Were England unlucky to go out, or just not good enough?

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14th December 2022

ENGLAND captain Harry Kane said that he’s “absolutely gutted” after missing a crucial penalty that saw England go out of the World Cup at the quarter-final stage for a record seventh time.

Two superb goals for France saw them go through to a semi-final against Morocco. An earlier Kane penalty was smashed in to make the score 1-1, but after France went 2-1 up, Kane blazed a second penalty over the bar and the score remained 2-1 until the end.

“Absolutely gutted,” Kane wrote on Twitter. “We’ve given it everything and it’s come down to a small detail which I take responsibility for. There’s no hiding from it, it hurts and it’ll take some time to get over it but that’s part of sport.”

The defeat means that England have gone out of the competition at the quarter-final stage more than any other nation. Although some critics have said that manager Gareth Southgate should go, most people seem to think that he and his players did well. England had more possession, shots and completed passes than France, and the French players committed more fouls. Kyle Walker also did a fantastic job of keeping Kylian Mbappé pretty quiet for most of the game.

Record within reach It won’t be much of a consolation for Kane, but his goal means that he’s now level with Wayne Rooney as the all-time leading scorer for England’s men. And here’s another fact for you: Kane has also now scored more penalties (four) in the World Cup than any other player in history, not including penalty shoot-outs.

Looking ahead to the future, with young players like Bukayo Saka, Phil Foden and Jude Bellingham in the team, many think that England will only improve and could go all the way at the next World Cup or Euros. “Keep the faith, our time will come,” Bellingham tweeted.

Were England unlucky to go out, or just not good enough?

21 Comments

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shaddai88 · 1 year ago

shame!! Need more work!

kauaskar · 1 year ago

England are a well-managed and creative team. It is simply not fair to say that they were just not good enough when they worked their socks off for the entire tournament and then faced an in-form and world-class France team. You can't just expect them to win the World Cup. Also, if you look at the stats, England had more shots, more shots on target, more possession, more passes and more pass accuracy. Both teams played extremely well in the match, but we shouldn't judge the game just by the score. Some people don't think that Gareth Southgate should continue to be the England manager but I disagree. Gareth Southgate has done an incredible job for England, taking them all the way to the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup and then to the Final of the 2020 UEFA Euros. In conclusion, England clearly are a very organised team with very talented players and I believe that luck just wasn't on their side at the Qatar World Cup.

hell0th3re · 1 year ago

I think that England were unlucky, because it seemed like the referee was being unfair.

breezy · 1 year ago

England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 is a Brilliant 👍🏼 team.They were just unlucky.

allegrag · 1 year ago

France 🇫🇷 is a good team, but England should have won! At least they got into the quarter finals!
I think they were just unlucky.

potterwolf · 1 year ago

1. England has won the Woman’s Cup. 2. England and all the other teams put all their work in in training. 3. France is one of the best teams in the world. 4. England won’t win every match. And finally this is a World Cup… against almost every team in the world.

mrrickroll · 1 year ago

It's a bit of unluckyness, but Harry k's pen was awful.

vihana25 · 1 year ago

They only lost as there was a bid build up of stress. They were good enough to keep their character in the Euros so they can definitely make it all the way in the World Cup.

dscool · 1 year ago

I am a Scottish person and they had an amazing team but I think that they where just unlucky and manager Gareth Southgate should go not only where they unlucky but it was a really young team and where playing against some of the top class teams and the England France game was very close and once Harry Kane missed the penalty I knew it was over and if he had scored then they probably would have gone through and maybe even won the FIFA 2022 Qatar world cup but they where very close and they should be proud to have gotten that far. I mean Scotland didn't get that far!

candyapple · 1 year ago

England are a very good team,( and I'm not just saying that because i live there!), but, France are a better team, and if England wants to be the best, they're going to need more work.

splashy10 · 1 year ago

It’s very unlucky that we came up against France in the quarter finals.
So I think it’s just unlucky that we went out.

kadey.mc · 1 year ago

Unlucky because it is still pretty good to be in the quarter finals but when they were having penalty they accidentally shot out of the pitch.⚽️😵😵😵🤮🙀

aadhya_sha · 1 year ago

The referee was Actually biased so thats why England didn’t win

athenakid · 1 year ago

Come on? Could they really beat France though? France is a brilliant team, plus they have m’bappe .

mistywater · 1 year ago

They just weren’t as good as France, that’s the truth.

bonniebill · 1 year ago

I think that it is a bit of both as it is just luck who you meet at each stage of the competition and if you're good enough you will win!

15645 · 1 year ago

England had the potential to win but in the end they finished it for themselves. It's over and you need to get over it! The referee also may not have been 100%fair

annalls · 1 year ago

I think they were just unlucky because they practiced a lot and spent time training so they worked hard and they are a good team. It would be unfair to say that they are a bad team because they worked so hard. It would count as not good enough if they didn't train hard and work for the cup

dolphin26 · 1 year ago

I think that they played fantastically, but sending the same man on both penalties? (No offence, but the second penalty was not good at all, but the first one was.) I personally would never have done that. But, really, I don't think they couldn't beat France though, because she has some excellent players, like Griezmann, Mbappe, Dembele, Lloris and Giroud. Like, France reached the finals. Though I'm sorry for all England supporters, and Harry Kane seemed really upset, and I know how he felt. Both teams played really well, and I wish better lick for England next time.
By the way, an England VS France final would be excellent!

yellowlion · 1 year ago

France 🇫🇷 is better than England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿.This is international level.

anonymous8 · 1 year ago

They lost because of magwire