Leothebear wrote:nimnarb wrote:
Avoided, Spain, France, Portugal, Belgium, Germany, Netherlands, Italy and wouldn't play any of them(or avoid most) until the finals. Is that right? If so, when was the last time we were in such a position?
Sorry I can't be @rsed to look it up but I seem to remember out "successes" ie finalist (at home) in the Euros and semi finalists in the WC were both rather kind draws.
Basically whenever we face a good team we lose.
It would have had to have been a kind draw to make the final at home in 1996, the last time we were hosts, as we lost to Germany in the semi-final. Maybe 2028 will be different.
2020, which you are obviously referring to, was a strange tournament held in strange times. A tournament designed to be hosted by 13 different countries taking place during a global pandemic with many covid travel and attendance restrictions. Some things remain the same though, England top the group unbeaten only scoring 2 goals in 1-0 victories, and Scotland bringing up the rear with only 1 point. That easy route to the final though meant beating Germany, Ukraine and Denmark to play Italy.
On the usual method of assessing teams results over 90 minutes England were unbeaten. So were Italy, Sweden, France and Spain.
(Not sure how you can claim your last sentence though which doesn't survive when examined by the facts).