Owen was rite, not one Croatian player would make it into England's squad. But they lost because of poor coaching and tactics, not because they were the weaker nation.
Greece winning Euro 2004 was a huge upset, and shit like that happens sometimes, but usually the cream rises to the top. They weren't outplaying teams off the park, but they defended like animals and won it the ugly way.
And ya, some of the Romanian players have some champions league experience, but they haven't been in big-time semi, quarter and final matches, where the real moneys on the line.
You know what AMAZES me? That you consider England TEAM to be "the cream", while in reality they haven't shown up in semis let alone finals for ages.
Now they'll even miss out on the competition, same as 1994.
The cream which rises to the top is Germany, Italy and Brazil.
What have Argentina done since Maradona and Cannigia days? Not much. What have the Dutch done since Van Basten was playing and not coaching? Not that much.
What have England done...
since when was it, 1966?
Spain - same story.
Lack of cohesion buddy. You guys didn't step up for the national team. Spain has a different problem, they have Basque, Catalan, Spanish players, and it's tough to get them step up in such circumstances, but how about England?
Let's see. Gerrard is a match winner for Liverpool, but does not rise up to the occasion in the national team. Lampard = the same. Owen can't play 10 consecutive games without getting hurt. Your coach McClaren earns 15 times more Bilic makes in Croatia. Guess what. 2-5.
You brought this on yourself really, feel free to check back and see threads after our Wembley triumph. I never rubbed it into anyone's face.
But now you've shown your influence by the Sun, the News Of the World and hordes of English fans that think their team is God given.
Reality check. It isn't. I would be the FIRST to congratulate if you guys actually played that well, lived up to that enormous hype, but instead, you're underachieving constantly, AND demand respect while doing it.
You can't sit on both sides of the fence buddy. You're either this football force and you conquer Europe/World every once in a while, or you're overhyped.
You can't be both.
And you know what. Owen is not right actually, but let's say he is. What does that prove? That rating teams by that criteria is faltered logic right there.
Teams win competitions, not individual player ratings.
Liverpool is the most recent example as far as English teams go. You will hardly recall there were mediocre players such as Biscan, LeTallec, old Smicer, etc in that team, yet they still beat Leverkusen, Juventus, Chelsea and Milan.
It's a different story there. Your national team needs to step up, become a unit rather than a bunch of players. Until then I'm sorry to break the news - you're a mediocre side.
