England’s World Cup History
Posted on 10. Jun, 2009 by admin in World Cup 2010
With the World Cup 2010 just around the corner and England’s win against Croatia confirming a definite place in the tournament things are now starting to heat up. New coach Fabio Capello has adopted a more psychological approach to training the players and so far it seems to be working. But the big question of whether or not England is in with a chance of actually winning the World Cup remains to be answered.
Having only one World Cup win below our belts, in 1966, it seems that whenever the nation gets its hope up, we are dropped in a pit of devastation and more often than not after a nerve racking penalty shoot out. No one can deny that England has had its share of bad luck. In 1958 the Munich Air disaster claimed the lives of some of England’s major players such as Duncan Edwards, Roger Byrne and Tommy Taylor, leaving the nation with an inexperienced squad.
Mexico 1986 saw England arrive at the quarter finals only to be eliminated thanks to Diego Maradona’s 2 goals one of which was referred to as the infamous ‘hand of God’. Then in Italy 1990 England lost to Germany after 2 missed kicks in a semi final penalty shoot out.
England made an exit in the second round against Argentina in France 1998, again after a penalty shoot out. But this world cup was perhaps remembered for Beckham’s red card after a foul on Simeone.
England triumphed against Argentina in Japan/ South Korea in 2002 after Beckham sealed a 1-0 victory but it was Brazil who stopped England in their path to the semi finals. The last World Cup in Germany 2006 again saw England reach the quarter finals but it was Portugal who went on the make the semis. Rooney was given a controversial red card preventing him from taking a penalty in the penalty shoot out following a 0-0 tie.