England Football Fantasy...............

[10ClarionSt]

.............comes round again tonight, where everyone has this "willing suspension of disbelief" and dons their Emperors' New Clothes in thinking that England might win the European Championship. All fuelled by the useless "pundits" on BBC, ITV and the tabloid media. Not a chance people! Not a chance! I'd love to be wrong, but I think I'm being realistic. Hey Ho!! :o)

[Ken4155]

I think that the bookmakers are also to blame for hyping up the chances of England in tournament football. At the beginning of the tournament we were 2nd favs behind France. I had them down as a double figure price behind the likes of Belgium, Italy and Germany. All four of the aforementioned teams would find a way to score at least once against us. At the moment, the same cannot be said of England versus any of the four.

[ToraToraTora]

ken, what odds do you get on England winning a penalty shoot out?

[Ken4155]

Can't find any odds for that one, TTT. No doubt when our next opponents are known, there will be a price for England to progress (or not, as is usually the case) via a penalty shoot-out.

[Ken4155]

Having said that, i remember reading prior to the tournament starting, that one of the teams we could face in the k.o. stages were almost as bad as us in penalty shoot-outs - and i'm almost certain the team mentioned was France, who we may well be facing should Germany win and France draw with Portugal.

[Ken4155]

TTT; Early days but if you honestly believe it will go to a shoot-out, Skybet are offering 11/2 on either England or Germany to win on penalties. If you believe England would win said shoot-out, 12/1. Germany are the same price. Might be worth a small wager?

[Ken4155]

Just visited Skybet to use my £5 free bet on either side to win the match on pens. The price has shortened to 5/1. The individual odds have also shortened, now 11s. Must have been a few punters taking advantage of the opening odds :-))

[royfromaus]

So anyone but England, 10c...what a brave prediction.

[Arksided]

Bring on the Germans maybe just maybe this time… I am a dreamer but hopefully knock out the Welsh in the semi’s.

[William51]

You might be right but there is nothing wrong with dreaming... If we can beat Germany it would give the team a huge boost of confidence and then who knows ?.

[ichkeria]

It’s a sobering thought that England have never won a knockout game in a European championship outside England.
That’ll have to change this time.
I agree that while they’re still in it and therefore esp with home advantage apart from the QF (in Russia)? they can’t be ruled out, they don’t look like one of the top 5 teams to me. Luckily they don’t have to play all those teams to win

[Ken4155]

We simply don't score enough goals. To win, we would have to have have similar luck to that which Portugal enjoyed last time around when they 'drew' 5 of their 6 games played - winning the final in extra time. The only team they beat inside 90 minutes were Wales (2-0) in the semis.