Last chance...

Well played Croatia.

We have been beaten by a very limited team - even more limited than us. Our forwards have had no spark or presence and our midfield was consistently passive and sterile. If we’d been in the other side of the draw, we’d have gone home a while ago.

The biggest laugh is that Kane may end up with the golden boot. Ha! Played like a zombie in most games, as did ‘world class’ Ali.

By a distance, our finest achievement in this competition was to lose to Belgium.

Sorry but I think that is just sour and cynical. It also does not reflect the totality of our performances which had some fine moments - if a team is as *%^@ as you say you go home like Germany not in the semis. I know you're still hearting Wilshere but let it go, man.

What you are saying is true of the second half of this game but certainly not the entire tournament.

I think they are a better side than you are giving them credit for. They took control of the game on the hour and it really was only their final ball that let them down on a few occasions in the 90 minutes. They have three or four excellent players.

England were great in the first half; the pressing was immense and they made Croatia looked average. Really could have been 3-0 at HT and couldn't see how Croatia were going to get into the game. The misses by Kane and Lingard to kill the game ended up crucial.

Once England tired and the pressing stopped, the extra quality in the Croatian engine we discussed earlier shone through. To give them credit they stepped it up, pushed up higher and had England on the rack...And they had been through two 120 minutes in a week.

England have done great, enjoyed their contribution to the world cup. If anything I'd have gone 5-4-1 just before Croatia scored to try and shut up shop as the goal was coming.

But take nothing away, England did great and have certainly got to be optimistic for the future.

Blimey, "Niall"!

I’ve never made a secret of the fact that I have no real love of international football, nor indeed of Ingerland, so it isn’t cynical. I don’t think it’s sour either.

The totality is that some episodic set pieces masked a poor midfield and a lacklustre attack.

Fine moments butter no parsnips.

LOL. Gary Neville making my point there that 5-3-2 wasn't enough in midfield, sign me up for Sky.

Always enjoy the England banter but credit where it is due, your boys did great.

That whole sentence is both. The "Ingerland" thing is just pathetic, classist nonsense.

Perhaps I’ll give you the casual reference to Ingerland but that classist nonsense is inherited from my father and grandfather, both of whom put Arsenal before England - in football terms of course.

Spot on. Croatia were great. No shame whatsoever to England.

I think at least England aren't coming home having been a complete disgrace like the last time with Hodgson. Definitely more progressive and something for Southgate to build on. But, the reality was wins over Tunisia, Panama and Sweden, a draw with Colombia and defeats to Belgium and Croatia. Not quite good enough, and the draw might never be so kind again. Definitely think the big weakness is the midfield, nobody there to get their foot on the ball and control the game a la Modric.

Sorry, DHD, but the international football you decry has provided fantastic entertainment these last few weeks way beyond the normal reach of football. Families have sat together and watched and enjoyed some classic matches where the whole thing hasn't been distorted by money. There has been so much fun and entertainment all round. A young England team has done much better than expected, not just because they faced weak opposition but because they had a decent, progressive, and charming manager who encouraged some adventure and team spirit.

So to come on at the end and moan about international football and say the best thing we did was lose to Belgium is just a bit...well sour and cynical are the only two words that really spring to mind.

It doesn't matter so much though because France are far far better than us anyway. But I still think you do us a disservice as better teams have struggled against so-called "weak" opposition and we performed creditably in most games. Belgium is an utter irrelevance really.

Surely the greatest arrogance is taking it for granted that you will beat Sweden and Colombia? Germany only just beat Sweden and lost to South Korea. Colombia only just got their draw with us. Spain struggled against Iran. Brazil drew with Switzerland. These matches are complicated.

I'm not actually that disappointed we are out, but the team deserves more credit than that. There were some good signs there and had Kane squared it to Sterling it might have been a whole different picture.

A few people here and elsewhere have mentioned that Croatia have had two lots of extra time and have an older team, so should have had less energy tonight. But England appeared to tire first. After the quarter-final I mentioned Bilic said that Croatia's tough match, which they obviously got through, might give them more of a lift or buzz (or whatever words he used) than England's stroll in the park against Sweden might have given them.

Perhaps Bilic was right?

I don’t decry international football. I just don’t share its appeal. Trust me, I’m not alone.

If you and others do get it - fair enough, but we’re not all like that.

I get it, I just think its spectacularly joyless and bit weird - if you like football what was there NOT to like in almost all of Belgium's games especially Japan.

I watched the kids at my daughter's school - girls and boys alike - babbling about who was who in the sweepstake and it was just fun in a way that I am afraid the Premier League would struggle to emulate.

But I do get it, others have said the same as you, I remember similar discussions with EEG, for the life of me I cannot understand the reason for such an unnecessary, po-faced, faintly self-regarding, snobbishness.

I can only congratulate England on a mammoth effort to get to a semi-final. Yes, the route to the semi was possibly as easy as it has ever been in a modern day World Cup and yes the cards may never fall in the favour in such a way again but they still played with great energy and no one can question their effort or commitment.

England are not the best team in the tournament and really need some creative central midfielders but they gave it their best shot and reached the last four which is as good as anyone could have hoped for at the start of the tournament.

So well done.

But it isn’t that at all. You may charactarise my position as you wish but in essence, it’s just a different view from yours - which by your admission, you don’t understand.

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Ahhh so the fairy tale comes to an end , I thought the way the draw panned out ; this was England's year .

Taking off Sterling I thought a mistake in the limited time I've watched he seemed more than usual to have " the bit between his teeth ".

I think why a lot of English fans on here are so dismissive of the team is as I said before the tribal nature of English soccer .

Most fans would want the best for their own club in front of the country .

In NZ it's the reverse , we like our provincial teams but the All Blacks take precedence . We don't give a sh*t who hails from where , once the black shirt is donned we want fhe best to happen .

I'm not English [ thank God ] but I genuinely dislike Walker , Rose , Young , Alli and I'm not particularly enamoured with Vardy , Pickford , Henderson and Linegaard ... so them having dummy group sex in the middle of the pitch if they'd won wouldn't have been pleasant .

Tottenham wins the world cup would have been the chant at the Lane .

I think it was more to do with what Croatia did with the ball. They were far more composed in possession in the second half, largely due to having a wonderful footballer in the middle of the pitch. England, in contrast, kept giving it away. Southgate has had a fine tournament, but I was baffled by the substitution of Dier for Henderson. England had no control whatsoever in midfield after that.

The two presenters on SSN wearing waistcoats a al Southgate. Sweet Jesus.....

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I do wonder about the absurdity of having a play off to determine who is third or fourth .... who gives a sh**t .

After the trauma of today's result , who in the England camp would want to hang around and play another game .

Spuds bottle it again.......

Runs for cover.......

.... I expected him to pull out a pocketwatch to check on time left to play .

I never expect England to win the world cup or even get close to the final so sad though it is to lose the semi final I think we did well to get there with the young team that was selected. The manager did a fantastic job all in all - he even got Alli and Young to give up their diving!
Trippier? What can I say? He proved me wrong by scoring direct from a free kick today after I questioned why he was given the 'Beckham'role - I don't even remember seeing him play before the world cup! Don't really care who wins the cup now but I suspect it will be France, again! Meanwhile its just another month to go before we see the new Arsenal team.

Maybe some of the those who just came along for the ride like Welbeck and a few of the other bench warmers?

There will be exceptions but generally I think you're right. The Arsenal, Tottenham and Chelsea fans I've discussed this with would rather see their club win something than England. Everyone knows I support Germany in international football. I'd rather Arsenal win the League Cup than Germany win the World Cup.

I wonder if that's linked to the England flags you see at games with an obvious club affiliation often being smaller clubs.

France will be the bookmaker's over whelming favourite to win the Final. I'll be rooting for Croatia though. Give the World Cup to another country.

What has led you to take a disliking to Walker, rose or Young. I can’t recall the 3 of them performing arsenal related crimes so it must be because you don’t like their faces or something because Walker had a decent tournament.

Ian Wright owned Roy Keane on tv last night. Keane was talking about English complacency and arrogance and Wright was just saying we were having a laugh. Enjoyed wright at this World Cup.

Yes I’ll put this down to you being sour about the result dude.

Croatia aren’t poor, those midfielders can find 60yard passes in their sleep.

Agree Kane had a bad game and I see similarities in the way Ali and Özil play that frustrate.

It’s knock out football which is a different type to league football and I think that’s why Wenger always failed in the champions league. I genuinely don’t think it’s easy

Oh well Arsenal are back in a few weeks and the few people who were unable to find a place in their head to enjoy this little escapade for a few weeks will be able to sleep easier as we stumble to a 4th to 6th place finish. Awesome

Young a diving w**&&% Walker is a pug ugly ex Spurs toss pot , Rose hails from the same soakhole and dives as well .

Thinking on I don't hold any major grudges against them it's just having so many Spurs players on show I didn't want them to have anything to crow about .
Having said all this I would have preferred as a spectacle an England France final .

Vardy , Sterling , Kane on all together from 60 minutes you would have won that .

Does anybody have a spare ticket for the Man City game? Pretty please.


I'd be interested in a season ticket if anyone has a spare and length of time as long as it's a side view I'm not a fan of the ends.

Ignoring the German thing which is plain weird

The majority of us are Arsenal fans foremost but if you are english, love football and live in England, support an English football club, have mates and family who are English yet are unable to cheer the England team on I really don’t get that at all. Surely you can see the enjoyment and togetherness it brings. If nothing else it’s good for a few pints and laughs with mates.

If you are from another home nation and want England to do badly because of our imperialist past and would prefer to support great countries like Germany, Croatia or Russia I really don’t know what to say because your probably a narcissist or village idiot.

Personally i would take an England World Cup win over arsenal winning a European cup, just. I’m not a nationalist at all and actually think rampant nationalism is as dangerous as religion in some cases. just don’t get it, few weeks of enjoyment. If nothing else it’s worth having a laugh at drunken adults falling through bus shelters surely

England obviously the better side for the first half and a chunk of the second half. However, even they had been up 2-0, I still fancied Croatia to make a game of it and equalize because the English players would have relaxed.

Croatia looked the poorest I've seen them but it was good enough because England just couldn't put the game away. The header off the line nothwithstanding.

France should be the big favorites but if they don't score in the first half it could be tough. Croatia adapts to the side in their matches. They are a bit dirty and rough but it gets the job done. I am predicting a 3-0 or 3-1 final for France. We may even see a red card for Croatia. The referees are not going to stand for cynical fouling when the eyes of the world are on them. They will let them play up to a point. That point is going to be tighter in a game of this magnitude.

The 3rd place game will be a game of who is sulking the least. Right now its Belgium from the sour grapes quotes I've been reading about their match against France.

Croatia's resilience is remarkable. One would have thought that they would have suffered with yet another extra time, yet the likes of Mandzukic, Perisic, and Modric just got stronger and stronger as the game wore on.

I was very impressed with their game management, the way they coped with being a goal down so early and with England's first half display. They drew England's sting and then gradually ratcheted it up.

They are an excellent tournament team and France will have their work cut out.

Indeed. The world cup should, and mostly does, represent the good side of nationalism/patriotism and internationalism (i.e. the countries of the world getting together and putting on a great show). Not supporting one's national team fully because of sectarianism or because one thinks the quality of the soccer is so-so does seem like cutting off one's nose ...

One of the main reasons we are so *%^@** up as a country is that we make such a big deal over something other countries find relatively easy - supporting the national side at football.

On every side there are morons - The Sun's grisly 'comedy' xenophobia, the gap-year lefties hoping we lose to atone for the Boxer rebellion, fashionistas who think that supporting Peru is hip, or just weirdo contrarians like Bernard.

As far as the club thing goes I have never ever understood this. It is not as if there are football police going around shouting "CLUB OR COUNTRY ONE CHOICE OR FOREVER HOLD YOUR PEACE". The problem with the club football uber alles fanatics is they are such tremendous killjoys, feeling the need in the middle of international tournaments to pronounce their superiority over the less discerning infants gurgling at trinkets. They are like parents who actually enjoy pointing out the logistical difficulties for a fat old man in getting down the chimney at Christmas, or new recruits to the college Vegan Society (I admit I have been guilty of a variant of this!) or those terrible bores who think that everybody is desperate to hear the many sophisticated reasons why they don't have a telly. Fine. We get it. You've never heard of Love Island. Enjoy reading the collected works of Trollope, perusing The Week for the latest on the Customs Union, and listening to "Oh goodness me, I believe that's a comma!" on Radio 4. This rather odd disdain for the international game in general is nearly always accompanied by a lofty sneering at their own team as if this somehow PROVES their elevated connoisseur status; you can just see Bernard prissily sniffing the cork and saying "Oh no I am sorry take it back, that is England, I would lief as drink sauvignon blanc my good sir". You can almost touch his sense of self-worth when he bangs on about his great childhood moral choice.

I find it strange in the case of otherwise intelligent sporting people like DHD (unless his passion for West Ham's new acquisition, the easily-breakable and often substandard Wilshere, is so great that he is blinded to everything) because while international friendlies are often dull and meaningless, World Cups are often joyful and funny affairs, and most of us have our lives marked out by these four yearly contests with their heroes and villains. They speak back to our childhoods and the glamorous names from overseas like Cruyff and Beckenbaueur, those famous sides like Brazil and Italy and Holland. Or smaller sides like Cameroon and Roger Milla. Gazza's tears, Lineker sh1%%&ng himself, Peter Beardsley setting the stage for Luka Modric in the best-looking player contest. So many brilliant memories. I watched my own children having theirs formed by this years fantastic tournament. And they talked about Japan and South Korea and Morocco as well as Brazil and Belgium and Germany. They cheered on Iran against Spain. They brought me stories about Japan tidying up their dressing room. It was bloody great. Why on earth people feel the need to sniff at that because it isn't some bloated money-distorted borefest involving Mourinho and Conte snarling at each other is beyond me. Each to their own but if you said that about - say - grouse-shooting or Formula One I would nod politely* while filing you under idiot.

Championship grafters and La Liga galaticos walk out side by side. Ronaldo can sign for Juventus but not for Brazil. It's pretty much the one competitive space in football the moneymen haven't totally killed.

*as much so as possible given that it doesn't come naturally to me of course...