Football - Euro 2020 Championship

russpm

FarleyUK said:

russpm said:

Great semi final. Both teams were immense and can hold their heads up high.
Soft free kick for the first goal and soft penalty….so a soft goal for each team evens things out I guess.
Its great to reach a final so the pressure should be off the England team to some degree. They just need to go and enjoy it now.

Not sure I understand - the Danes scored from a ‘soft’ free kick?

Were you watching at half speed? That was a belter!

I meant the free kick decision was soft. Everyone had hold of everyone.
Agree, cracking free kick

russpm

Yes indeed, thanks

rze99

Teetonetal said:

mikeyrob73 said:

2 balls on the pitch 
very soft penalty 
Kane had more dives than Pickford 
only one game away from Wembley 


the cards have all fallen very favourably for England. 

Thought Delaney was the best player on the pitch  last night and Denmark were probably just edging it till he went off. 

Feel for Denmark, to go out to such a shitty penalty has gotta hurt. 

Sport is built on lucky moments and dodgy decisions. The key is to take advantage of them.

Winning free kicks has become an art form for the modern player. As have cynical fouls to Stop counter attacks early. They are all at it and unless the governing bodies stamp on it, it won't go away.

I actually think the refs in this tournament have tended to let fouls go if the fouled team is retaining the ball. I think the games have been much better for it.

Sterling’s a great player anyway but his falling over schtik is exemplary and it’s worth having in the side just for that. I don’t know how many penalties and free kicks he wins but he must be too if the list. 

Bridgehouse

Creed_Clicks said:

Bridgehouse said:

Creed_Clicks said:

@Bridgehouse fair enough. Apologies.

No worries mate. Don’t get me wrong, Italy will be hard - very hard. Do we have enough to win? Maybe. 

More than maybe. No reason why England can't win it. Home crowd too with the ale in before the game. I just felt last night you had so many chances, all over Denmark, but possibly were not clinical enough? (I'm far from an expert on the game) Italy seem like the type of team who could get 1 chance, score, and close up shop.

I think if the Pen hadn't have happened then we would have pressed and got the second anyway. Southgate clearly decided to camp up after it (taking Grealish off). Denmark were spent by extra time, well probably towards the end of normal time as well.

My big take away from last night was fitness in the England squad. The stamina was immense - Sterling would give Mo Farrah a run for his money. In the last 10 mins of extra time England looked like they were still playing in the first half. When you look back over the first half you can see how much England made Denmark work during the first 60 mins or so. 

Italy looked a bit pooped during extra time against Spain - I'm not sure we can tire them out like Denmark, but fitness does seem to be one of our strengths

Bridgehouse

rze99 said:

Teetonetal said:

mikeyrob73 said:

2 balls on the pitch 
very soft penalty 
Kane had more dives than Pickford 
only one game away from Wembley 


the cards have all fallen very favourably for England. 

Thought Delaney was the best player on the pitch  last night and Denmark were probably just edging it till he went off. 

Feel for Denmark, to go out to such a shitty penalty has gotta hurt. 

Sport is built on lucky moments and dodgy decisions. The key is to take advantage of them.

Winning free kicks has become an art form for the modern player. As have cynical fouls to Stop counter attacks early. They are all at it and unless the governing bodies stamp on it, it won't go away.

I actually think the refs in this tournament have tended to let fouls go if the fouled team is retaining the ball. I think the games have been much better for it.

Sterling’s a great player anyway but his falling over schtik is exemplary and it’s worth having in the side just for that. I don’t know how many penalties and free kicks he wins but he must be too if the list. 

He's so quick and so active that I suspect he attracts the odd stray foot or leg. Does he make something from nothing now and again? Sure he does - but there's been a few times in the tournament where it's felt like it's been the only answer the opposition have to dealing with him

CHRISB50

Creed_Clicks said:

I listened for a bit on 5 live, then tuned into local tv where I am (Spain). 

My best mate’s bro lives in Barcelona. 

He sent a video video clip of the Spanish commentator when Kane scored the penalty rebound.  

He did the, “Gooooooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaalllllllll” thing.

Our commentators are missing a trick. 

Hattigol

It doesn't really get mentioned - whisper it - but Kane is the biggest diver of them all.....

scrumhalf

Anyone who has watched football for the last few years will acknowledge that about 50% of penalties given these days are soft. We live in an age when "foul" has been replaced by "contact".

And for those of the soft pen/two balls on the pitch etc, etc, what about the way the Danish wall moved before the free kick was taken? That's against the laws of the game, but neither the ref nor VAR picked it up.

Snap

I get heartily sick of reading and hearing negativity and cynicism from England fans about what is our greatest national team achievement in a lifetime, more.

We are in the final.

Get the heck in boys!

We cut the Danes to pieces from the end of the first half onwards. Going forward we were lightning quick in the final third, light on feet, fleet of turn, skilled. Sterling, Mount, Kane, Shaw, were a joy to watch the way they cut through the Danes. Some of the passing through tight spaces was superb. 

I thought it was a clear penalty, the ref thought so, VAR supported the decision. Guess what naysayers? That makes it a penalty.

We stepped up to a good few tests last night.

Denmark were up for it, aggressive and physical and non too shabby with the ball. We went a goal down and almost instantly responded with strong attacking moves. Brilliant. From then on we more or less controlled the game, forced tactical changes that resulted in them using up three subs quite early and all at once. Those subs made little difference as well, so the pressure to use the rest of the subs mounted. That resulted in them having no spare when they got hit by injuries.

I thought we were good value for the win last night - we had way more shots than them and long periods of possession. The string of passes towards the end of the game was fantastic. They couldn't get near us for long periods of play. The Danes ran out of puff and we didn't.

Sunday - easily it could go either way. I don't think it's a given for them or us. For me, Italy's form prior to this tournament is largely irrelevant - they played a load of poor and mediocre teams for the last 2 years.

The form in the group stage is irrelevant for both of us too. It's the last 3 games that I think matter most. Italy laboured against Austria, and they ground it out against a toothless Spain. But they played well against Belgium. Conceding in all 3 games too. England have been comfortable all the way through the last three games except for the first half against Denmark. Conceded one goal. Scored 8 goals too. That's good form. Goal diff = 7. However, you could say Italy's opposition has been tougher.

So, Sunday could be a hard game all round. We have had no injuries, no weak links in the team, a superb squad full of options and a lot of momentum. Southgate has been so good all the way through and has got just about every decision spot on. Tactically, he's delivered a masterclass.

I think we will edge it by one goal. 

UnclePsychosis

Hattigol said:

It doesn't really get mentioned - whisper it - but Kane is the biggest diver of them all.....

He's terrible for it, totally agree.

I actually have no problem with players diving, it's part of the game these days.

What grinds my gears is the hypocrisy from our journos and pundits over it. Foreign player dives - dirty cheat. Kane or Sterling dive - he's clever and anyway the defender brushed his ankle/shoulder/shirt sleeve so what are we all complaining about.

Its the same with coverage of club football too. Match of the Day etc. all love to cover johnny foreigner diving for Norwich or West Ham but completely ignore the home grown heroes who do it week in week out.

I also find it really funny to see the desperate justification for how Sterling really was fouled, honest guv. Just own it lads - getting a dodgy decision in your favour is absolutely glorious, no need to tie your knickers in knots pretending otherwise. 

Dodge

Some clown shone a laser into Schmeichel's face at the penalty.

Hope they find him / her and ban them for life.  What a total tosser.  Apparently the 'fans' also booed the anthem.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/57763001

sev112

Bridgehouse said:

The correct answer is BBC for the pictures (no adverts) and R5L for the sound. 

How do you co-ordinate the sound ?

Bridgehouse

UnclePsychosis said:

I also find it really funny to see the desperate justification for how Sterling really was fouled, honest guv. Just own it lads - getting a dodgy decision in your favour is absolutely glorious, no need to tie your knickers in knots pretending otherwise. 

Well, I was undecided on whether it was a penalty - the TV angles didn't show enough for me. 

However, Mourinho was interviewed on Talk Sport and he thought it definitely wasn't a penalty, so my minds made up now - 100% a penalty. 


*Ahem*

Bridgehouse

sev112 said:

Bridgehouse said:

The correct answer is BBC for the pictures (no adverts) and R5L for the sound. 

How do you co-ordinate the sound ?

Do you mean timing? You can do it on the R5L website, they have links to both and they are timed. 

If you mean in the same room then R5L goes through SONOS from the BBC Sounds App

Bridgehouse

Dodge said:

Some clown shone a laser into Schmeicel's face at the penalty.

Hope they find him / her and ban them for life.  What a total tosser.  Apparently the 'fans' also booed the anthem.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/57763001

Might be difficult to identify who that was, depends on if there's CCTV/Cameras on the area it came from at the time, but even then it's gonna be a toughie

TeleMaster

If it was in his eye he didn’t seem to make any bones of it during or after the goal. Surely he would of had he noticed it?

In any case, if it was a fan it’s shameful. 

UnclePsychosis

I came across the laser/face thing in other sports quite a few years ago. I'm surprised it's taken this long to appear at a major football game.

Hopefully its a one off and doesn't inspire morons to duplicate it. 

Bridgehouse

TeleMaster said:

If it was in his eye he didn’t seem to make any bones of it during or after the goal. Surely he would of had he noticed it?

In any case, if it was a fan it’s shameful. 

It might have been a random Czech Republic fan trying to get their own back… who knows?

Creed_Clicks

scrumhalf said:

Anyone who has watched football for the last few years will acknowledge that about 50% of penalties given these days are soft. We live in an age when "foul" has been replaced by "contact".

And for those of the soft pen/two balls on the pitch etc, etc, what about the way the Danish wall moved before the free kick was taken? That's against the laws of the game, but neither the ref nor VAR picked it up.

This. A goalkeeper will always get the benefit of the doubt. A touch? Free out. I think players are cute enough to know that if there is contact in the box, go down, you'll get the penalty.

ewal

proggy said:

UnclePsychosis said:

proggy said:

It's those poor Jocks I feel sorry for.

That's another month's heroin money they'll have to waste on an Italy shirt....

Into a major final for the first time in forever, first thought is Scotland.

Absolutely fucking tragic. 

It wasn't my first thought and it was just a joke. Nothing 'fucking tragic' about it.

I wonder about this site sometimes. Post a joke, and someone gets upset about it. Fucking tragic.

It was a fucking tragically bad joke. Your choice to post it though.