But world rankings are deceptive/meaningless in knockout tournaments, as is who you play for any number of reasons.
France was CLEARLY the most talented team at the tournament but lost on penalties to Switzerland ffs!
The BBC asked their pundits to pick their winner prior to the tournament. 1 said Italy, 1 said England and 22 said France. Interestingly, none said Belgium.
Tournaments are just a completely different animal, hence Belgium never having won anything and Germany regularly winning stuff.
England's group looks harder in retrospect than it did beforehand and Croatia are the reigning World Cup finalists!
Plus we did beat Germany convincingly (who are without doubt the best tournament team in the world historically) and a Denmark team that is ranked 10 in the world and on an emotional tidal wave.
And let's not forget, Italy didn't manage to win either the semi-final or final, which is kinda disappointing for the game itself, but I have no clue how you get around it.
But having said all that, Italy played the best football and deserved to win it.
There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.
