Actually in hindsight it did have alot to do with their physical readiness.
They were clearly fucked early doors. This would indicate CNS and lactate fatigue. However they worked their way into it. Now they were fatigued from extended games and not necessarily poor preparation.however it did resemble how you see some GAA teams that are heavily Lactate trained by lunatic coaches. They are slow starters and almost fatigued from get-go.
But in time they work into game and finish strong if game has not got too far away from them.
Different prep reasons but I theorize similar physiological reasons
However my poor reading of Croatia was down largely to a misreading of why they were fucked. I thought they were completely gone. But they had reserves in the legs if maybe not completely the head
England worked hard without the ball but their inability to keep hold of it and their coachās inability to change his system up meant when the going got tough they were just turning it over and were being put back under pressure immediatelyā¦ This is extremely tiring. Iām just in the door after a game of 10 aside and Garryduff and it we played exactly as I just described so Iām an expert on this subject.
It makes it all the more miraculous that a country of 4.1 million could turn it on itās head like they did. What character. What spirit. What beauty.
It was certainly a mentalityā¦ As soon as they sniffed blood they came alive. England just went , mentally and physically, and it invigorated Croatia. But it was also down to the sidelinesā¦
