The Euro 2020 Thread

Isslander

Isslander

Gordon's alive!
3 August 2003
Iceland
Liverpool
We have a major football tournament starting tomorrow. Euro 2020 in 2021, like a reverse PES release or something, of course courtesy of Covid-19.
Speaking of Covid, this was just maybe not the best time to spread the tournament all over Europe, but it might not matter too much. Sweden and Spain are both dealing with cases within their squads, and now UEFA have insisted that Ukraine change their kits - a day before the tournament starts - That must have been a hell of a phone call they got from Putin. I decided to throw a thread in here, but as the title suggests, the hype levels for this thing seem to be below the floorboards.

Anyway, here is the schedule:
euro2020-fixtures-CET-scaled.jpg

Painful for Iceland to drop out against Hungary, being in that group of total death would have been something. I often support the underdogs, but I kind of hope that Hungary get trounced in this one.
 
My favorites are France, Belgium and Portugal for the Cup.

Do someone know where I can watch the matches here in germany? It seems that dazn only bring highlights from the matches.
 
Have to say I'm really looking forward to it and also very much the Copa America (which for once is actually available on a channel I can watch, the last couple of tournaments or so have been stuck on a minor pay channel). I always try to watch every match of an international tournament. I generally can't get interested in international football through the qualifiers as the groups particularly in Europe are largely predictable before they even start, but the finals I always enjoy.

I have to add that usually the enjoyment is in spite of England's performance rather than because of but I remain in hope :LOL:

I've got a sneaky feeling for Italy (@Madmac79 - how do you feel about their chances?)
 
mattmid said:
Have to say I'm really looking forward to it and also very much the Copa America (which for once is actually available on a channel I can watch, the last couple of tournaments or so have been stuck on a minor pay channel). I always try to watch every match of an international tournament. I generally can't get interested in international football through the qualifiers as the groups particularly in Europe are largely predictable before they even start, but the finals I always enjoy.

I have to add that usually the enjoyment is in spite of England's performance rather than because of but I remain in hope :LOL:

I've got a sneaky feeling for Italy (@Madmac79 - how do you feel about their chances?)
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I have decent expectations. Pretty pumped about the game of tomorrow evening- we missed qualify for 2018 Worlds and even tho we were out in the quarters 2016 euros were filled with emotions, so I'm pretty hungry for it. Mancini did a good job in the last three years, giving this team an identity and some international credibility after the disasters of the previous coach (Ventura).. so, although I'm terrible at predictions in this kind of tournaments, I think we have the potential to do some road.

Regardless I look forward to the whole tournament as well.
 
Needless to say I'm incredibly excited. Little did I think that when I ran home from school 23 years ago today for the Brazil game in Paris that we wouldn't reach a tournament again until now!

I'm indifferent to most football now but love international tournaments. Double whammy with the Euros and the Copa America - I've taken the week off work!
 
Flipper the Priest said:
Double whammy with the Euros and the Copa America
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Love the Copa America, always seems to be an open attacking tournament, hopefully that's still the case as like I said I haven't seen it for 2/3 versions now other than an odd bit of highlights.

@Madmac79

I've also had a pound on Immobile @20/1 to be top scorer for a bit of fun. So a hat-trick tomorrow night wouldn't go amiss. :LOL:
 
Well, we did get to the semi of the World Cup last time out, so there’s some delusional optimism to be had imo lol

England are second favourites apparently which sounds mental, but on paper isn’t that crazy. We’ve got as good an attacking threat as any team I’d say. It’s our defence and Ronnie Corbett in goal that I’m more worried about.
Plus foden. With Gazza hair. What more could we want! 😀

It’s a real shame for me that haaland and odegaard aren’t there. Would have loved to have seen if he could do it on this stage. Guess we will have to wait 12 months.
I have a little sneaky Italian feeling too btw.. good shout 👍

plus, the footballers won’t be taking it lightly, will they? This is one of the peaks in a players career. It might not be the world cup but it must surely feel like a biggie?
It’s going to be great… every two years they scrap like hell. if they’re lucky enough to qualify in the first place!
(Seriously though, no Norway?!😖)

Moments like gascoigne’s live in the memory forever. And THAT miss.

Eder’s heartbreaker in the Stade de France.

GREECE!

Some of the most entertaining, nerve shredding football gets played here and the world would normally lap it up. But if the hype has dwindled I’d say not only because the tournament has been delayed but also how difficult the past 18 months has been for folks all across the globe, it puts trivial things like sport and entertainment into perspective, and that certainly isn’t a bad thing.

But not for me! 😃 I’m syched! Haha

But in all seriousness, the current state of the world gives us all the more reason to unite, stick on The Lightning Seeds, crack open a case and enjoy Euro twenty tw... the tournament.
🍻

Roll on the Azzurri! 💙

just seen how long this is. Sorry 😂
 
Not much hype here in Belgium. Although this seems to be the now or never tournament for our golden generation, things don't look that good.
In our first match against Russia we will miss Witsel (our unsung hero and perhaps the most important player of the team), Eden Hazard and Kevin De Bruyne. Well we still have Courtois and Lukaku who has already scored 60 goals for Belgium. Also Tielemans was fantastic in the matches before the Tournament.
Things in the group stage seem pretty straightforward, but i'm not so sure because we play Russia in Russia, Denmark in Denmark and Finland in St-Petersburg. So our 3 opponents have (almost) a home match.

I honestly can't see another country winning it than France. For me Portugal are second favourites if Cristiano behaves as a team player (big if, that). IMO Italy are underestimated and Turkey are dark horses.

My second favourite country will be Scotland. I hope they can beat England. English football fans have been laughing for decades with Scotland and so i want Scotland to win that match.

But let's be honest, having this tournament now and spreading throughout Europe is madness during a pandemic. Football is crazy, UEFA are crazy...we're only in for the cash (Frank Zappa).
 
I feel that the somewhat low hype level is a tendency of the past 10 years getting more and more visable.

The money makes football more predictable to watch each year. Teams playing matches like buisiness meatings.
(Euro 2016, Worldcup 2018) And now after a year without attendence, the prospect of a worldcup in Quatar. Well...
At times I almost feel ashamed following football or maybe the word betrayed is better.
We've grown used to it I guess.

I think Portugal will win it again. Past two decades they reached the semi's almost each euro's
Then you have the narcistic drive of Ronaldo. Never saw a player who's ego defy the laws of graffity before. (Inzaghi came close)
I see them do it again.

Italy will be the most fun to watch but loose against a France or Portugal.
I don't know where Mancini found his passion for attacking football... It will pay off in Quatar.
For now Italian tears will contrast that ugly away kit.

With Ronaldo winning it again Messi must win the copa America.
Just to keep things in Balance.
 
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After being almost done with professional football before Covid, I found my way back a bit during all the lockdowns. Very ironic when you think how crappy games are without spectators. But like most, I didn't have much to do and was happy to have something to watch.
Now I'm really looking forward to the Euros, just like I've always looked forward to all tournaments. The Saturday after next, some friends are coming, we'll have a barbecue, drink beer and watch football all day. One of the things I always associate with tournaments in the summer. Will be probably one of the most fun days I will have had in over a year.

I don't expect too much from the German team, everything has to be perfect against France and Portugal if anything worthwhile is to come out of it. But I don't really care how the team does. In Germany, many people have distanced themselves from the national team since it became more and more of a plastic product through stupid social media and marketing campaigns.

Since I was born and raised very close to the border with the Netherlands, and my mother-in-law also has Dutch citizenship, I also root for the Dutch a bit.
Otherwise, I'm very happy for Scotland and their fans. And I'm also rooting for Italy, as always. The 1990 World Cup in Italy really got me into football back then and I always like to think back to the time when Italy was the promised land of football. That's a little bit of football romanticism that I've retained till today.
 
I'm also keen to see how Ukraine do, huge outsiders but they did finish above Portugal in their qualifying group so they must have something about them.

Looking at their results they seem a bit of a strange team, drawing 1-1 in France in the recent WC qualifying match yet losing 7-1 to them last year. Then they have 1-1 results against Kazakhstan and Finland, not suggesting much but they drew and beat Portugal in Euro qualifying so a real mixed bag of results. It does suggest they can pull a result out when least expected but also struggle to beat opponents they perhaps should be beating. Maybe being in one of the weaker groups (on paper) won't actually help them if that's the case. However they must have a chance of getting out of it surely? And if they do they have shown they can come up with a big result.
 
mattmid said:
I'm also keen to see how Ukraine do, huge outsiders but they did finish above Portugal in their qualifying group so they must have something about them.

[...]
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Yea it seems Sheva make a good job as coach.
 
I am also interested to see Italy, seems they have been off their game for a while, never won the Euros either, if ever there was a time for an unexpected team to grab the glory, this might be it. Finland having their... first appearance at a big tournament? Will be interesting to see how they do. Sweden would have been a lot more fun with Zlatan there, and Denmark has never really been my cup of tea in sports since they won it in 92, that was pretty amazing.

Belgium though, they really do have win something soon, they have a mad squad of world class players but never seem to make it all the way.
 
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Carles P. said:
My favorites are France, Belgium and Portugal for the Cup.

Do someone know where I can watch the matches here in germany? It seems that dazn only bring highlights from the matches.
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ARD & ZDF are broadcasting most of them, also Magenta TV streams all. Magenta TV also has the exclusive rights to a few 15:00 games.
 
Not long until kick off. Thank god they delayed this by a year. Can you imagine a tournament of this prestige and grandeur, in a beautiful summer played in closed doors?? Perish the thought. UCL was already tragic enough.

It does feel like an eternity since a major tournament, And that's just because of the staggered extra year. But the Euro fever and marketing campaigns make this feel extra special. Let's enjoy this one for what it is before the guilt of next years corrupt world cup gives us all unease.
 
Incredible atmosphere. Aso pleased to see the flags hanging from the rafters. They always used to do this in the FIFA tournament games but never real life. Not since 86 or 90?
 
MafiaMurderBag said:
Incredible atmosphere. Aso pleased to see the flags hanging from the rafters. They always used to do this in the FIFA tournament games but never real life. Not since 86 or 90?
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A toy car bringing the ball to the referee... I'd like a atmosphere like the 86/'90's.

Italy looking decent. but when on the wings getting a bit predictable.
Inverted wingers facing 11 counter happy Turks.
I'm hoping for a quick return of the classic winger.
 
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Italy really good once they had their first goal in. Ylmaz didn't get a lot of service but he looked painfully slow at times. First half was dull but the 2nd one quite entertaining.
 
Volswagen cleaning theire image with the innocence of a toy car, great marketing.
I take it the"driver" is a proffesional to avoid the next scandal...
 
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Wonder how much VW paid to do that? Absolute nonsense but there you go, that's modern football for you.

Really enjoyed the game though and Immobile off and running for my tournament top scorer bet so that's nice too. Always find it ironic that he has such great movement given his name. :D
 
Turkey planned exhibition matches against Belgium and Wales but the team was not allowed to these countries due to Covid-19 restrictions. The inverse, Northern Ireland refused to come there due to covid-19 so we had bad quality of exhibition matches (Moldova, Guinea, Azerbaijan). It was clearly present yesterday. Italy is the worst matchup possible. I hope we make a comeback there, but history says we never won our first matches at big tournaments.

also Merih should be benched against other group stages. he can quickly get emotional and aggressive.
 
Denmark:

Kasper Dolberg,

During the 2016/17 season there emerged a new group of talents among the youth ranks at Ajax.
Abdelhak Nouri, Mathijs de Ligt, Frenkie de Jong, Donny van de Beek, I could go on and on...
they were considered to be the byproduct of Johan Cruijff's last efforts in football.

One of them was Kasper Dolberg. A winger turned striker that joined from Silkenborg the year before.
Now 18 years old he made his first appearances in the first team.
Totally unfaced he showed a touch that I hadn't seen on a Ajax striker for a long time.
Touch combined with gracious balance and a keen eye for his surroundings.
Being sportsmanlike trough and through he immediately became our fan favourite.
He helped Ajax reach the finals of the Europa League netting 6 goals that tournament.

(Playing PES I always turn down the commentary sound.
Though I rememder them yapping about something with "A delicate chip"...
Dolberg has that Delicate chip, one of his trademarks)

After this season Ajax changed coaches two times and Abdelhak Nouri suffered permanent brain damage impacting the whole club.
Dolberg didn't felt the trust of his latest coach ten Hag as he lost his spot to new signing Dusan Tadic.
Despite his proven talent Ajax sold him to ligue 1 club Nice for 20 million Euro. (Turning down a 50 million bid from Monaco the year before)

Now playing two seasons at Nice he intents to leave the club.
This summer I really hope he'll show his class earning him a transfer to the biggest leagues.
(I hope he'll join Leeds a perfect combination or Lyon as replacement for Memphis Depay reuniting with his first coach Peter Bosz.
Anyway keep an eye on this guy as he has the potential to be one of those big surprises this tournament.~

 
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shumway said:
You can subscribe Magenta TV for 10 Euros for 4 weeks and download the Magenta App on a fire TV stick or directly on your smart TV, if it has that app.
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If my LG OLED Webos TV would have an App for it, I would have thought about that but not available. Watching an ESPN Stream now for the Wales match.
 
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