However, England national team manager Roy Hodgson has a different view on all this. He said that it was indeed a pity to finish third in the group, but his players were not afraid of any opponent.

"The way we're playing now, we're not going to be scared of any team in the knockout rounds," Hodgson said. We played three games, all three games we were attacking and the opponent was defending all the time. I never dared to think that I could see an English team taking the initiative on the pitch for all three games, as we did. I'm very happy with that and I'm sure we're going to surprise others in the future because if we stick with what we're doing now, we'll have a chance to score more goals in the future.' ”

On the three draws, Hodgson said: "We had a lot of chances and we threw them away. For me, I'm not going to blame my players because they've worked so hard. We've played three games and we've only had three draws and the fans are disappointed because we didn't give them the win, but I have to say we did our best and we did well. ”

Hodgson added: "It's not that we didn't have chances, but we didn't have the ability to take them, and third place was a real disappointment, but we still made it to the round of 16. If we win the game, people will say, great, we didn't miss the game, and if the team loses in the future, then they will say, "It's a mistake to watch this game." ”

For Hodgson's dead duck's hard mouth, it undoubtedly set off another wave of group ridicule against the media.

For a time, the British media was very lively, and they made all kinds of sarcasm about Hodgson's speech.

However, the media's siege of Hodgson has been of no benefit to the current England team, and none of their problems have been solved.

The disorganization in midfield, the poor quality of the wide crosses, the undecided selection of the main centre-forward, and the lack of change in the stalemate were all contradictions that should have been dealt with before the main game, but were brought to the finals by head coach Hodgson to play with the trial.

It's a pity that the recognized "patient" in the football circle in England can't stand the toss itself, and the side effects have begun to appear before the medicine is gone.

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Fast forward to 18 years ago, in June, when England made their biggest farewell to the World Cup at the Saint-Etienne stadium.

The life-and-death battle between the England team and the Argentine team, Owen's sideways, Zanetti's free kick and goal-scoring skills were shocking, and what was particularly impressive was that Beckham, who was really "Little Becky" at that time, fell into Simeone's "trap" and was sent off by Dane Nelson, which became the turning point of the game.

The red card and the subsequent penalty kick by England set off a wave of public opinion in an era when the Internet was not yet developed, no less than the conflict between British and Russian fans today.

Eighteen years later, it was still a draw, and the English, who were still able to play offensive football against Argentina back then, can now only play a blank with Slovakia.

The "Three Lions", who won all 10 games in the qualifiers, emerged young talents, and were regarded as the favorites to win the championship before the game, were beaten back to the "cat" shape after three group games, and could only succumb to the "little brother" Wales team, and struggled to enter the "lower half of the death zone" with Germany, France, Italy, Spain and other teams as the third in the group.

With this comparison, it is no wonder that some people on the Internet have compared it to the British director Alfred Hitchcock, who has to create suspense without suspense.

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Although Alfred Hitchcock didn't use football as his main material, England had a connection to the film.

There are many movies about football in the UK, such as "Extreme Mania" and "Devil's United", which all use football to show themes such as love and friendship, but the most closely related to the England team is the Oscar-winning best film "The English Patient", which has nothing to do with football.

No way, movies or songs with place names are easy to be used to link with the national character there, "The English Patient" is so, and the Argentine team often makes the movie episode "Argentina, Don't Cry for Me" "Lie Gun"?

has always been overrated and never proven, just like the "patient" Emmath in "The English Patient" was seriously injured but the "heartbreak" of losing a lover and betraying the motherland was even heavier, the England team is not a problem of psychological construction far more than the defect of the player's strength.

From one French summer to another, from Hoddle to Hodgson, the England team has tried foreign coaches, changed their playing style, completed "revenge", and suffered blows, but their heart disease is getting worse and worse.

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Although suffering from high expectations, after all, the England team is still "alive", playing steadily in the knockout round, and being strong when it is strong, the "Three Lions" may still have a chance to counterattack?

And for the hope of this counterattack, people invariably set their eyes on an eighteen-year-old child - Rashford, a talented goalscorer who has just risen like a comet in Manchester United this year!

Wayne Rooney, the team's captain, said in an interview: "In the past, I put too much pressure on myself and always wanted to be the one who scored the winning goal and helped the team win the game and even the title. Now, we have a lot of players in the squad who have that kind of dominance, like my team-mate at club and my partner in the national team, Marcus, who is one of the best of them, and his finishing ability is fantastic, and I've never seen a player as good at the game as he is. Since he came along, I've found that the game has become very simple, and it reminds me of a quote that football is a game where twenty-two people run on the field for 90 minutes and the Germans win, and now it should be said another way, football is a game where 22 people run on the field for 90 minutes and Marcus wins. ”

"Because of Marcus, both at club and in national team, I don't have to be on the front as much as I used to. I'm happy to stand behind the newcomers and watch them turn the tide for the team. My position and role on the pitch at the moment is right for me and the whole team. ”

At the same time, he also talked about the change in his mentality over the past few years, he said: "First of all, the birth of a child has changed my perspective on many things and made me more responsible. Also, being captain of Manchester United and England has had a big impact on me and I don't want people to talk about me in the future as a failed captain who didn't contribute to my team-mates, the team and my country. ”