The Problem With England | A Confusing History of Disappointment

Another World Cup, another quarter final exit. England really do have a habit of falling short at this stage.

The history of the English national team is one that is as confusing as it is disappointing. The inventors of modern football, yet only winners of the biggest prize once in 92 years.

Today, we recount the story of the Three Lions. The highs and, more frequently, the lows.

Background music:

00:00 - Introduction
01:59 - England vs FIFA
05:12 - Disappointment, Depression, Disaster
07:23 - Homecoming
13:11 - “A Team of Drunks and Thieves”
17:10 - Hooligans
22:01 - Tears
25:07 - Different day. Same result
28:08 - Waistcoat
32:29 - Hope?

Producer: Tinashe Chipako
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[FootballIconic]

Only noticed that there was an echo with the audio too late. So sorry about that, guys :(

[sheldoncooper]

England is just Tottenham on an international level

[DjinnandTonik]

2 days after this video, Mbappe scores a hat trick in the final...but loses. What a game

[Damian_]

As an argentinian, let me tell you this from experience: you DON'T want to scapegoat your young talents by blaming them over missed penalties and such. We wasted a lot of potential in the 2010s because of mistreating and blaming the players (particularly due to the 3 consecutive lost finals) and we had to wait until the 2020s for only SOME of them (others have retired) to get a satisfying closure with the World Cup. We're happy now, but we're also left wondering if they could've given us more trophies, had we subjected them to less intense scrutiny in the past.

[barnbersonol]

Is anyone else already totally aware of England's WC history but still watching because this is such a superbly made documentary?

[terretetetito]

There's a saying for the Mexico National Team: "we played like never before, we lost like we always do". I feel that's a very accurate description of the quarter final vs France. A performance to be proud of by England, but in the end it all comes down to being clinical

[nichlaughs]

I agree. England in recent years have had some embarrassing moments with Iceland 2016 and Costa Rica in 2014, but in the last couple of tournament, it has been more of a heart break than an embarrassment. Take the Semi final with Croatia were they lost in extra time in 2018, Kane missing his penalty vs France in the 2022 World Cup, and of course losing to Italy in the final on penalties at Euro 2020. They always choke at the last hurdle

[lalitthapa]

Supporting England is like supporting Sunderland in an international football sense

[ejiwlww]

1986 - hand of God goal + goal of the century
1990 - Gascoigne's near goal miss at the death + penalties
1998 - beckham's send-off + penalties
2002 - ronaldinho's genius free-kick
2006 - rooney's send-off + penalties
2010 - Lampard's wrongly disallowed goal (very blatant)
2014 - Gerrard's back header to Suarez
2018 - missed small box sitter after being 1-0 ahead
2022 - Kane's penalty miss
2026 - ???

[George-bisj]

As an Englishman it's really refreshing to see a balanced view on the England teams history instead of the usual tropes of, 'England are so arrogant, they think they're going to win' - and living in England, I can honestly say that the pessimists significantly outweigh the optimists.
Good information and brilliantly presented. You've got a like and subscribe from me.

[someguy]

Neither a brit nor a massive football fan and this is still fascinating. A very well put together sports doc.

[carlobasilone]

The 1950 USA Team was NOT made up of mostly British expats with only Ed McIlvenny a Scot who played for Morton in the Scottish Junior League and 7 games for Wrexham who were in the 3rd Division North.
Five players were from the Hill Area in St Louis, a predominantly Italian neighbourhood where they played for local teams, thus 4 of the 5 were of Italian Heritage.
Gaetjens as you mentioned was born in Port-au-Prince. Joe Maca was born in Brussels and had played in the Belgian Second Division. Two were of Portuguese, probably Azorean descent from Massachusetts and the last was from Philadelphia of German descent.

[wanr]

Distrust of creativity is the very reason England didn't make it far in major tournaments. What is wrong by having creative players in the first 11? Every multiple winning national teams have it.

[finding_aether]

Deschamp changed the match against Argentina with tactical switch.
Can you imagine Southgate doing the same?

[parrudo]

I know you were mainly focused on the performance of the english team at the world cups, but I feel like you could've mentioned the 1953 friendly match against Hungary dubbed the match of the century, in which the Hungarian team humbled England 6-3 at Wembley. That game was just as impactful in the English people's perception of the national team as the 1-0 defeat against the USA in 1950.

[kushkyatrixx]

Tinashe is one of 5 YouTubers who can make me watch a video of any length of time and still enjoy the whole of it. I don't know how you do it and I hope you continue doing it as long as you can ✨

[connormitchell]

Because the only thing that never changes at the England setup, the FA itself. Always go for mediocre managers and is happy with not winning tournaments. Pundits also don't help when they praise teams for achieving literally nothing despite the world class talent they have

[Zinobadz]

This hits different after england lost another final

[danielkhachanov]

I used to live in Montenegro and when they came to play us for the qualification and ended up drawing we all went crazy. I was on the second level and it took two hours to leave and the entire stadium ended up having to be evacuated. To beat a team of such high regard no person who lived in that moment will ever forget it. I met Rooney and he was running out onto the bus and yelled inside for two minutes straight to everyone

[guiyolaa]

Great video! Just wanted to add that the hooliganism stereotype doesn't just come from football and it's not a vocal minority thing. Us in southern europe are used to English tourists coming for holidays and mistreating staff, breaking property, not being able to handle their alcohol, and being violent.