England out of World Cup

Could you believe it, England is out of the world cup competition at such an early stage.

I do not expect them to bow out so early in the competition. I have high hope for the team initially, but reality is reality. The players can only play well in their local leagues and on their own soil. With this kind of result, I don't think they will ever win the world cup again.

Anyway, they were once world champions almost 50 years ago when they won the cup at Wembley in 1966, on their very own turf. This means the stamps that were issued in 1966 to commemorate this event are even more precious as there can never be another such set of stamps.

You can watch the game here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUrYH1pp-SE&feature=player_embedded

Some historical facts:

The 1966 FIFA World Cup, the eighth staging of the World Cup, was held in England from 11 to 30 July. England beat West Germany 4–2 in the final during which Geoff Hurst famously scored a hat-trick and won the World Cup. With this victory, England won their first FIFA World Cup title and became the third World Cup host to win the tournament after Uruguay in 1930 and Italy in 1934.

For the 1970 World Cup in Mexico, England participated as reigning cup holders. They reached the quarter-finals but were knocked out by West Germany.

England failed to qualified for the 1974 World Cup, leading to Alf Ramsey's dismissal. Under Ron Greenwood they managed to qualify for the 1982 World Cup in Spain but were eliminated from a second qualifying round.

They achieved their second best result in the 1990 World Cup by finishing fourth – losing again to West Germany in a semi-final finishing 1–1 after extra time, then 3–4 in England's first penalty shoot-out. Despite finishing fourth the members of the England team were given bronze medals and the England team of 1990 were welcomed home as heroes.

 For the 1998 World Cup, England were eliminated in the second round again by Argentina and again on penalties (after a 2–2 draw).

Sven-Göran Eriksson guided England to the quarter-finals of the 2002 World Cup and 2006 World Cup.

At the 2010 World Cup itself England progressed to the next round, where they were beaten 4–1 by Germany, their heaviest defeat in a World Cup.

In the 2014 FIFA World Cup, England lost two group matches in a row, against Italy and Uruguay, by 2-1 on each occasion. They were eliminated at the group stage for the first time since the 1958 World Cup.