average performance,and i would say Argentina were a level below the France/Italy/Brazil teams. Euro 2004 is a bigger miss because Rooney was in great form,Scholes was still available and a lot of the bigger nations went out early,plus Euros are generally easier to win anyway.

[@abbaszaidi8371]

shesbaldbutiwould Rooney and Scholes. Can’t argue there. They should’ve built the midfield around scholes, slap bang in the centre of midfield

[@shesbaldbutiwould]

@@abbaszaidi8371 tbf Scholes only played out on the left for England for like the last year of his England career he played centre for England for the majortiy of his int career and never exactly pulled up trees,but he retired too early at the point of his retirement he was still someone who got forward from midfield,if he had stayed a couple years longer he couldve of been put as the deep lying playmaker and had the side built round him.

[@misomiso8228]

Great interview. Beating both Italy and France in the semi's and Finals would have been tough though. Had we taken Jermaine Defoe it would have been a lot different though, as we would had an one other striker who was fit! Also at the time Rooney was a bit young to be playing up front on his own. He lacked the experience and he had been injured so very tough.

[@florida199]

British football media over rating average footballers ! That's what was wrong in 2006 . The trend of over rating average footballers continues in 2020

[@joebishop2059]

About six world cups occured in the delay between Jake and Crouchy's audio.

[@tramlad2]

England will never be good enough, and it goes down to mentality, even England's best players crumble in the white shirt, they never truly show their club form in an England team, the mix always looks decent, but apart from the usual injuries etc, they just can't get it over the line. They don't ever appear to have a flexibility about their system.

[@Garnachogoat]

Robinson Neville Terry Ferdinand Cole Hargreaves Gerrard Beckham Lampard Cole Rooney Should have played that team and also should have taken Defoe over Walcott

[@SuperMuneera]

Pretty simple from 1998-2010 England's golden generation played golden generations that were better. Argentina (1998), Brazil (2002), Portugal (2004), Portugal (2006), Germany (2010). Who exactly were they meant to beat from those teams?

[@yuehagime8302]

Abdi Ahmed even if they beat Portugal in 2006 they still would of ended up running into France or Italy anyway

[@kailashpatel1706]

the one England team that could have done much better at a WC with better management was the 1982 team (injury hit with Keegan and Brooking) and better team selection, and the 1990 squad, that had WC winning potential if only Bobby knew how to play Barnes and Waddle together..the 2006 squad was a good team but ignored how good the other squads were in that WC...England played a weakened Portugal as well...(No Deco or Costinha)..

[@bnyproductions5627]

Need all the players from 2006's opinions in a full call, the atmosphere and emotion would explain everything

[@notthisprickagain8499]

They should also call Ronaldo, Figo, Maniche, Deco, Rui Costa, Carvalho etc.. and ask them what they think of English pundits implying that the English team was better..

[@bnyproductions5627]

@@notthisprickagain8499 not saying Portugal weren't great, but England if that team worked could of gone thurther

[@a.b8677]

So England got eliminated based on Walcott being there? What nonense Lol Rooney sent off vs Portugal. To get to pens in that situation was good and unluckily we were always poor at pens. It is what it is

[@aaronturner4597]

Scholes was the best England player but was treated like a reserve.

[@mr__OK]

People talk about golden generation but are they forgetting all the other teams. France for example had Henry, Ribery, Zidane, makalele, veiria.... Portugal had Ronaldo, figo, deco, Carvalho, Rui Costa Brazil had Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, kaka, Adriano, Robinho, Cafu, carlos Spain had Torres, Villa, Alonso, Fabregas, iniesta, morientes Shall I go on? All the other teams were also packed with world class players let’s not forget.

[@chrisjames5188]

Lots of great teams throughout that era 2002 to 2006, brazil, Spain, Germany, Italy, France, Portugal, Argentina. Wrong manger too and too many big players never showed up.

[@jevonrayner3978]

I think the only chance england had of winning in the 2000s was euro 2004. There were better teams than england in 2006 as to why we were knocked out in the quarters but I think if we won the shootout in euro 2004 v Portugal I think england would of went on to win that tournament and in the 90s when we lost twice to Germany on pens in 90 and 96 we just never had the luck then. Hopefully we can win the euros next year or win a tournament soon as it is frustrating at times to be an england fan lol

[@BeatleMark85]

Well, at least we got to an actual Euros final in the end.

[@Domino13334]

Knock out in the quarter finals 2022.

[@liamwilliams2827]

The interview is actually 5mins long, the other 5mins is waiting for them to talk.

[@BENTWOONEZERO]

Rooney played well in 2004 euros, never played well in a tournament again.

[@terra1181]

He's literally our record goal scorer ... this statement is invalid

[@BENTWOONEZERO]

@@terra1181 No, 2 different things did he score a lot of goals for England yes, did he play well in tournaments no. ( in 2010 he was bloody awful )

[@rwc4609]

I gave up with England at 2010

[@fatbelly27]

Whenever the match started at 1930 hours

[@jimmyw1026]

2008 for me

[@Legenda20SLO]

If I was England manager at that time I'd get rid of a couple of superstars like really mix the squad up and give a chance to great players that play for midtable clubs. I'd not play Gerrard and Lampard together that's for sure. One of them would be on the bench.

[@Philoyouknow]

Poor Joe. He doesn't be well. "We just wasn't, was we?"😂😂😂

[@mikeparry7012]

Joe Cole with an Iphone 6 the jippo.

[@ziudra91]

He can't afford anything better

[@owynrobinson7790]

Crouch was one of the few players who performed in 2006

[@thunderchild1083]

We have players that individually are brilliant but as a team we are obviously lacking, also I don’t think the expectations put in them by the fans and the press don’t help, going into the 2018 World Cup people didn’t have those same expectations and look how well they did.

[@socialmedia1107]

They probably didn't know how good they were at that time and presumed there will be better players coming through and they would have another shot in 10 when in reality it was the same team with most of those world class players around 30 years old or above and the same reserves in some of their places. Between Rooney and wilshere there was no one. The big one was the wolly who started playing a prime stevie g out wide in his peak. At Euro 08 we could have had James, Richards, Rio, Terry, Cole, Carrick, Lampard, Gerrard, Rooney, Cole, Walcott. With beckham, Defoe, Crouch, Hargreaves, lennon, on bench.

[@christianround2774]

People need to stop going on about 2006. We had a good side but really 2002 was our chance.

[@eponymous7910]

Euro 2004 was the only major tournament England should've won. No one was beating Brazil in 2002

[@martinranalli8572]

Would people say England in that World Cup was better, the same or worse than the Italy team that won that World Cup?

[@mrcheesecpfc]

Ultimately has to be shown as a failure of management , in creating a cohesive system that would allow us to utilise the strengths of our world class midfield, as well as creating a comfortable and unified dressing room. If the players are comfortable on the pitch , relationships improve off the pitch. Also , criminal that scholes was left out , his passing ability and temperament would have acted as the midfield heartbeat of the team that the naturally attacking minded gerrard and lampard couldn’t quite do. Overall though , a great team needs a great manager , and sadly Sven isn’t a World Cup winning manager

[@josephparks3948]

I honestly beleive if a better manager I.e sir alex was manager in 2002 and 2006 we would have won both. I grew up hating the bloke but no denying his man management which is what we needed more than anything.

[@Hakuu_A19]

Refusing to explore 4-3-3

[@23lFrench]

Arif Ahmed that wouldn’t have worked either, needed some narrow like the 4-2-3-1 with Ashley Cole bombing forward on the left wing for some extra Width

[@konstantinkelekhsaev302]

What went wrong ?? Owen, Rooney And Walcott had no business being in that World Cup And when your only Match Fit Forward Is Crouch, England making the quarterfinals is a respectable achievement.

[@cokeplayz8260]

Hi

[@kdsingh3765]

Biggest joke was 2018 and the huge success of Southgate ...they just beat Tunisia , lost to Belgium , drew fo Columbia (penalty) , beat Sweden and lost to Croatia and Belgium again - came back as national heroes 😂😂😂

[@rigsby1454]

The issue wasn't calling up Theo, it was then not even playing him

[@emmadeeba2038]

Quite simply some of the players like the keeper, defenders were piss poor for international standards, and we had no proper left side! And we didn’t have a flair/Gazza sort of player

[@alexdeavall5620]

That was the year football broke me as a man

[@WaltzingViduka]

Did sven ever play another formation with England than 442?

[@ald1050]

England are just not good enough...simple. How can we be better than Brazil, Portugal, Germany and Spain??

[@yuehagime8302]

Al D no in 2006 France Italy and Brazil were the top 3

[@ald1050]

@@yuehagime8302 Yes I forgot about France and Brazil.

[@andrewjoyce9038]

We were better than Portugal. We still should have won with 10 men. Spain were nowhere near as good as England.

[@ald1050]

@@andrewjoyce9038 Yeah I thought that but like always our penalties let us down.

[@MaSsiVeGaming1]

@@andrewjoyce9038 England has always been better than Portugal, but hasn't beaten Portugal in official competitions since the 66 world cup.

[@finding_aether]

I agree Defoe should have gone ahead of Walcott. I rate both players but Walcott was not ready at that time. But let's get real, Defoe was not gonna win the world cup over Brazil, France, Italy and Spain etc. How many of that squad can get in the team over Zidane, Henry, Makelele, Ribery, Vieira etc. Or Buffon, Cannavaro, Materrazi, Pirlo, Gattuso, Camournesi, Totti, Toni, Del Piero etc.

[@kenwoolley3003]

One person to blame Sven Scholes retiring at his peak Gerrard Scholes and Lampard midfield 3 wing backs Cole and Neville under Glen Hoddle that would of worked

[@pbgbr]

Crouchy "Best squad since '66" - the Euro 96 team would have mullered them

[@davyjones-locker979]

And Italia '90 squad.

[@youngstars4144]

The tactics are being blamed for the wrong tournament. EURO 2004 was where the tactics in the latter stages were wrong. Having said that, I have some sympathy for Sven because everyone in that midfield was pretty much undroppable and one of the strikers was Ballon d'or winner Michael Owen (however controversial it was). So realistically, the one player who could have been dropped/moved about was Rooney. Then again, Spain won EURO 2012 despite Del Bosque also desperately trying to cram all his best players in the side, so maybe a better manager might have achieved more.... In 2006, England actually played 4-5-1 in the knockout stages, so the problem wasn't the tactics, but Rooney being nowhere near fit and thus not capable of playing that lone striker role as well as he could have done (he's also stated a few times that he shouldn't have gone to the WC). And without Rooney (or Owen tbf, but he was already on the decline) firing on all cylinders, England had no chance of winning that tournament, cause the CB's of the other top sides (Cannavaro, Thuram, Lucio, Carvalho....) were not going to lose sleep about facing Crouch or Defoe (had he gone, which he 100% should have)

[@manmy016]

England thinking they should have won 2006 😂😂… what about Argentina!?? Arguably the greatest ever football team that year

[@bigmoneysteppa]

2006 world cup had nothing to do with england

[@ingrogies1]

In hindsight the decision to not take Defoe was terrible. Walcott never reached the level Defoe did and he is not even a natural striker. That being said, international football is more about controlling possession and England historically have never been good at that

[@matt94alexander32]

It was a good team but had issues with wags, culture, egos, formation & injuries... even without those problems it’s no guarantee of winning the World Cup. World class Brazil & Italy teams have fallen at the Semis or final throughout the years. For England it was the Quarters.

[@matt94alexander32]

1st eleven was class on paper but squad depth was lacking in some areas. Paul Robinson wasn’t as good as Seaman, Banks or Shilton. Can’t knock a back 4 of Neville, Ferdinand, Terry & A.Cole plus a Midfield of Beckham, Gerrard, Lampard & J. Cole although Joe Cole was the shining light of that midfield alongside more experienced & better league players. Unfortunate with Owen & Rooney injuries tbf, that was a hammer blow but Rooney’s red vs Portugal was pivotal also. Never felt comfortable with Sven in charge. Culmination of things in fairness.

[@lordpembridge303]

It was because of the generation at the time, they weren't as disciplined and looked after as players nowadays, they were first generation of footballers to earn big money but they had no guidance to deal with it properly and be grounded and focused, plus the wags causing a distraction all the time, who actually knows or cares about footballer's wags these days?

[@mikeparry7012]

Media negativity. Not the only factor obviously, but for me this was a huge factor.

[@ZeldaFitz]

Don’t expect Crouch to say anything controversial

[@indrachaudhari7874]

simple, the club rivalry disrupted the team harmony.

[@denty95298]

Spain won three tournaments on the bounce with a lot of the team from real madrid and barcelona

[@captainwin6333]

@@denty95298 The lexicon of English excuses is a monster tome.

[@yuehagime8302]

Captain Win no the English rivals not so much now but back then the players hated each other with their entire being they put club ahead of country and so players on rival teams didn’t just not get along but if they had the chance they might of even wanted their English teammates who were on rival teams dead where as in Spain and other countries although they are rivals on the pitch they understood that club and country were two completely separate and different things and their rivalry’s weren’t so intense that the players of those countries couldn’t put aside what club and they play for and focus on their country but English players simply didn’t get along with rivals one reason is that almost every English player with the exception of maybe 1 or 2 played in England whereas a lot of the other countries have a lot of players which don’t play in the country they represent so although it looks like an excuse it’s actually a realistic why reason one of a few reasons why we haven’t won since 66

[@Finlan_32]

Had no strikers. Should have brought Defoe but had donut manager.

[@KK-ov2ri]

That team can’t have been that good . They didn’t even make it to Euro 2008 finals

[@Gg-zd8xz]

It wasn’t the same team. Most of the starters/key players at the World Cup were injured for large chunks of the euro qualifiers (Rooney, Gerrard, Terry, Owen, Lampard, King were all injured for various games in qualifying).

[@tombutler6451]

Forgot about Theo what a ridiculous choice & he didn’t even get on the pitch 🤦🏼‍♂️ also we picked unfit star again for a major tournament surprise surprise 🙄

[@dinamo8]

England had a man sent off after an hour and held on till penalties. How's that a failure? Losing on penalties is no reflection on the performance

[@23lFrench]

4-4-2 really didn’t work for England and the players we had at the time