7 worst international tournaments in England's recent history
Another major football tournament has come and it will continue for another two weeks without the involvement of the English football team because, yet again, they have fulfilled their role of the perennial underachiever by losing 2-1 to Iceland in the Round of 16 at UEFA Euro 2016. The player ratings make for grim reading, as the whole team had a night to forget.
England fans at home and around the world must surely be all drained out from thinking ‘this is our year’ only to watch their team crash out quite miserably more often than not. The sight of a lackluster English team struggling to cope with the obstacles set up by their opponents is an all too familiar sight. This recent loss against Iceland – whose population is equal to that of Leicester – is just another in a long and illustrious saga of shameful results.
A top quality league and star players have never quite managed to come together to make a team to be reckoned with. And let’s not forget the Football Association’s (FA) horrendous choice in managers. One failed manager after the other has not helped their cause.
With England’s recent shame fresh in our minds, here’s a list of their top 7 worst international tournaments:
7. 2006 World Cup
The 2006 World Cup in Germany definitely wasn’t their worst result since they did make it to the quarter-finals. However, the way they went about exiting the tournament is what earns their performance 7th place on the list.
England was pretty evenly matched against Portugal in the quarter-final round. But the match itself tells quite another tale. Portugal was quite terrible as they barely created any chances for themselves. But England was even worse! The whole game was an endless succession of mistimed and badly aimed shots and one reckless move by Wayne Rooney. As if Beckham getting substituted because of an ankle injury wasn’t bad enough, Rooney stamped Ricardo Carvalho in the groin and got sent off! England paid the price for playing with 10 men as full time and extra time went goalless.
The penalty shootout that followed was an even bigger disaster. Even though Portugal missed their second and third shots, England refused to grab that opportunity. The two never-to-be great midfielders of England, Steven Gerrard, and Frank Lampard missed their penalties and the minute Jamie Carragher had to retake his, everyone had to know England were not going to make it. A miss from him and a scorcher from Ronaldo ensured England was out and Portugal was staying.