So 40 years of misfortune? Or perhaps we just get technically played out the game by most of the world's half decent teams.
Excuses are awesome at masking your own deficiences, and England are fantastic at them.
So you don't think England were the better team against Germany in 1990 - whose opening goal was one of the jammiest I've ever seen? Or in 1996 - when Gazza was literally within inches of knocking Germany out? Or vs Portugal in 2004 before Rooney's injury? Even in 2002 vs Brazil we played very well. Had Beckham not ducked that challenge, maybe that would've gone to penalties as well. What about 2006, when Hargreaves was terrorising the Portuguese, and Lennon did the same when he came on? Another one that ended with penalties. And let's not even go to 1986...
Looking more closely at that one - Portugal were terrified of Rooney - they simply couldn't cope with him - no team could in that tournament. Yet he got injured. Just another example of England's bad luck. These are not excuses, they are facts.
Gordon Banks gets food poisoning before the Germany match and his deputy lets in a goal that Banksy would never have conceded - another example. I've seen all of those 'oh so nears down the years' - either live, or from recorded footage and not once did England get outplayed. If we did, how did most of the above matches end up with penalties? Think about it.
Penalties means living with a so-called superior team for 120 minutes. The only time I've seen England so comprehensively outplayed at a World Cup was WC 2010 vs Germany.
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If Barcelona hadn't missed 4 excellent chances, or hadn't had 25 shots on goal away from home in a Champions League SEMI FINAL, then I'd say that perhaps it bodes well that the "English grit" he seems to think exists (rolling over 4-1 to Germany? Kicking out with a flick of the foot against Argentina? .
No-one said England showed 'grit' in the 4-1 vs Germany - we were dire and even with the Lampard 'goal', I doubt if the result would've been that different save for one goal less. And as for the flick of the foot vs Argentina? It was just about a yellow card - it was never a straight red. The reason it was a red was because the idiot referee fell for that cheating git Simeone's Oscar Winning Acting.
Since you're going to bring up that Argentina game, I'd like to remind you that even down to ten men, we were a constant threat in extra time - we had a goal disallowed for no good reason - and dragged them kicking and screaming all the way to penalties. With ten men. Hardly being outplayed.
You're right about one thing - we are dreadful at penalties (no news there). But being dreadful at penalties isn't being outplayed. Penalty shootouts are called a lottery for a good reason - but some teams are obviously better at them.
