Topic 5431360
In my opinion, England has never been a bad team. They’ve always had elite players and were often among the favorites to win. Croatia knocked them out in the 2018 semifinals, Italy beat them in the euro final, and France eliminated them in Qatar in 2022. When you look at their squad, it’s full of top class players who play for the best clubs, but the chemistry and the coach’s choices have never really worked well together. They are still a quality team, but whether they can prove themselves now  we’ll see. They are the favorites in the group, but i still think Croatia will be a tough challenge for them.

The problem with England is not that they are or were weak (they always had a good team) but that their strength never translates into titles. It has become as much of a meme (even more powerful, but no one really pays attention to national teams compared to clubs) as Arsenal's trophylessness.
As for the group, it doesn't really matter which team takes first place and which takes second - the value will only appear once the results in the other groups are clear and it will be possible to calculate which path to a potential final is more advantageous.