[Gorefest]

Belgium didnt look great against the Danes. Really thought Denmark at least deserved a draw.

The Netherlands is through, although it still looks unconvincing. Depay dissapoints so far amd Weghorst is slow as treacle. Useful in the box, but worthless in breaks.

So far Italy has impressed me the most. I used to dislike them for their defensive mindset, but boy have they switched their playing style around! Really fun to watch. They seem a serious contender. I had pegged France as the winners, but I think France would really struggle with this Italy side.

[Mentalist]

Gorefest, on 18 June 2021 - 06:40 AM, said:

Belgium didnt look great against the Danes. Really thought Denmark at least deserved a draw.

The Netherlands is through, although it still looks unconvincing. Depay dissapoints so far amd Weghorst is slow as treacle. Useful in the box, but worthless in breaks.

So far Italy has impressed me the most. I used to dislike them for their defensive mindset, but boy have they switched their playing style around! Really fun to watch. They seem a serious contender. I had pegged France as the winners, but I think France would really struggle with this Italy side.

Your thoughts on that Ukraine - Netherlands game? some have called it "The most spectacular game of the tournament", and I would agree with that.

I'm annoyed Buschan set himself up for that 3rd goal when all he needed was to boot it the F. out... but he's young, and he's had an insanely harsh start with the national team (he had to go in during Nations League games when Pyatov got Covid, and his first 3 games were against Europe's top squads), and overall, I feel he's a worthy replacement for Pyatov. And I was so elated after that equalizer I basically said "don't care if we still lose, this was an amazing game by our side"

Super-glad Netherlands got the second goal against Austria, though, now we just need to not lose- though the goal is to see the magic duo keep doing their thing for the 4th game in a row. Seems likely we'd face Italy next, though, and I don't fancy much hope there for Ukraine.

The penalty call in the Croatia game was.... oof, that's a head-scratcher. All being said, Croatia looked pretty bleak. As someone who's been following them as the best-performing Slavic team for over a decade, watching them play primarily off counters feels... wrong. Leting Czechs have possession and pressure, they've only had a few moments of inspired play. They'll need a lot more than that to get anywhere,


I think we can all agree that Sweden will be the most boring team to watch this tourney, right?

[Gorefest]

Definitely the most entertaining game. Seen as by far the most tricky game in our group in the Netherlands and that proved true. I thought we actually looked surprisingly decent for a long spell, but then Ukraine very efficiently exposed our defensive weakness. I do think judged on the whole match we deserved the win, but boy was it tight. I really thought we were done for after those two quick goals in succession. Don't think either team can have much hope of making it beyond the quarter finals though.

Then again, if Hungary and Scotland can keep the likes of France and England to a draw...

[Gorefest]

Italy has gone from dark horse to tournament favourite for me. They are actually fun to watch, which is a bizarre thing to say about an Italian team.

[Malankazooie]

Man, I was hoping Hungary could have held that 1 - nil lead to take the win against France.

I guess the upside is there is definitely a chink in France's armor and they aren't the shoo-in to get to the championship match.

And what's going on with England? They look blah.

[Mentalist]

Yuss, what a bounce back for Germany! Suck it, Ronaldo!

I though Germany was gonna fizzle out after that weak France game, but nope.

If they keep this shape, should take the 3 from Hungary. Then it's do or die for Portugal. And if they let France have as much game control as they did to Germany, they'll get walloped equally bad. Should be a fun game to watch.

[Cyphon]

Malankazooie, on 19 June 2021 - 05:08 PM, said:

Man, I was hoping Hungary could have held that 1 - nil lead to take the win against France.

I guess the upside is there is definitely a chink in France's armor and they aren't the shoo-in to get to the championship match.

And what's going on with England? They look blah.

They're freaking out under the pressure and taking no risks, so getting no reward.

[Gorefest]

Portugal going out in the group stages would be a wet dream. I bloody hate the Portugal national team.

[Gorefest]

I cannot help myself. I know on a rarional level that this Dutch team is the worst we have sent to a major tournament in a very long time, with a complete nitwit coach. But seeing all these other results I simply cannot help getting some hope again. It just cannot happen. But if we get a favourable draw, avoiding the really scary teams until the semis (which is becoming increasinly likely, depending on the Turkey v Switzerland match), we may actually just luck ourselves into some decent results.


Nah. Can't happen. We're just too shite. But maybe. Hrm.

[Mentalist]

I think we might have a better chance against Wales than Italy, so GOOOOOO WALES!!!!

by which I mean, it's like 40-60 we might beat Wales, whereas it's only a 20-80 shot at beating Italy, at best.

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 19 June 2021 - 10:49 PM

[Gorefest]

Pffff. Full nine points out of the group. The reward? Probably next round against Portugal. This feels wrong. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

Surprised that Austria pipped Ukraine to 2nd place. I thought Ukraine was the better team so far.

[Mentalist]

That was shockingly bad.

I'm 90% sure they were petrified at the thought of playing Italy, so they figured 3 points was enough to get an easier draw.

Like, shockingly, astoundingly bad.
Austria deserves ALL THE CONTEMPT for not making it 4:0. The amount of unnecessary giveaways in our half and poorly defended counters was well into double digits. Austrians couldn't finish (except the guy who was promptly taken off with a concussion), but they didn't need to. Ukrainians were doing blind passes, giveaways, or just kicking the ball out for no reason. The team looked drunk.

There was only one guy running (Malynovskyi), and he got taken off at half. The strikers were totally off, literally 1 shot on net.

Russia will win, Croatia will win, Spain will win, France and Portugal will draw and these idiots will go home in a well-deserved disgrace. They honestly played worse than the 2016 team, which was full of players who didn't know how to play, and were forced to play defensive counters by the coach, despite qualifiying due to being an attacking team. At least then you could've said, they don't know how to play, and they were uniformly bad in all 3 group games.

Here, though, we've seen some truly inspired play, and then...... this


EDIT: Well, Danes done did good.

And Finns one goal behind UA. If by some miracle Scotland and Croatia draw, we get to squeak through. Maybe

Checked the chart, considering Swiss are in and Fins out, If UA makes it in from 3rd place, we will be facing Goup E winner. Most likely whomever wins SWE-POL, since I have questions about Spain's ability to win a game right now.

Netherlands will face whomever makes it out 3rd in Group D; or, alternatively, the 3rd team from the Group of Death

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 21 June 2021 - 09:35 PM

[Mezla PigDog]

England top their group. Got a funny feeling it will be Germany in the next match.....

[Mentalist]

Good play by Croatia, finally. Hope they keep this energy for the rest of the tournament.

The new system with Modric playing more up top is pretty effective.

Scots had their chances, but their finishing skills are just poor. Better luck with World Cup qualifiers.

Ukraine's chances to slink into the last 16 as the lowest of the low are shrinking. Still hoping for Portugal to get drummed out, but they'll need to go down at least 3 goals to France for that to happen. Mathematically, our best shot is Spanish & Swedish victories, but I'm not gonna be a dick and cheer against our neighbours Poland and Slovakia just because the team decided they didn't wanna lose to Italy. Both of these teams are at least trying.

Mezla PigDog, on 22 June 2021 - 08:53 PM, said:

England top their group. Got a funny feeling it will be Germany in the next match.....

I don't see Germany dropping points to Hungary, if they play in the same shape as they did against Portugal.

So unless France really screws up and loses the game, it should indeed be Germany facing England. That'll be a fun game.

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 22 June 2021 - 10:14 PM

[Malankazooie]

Scotland supporters all about that "Yes Sir, I Can Boogie" disco song. What up with that?

[Mezla PigDog]

Mentalist, on 22 June 2021 - 10:10 PM, said:

That'll be a fun game.

Replace "fun" with "depressingly inevitable tournament groundhog day demonstration of inferior football" and you and I are in agreement.

The Welshman I live with is getting annoying! I'm being very supportive of the Welsh but the same cannot be said in reverse.

[Mentalist]

All right, Ukraine is in. Slovakia collapsed spectacularly (2 own goals!!!!), and Poland..... they've had their chances, but Lewa hitting the same crossbar TWICE in a single play... oof.

Sweden played way more ofensively than I expected.

Now, if Portugal is kicked out (they need to go to -3, I think- so 4:0), then UA would face France. Otherwise, we're up against Sweden.

I hate that Sheva was right in aiming for 3rd; but if they actually bring a decent game ala 2nd half v NED + 1st half vs NC, we can make a game out of it. Poland has demonstrated that Sweden CAN be scored on, at least.

EDIT: How the hell does Portugal get 2 penalties in one game.

And, MAN! what a nail-biter for Germany.

Sane played pretty poorly, and Gosens was invisible on the left. If England can fashion a similar 5-man D, should make Germany struggle.

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 23 June 2021 - 09:00 PM

[Malankazooie]

Dang, Denmark playing on emotion and really taking that through. Good for them.

[Mentalist]

Danes just killed it; and the Austrians kept the suspense going till the bitter end.

Tomorrow is a big day, as hopefully Belgians don't choke again.

Netherlands- Czechs feels like a pretty 1-sided matchup, but we'll see. If the Dutch get through, they'll probably have a hard time handling Danish attacks down the wings.

[Malankazooie]

I gotta say, from a fan perspective, this has been a really fun Euros. A lot of excitement and quality play. It's been a real treat. Hope the level of excitement continues.