LogFAQs > #904474865

I feel like England are being grossly undersold by people purely because they are England.

Are they the best team left? Not by a long shot. They are probably around the 4th/5th best team left behind basically the entire upper half of the bracket.

France and Brazil are clear favorites imo. Russia are long outsiders. The 5 remaining teams are basically in a tight cluster. Maybe Uruguay and Belgium have a little separation over the other 3 but not by much. Belgium massively stumbled against Japan in a worse performance than England which is papered over by they fact they came back to score 3 late goals. Uruguay have looked good but they also haven't played anybody. They came through an incredibly weak group unscathed (as they should) and then they beat a Portugal team which massively underwhelmed in the group stage and that hardly looks any better with Spain also eliminated after progressing out of that group. Personally I think they are good for the record.

Yes England beat nobodies in the group but they did so comfortably just like Uruguay and Belgium did. The Belgium game is a non factor due to the circumstances but if you want to pull anything from it then it's that Belgium have greater squad depth which we already knew. England then comprehensively outplayed Colombia who would have been unbeaten in the group if not for that really early red card against Japan. Colombia certainly looked a better side than Portugal and Japan from the group stage matches.

People are acting like England struggled to beat some nobodies and lucked out on penalties. They outplayed Colombia who were one of the better sides left in the tournament and they would have won in normal time if the ref had been competent and kept the game under control.

Do people think the remaining sides go out and smash the hell out of Colombia or something? Colombia last matches against Brazil and Uruguay were draws. They played France in a friendly just before the world cup started and won 3-2. They are a hard and frustrating team to play against.