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brentford
07 Jul 26 13:30
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Date Joined: 02 May 02
| Topic/replies: 10,836 | Blogger: brentford's blog
1. 2002 beating Argentina 2-0 in group stage
2. 2026 beating Mexico 3-2 in last 16 (host venue, altitude without time for acclimatisation and 10 men for 50 mins being key)
3. 1982 beating France 3-1 in first group stage (France went on to SF losing on pens)
4. 2018 beating Sweden 2-0 in QF (one of the least stressful watches ever)
5. 2002 beating Denmark 3-0 in 2nd round
6. 1986 beating Paraguay 3-0 in 2nd round

one of the most obvs conclusions being...there haven't been that many great perfromances but I genuinely think the other night was a bit spesh in the circs..

feel free to re-order or add another (Cameroon 90, Bel 90, Col '18,) all miss out for me as they weren't actually very good performances though did well to turn around the Cameroon game after it had gone seriously pear shaped..
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Report brentford July 7, 2026 1:36 PM BST
* 1. 2002 beating Argentina 1-0 in group stage (not sure where I got the 2nd goal from)
Report ----you-have-to-laugh--- July 7, 2026 1:44 PM BST
Some of our better performances were in defeat.

Losing on pens to Germans in 90, might be a high point.

Losing to Germans in 70, was good until it went Pete tong.


If you stick to best wins, then it's sadly disappointing fayre. Win against Mexico, had everything Roy of the rovers might want, except perhaps including a come from behind win.
Report brentford July 7, 2026 1:54 PM BST
Losing on pens to Germans in 90, might be a high point.

yep that's a very fair shout actually..
Report jasstardust July 7, 2026 6:54 PM BST
1990
Report tobermory July 7, 2026 6:55 PM BST
.
Report tobermory July 7, 2026 6:56 PM BST
made a post on this thread earlier and didn't appear. I'll try again
Report tobermory July 7, 2026 6:56 PM BST
Agree with YHTL, best performances in non wins, such as W Germany, 1990  & Argentina 1998.

Brazil 1970, 0-1 - They showed a full match replay of it in 2002. England matched the great Brazil very well, Gordon Bank's save, Moore's tackle.
But Jeff Astle's finishing not on a par with Jairzinho.

Holland 1990, 0-0 - That was a great Dutch team at it's peak and expected to destroy England. But England dominated them and very unlucky not to win.

For actual wins I would have Poland in 1986 above Paraguay. England had been desperate against Portugal & Morocco and went into the Poland game with the media/fan atmosphere in total doom.
So Lineker's hatrick was exhilarating. Poland have been hopeless basically ever since Lineker's 1st goal in the match, but they had been formidable for 15 years before that.
The Paraguay Last 16 tie was seen as a bye from what I recall.

England v Belgium 1990 - was a high quality match decided by a great goal.
Report brentford July 8, 2026 7:13 PM BST
Some very good shouts tobes' ...

I must admit when I compiled the list I was thinking of wins but it's absolutely right as both you and yhtl have proved that actually a lot of any list of performances would indeed include games they didn't win..

Just one the games you listed...

Poland '86 was an amazing performance on the back what had come before and as you rightly say the rather toxic mood around in media and despondency in fans...Beardsley, Trevor Steven and Steve Hodge all brought in to the side on the back of Robson's injury and Wilkins red card, Hately dropped..an exceptional first half that had the game won by HT..

Netherlands '90 the first use in my lifetime I suspect of a back 3/5 for England that seemed to free up the attacking play a bit  (though it was less evident at times in the games that followed until the SF) Gascoigne really announced his talent on the world stage in that game..outplaying the top Dutch names (though sadly after May 1991 he'd never be quite as good again on the back of the serious knee injury..)

Argentina 1998 ..definitely ..that was an excellent game of football until the red card but incredibly gutsy effort and very nearly won it ET..

Belgium '90 having just re-watched the mini highlights, I'm still not having tbh..Belgium were a decent team but no more (Enzo Sciffo the standout) and they probably edged the game on the night..but all very subjective..
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