Euro 2016

[Joe MacCarthy]

20 hours ago, ted said:

How is it not a bloody miracle? A tiny island placing players in the premiership and building a successful national team culminating in their current run at the Euros. That is plenty of miracle for me.

I don't think you understood my post, you left out the last line.

[BearcatSA]

This is a thought-provoking read

[ted]

5 hours ago, Joe MacCarthy said:

I don't think you understood my post, you left out the last line.

I don't think you understood my point that I consider it a longer-term miracle than simply this tournament.  The entire story of the national team which has culminated in the results we are seeing now is a miracle.

[Macksam]

6 hours ago, BearcatSA said:

This is a thought-provoking read

That guy is pretentious. Yeah, some games have looked really bad. However, a lot have been pretty good as well. He's not giving anymore meaningful analysis that we haven't thought about ourselves. Also, he's wrong about Belgium.

[gardencity]

Only just getting to see the Iceland/England game now on the pvr. Heard the entire tragedy on my car radio on my way to the lake. The words "rubbish" and "appalling" were used frequently by the radio crew. I say England deserve this result and it's been happening for 50 years now. They scored a tainted goal to win the World Cup in 66 and have basically done squat since then. Their style and tactics are ancient, I agree with Gareth Bale that they are arrogant, and with 48 million and the press breathing down their collective necks every waking moment, no wonder they soiled themselves and lost to a team with absolutely nothing to lose and the delight of being able to play vaunted England on a world wide stage. Good for Iceland, good for the professional coaches who teach their youngsters, obviously it is working and wouldn't it be nice if Canada took a page out of their book?

Time to move out of the past and into the future England, the empire is long gone, and you are an average footballing nation.  

[Unnamed Trialist]

On 28/6/2016 at 7:20 PM, TRM said:

Doesn't offend me at all. You may want to go to an ENGLISH soccer forum to get sympathy. None from me for those teams named above that take players who could have played for us.

On this board we are constantly being asked as a matter of fact to drop our pants and get rammed by English arrogance as a matter of simple fact. This is Canada's plight, the further we get away from it the further we'll get in the game. And I have no problem with English literature, music, countryside, humour, film, theatre, the character of people pretty well everywhere, the pleasantness of the place overall, not even the weather. Half my family came to Canada on British passports, I'm thrilled by most of what the country is about.

But it's the football, these stupid dipshits just don't get it. 

Overrated players who are taught to run around a lot because fans in Malaysia love that shit. Overpaid players too, including the lot of foreigners, few of whom seem to be able to actually improve in England, apart from improving the bank account. Overhyped league worse than NBA showtime at its worse, all about drama queen moments and peurile story lines and so little about playing a game in a way that is somehow entertaining beyond a mud-slinging fest and boot tackling. Some very decent talent which does not know what to do with itself, like bright children left alone uneducated. Shameless football ignorance being unable to understand how to play the game they invented, almost never playing in a way they understand how in different parts of a game you have to play differently, and do that together. Sad examples of grand old men of football managing the garbage who should have been put out to pasture decades ago.

On top of this, they actually think they have got the top second division in the world, and are offended when it is suggested they don't.

Edit: this is pretty well what most Spanish fans have been saying about the NT these days, though in the Spanish version of course.

[Bison44]

I've missed you, UT.  I'm glad you have recovered and are back posting.  

[Macksam]

That Vermaelen yellow card ended up being too costly....that is all  lol 

[Unnamed Trialist]

10 hours ago, Bison44 said:

I've missed you, UT.  I'm glad you have recovered and are back posting.  

I'll take that as a compliment and am happy to completey and naively ignore the lovely irony.

[BearcatSA]

After watching the beer league calibre defending by the Belgians yesterday, I'm looking forward to seeing how this big match between Germany and Italy plays out.  Any bets?

In 2006 I really liked how Lippi went for it in extra time with the subbing of attackers and getting the winning goal as opposed to playing for the penalties.  If a similar situation arises today, I hope Conte does the same thing.  Better from a neutral's point of view.   

In honour of the winner of this match, tonight's barbecue will be either hot Italian sausage or classic bratwurst.   

[BearcatSA]

Speaking of Conte, Canadian fans can once again get a chance to see his made in Canada hair

[aloyol]

33 minutes ago, BearcatSA said:

After watching the beer league calibre defending by the Belgians yesterday, I'm looking forward to seeing how this big match between Germany and Italy plays out.  Any bets?

In 2006 I really liked how Lippi went for it in extra time with the subbing of attackers and getting the winning goal as opposed to playing for the penalties.  If a similar situation arises today, I hope Conte does the same thing.  Better from a neutral's point of view.   

In honour of the winner of this match, tonight's barbecue will be either hot Italian sausage or classic bratwurst.   

The 2006 semifinal is one of the highest quality game I've seen in a WC. Great game and the OT was so exciting with Italy hitting the post twice and Buffon pulling an excellent save on Podolski. Grosso goal on a nice Pirlo pass to top it all.

Can't wait for this game. Should be a nice one. Really tough to predict a winner here...

[BearcatSA]

Good to see both teams in their traditionally coloured shirts, shorts, and socks.

[BearcatSA]

52 minutes ago, BearcatSA said:

Speaking of Conte, Canadian fans can once again get a chance to see his made in Canada hair

And compare it to Low's late 60s/early 70s coif!

[Unnamed Trialist]

9 hours ago, dsqpr said:

Absolutely sick of pastel green!

And the other day I was eating a hot dog and accidentally spilled mustard and ketchup down the front of my white shirt and suddenly realized it was now a Spain away shirt!

Quite a few Spanish fans have been saying that shirt was jinxed. Sort of thing they wore back in the 90s, really horrible must agree. I can't believe Adidas really designed that thing.

The real problem is that the players in it thought they could coast on being the on paper "best", and forgot how really hard it was to do what they've done for the last decade. To think  Spain, with half an effort more vs. Croatia, could have been on the other side of the draw and avoided all the mess.

[BearcatSA]

On June 30, 2016 at 10:59 PM, dsqpr said:

Good article and I agree with his main point that increasing the number of teams has led to more defensive football. However, paradoxically, I'm not sure that has made the tournament less exciting. I'm also not as sure as he is that Wales and Iceland would have qualified with only 16 teams.

Before the tournament started I was against the increase but the way things have unfolded has made the tournament very interesting.

Wilson's stock in trade is discussing tactics and he's really good at it, imo.  I thought his comments about the defensive play and counterattacking style that even some of the top nations (like Italy), let allow much lower echelon sides, use is pertinent to Canada's situation under Floro.

[Blackdude]

On 01/07/2016 at 1:59 AM, dsqpr said:

Good article and I agree with his main point that increasing the number of teams has led to more defensive football. However, paradoxically, I'm not sure that has made the tournament less exciting. I'm also not as sure as he is that Wales and Iceland would have qualified with only 16 teams.

Before the tournament started I was against the increase but the way things have unfolded has made the tournament very interesting.

Iceland would have qualfied if the tournament was with only 16 teams. I can't say the same for Wales, because they would have played a play-off tie.

[BearcatSA]

51 minutes ago, Blackdude said:

Iceland would have qualfied if the tournament was with only 16 teams. I can't say the same for Wales, because they would have played a play-off tie.

How so?  

[Ruffian]

Gotta do it

 

 

[BearcatSA]

39 minutes ago, dsqpr said:

Wales finished second in their group with 21 points and Iceland finished second in their group with 20 points.

We can only speculate what the qualifying format would have been with 16 teams but one possibility would have been 9 group winners plus 3 best 2nd place plus 6 other second place teams play-off for 3 remaining places (15 total plus hosts). Of the 2nd place finishers, Slovakia had 22pts, Poland had 21 pts (+23 GD), Switzerland had 21 pts (+16) and Wales had 21 pts (+7).

Results against the 6th place team in each group presumably would not count for ranking the second place teams but I can't be bothered to work that out! It looks as though Wales would have been in a play-off and Iceland certainly would have been so my original statement that I'm not sure Wales AND Iceland would have qualified with only 16 teams seems accurate.

Edit: And I now see that Iceland had a draw with the 6th place team in their group so they would have only lost 4 pts whereas others lost 6, putting Iceland in the top 3 second place finishers. Nevertheless, I'm still not sure Wales AND Iceland would have qualified!

Thanks, I see it now. 

[Blackdude]

59 minutes ago, dsqpr said:

Wales finished second in their group with 21 points and Iceland finished second in their group with 20 points.

We can only speculate what the qualifying format would have been with 16 teams but one possibility would have been 9 group winners plus 3 best 2nd place plus 6 other second place teams play-off for 3 remaining places (15 total plus hosts). Of the 2nd place finishers, Slovakia had 22pts, Poland had 21 pts (+23 GD), Switzerland had 21 pts (+16) and Wales had 21 pts (+7).

Results against the 6th place team in each group presumably would not count for ranking the second place teams but I can't be bothered to work that out! It looks as though Wales would have been in a play-off and Iceland certainly would have been so my original statement that I'm not sure Wales AND Iceland would have qualified with only 16 teams seems accurate.

Edit: And I now see that Iceland had a draw with the 6th place team in their group so they would have only lost 4 pts whereas others lost 6, putting Iceland in the top 3 second place finishers. Nevertheless, I'm still not sure Wales AND Iceland would have qualified!

I used the old format and dropped the 6th place team results. 

So, that's why I said Iceland qualified, they won GD against Slovakia. So, you have Iceland, Slovakia would be in. Now for the third spot Poland had +9, Wales +4, Switzerland +3. So Poland goes through. So, you have this draw for the final 3 spots. 

Seeded: Russia, Switzerland, Croatia, 
Unseeded: Romania, Wales, Albania

Could Wales beat Russia, Switzerland or Croatia in a playoff? Yes. They would be underdogs, that's for sure, but they beat the Dutch twice. I'm looking at teams that have beaten Dutch twice In the same WCQ/Euro qualifying home and away . The list is only two teams long. 

Czech Republic (2016)
Iceland (2016)

Now, you can say that it wasn't a great Dutch team, but still it's impressive.

[BearcatSA]

I see Portugal winning the Euros.  They're on a roll at the right time.  I'm not convinced of France's  defending and for all of Germany's depth they still rely on a few key guys currently affected by injury (Khedira, Gomez), suspension (Hummels), or form (Kroos, Schweinsteiger, Muller), but they have surprised me in the past, so we'll see.

[Vic]

Portugal's route to the final:

1.  Haven't won a game in regulation.

2.  Placed third in group behind Hungary and Iceland.

3.  Got to the knockout rounds from arguably the weakest group on goal difference.

4.  Beat #27 Poland in a shootout.

5.  Beat #26 Wales.

They could end up in the final without playing a team inside the Top 20 or winning a game in regulation.

 

[DJT]

43 minutes ago, Vic said:

Portugal's route to the final:

1.  Haven't won a game in regulation.

2.  Placed third in group behind Hungary and Iceland.

3.  Got to the knockout rounds from arguably the weakest group on goal difference.

4.  Beat #27 Poland in a shootout.

5.  Beat #26 Wales.

They could end up in the final without playing a team inside the Top 20 or winning a game in regulation.

 

6. Up to and including the quarterfinals (a total of 500+ minutes), have led for 24 minutes and have trailed for 64 minutes.

[BearcatSA]

2 hours ago, Vic said:

Portugal's route to the final:

1.  Haven't won a game in regulation.

2.  Placed third in group behind Hungary and Iceland.

3.  Got to the knockout rounds from arguably the weakest group on goal difference.

4.  Beat #27 Poland in a shootout.

5.  Beat #26 Wales.

They could end up in the final without playing a team inside the Top 20 or winning a game in regulation.

 

It's often not how you start a tourney like this, with a total of seven matches in this span of 25 days or so, but how you finish.   Right now, they've ridden some good fortune and have ground out results but be it through determination and other factors, they look like they are on a roll.