Euro 2016

[BigMac]

Too much to lose, I guess.

Meanwhile Iceland wins their match and Portugal falls to third in the group.

Good for England, not necessarily good for Portugal as we are facing Croatia.

Obviously it's good for Portugal, or would you prefer to be in the bottom half of the draw?

All I'm saying is that I wouldn't automatically prefer to face Croatia to England. In fact, I'd prefer England, both because Croatia is a in a good moment of form and Portugal tends to play better against the bigger teams/has a good record against England, for what it's worth. After that round, sure.

 

[SeriousSam]

Woy's Great Gambit appears to have worked, Iceland it is.

 

[sniper]

Re:

Football is surely the only sport in the world where in a tie situation, both teams will willingly just waste time until the clock expires

lol.

one of several reasons why the game won't grow in/on the US.

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Impressed by Iceland once again. Portugal, on the other hand, is very dependent on Ronaldo, and defensively they look extremely vulnerable when they are not in possession. That was quite evident from today's match. Croatia is clearly the bigger favourite, based on the performances thus far.

 

[Brullnux]

Italy were awful. I know that it didn't matter for Italy while Ireland had to win and Italy had 8/11 players but nobody who started deserved anything more than a 5.5 out of 10. Only Insigne was good, but Conte hates him clearly. Sturaro and Bernardeschi were the worst. The defence also, and you cannot bring on El Shaarawy with 10 minutes to go, he deserves more time. I hope they improve by Monday and play like they did against Belgium.

 

[gooner]

They couldn't have asked for better circumstances, Italy with all their changes but you still have to go out there and get the result.

We played well first half, by far the better side but I thought just before the goal we were beginning to run out of ideas and thought it was over after Hoolahan's chance.

I was hugely critical of O'Neill after the Belgian game and like many other Irish fans, I wasn't too happy with the selection beforehand tonight but O'Neill was vindicated with it and his use of substitutions.

 

[The Hitch]

How on earth are Belgium getting so much luck? God knows how they got that number 1 international ranking without ever winning anything that helps them get easier groups. They had what was probably the biggest joke of a group in world cup history in 2014 that walked them through to the quarter finals. Now this year, they have surely the easiest path to a final in international sports history. Possibly Wales in the quarter finals then worse case scenario Croatia in the semis to get to the final :redface:

 

[Pricey_sky]

How on earth are Belgium getting so much luck? God knows how they got that number 1 international ranking without ever winning anything that helps them get easier groups. They had what was probably the biggest joke of a group in world cup history in 2014 that walked them through to the quarter finals. Now this year, they have surely the easiest path to a final in international sports history. Possibly Wales in the quarter finals then worse case scenario Croatia in the semis to get to the final :redface:

I really hope Croatia can make the final from their side of the draw, been very impressed with them so far and play good football.

 

[BigMac]

Re:

Impressed by Iceland once again. Portugal, on the other hand, is very dependent on Ronaldo, and defensively they look extremely vulnerable when they are not in possession. That was quite evident from today's match. Croatia is clearly the bigger favourite, based on the performances thus far.

Portugal is usually nothing like this defensively, I've never seen us play this bad. Pepe is never focused, is not measuring passes well, and looks very nervous all around. It's nothing like him. On the other hand Ricardo Carvalho has been doing terrific despite his age. Portugal also suffered from having Eliseu instead of Rapha Guerreiro - he lost that ball in Hungary's mid field and failed to get back into position, which, ultimately, gave them their first goal. And he is known for being outclassed by every half-decent winger in the Portuguese Liga. He's really lame, but again, not first choice. While in my view Portugal's bad defending has had more to do with an unusual nervousness, I think our main poblem was in midfield: Moutinho completely useless, lacking form and the brains he's shown to have in the past as a true playmaker - a pity Santos insisted in playing him just for his status. André Gomes also dead weight. It was obvious how better our midfield got the moment we started to play William Carvalho with João Mario and Renato Sanches, should have done that earlier.

Portugal's starting eleven going forward should be:

Patrício
Raphael Guerreiro
Ricardo Carvalho
Pepe
Vieirinha
Danilo
William Carvalho
João Mario
Renato Sanches
Ronaldo
Nani

Perfect balance between defense and attack, with a proper midfield to ensure a good transition. João Mario is pure class.

 

[BigMac]

Re:

Italy were awful. I know that it didn't matter for Italy while Ireland had to win and Italy had 8/11 players but nobody who started deserved anything more than a 5.5 out of 10. Only Insigne was good, but Conte hates him clearly. Sturaro and Bernardeschi were the worst. The defence also, and you cannot bring on El Shaarawy with 10 minutes to go, he deserves more time. I hope they improve by Monday and play like they did against Belgium.

Italy are always awful one way or the other. Either because they don't play attractive football or because they fail to do the only thing they're good at, and end up losing the match. While still playing ugly.

 

[Brullnux]

They weren't exactly awful against Belgium, and played pretty nice football. Which is subjective by any means. For me seeing a perfectly organised defence is more attractive than watching anything else, really, especially some attacker flailing about and trying to do countless step overs. The football world needs more brilliant defences.

 

[jsem94]

Gutted. We played much better this game, but Belgium have too much quality not to go through really. Their coach is useless though, destroying the golden generation of Belgium football. They have the quality to go far and they're aided by an easy draw.
CR7's heel was exquisite, but his defensive workrate and non-pressing weren't as impressive. Not that that was ever his strong suit. Hungary and Iceland finish above Portugal in what was the weakest group on paper... how about that.

 

[CheckMyPecs]

Surprising Belgium.

 

[BigMac]

Thinking most of these will be great games.

.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

There's too much "protect the stars!" football these days that prevents any physical challenges and means that the second there's the remotest hint of contact the forward executes a triple salto. Italy are a throwback to the days when defenders were allowed to defend players, rather than rely on interceptions and clearances because they weren't allowed within a metre radius of a star winger in case they interrupted the trick show. Long may it continue.

 

[sniper]

props to Ronaldo for bouncing back.
his missed penalty cost them a better draw though.

belgium got lucky indeed.
zlatans goal should have counted, especially seeing how for a similar, even more blatant foul in the penalty box belgiium wasnt penalized in their match against NIreland.

the difference between the left and right side of the draw is blatant.

 

[sniper]

Re:

the difference between the left and right side of the draw is blatant.

blatant....or apparent

if england had scored in last match....and were there in place of wales i would

not expect chances of winning would be increased much...

Mark L

fair enough.

to be sure, i personally don't mind Germany, France, Italy and Spain killing each other off before the final, but it's a pity for the tournament as a whole.

 

[jsem94]

Spain vs England could have been a semifinal had they both won their groups, but they didn't.

 

[djpbaltimore]

True, the main reason for the lopsidedness of the bracket is that England, Spain, and Portugal couldn't take care of business in their groups containing Wales, Croatia, and Hungary.

 

[sniper]

at a guess, the intransparency of the group stage and subsequent knock-out draw meant that many teams didn't really know what they were playing for in the last and last before last group matches.
For some of the teams there seemed to be too little pressure to perform.
Just speculating.
In any case, the knock-out draw is a farce.

 

[sniper]

you have a point.
my point should have been: never before was the drawing procedure so intransparent.
"Germany will play nr. 3 of group A/C/D", etc.

If it would have been more transparent, it would 've been easier to digest.

That said, i guess i'm still bitter about not having a team to cheer for.

 

[sniper]

 

[gooner]

Good piece by Simon Kuper and one I agree with.

It's been the most boring tournament I have seen in my time watching football.

http://www.espnfc.com/european-championship/74/blog/post/2900641/euro-2016-group-stage-was-dull-so-let-the-real-tournament-begin

 

[Red Rick]

They should really draw the knockout draw after the group phase

 

[The Hitch]

Good piece by Simon Kuper and one I agree with.

It's been the most boring tournament I have seen in my time watching football.

http://www.espnfc.com/european-championship/74/blog/post/2900641/euro-2016-group-stage-was-dull-so-let-the-real-tournament-begin

agreed