Make that 5-6- weeks to accomodate what is likely to be Lionel Messi's last continental tournament.
football thread No11
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thetrooper
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Poor bastards.
Grendeldef
Trancerelic & coffeeholic
Superb performance by Germany but since they effectively had no opposition it's impossoble to say if they can repeat this and if Scotland had to score the eternal golden boot contender Eigen Tor was the most likely option. Couldn't have happened to a more a-hole guy in Die Mannschaft so it was still sort of a nice surprise. I still think that the greatest if in the team will be Neuer.
Bonyduck Campersang
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Brave performance from Georgia. Bad luck to get beat 3-1
Bonyduck Campersang
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thetrooper
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Germany looking good so far. All the rest showing at least some kind of weaknesses. Or should we say Germany looking the least fragile so far?
Jumping on the Italian bandwagon here (or maybe Denmark just to suck it up to @EvaDK…
).
Jumping on the Italian bandwagon here (or maybe Denmark just to suck it up to @EvaDK…
).
EnglishEdward
Deity
Watched second half of England v Slovenia in the last pub standing last night.
The chess players had defected to watch football, I had nought better to do while finishing my bitter.
England had possession most of the time, but they kept poncing about like a country dance troupe
passing the ball sideways and back before ever so timidly moving it forwards etc looking for a set piece.
Of course Slovenia's defence line was far too good to leave England undisturbed preparing that.
IMO England would have been better off just bashing it aggressively forwards and hoping to create a
confused melee, where they might get a deflection, score off a rebound or penalty if Slovenia slipped up.
Needless to say, a nil-nil draw.
The chess players had defected to watch football, I had nought better to do while finishing my bitter.
England had possession most of the time, but they kept poncing about like a country dance troupe
passing the ball sideways and back before ever so timidly moving it forwards etc looking for a set piece.
Of course Slovenia's defence line was far too good to leave England undisturbed preparing that.
IMO England would have been better off just bashing it aggressively forwards and hoping to create a
confused melee, where they might get a deflection, score off a rebound or penalty if Slovenia slipped up.
Needless to say, a nil-nil draw.
Snerk
Smeghead
Cancel VAR.
EgonSpengler
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USA v Uruguay, final match of the Copa América group stage, concurrent with Panama-Bolivia. Uruguay are already through, with 6 points and a +7 GD, so they're just playing for pride. USA has to win to advance. If USA draw, then they're relying on Bolivia, worst team in the tournament, to find it within themselves to beat Panama, who still have everything to play for.
All around poor performance by Los Norteamericanos. Mexico imploded. Jamaica never really stood a chance. Costa Rica still have a shot, if they beat Paraguay and Colombia beats Brazil by a combination of 6 goals. So, yeah, that's gonna happen. USA and Panama can't both go through, but one of us will. Canada have made it out of the group stage, and will play Venezuela in the quarterfinals on Friday.
Panama just scored, so USA have to win this match.
All around poor performance by Los Norteamericanos. Mexico imploded. Jamaica never really stood a chance. Costa Rica still have a shot, if they beat Paraguay and Colombia beats Brazil by a combination of 6 goals. So, yeah, that's gonna happen. USA and Panama can't both go through, but one of us will. Canada have made it out of the group stage, and will play Venezuela in the quarterfinals on Friday.
Panama just scored, so USA have to win this match.
EgonSpengler
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Wow, that was terrible. Glad I stayed up for that. 
EDIT: I have the day off on Friday. Triple-header? Spain-v-Germany at Noon. Portugal-v-France at 3:00pm. Venezuela-v-Canada at 9:00pm. That's sort of in reverse order of anticipation. If this were a concert or a fight card, I'd say whoever booked it was a donkey. The headliner is first and the opening act is last. Still, that could be exciting. Come on, Canada!
EDIT: I have the day off on Friday. Triple-header? Spain-v-Germany at Noon. Portugal-v-France at 3:00pm. Venezuela-v-Canada at 9:00pm. That's sort of in reverse order of anticipation. If this were a concert or a fight card, I'd say whoever booked it was a donkey. The headliner is first and the opening act is last. Still, that could be exciting. Come on, Canada!
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EgonSpengler
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Spain-Germany firing up the engines. I have no idea who to favor in this match. I don't really have a dog in the fight, so I just hope there's, like, 6 or 7 goals. 3-3 with a nail-biting PK shootout at the end would be fine with me. National anthems.
EDIT 1: I'm not familiar with any of these players.
EDIT 2: Will I need subtitles for Ally McCoist? We'll see. "Kross was a little let. Jus' tried to neck it, jus a little bet let. It's a lettle bet scrrappy, esn't et?" (I'm not sure who to write a rolled r phonetically.)
National anthems.EDIT 1: I'm not familiar with any of these players.
EDIT 2: Will I need subtitles for Ally McCoist? We'll see. "Kross was a little let. Jus' tried to neck it, jus a little bet let. It's a lettle bet scrrappy, esn't et?" (I'm not sure who to write a rolled r phonetically.)
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Bonyduck Campersang
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Kroos playing at centre-back?
Bonyduck Campersang
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Spain score.
Seriously, what position is Kroos playing?
Seriously, what position is Kroos playing?
thetrooper
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Meh
warpus
Sommerswerd asked me to change this
lol Canada just made it to the Copa America semi-finals
I yelled so loud when our keeper saved the 2nd penalty I think I scared my neighbours. I still can't believe we've made it this far! This is our men's national program greatest accomplishment. Gold Cup win has got to count for something, and qualifying at the top of our group beating out Mexico & the U.S. were big accomplishments too, but this feels bigger.
What an entertaining match though! Back and forth for 90 minutes. Argentina next
I yelled so loud when our keeper saved the 2nd penalty I think I scared my neighbours. I still can't believe we've made it this far! This is our men's national program greatest accomplishment. Gold Cup win has got to count for something, and qualifying at the top of our group beating out Mexico & the U.S. were big accomplishments too, but this feels bigger.
What an entertaining match though! Back and forth for 90 minutes. Argentina next
EgonSpengler
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The quarterfinal matches of the Euro and Copa America tournaments produced 12 goals in 7 matches*. Is that low? It felt low to me. I was getting a little impatient with a lot of these matches, but I wonder if I'm just succumbing to the general 21st-Century low attention span. I completely tuned out of Portugal-France around 60-70 minutes. And then I didn't watch Netherlands-Turkey at all, which of course turned out to be one of the matches with some goals. But otoh, I wasn't able to see Uruguay-Brazil, which I had been looking forward to, and which ended 0-0. Not to say a goalless draw is necessarily a snoozer. (I also note that a lot of goals were scored in the 2024 UEFA Champions League quarterfinals, although I wasn't able to see any of those matches live. I don't have a sense of which is more the norm and which is the anomaly.)
* The 8th match was a 5-0 demolition, which is a different kind of uninteresting for me, the neutral fan, so I'm setting that one aside.
* The 8th match was a 5-0 demolition, which is a different kind of uninteresting for me, the neutral fan, so I'm setting that one aside.
According to ESPN, "on paper" he was a DM in a 4-2-3-1, with Tah and Rudiger the CBs. Whether he was actually playing that position is a judgment for keener eyes than mine, I guess.
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France and England have the best roster out of all the teams and have decided to play the most boring defensive game possible. Their opponents know they can't let them counterattack efficiently so they also play conservatively. It means that the games are suuuuuuper boring. Spain-Germany was better.
PS : couldn't watch a second of the Copa America due to timezones so no idea there.
PS : couldn't watch a second of the Copa America due to timezones so no idea there.
Bonyduck Campersang
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He was the last man in defence for large swathes of the match, and at one point was making a run on the left wing from the back. No idea why he was playing there, he has neither the speed nor the physicality you want in a defenderAccording to ESPN, "on paper" he was a DM in a 4-2-3-1, with Tah and Rudiger the CBs. Whether he was actually playing that position is a judgment for keener eyes than mine, I guess.
thetrooper
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Is it just me or is this Euro one of the most boring ever?
Edit; I see that at least @AdrienIer agrees.
Edit; I see that at least @AdrienIer agrees.
For France there's at least a reason for that : with Mbappe on one wing with a status that allows him to stay in the team despite bad form and a nose injury, you have to put players around him that will do the defensive work that he won't do. The original plan was for him to pull off something ridiculous every game making us win 1 or 2-0 but because of his bad form we're stuck with 0-0 and a penalty win.
England has such a great roster that it's inexcusable for them to play so conservatively.
England has such a great roster that it's inexcusable for them to play so conservatively.
