Photo: Asif Burhan / Kick it out.org
Population: 55.3 million
Capital: London
Team Colors: White and Red
How Qualified: Won UEFA Group F
Nickname: The Three Lions
15th World Cup
Head Coach: Gareth Southgate (ENG)
Key Players: Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur), Marcus Rashford (Manchester United), Raheem Sterling (Manchester City), Jordan Henderson (Liverpool)
Best Performance: Champions (1966)
Can they not mess it up this time? Right, a loaded question when it comes to England. Four years ago, England faltered at the group stage with losses to Italy and Uruguay and were eliminated by the time they had their goalless draw against Costa Rica. Two years later, they infamously crashed out of Euro 2016 to Iceland and that was the end of Roy Hodgson.
Gareth Southgate was put in charge after Sam Allardyce resigned following an alleged breach of FA rules. Under Southgate, England went undefeated in UEFA Group F (eight wins and two draws) and the only two losses were friendlies to the next two teams alphabetically in the World Cup—France and Germany.
Also in 2017, England became the first country to win both the Men’s Under-20 and Under-17 World Cups in the same year. So there is hope for the future, but what about the here and now?
It’s always been something since 1966 with England. Blowing a 2-0 lead vs. West Germany in León in 1970, not qualifying in 1974 or 1978, following three wins in the first round with two goalless draws in the second in 1982, you-know-who in 1986, penalties in 1990, not qualifying in 1994, penalties in 1998, Ronaldinho’s lob of Seaman in 2002, penalties in 2006, and the revenge of ’66 in 2010. They were just subpar in 2014.
This year’s edition of England should be better than they were four years ago. The group is very passable, though the group lead is expected to be between England and Belgium.
England will be hoping for that first World Cup title since 1966. There are grounds for optimism given the talent to pick from this time around. However, one can be forgiven if England is also secretly wondering how it can all go wrong again.
Schedule:
June 18: vs. Tunisia in Volgograd (1pm CT on FS1/Telemundo)
June 24: vs. Panama in Nizhny Novgorod (7am CT on FS1/Telemundo)
June 28: vs. Belgium (1pm CT on FOX/Telemundo)
England
April, 2024
February, 2024
November, 2023
2018 World Cup
October, 2018
September, 2018
