The Euro 2020 Thread

It would be a real shame if Italy won it by cheating. Especially as we all know they are good enough to win without it.
If they want to try and win this way by conning the officials then fine, but what i would do first, is take a scouring pad to the trophy and remove all of its shine and lustre. Then say there you go.
Winning is nice but how you play the sport while winning is equally if not more important. People will respect your win more.

EDIT on the flip side because they have a rep for faking it. What about if they get a legitimate call for a penalty and the ref just waves play on thinking "yeah, whatever, get up" and even VAR are like "what again!!" forget it. :LOL: oh! what a tangled web they could weave.
 
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I think it's down to the culture of what you were brought up upon.

That stuff the Italians do,it's also a very South American thing.
We as innocent "no this is not how the beautiful game should be played...order please" people don't get that.

Is it right/wrong?
Depends on what side of that fence you were born I guess.

It's like lily white Karen learns how to play the blues,but the blues that Albert down in the delta plays, well she'll never understand and accept/learn that.

Wish my team had some furbo last night leading 1-0 with three min to go,then conceded in the 94+ instead of milking the clock by any means necessary.

It is what it is,and it's in every league/team/country whether we want admit it or not.

The only act of sportsmanship and true behaviour I've seen this championship was between Denmark and the Czecs.
A Czech got injured and actually rolled over the line to get treatment,not stopping the play by being on the pitch.
I've seen every other team do "fall on the ground/get cramp and magically get the sponge treatment and be up in 2 min" and back in play fit as a fiddle again.
Every team.
So high horses?
Get off them please
 
You're correct -- it's all about culture

I remember an interview by Maradona, where he said that he could only score the Goal of the Century because he was playing against England, who he called "gentlemen" -- anybody else would have just tackled him, hard, like Portugal on Pele in 1966

PS: I was just joking though, by the way -- I don't like Italian "football" myself either

PS2: Do I think we're gonna win? It depends -- we don't have both wings covered now
 
rockstrongo said:
The only act of sportsmanship and true behaviour I've seen this championship was between Denmark and the Czecs.
A Czech got injured and actually rolled over the line to get treatment,not stopping the play by being on the pitch.
I've seen every other team do "fall on the ground/get cramp and magically get the sponge treatment and be up in 2 min" and back in play fit as a fiddle again.
Every team.
So high horses?
Get off them please
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This is why I never have any sympathy with the opposition players when they are complaining at a diving player. I always think that's exactly what you'd do mate so stop whining.


@Ciais We don't :)) I think everyone agrees they've been the best team to watch so far by a mile, it just got a bit desperate with the play acting the last 10 minutes the other night. I think whenever you watch as a neutral you have that sense of fair play about you but when it's your own team although you might not like it you do overlook it.

Spinazzola is going to be a huge loss, that was a cruel injury. I hope Mourinho doesn't curtail his forward play when he's back fit next season. The way he's played his tournament that injury might have cost him a big move too. I think him and Maehle of Denmark have been two of the standout players for me in the tournament so far.
 
mattmid said:
This is why I never have any sympathy with the opposition players when they are complaining at a diving player. I always think that's exactly what you'd do mate so stop whining.
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I agree, it's like the saying "my kids and other kids"
Meaning my kids wouldn't do that,other kids would.

I obviously hate when other teams milk the clock any means necessary,but when we do I'm fine with it.
If people get all mental about Italians,often because of prior history,they should always look at themselves,did my players have excruciating pain and get some spray and up again?
Did my GK try to psych the penalty taker?
Etc etc etc.

If the Swiss are pissed off at immobile taking a dive Vs them?
I would be more pissed off at my own CB waving his arms at the ref and not paying attention to Italian nr 2 ,losing marking and have him score
 
Greece (c. 2004) and Italy (c. forever) are signs I get mellower as I get older. I loathed the way Greece slugged their way to the Euros, and the histrionics of Italian players for club and country. Now, far less so.

Today I marvel at Greece's win and how they did it. They owe no shame or apologies. You can only piss with the cock you've got and they did it to spectacular results. The only feeling now is jealousy.

As for the theatrics I now see that to Italian football what physicality is (albeit less so) to British football.

Ciais said:
I remember an interview by Maradona, where he said that he could only score the Goal of the Century because he was playing against England, who he called "gentlemen" -- anybody else would have just tackled him, hard, like Portugal on Pele in 1966
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Stunned he said this because the English players kicked and elbowed the shit out of him in that game. If they weren't trying to injure him they could've fooled me.

The video is there to prove that but Peter Snowflake Shilton being a bellend may be dictating my emotions on the matter.

20210702_102233.jpg

Elsewhere, the new ball for the semis and final can GTF:

-wzbfb0.jpg

Unless it's snowing, footballs should be white. I'll die on that hill.
 
@mattmid Since our game the other night i have not heard anyone in the media comment on Walker the other night, have you? its seems that the rest of the many positives from the game have glossed over it.
Also is it me? but why do i get this De ja vu feeling about Walker :THINK:Has he messed up before for England like at the last world cup?
This is the only reservation i have regarding team selection, Southgate has proved us wrong with his selections so far and long may he keep doing it, But i do feel Trippier to be less accident prone.
 
Flipper the Priest said:
Greece (c. 2004) and Italy (c. forever) are signs I get mellower as I get older. I loathed the way Greece slugged their way to the Euros, and the histrionics of Italian players for club and country. Now, far less so.

Today I marvel at Greece's win and how they did it. They owe no shame or apologies. You can only piss with the cock you've got and they did it to spectacular results. The only feeling now is jealousy.

As for the theatrics I now see that to Italian football what physicality is (albeit less so) to British football.



Stunned he said this because the English players kicked and elbowed the shit out of him in that game. If they weren't trying to injure him they could've fooled me.

The video is there to prove that but Peter Snowflake Shilton being a bellend may be dictating my emotions on the matter.

View attachment 108790

Elsewhere, the new ball for the semis and final can GTF:

View attachment 108791

Unless it's snowing, footballs should be white. I'll die on that hill.
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After listening to a lengthy pod and seeing the documentary about Diego (my favourite player of all times) the amount of pain that guy played through every game for Napoli,having his special guy flying in once a month or so giving him cortisone shots.
Remarkable player.
Also being more a less a prisoner in his apt all those years
 
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I don't like scenes and fake loss of times in football, and I certainly do not condone it for my teams (even if I'll be hypocrite to say I'm begging for my team to push the clock in a 87th minute of a 1-0 for us derby.. lol). Anyway, you want to bring rules to punish those, even retroactively, bring them. I'd sign it right here.

However, giving you probably didn't start to follow it in the last month, you'll agree that's the state of football as a whole.. this righteous fury as I've read it here or days ago just directed at Italy is a bit silly in my eyes. You google/youtube them and you'll find plenty of career diving by, just two random ones, Kane and Sterling.. if it's an uncomfortable matter of principle, if you feel your stomach turns, no dignity in it etc. etc. then maybe in all honesty you should reconsider your complete involving in a sport that permits those to Italy and to every other team, your own included.
 
Madmac79 said:
this righteous fury as I've read it here or days ago just directed at Italy is a bit silly in my eyes. You google/youtube them and you'll find plenty of career diving by, just two random ones, Kane and Sterling.. if it's an uncomfortable matter of principle, if you feel your stomach turns, no dignity in it etc. etc. then maybe in all honesty you should reconsider your complete involving in a sport that permits those to Italy and to every other team, your own included.
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I agree, but no one is only saying that about Italy, it's just that in light of what the cameras picked up in Italy's last game.

Even in the premier league thread people complain about cheating. I don't even want to see "Gamesmanship" from my club team either. When teams cannot win with football alone, it kinda begs the question, should they be playing Professional football?

I also chuckled as you used the word sport.
In the whole meaning of the word, what we have discussed here has no business what so ever to do with sport. In fact it is anti-sport if honest. ;))
 
Buzzy said:
I agree, but no one is only saying that about Italy, it's just that in light of what the cameras picked up in Italy's last game.
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Ehhr, I don't know. Definitely not the impression I got from many posts after the Belgium game. But maybe I had the wrong one.

The rest of your post I 100% agree with anyway :) . I wonder how many "sports" we could still call "sports" if we exclude the ones in which athletes somehow exploit the rules tho.
 
Buzzy said:
@mattmid Since our game the other night i have not heard anyone in the media comment on Walker the other night, have you? its seems that the rest of the many positives from the game have glossed over it.
Also is it me? but why do i get this De ja vu feeling about Walker :THINK:Has he messed up before for England like at the last world cup?
This is the only reservation i have regarding team selection, Southgate has proved us wrong with his selections so far and long may he keep doing it, But i do feel Trippier to be less accident prone.
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No. I did see a comment in a match rating but that's all. He had the wayward pass and I think two or three times he was beaten or lost his man. To be honest I don't think he's a great defender, but his incredible pace gets him out of trouble 99% of the time.

Yes I'm sure he made a mistake that cost us a goal at 2018 (or was it 2014?)

Yeah he keeps making selections where you think, hmm but it's working out every time so far. Still waiting to see what happens if we go behind though. Let's hope we don't! Historically of course our defence usually ends up costing us when we meet the better teams.



Madmac79 said:
You google/youtube them and you'll find plenty of career diving by, just two random ones, Kane and Sterling..
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Generally Sterling only enters the box to find a leg to fall over, particularly for City. I've lost count of the times he's charged in towards the goal line and does that sudden stop in the hope that the defender chasing him catches him. Of course he's hardly the only one too. Vardy is another with his throw my leg into the defender's leg move.

And I think what gets massively overlooked is that defenders are actually at it more than attackers. Slightest touch when shielding the ball and they are down.

You can usually tell a dive as well because they bring their legs up so they land on their knees, you don't fall like that if tripped.

Can you imagine some of these players at home? Catch their ankle on the leg of the coffee table and they're down.

What was the game in the Euro's, I forget who it was now (Czech Republic maybe?), the player actually stayed on his feet and tried to score and VAR thankfully (and the first time I've actually seen them do it) gave the penalty. Finally someone rewarded for a bit of honesty.

Foden did something similar near the end of the season in the Premier and they didn't give a penalty and it does make you realise why they feel the need to go down on contact.
 
mattmid said:
And I think what gets massively overlooked is that defenders are actually at it more than attackers. Slightest touch when shielding the ball and they are down.
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Man if that's something I hate as well since years and years. In my first seasons following football I used to get so mad watching defenders shielding the ball and search for the contact themselves only to be awarded a foul. It's indeed hardly ever talked about, but I think it generally plagues the competition maybe more than attacking ones, because referees are much more inclined to whistle when they see a minimum contact on who defends and it often gives them a free get out jail card, breaking the pressing and consequently the flow of the game.
 
mattmid said:
What was the game in the Euro's, I forget who it was now (Czech Republic maybe?), the player actually stayed on his feet and tried to score and VAR thankfully (and the first time I've actually seen them do it) gave the penalty. Finally someone rewarded for a bit of honesty.
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Yes, yes, yes! I tried to recall which match this was, watched 4~5 games highlights. Can't really recall, maybe someone against France??? :)

Imagine that me, if i were a referee, i would be an anti-penaltista. I would only call penalty kick, if the defender had the intension to "kill" someone, nothing more, nothing less. (although i know the rules are more strickt than this, just a personal POV)

In this play, the player did a brave run, got a heavy contact but stayed standing due to the momentum, cause he had the passion to score or the "fair-play" attidute.

Even me that i am so on against soft penalty kicks, my first thought was "Why, why he did not fall, it would be an 1000% PK!!!!".

Also the controversy of VAR , cause i was sure it would be retroactive revised through VAR, what would happen if in the next moment the opponent team would be awarded a Penalty kick?

The referee would stop the game and give one retroactive PK to 1st team and another active PK to the second team? :)
 
@slamsoze Ah yes maybe it was a Swiss player? Could be wrong but I have a feeling the penalty was saved as well. Ah was it the one for the chance to go 2-0 up? You'd think this happened five years ago not last week :LOL:
 
Listening to a pod on Greece 2004.
Insane tbh.
No national team has ever had a bigger upset than the Greeks had in 04.

Some people claim Denmark in -92,but that was a tournament with 8 teams,plus one didn't have to qualify (Sweden) since hosted it.
And Denmark had a brilliant squad back then,but since only 7 got to qualify they fell short.

Anyway, Greece first world cup tournament came in 1994 (didn't know it was that late) and hosted by USA,and since there's so many Greek immigrants there,they had a lot of different appearances at various Greek social clubs coming over,also a lot of pride back home for the championship.

The result for Greece in the 1994 world cup?
0-4 0-4 0-2.
It's still the worst world cup result by a European team ever.
When ranking Greece on a international stage (Asia Africa etc ) they aren't,but still the worst performance by a European side in WC history.

So this is the team Rehhagel takes over in -01.
A team no one cares for at all,all football passion went in to the league, rivalries got worse and worse, national team..no one cared.

Though reports said that it was 4 coaches applying for the job,only two got an interview.
Rehhagel and Nevio Scala.
Scala wanted €1m a year,Rehhagel €400k,so the job went to Otto.

Anyway,first game.
Finland away,lost 5-1.
Otto described the Greek team and effort as the worst he have ever seen,no one cared,no one listed to instruction,some even told him they wouldn't play the way he had decided,and this is the first game.

Also,Otto had a German born player in the squad translating for him ,but he pretty much gave up,since there were mainly insults thrown at him,and mutiny with in the squad Vs him.
The interest for the national team back then was so low,the game wasn't even broadcasted.

So 3 years later,with that start,and that outlook from his own players, Greece wins the 2004 European championship.
To me that's completely insane.
On a national team stage,nothing beats that.
 
rockstrongo said:
Anyway,first game.
Finland away,lost 5-1.
Otto described the Greek team and effort as the worst he have ever seen,no one cared,no one listed to instruction,some even told him they wouldn't play the way he had decided,and this is the first game.

Also,Otto had a German born player in the squad translating for him ,but he pretty much gave up,since there were mainly insults thrown at him,and mutiny with in the squad Vs him.
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I wonder how many of that first squad went to the Euro's?
 
@mattmid from the starting 11+3 subs he kept 7. But the other 7 were expelled for ever by Rehhagel and some of them were very good players like, a few Olympiakos players, and:
-Dabizas of Newcastle,
-Akis Zikos (then AEK latter AS MONACO , 2004 CL finalist),
-Georgatos (Inter Milan LWB),
-Machlas (Ajax, previously Vitesse, European golden boot winner of season 97-98).

I assume if i find the full 23-squad, something similar will be the analogy.It's difficult to find accurate sources. From transfermarkt 2001 page, i assume he also expelled Lambros Choutos (Inter Milan-Olympiakos), Alexandris (Olympiakos) and others.
 
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So here we are again, semi time. Tonight's game i am going with 2-1 to Italy.

Like i said the other day, the Spanish dodged a bullet, (in the shoot out) and i feel the Italians will have too much for them.
 
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