IRELAND LEGEND LIAM BRADY believes that England were more than good enough to win this year's World Cup despite losing 2-1 to France on Saturday.
The Three Lions cruised out of their group by finishing top and beat Senegal 3-0 in the R16. France finshed top of their group also, and also beat Poland in the same round.
England and France became one of the most anticapted games of the event when both sides managed to make it to the quarter-finals .
On Saturday Gareth Southgate's men went 1-0 down thanks to an Aurélien Tchouaméni strike in the first half. England battled back and were awarded a penalty in the second half. England captain Harry Kane made it 1-1 on the night.
England started to find swagger and rhythm with their passing and tempo and for large parts of the second half it looked like England would go on to win the game.
However France took the lead when a delicious ball from Antoine Griezmann was met by the head of Olivier Giroud to make it 2-1.
England would get another penalty in the second half, but Kane who is normally lethal at spot kicks ballooned his second penalty over the bar.
The game ended with England crashing out of a major tournament once again and World champions France heading to a semi-final to face a well drilled Morocco in the semi-final.
Harry Kane levels it from the spot!!! 🙌🏴
The Spurs striker is now equal with Wayne Rooney on 53 goals for England!! 😏#ITVFootball | #FIFAWorldCup pic.twitter.com/ZtAlsF0UzS— ITV Football (@itvfootball) December 10, 2022
Speaking after the game, Brady gave his thoughts on England's performance.
"They had the team probably to do it this time around. I think they were a little bit unlucky. I thought they played very well against France. There were large sections of that second half when England were much the better team, but they seem to find a way of losing, don't they," said the Arsenal legend on RTE Radio 1's Morning Ireland:
"I felt sorry for Harry Kane. Obviously he's been a great striker for England down through the years and I fancied him to get that penalty. I didn't see that coming at all."
That was the best game of the tournament for me so far. It was played in the right spirit and it was very, very close.
"I thought the referee had a very bad game and he didn't help England too much at all. Leading up to to the first French goal, I thought there was a foul on Saka and then he didn't give what was an obvious penalty when Mason Mount was pushed and had to go to VAR so I thought the referee was very, very incompetent."
Roy Keane, who was doing punditry work for ITV also echoed the same sentiments as his countryman saying: "Just a reminder top level sport is brutal. Absolutely brutal. I thought England were outstanding, the better team but you have to give France credit, they know how to win the game, they weren’t at their best but they found a way. Really tough on England."
France will now play Morocco on Wednesday, while Argentina will play Croatia on Tuesday.
Both of these winners will play the final against each other on Sunday at 15.00.
