[Tiste Simeon]

Who had Austria finding top of that group? I was sad to see Sabitzer leave Man Utd he's a great player.

Also VVD is a whiny overhyped loser.

[Mentalist]

Heartbreaking exit for Croatia. With 2 points, they are the worst ranked 3rd place so far, and it wasn't going to get any better.
Austria squeezing out a 1st place leapfrog, after Lewandowski's second attempt at a PK gives Poland a draw. Too little too late, but they certainly spoiled France's bracket aspirations, lol.

England and Denmark end with 2 draws, in the most mundane ending imaginable. No last second upsets from Serbia this time.

Tomorrow is going to be a nailbiter. Of all the teams in group E, Ukraine are the ones who HAVE to score to stay alive. And they need to do it against Belgium, the (on paper) most talent-stacked team out there.
Only way a draw works for us is if the Slovakia-Romania game isn't one. Even then, it's pretty tight.

So Ukraine needs to score goals or go home. And if they score, they need loads, because there's no way in hell Belgium isn't scoring.

[Mentalist]

Stunning performance from UA. Couldn't finish though. That borderline goal from Malinovsky was insane.

Rebrov made the right calls with the setup, Belgium looked ineffective in offense. But we couldn't finish. And Romania and Slovakia decided to play it safe after the 1st half, unfortunately. So 4 points is not enough.

Go Germany, I guess.

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 26 June 2024 - 05:59 PM

[Tiste Simeon]

In other news, go Georgia! Beating Portugal, set to qualify! Love a good surprise result!

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Quote

The European Championship's group stage ends Wednesday, and thus far, one goal scorer has come out of nowhere to dominate the tournament. He has notched an astonishing seven goals thus far, more than France's Kylian Mbappé, Germany's Niclas Füllkrug, Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo, and England's Harry Kane combined. And he has scored from all over the pitch, in every sort of way [...] He has shown the kind of finishing touch that any country would dream of.

He is, of course,

Spoiler

Own Goal, and he is the tragicomic king of the 2024 Euros.

For the viewer, own goals [...] are glorious cringe comedy. Even the greatest athletes in the world—slick Spaniards, disciplined Germans, fierce Italians—cannot stop themselves from doing totally humiliating things on the pitch! The endless replays, the gruesome, embarrassed responses—there's no sporting schadenfreude like it.

Euros 2024: Top Scorer's Top Goals, Ranked (slate.com)

Finally I have a striker to root for... like an ascendant

Spoiler

Principle possessing players, like the Darkness of space blazing on through flickering shadows... on, on, brief candle fireworks!

...

[Mentalist]

I predict England will beat Slovakia on PKs

Georgia and Spain will be an entertaining, albeit likely one-sided match

The tourney winner will be whomever wins out of Spain and Germany

[Tiste Simeon]

Mentalist, on 26 June 2024 - 09:27 PM, said:

I predict England will beat Slovakia on PKs

Georgia and Spain will be an entertaining, albeit likely one-sided match

The tourney winner will be whomever wins out of Spain and Germany

I think that, sadly, you are correct in all these guesses.

[ContrarianMalazanReader]

I want Germany to end their 28 year long wait for a fourth Euro title. If not, then anyone but those fucking Spaniards.

[Macros]

Counterpoint
Come on the fucking spaniards

[Mentalist]

Both of those teams are entertaining to watch.

I'll be okay with either winning (though I'll cheer for Germany in the semis)

[Tiste Simeon]

Fairly big shock tonight with Italy going out to Switzerland. Quite happy with that result!

[Mentalist]

Makes me feel extra bad for Croatia, they would've put up a better fight. Italy looked terrible, they weren't even trying.

Competent win for Germany, but Havertz continues to concern me as the main striker

[Tiste Simeon]

As if we got through. Almost embarrassing really.

I'm thrilled of course but man they never make it easy.

Georgia currently drawing with Spain at half time. Imagine if they get through!

[Mentalist]

Tiste Simeon, on 30 June 2024 - 08:00 PM, said:

As if we got through. Almost embarrassing really.

I'm thrilled of course but man they never make it easy.

Georgia currently drawing with Spain at half time. Imagine if they get through!

Took a moment of sheer brilliance from Billingham, to spoil my beer run time. Had to wait an extra half an hour, and then I got stuck in line and missed the Georgian goal, only getting home at the the 25 min mark in the second game, lol

Now, if Southgate can make the team play like they did for those last 20 min or so before scoring the second goal ALL THE TIME, England might actually be fun to watch. Putting Toney on certainly paid off, maybe they'll have him start next game? The teams that are fun to watch are the ones that have their mid actually trying to win the ball when they don't have it.


Good showing from Georgia, but after they put that breakaway ball wide, I expected them to get scored on some more, and I wasn't surprised.

Sticking by with my prediction that the tourney winner will be decided in the ESP-GER quarterfinal.

Tomorrow's the long weekend with and the weather's supposed to actually be nice.
I'll probably catch the Belgium game, since I usually get up close to noon, but I have no intention of watching Portugal (I'll record it, just in case smth spectacular happens). Good luck to Slovenia and all, but I'll prolly take some time to actually enjoy the beach, since it's supposed to be sunny tom.

[ContrarianMalazanReader]

Mentalist, on 30 June 2024 - 09:20 PM, said:

Sticking by with my prediction that the tourney winner will be decided in the ESP-GER quarterfinal.

As long as it's not those fucking Spaniards it's all fine by me.

[Macros]

Ugh

I mean on one hand, superb from Costa

on the other, fuck what wasted chance to send the winker home early

[Tsundoku]

Oh my goodness! Very cheeky, but still funny.

https://www.news.com...2d5cf75ea380ba6

‘Genuinely disgusting’: Outrage over Cristiano Ronaldo TV label
There have been calls for heads to roll after Cristiano Ronaldo was done dirty in an unforgivable, two-word TV tag.

"Misstiano Penaldo"

[Mentalist]

I am dreaming of a GER-NED final....

Though a rematch between Austria and Holland (if Austria manages to beat Turkiye) should be pretty spectacular.

EDIT: Turkiye remains one of the most fun teams to watch.

I am a bit frustrated with how many scoring opportunities Austria wasted, though.

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 02 July 2024 - 09:03 PM

[ContrarianMalazanReader]

Fucking Spaniards. I shit on them.

[Mentalist]

Well, that France win was pitiful

Germany failed to score on all of their many opportunities in the OT, and eventually Spain punished them for it,

Lack of flourish or anything interesting in offense made the last game a pain to watch. The highlight was when Thuram won the ball at half-field, made a spectacular run to the touchline, and... had no one in the box to play the ball to, having to settle for a corner.
Ionno, they felt creatively bankrupt out there. With Mbappe being off his game and not getting his signature breakaways with goals, I don't know what they are playing for.

Well, let's see how England and Netherlands do tomorrow

EDIT: and Canada manages to beat Venezuela to get a rematch against Messi & co in the Copa America semi-finals.

Not the cleanest game, way too many chances in the 1st half we didn't finish. This game absolutely didn't need to go to PKs.

At the group opener against Argentina Canada lost 2:0, but it was a fairly even game. Hopefully they can have another decent showing on Tuesday night.

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 06 July 2024 - 03:21 AM