they are completely comparable Liverpool lost to Burnley and won the European Cup 5 months later Germany lost to England 1-5 at home and were in the World Cup Final 9 months later England lost to N. Ireland...........yet topped their group and are going to the WC as one of the top 3 or 4 most fancied sides to win it The point is teams can suffer shocking defeats and bounce back within a short period of time to make a nonsense of that previous result. As for our 3 defeats in competition since 2002 France - Last knockings free kick and a peno, when we missed one ourselves to go 2-0 - v. fine line Portugal - host nation, last minute goal disallowed, lost on penalties - v fine line N. Ireland - poor performance on the day,deserved to lose, it happens - already explained above. None of which point to a likely England success this summer but at the same time don't equate to the foregone conclusion of failure either.