Socrates - RIP

[wpdavid]

Originally Posted by Lillian Thomson

France were a good side in 82 but were a tad fortunate up until the Semi against Germany. England took them to the cleaners in the first group stage and were rewarded with a second round group with Germany and Spain. France on the other hand celebrated being beaten by England by ending up with Northern Ireland and Austria in their second round group.

All true. The French side were a joy to behold, but a really good team would never have let their two goal lead slip against that West German side, even allowing for Schumacher's assault on Battiston. tbt even when winning the Euros in 1984, and even allowing for home advantage, they struggled like crazy to beat a moderate Portugese side in the semis and needed a cock-up from the Spanish keeper to win the final.

[keeper]

Aye, theirs was a fragile talent and able to implode at a moments notice. Over-reliant on the midfield to make up for lack of firepower elsewhere too. But they were sublime to watch and consecutive world cup semis either side of being European Champions was not a bad return - and one that would be grabbed by most English teams.

England's '82 campaign was one of their best, undefeated over 5 games against mainly tough opposition. Makes you wonder what could have been achieved without the injuries to Brooking, Keegan and Coppell. Bryan Robson was entering his peak years as France found to their cost but that wasn't enough. Weird second round going straight to semis that maybe saved us from an earlier start to the sequence of disastrous penalty shoot-outs.

Like I say, a great World Cup.

[wpdavid]

Originally Posted by keeper

Aye, theirs was a fragile talent and able to implode at a moments notice. Over-reliant on the midfield to make up for lack of firepower elsewhere too. But they were sublime to watch and consecutive world cup semis either side of being European Champions was not a bad return - and one that would be grabbed by most English teams.

England's '82 campaign was one of their best, undefeated over 5 games against mainly tough opposition. Makes you wonder what could have been achieved without the injuries to Brooking, Keegan and Coppell. Bryan Robson was entering his peak years as France found to their cost but that wasn't enough. Weird second round going straight to semis that maybe saved us from an earlier start to the sequence of disastrous penalty shoot-outs.

Like I say, a great World Cup.

Yes, it was a magnificent tournament - possibly even better than 1970, and certainly way superior to anything since. I think you're slightly over-stating that England side though -
my impression at the time was that they gradually ran out of steam after the impressive opening win against France and barely looked like scoring. Very solid in defence though: maybe Don Howe's team more than Greenwood's? Of course, we'd been quite appalling in the qualifiers and were lucky to be there at all. I must admit to not remembering Coppell's injury at all.