The Real Football Thread

[Libertine Seguros]

Germany-France was pure kino and one of the most dramatic games I have seen in a long time. Ann-Katrin Berger had an absolute shocker against Sweden, but she more than redeemed herself today with the absolutely inarguable save of the tournament so far, saving penalties and scoring one herself. This was like something out of a sports movie. The Germans down to their third choice right back with Gwinn injured and Wamser suspended, only for Linder to go down injured inside 4 minutes and them to play for eight minutes with 10 women while she was strapped up, only to then go down to 10 women because Kathrin Hendrich decided to channel her inner 2006 Peter Crouch and pull somebody's dreadlocks at a set piece and give France a penalty to go ahead. Then Linder could only temporarily return, leaving the Germans playing against one of the best attacking forces in the tournament with a centre back at right back, a winger at left back and Janina Minge and Sjoeke Nüsken, both midfielders, filling in at the other centre back role at times, or even Jule Brand, very much a luxury skill winger, serving as a makeshift right back at times.

And yet, they got back to 1-1 from a set piece. Then you had France having two goals (rightfully but unfortunately at least in the first one's case) disallowed, and Germany missing a penalty. If that wasn't enough, when the game was almost dead and buried Janina Minge decided to try to score an own goal only for Berger to scramble it away, and deep into extra time the French had thrown all their subs on and switched their wingers' sides while the Germans still had everybody from the kickoff on the field bar the one enforced change and the red card, both of which were in the first 20 minutes. And France hit the bar with a desperation long shot in the 123rd minute before it went to penalties.

While the England-Sweden penalty shootout went to 7 penalties apiece and was a trainwreck, with lots of drama but a serious lack of quality, the Germany-France penalty shootout also went to 7 penalties apiece and had a lot of drama, but was compelling in a different way. You had the Germans, with their 10 women, make two 120th minute subs - taking off Senß and Jule Brand, both of whom had run their socks off but at least one of whom would probably have been asked to take penalties - and both of those take penalties, with one scoring but the other missing. You had France falling one behind right from the word go when Amel Majri attempted the stupidest penalty run-up I've seen since THAT Simone Zaza penalty, only to scramble each and every one of their remaining five home, and you had Ann-Katrin Berger step up to succeed where Jennifer Falk failed on Thursday, as the goalkeeper took Germany's fifth penalty, and scored. Somehow, Germany went all the way to the 7th penalty before it was Sjoeke Nüsken's turn, despite her having been the first choice to take the one that they received in normal time (and, interestingly, much like Rebecka Blomqvist coming on for Sweden and not taking one, neither of the players who usually play as centre forwards that the Germans had on the field, Schüller and Cerci, took one of the seven penalties), giving her the redemption arc, but crucially Berger got her redemption arc completed after the horror show against Sweden by saving the final penalty to put them through.

They'll suffer a lot against Spain, with a defence that is held together with sticky tape and prayers, and arguably even more crucially Nüsken may have had a hero-to-villain-to-hero arc all withing today's game, but she also picked up a yellow card today that means she will be suspended for the semi-final, having been everywhere all day today. The women's game may lag behind the men's considerably in terms of technical skills and depth etc. at a comparable standard of play, but this was absolutely a solid 10/10 for storyline and drama.

 

[Barnacle Bill]

Italian anthem looks like hard work for the young mascots. Hopefully post-match counseling is provided...

 

[Tim Cahill]

Missed it at the time as i was all footballed out following north ends calamitous end to the season (did catch the exceptional women's penalties though), but it was great to see Cazorla helping Oviedo to promotion on minumum wage then being carried off by the fans, I believe he has signed an extension.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

England women channelling their inner England men... playing like ass for most of a tournament and somehow scrambling their way through with desperation moves - they need to sort out this penalty mess though, that was actually a pretty clear and obvious penalty, not the usual fakery the men get theirs out of.

 

[QueenStagiaire]

England women channelling their inner England men... playing like ass for most of a tournament and somehow scrambling their way through with desperation moves - they need to sort out this penalty mess though, that was actually a pretty clear and obvious penalty, not the usual fakery the men get theirs out of.

At least they also can‘t shoot penalties like the men.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

At least they also can‘t shoot penalties like the men.

They also have a strange allergy to putting their most effective players on in the first 70 minutes for some reason. James is a more skilful player than Kelly, sure, but she's also walking wounded while Kelly has made a habit of delivering in key moments.

I did greatly enjoy her doing the "am I bothered?" shrug pose in the corner as if she didn't just miss the penalty and get fortunate with the rebound even if I would have preferred Italy to go through

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I still think this Spanish midfield will overrun the English one playing same formations against each other, but the Germans' crowding the midfield has shown the way to stifle them. I think we're destined for Spain vs. England in a repeat of the World Cup final, and I anticipate probably the same outcome, but the Germans really have been a storyline to follow in this competition. They've had yet another defensive injury here as well, Kleinherne injuring herself making a crucial last-ditch intervention just like Giulia Gwinn did against Poland. They've been plucky and determined as anything with a very makeshift team (Kett is a winger playing fullback, Minge has spent as much time in the back four as she has in her conventional midfield role, and so on) but surely this can't last. If they do go to the final then I think rather than a repeat of the 2023 World Cup final (or the 2024 men's Euros for that matter, since the English women are definitely treating us to a repeat of that, somehow surviving despite themselves all the way to the final) we likely get a repeat of the 2022 Euros final, because with the success the England team have had from flooding forward with late substitutes and physical presence in the knockout games, I can't see the beaten-up German defence surviving.

Obviously one of them has to either score in the next 15 or win on penalties, and banking on winning penalties isn't a sustainable path to glory. Even 2004 Greece had to do some of it on the field.

Edit: there you have it. Gutting after her heroics in the France game and so far tonight for Ann-Katrin Berger to make the mistake that makes the difference after all that, but Bonmatí just caught her napping at the near post, shooting from a near impossible angle. It will be a repeat of the World Cup final. The Spanish have been the best team in the tournament so it's only right that they be in the final - and it should be a better spectacle for being Spain-England over Germany-England. England have been the clutchest team, finding ways to win games they shouldn't have won, so it's only fair that they be in the final even though Italy were prime underdog material. It's just that the Germans with all the misfortune they've faced (some of it self-inflicted admittedly) and all the Swiss-army-knife play with people in all manner of unfamiliar positions would have made for the best storyline. However, they just lacked a bit of quality in the final third; they miss Alexandra Popp, as Hoffmann and Çerçi work hard but don't scare defences the same way; the wingers are both great players but with key weaknesses - Brand's final ball needs work, while Bühl's tendency to cut in means fullbacks are happy to just show her to the byline knowing she will cut back onto her right foot. However, come the next World Cup and definitely come the next Euros, they will be a serious threat; Gwinn and Oberdorf will be back, while the latter of those as well as Brand, Nüsken, Bühl, Kett and Kleinherne are all 25 or under and they have some promising young players coming through like Vivien Endemann, Lisanne Gräwe and Cora Zicai.

 

[Rechtschreibfehler]

Spain deservedly wins a very bad game of football.
What amazed me was the utter lack of ambition the German side showed. If you play for penalties from the moment you start the game, you deserve to loose.

 

[Rechtschreibfehler]

It's just that the Germans with all the misfortune they've faced (some of it self-inflicted admittedly) and all the Swiss-army-knife play with people in all manner of unfamiliar positions would have made for the best storyline. However, they just lacked a bit of quality in the final third; they miss Alexandra Popp, as Hoffmann and Çerçi work hard but don't scare defences the same way; the wingers are both great players but with key weaknesses - Brand's final ball needs work, while Bühl's tendency to cut in means fullbacks are happy to just show her to the byline knowing she will cut back onto her right foot. However, come the next World Cup and definitely come the next Euros, they will be a serious threat; Gwinn and Oberdorf will be back, while the latter of those as well as Brand, Nüsken, Bühl, Kett and Kleinherne are all 25 or under and they have some promising young players coming through like Vivien Endemann, Lisanne Gräwe and Cora Zicai.

The issue today though, wasn't just some lacking quality in the final third, but the absolut absence of any offensive strategy other than long balls and singular runs against a numerical advantage of the spanish. There was zero ambition to try to find a positive spell of posession. And I don't mean trying to take away posession from Spain, but some sort of coherent and productive buildup. The offensive movement of the team was overall horrendous. While there was a lot of movement to defend off the ball, there was almost no effective movement off the ball in posession. To the contratry: mosts players moved into the cover shadow of their oppoentns, or got put in there by not moving enough. In effect this meant that in buildup the German ball carrier had almost no options to pass to, resulting in a *** load of long balls or shooting the ball out of play. But it wasn't just that. The strategy was to be totally passive, let the Spanish just do their thing in buildup and then hope for your defense and a rondom chance produced by luck with long balls or second balls. But this failed miserably because they never won the second balls, almost lost all aerial duels in offense, or made easy mistakes and took the wrong decisions in the 3 or 4 instances where they could have played and effective counter attack. There was zero linkup play, only isolated tries, mostly failing, either because Bühl didn't look up, or Brand failed to play a simple short pass.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

The issue today though, wasn't just some lacking quality in the final third, but the absolut absence of any offensive strategy other than long balls and singular runs against a numerical advantage of the spanish. There was zero ambition to try to find a positive spell of posession. And I don't mean trying to take away posession from Spain, but some sort of coherent and productive buildup. The offensive movement of the team was overall horrendous. While there was a lot of movement to defend off the ball, there was almost no effective movement off the ball in posession. To the contratry: mosts players moved into the cover shadow of their oppoentns, or got put in there by not moving enough. In effect this meant that in buildup the German ball carrier had almost no options to pass to, resulting in a *** load of long balls or shooting the ball out of play. But it wasn't just that. The strategy was to be totally passive, let the Spanish just do their thing in buildup and then hope for your defense and a rondom chance produced by luck with long balls or second balls. But this failed miserably because they never won the second balls, almost lost all aerial duels in offense, or made easy mistakes and took the wrong decisions in the 3 or 4 instances where they could have played and effective counter attack. There was zero linkup play, only isolated tries, mostly failing, either because Bühl didn't look up, or Brand failed to play a simple short pass.

It's more of a general issue of them lacking in the final third rather than something specific to this game. I'm afraid that while Giovanna Hoffmann works hard and throws her weight around, she's just not the goalscoring threat, while Selina Çerçi proved enthusiastic but wildly unpredictable when she came on. They don't command the amount of the defenders' attention that Popp did before her retirement, or either that Leah Schüller does, but she's been in terrible form and I feel like Hoffmann got the nod for workrate purposes because they knew they were going to be playing an isolated game up there.

However, while the team has quality on the wings, both players are still developing and both players are flawed. Bühl is often too predictable, while Brand tries to do too much or overcomplicate things, or gets the timing of the ball all wrong such as the time she held off the through pass until the offside was almost guaranteed. She also doesn't get into the box often enough when Bühl is the one going forward - while she's skinny, she's also nearly 1,80, so you'd think she could be a dangerous target if she's largely going to be being marked by fullbacks.

These problems were all always going to be issues at any time, but it was exacerbated today because the number of injuries at the back and the fact Knaak was struggling for mobility meant the team seemed to be sitting deeper and trying to replicate the stifling low block they played against France, only without the suspended Sjoeke Nüsken they didn't have their best option in the middle of the field for an outlet to transition the play from defence to attack and they weren't getting any respite to enable them to move themselves forwards up the pitch, because the attack and midfield were too disconnected and once the Spanish team had the ball back, they have too many strong players in that midfield to allow them any time on the ball. Senß is a buzzsaw, but that's the primary thing that she brings to the table, and the team clearly lacked somebody in the heart of the midfield or in front of the back four who could pick out the passes and take the pressure off. Obviously ordinarily that's where Lena Oberdorf would come in, and it's also pretty telling that two of Germany's best chances - the rebound from the fluke deflection at the end of the 90 and the overload at the start of extra time - fell not to any of their forward players nor any marauding midfielders, but rather to Carlotta Wamser coming up from right back.

 

[QueenStagiaire]

I think that‘s the closest England has ever come to winning a decisive penalty shootout. I know, technically they really won, but in reality, Spain just lost it for themselves with some terrible pens.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I think that‘s the closest England has ever come to winning a decisive penalty shootout. I know, technically they really won, but in reality, Spain just lost it for themselves with some terrible pens.

England have won penalty shootouts twice on this run with 3/7 and 3/5 respectively, so it is an improvement in all honesty. To be quite honest, I don't think I've seen the England men be this bad at penalties, and they traditionally lose in a shootout, but the women just seemed to be fated with this one. The British media have sold it as some epic underdog story, but against Sweden and Italy they were heavy favourites both times and the issues were problems that were largely of their own making, and they've been turgid to watch a lot of the time, as James, their most game-breaking player, is clearly injured and playing at 70%, and they've been much stronger after substitutions for fresher, rawer players.

At the same time, Chloe Kelly is just an absolutely clutch football player, she doesn't seem to be the best or the most dynamic player, but she absolutely delivers when the circumstances demand it in pressure situations, and does so repeatedly. There can be no denying that she's a better player to have around in a do-or-die situation than many players you might pick over her in a more general situation (including many of that vaunted Spanish midfield). That said, it wasn't even like Spain were bad during the game, they created opportunities a-plenty, but they wasted the chances, or they in classic Spanish fashion over-complicated things and lost the chance before they got round to making a cross or taking a shot. While I understand why they wanted to keep Athenea on, taking Putellas off when they put Claudia Pina on is probably a mistake in retrospect, breaking up that midfield trio that had been so controlling throughout the tournament, and they looked more disjointed after the equaliser (plus some credit has to be due to Alessia Russo, as she gets some unwarranted stick for a lack of goals despite leading the line for a championship-calibre team, much as we've seen with the likes of Giroud in recent years).

France must be absolutely mortified that they went to penalties against Germany, however, because both of those teams would have absolutely hammered these two on penalties if those games are anything to go by. And it isn't even like there's serious questions about the choices of penalty takers either for the losing side, whereas I had many questions about the Swedish choices.

 

[Unchained]

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TIga180ttdA&pp=ygUPZmFiciBoaWdobGlnaHRz


Here's some real football!!!

 

[Rob5091]

Grimsby?!! Oh how the once mighty have fallen.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/cd6n85w1e4zo

Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim said his team "were completely lost" as they slipped to a shambolic Carabao Cup defeat at Grimsby following a marathon penalty shootout.

The loss against League Two opposition marks a new low for the Premier League side under Amorim and any optimism evident prior to the new campaign is already dissipating.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Grimsby?!! Oh how the once mighty have fallen.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/cd6n85w1e4zo

Brailsfraud, you're the one!

 

[Rob5091]

How far are we into the new season? Quick ring Sir Dave to come back and have a pep talk with the poor guy. He seems to be totally in the wrong place.
https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...mier-league-grimsby-carabao-cup-kobbie-mainoo

Ruben Amorim says temperament makes him feel he ‘wants to quit’ United some days​

• Head coach defiant despite Carabao Cup loss by Grimsby
• ‘Sometimes I hate my players, sometimes I love them’

 

[Rechtschreibfehler]

How far are we into the new season? Quick ring Sir Dave to come back and have a pep talk with the poor guy. He seems to be totally in the wrong place.
https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...mier-league-grimsby-carabao-cup-kobbie-mainoo

To be fair, who isn't totally in the wrong place at United at the moment?