UEFA Euro 2021 But Yet Somehow Still Euro 2020 Finals

  • Thread starter Famine
  • 651 comments
  • 26,329 views
France deserved winners against Germany tonight...

France had two great goals ruled out (correctly) for offside, but Germany offered little in terms of goal scoring threat... except for the winning goal, that is.
 
Hungary 0-3 Portugal
France 1-0 Germany

Portugal took 84 minutes to break Hungary down, a deflected Guerreiro shot and two Ronaldo goals gave Portugal a win by a flattering score-line, Hungary were pretty good and no pushovers, Ronaldo is now the leading goal-scorer in Euro history with 11 and has now scored in 9 consecutive major tournaments! :crazy:

A Mats Hummels own goal was the only goal of the game but France were the better team, Germany had most possession and shot but offered little up front, France were great on the counter and had a couple of goals ruled out for offside, Pogba was MOTM in a great performance from him.

---------------------------------------------------
So every team has played now, here is the schedule for the second round of group games starting tomorrow.

Wednesday.
Finland v Russia (2pm St Petersburg, BBC)
Turkey v Wales (5pm Baku, BBC)
Italy v Switzerland (8pm Rome, ITV)

Thursday.
Ukraine v North Macedonia (2pm Bucharest, ITV)
Netherlands v Austria (5pm Amsterdam, BBC)
Denmark v Belgium (8pm Copenhagen, ITV)

Friday.
Sweden v Slovakia (2pm St Petersburg, BBC)
Croatia v Czech Republic (5pm Glasgow, BBC)
England v Scotland (8pm London, ITV)

Saturday.
Hungary v France (2pm Budapest, BBC)
Portugal v Germany (5pm Munich, ITV)
Spain v Poland (8pm Seville, BBC)

All kick-off times are GMT, Big game for Wales tomorrow, I'm quite nervous!
 
A classic Colemanballs from the BBC already tonight, just as Turkey v Wales kicks off...

"It's pretty much all or nothing, unless it's a draw I suppose"
 
Great goal for Wales, they are dominating so far and could be 3 up already. Looking good for Wales qualification!

-

Crazy game so far...

Bale has just missed a penalty, and then nearly scores by blocking a clearance from the keeper.

Still 1-0, but could be 3 or 4 for Wales...
 
Last edited:
Great result for Wales and an entertaining match.

Marred slightly near the end with a bust-up in the Wales penalty area, but luckily it didn't ruin the game or anyone's tournament.

Wales should have scored several, but missed a penalty and a few excellent chances, so 1-0 made it a nervy affair near the end, and then a very late goal in injury time made it 2-0, and a well deserved win.

That said, Wales GK Ward made a brilliant save to keep it 1-0, and Ramsey (who scored the 1st goal) also made a crucial and brilliant last ditch tackle to stop a clear cut chance for Turkey.

Brilliant skill from Bale throughout, but loads of effort and skill from start to finish from the Welsh squad.

Superb stuff!!
 
Performance was so much better than against Switzerland, played more on the front foot, much better in possession, it should have been much easier with those chances we had and Bale's horrific penalty (must have thought he was playing golf!) it was nervy at the end Roberts gets the win!!

Two assists from Bale and he had a great game despite the pen miss, Ramsey excellent too. Turkey didn't really do a lot, apart form getting a bit fighty at the end!

So happy! :D:tup:
 
Finland 0-1 Russia
Turkey 0-2 Wales
Italy 3-0 Switzerland

Miranchuk with the only goal for Russia in a win over Finland just before half time.

Ramsey and Roberts with the Wales goals over Turkey...as mentioned earlier.

Italy very impressive again, Locatelli with two goals either side of half time and Immobile for the third late on, that's 10 games won in a row by Italy without conceding! And they are the first team through to the last 16, Switzerland were poor and lacked any fight or desire.

Wales are all but through in second place in the group, we play Italy in the last game on Sunday with Switzerland playing Turkey in the other game, its going to take a big defeat to Wales and a big for the Swiss for Wales not to go through.

That group looked tough and hard to predict on paper but Switzerland and Turkey just haven't turned up.
 
Since missing out on the last World Cup, Italy have been a completely different side under Mancini. Much more attack minded and they actually have players that can win a 1v1 rather than the old defend and counter. The fact that they are still keeping clean sheets is impressive as well.
 
3rd place in group A can still go through, very possible if Switzerland wins against Turkey, but unlikely if Turkey wins and ends up with 3 points. It all depends on the remaining 3rd places. Italy-Wales, both teams just need a draw to guarantee to go through to the next phase and keep 1st and 2nd place respectively. Italy will probably rotate half, if not the whole team, wouldn't be surprised if Wales did the same, no point in risking injuries and suspensions in a game that will have no competitive value.

Switzerland didn't play that bad. Ball possession was about 50/50, though they didn't create a lot of chances. Was quite surprised how they actually tried to play, and didn't park the bus against the strongest team in the group. Atleast for that, they have my respect. I wonder how Italy will fare against a much more dangerous team like France.

Turkey, which was seen as one of the dark horses of the tournament, has been way worse than expected. But, starting the Euro losing 3-0, certainly made the difference.
 
Last edited:
88GTA
Since missing out on the last World Cup, Italy have been a completely different side under Mancini. Much more attack minded and they actually have players that can win a 1v1 rather than the old defend and counter. The fact that they are still keeping clean sheets is impressive as well.
Click to expand...
We've played mediocre teams for 3 years, haven't been tested at all. Many Italian fans and pundits are overreacting. When this team plays a good team and is faced with adversity then people can make a measured assessment, but me knowing these players I see nothing to get excited about yet. Only positives I see are that they're getting the job done and theres no negativity or confusion under Mancini like with Ventura.

Also people need to stop this "like the old defend and counter" bollocks, because that's what it is: Bollocks!

Sometimes they were more defensive sometimes not. 1978, 88,1990, euro 96, all attacking teams, 94 balanced. 98 Not so attacking due to more of a rubbish coach than simply being defensive. Euro 2000 mostly counter attacking especially in the semi, but attacking in the final. 2002 not defensive, 5 or 6 goals scored and 5 disallowed in 4 games. 2006 not defensive at all even if not constant all out attack and the semi final was far from defensive or counter attacking. Its just tired regurgitated crap and its honestly funny to see British pundits parrot that crap when their teams have hardly ever been attacking teams.
 
Last edited:
Ukraine 2-1 North Macedonia
Denmark 1-2 Belgium
Netherlands 2-0 Austria

Yarmolenko continued his good start to the tournament with a goal and an assist for Ukraine, Yaremchuk scored their second with Alioski getting North Macedonia's goal, Ukraine also had a penalty saved, North Macedonia two losses from two and bottom of group C but can still qualify, however they need to beat Netherlands in their final group game and for the other result to go their way.

There was a pause on 10 minutes during the Denmark-Belgium game as a round of applause broke out throughout the ground amongst players, officials and fans for Christian Eriksen which was a lovely touch, Yuray Poulsen gave Denmark the lead after just two minutes following a poor pass from Denayer, De Bruyne came on at half time and then ran the show providing an assist for Thorgan Hazard and getting the eventual winner himself, Denmark had some good chances late on but it was Belgium who won and became the second team through to last 16, there was a third...

...and it was the Netherlands, a comfortable win over Austria with a Depay penalty in the first half and Dumfries with his second of the competition in the second half, Austria had some decent chances but overall were pretty poor.
 
I don't care how good the pundits are, ITV matches in a tournament are vastly inferior to BBC matches. Half time analysis is crammed into 4 minutes surrounded by 5 minute ad breaks either side. You get 1 comment and a couple of replays of very few moments from the match and no chance for the pundits to properly analyse the situations. I'd rather have 15 minutes drag than 5 minutes constantly crammed.
 
Sweden 1-0 Slovakia
Croatia 1-1 Czech Republic
England 0-0 Scotland.

Emil Forsberg penalty for Sweden in the second half in a mostly drab game, nothing happened in the first half at all.

A Patrik Schick penalty put Czech in front in the first half and Perisic with the equaliser in the second half.

Pretty dull affair between England and Scotland, England were disappointing with little ergency or desire and only one shot on target, Kane Foden and Sterling all poor, Grealish came on and looked lively but that was it, Scotland were great with a lot of heart and fight and were well organised, they deserve the point, Czech's top the group on GD, but on this evidence England won't make it far!

The first bad day of the tournament so far, two rubbish games, only three goals and two of them were penalties!
 
andrea
What a dark day for football.
Click to expand...
It wasn't intense enough to be dark. Grey and overcast at best.

Still, winner of this group has to face the Group of Death runner up, so maybe England thinking a bit 3D here.
 
Last edited:
Christian Eriksen discharged from hospital and was able to pay his Danish team-mates a visit their training ground.

Great news. 👍
 
England is literally in the best spot they could think of. 2nd place, needing just a draw to go through, against Czech Republic, who also just needs a draw. For England, staying in 2nd place is the best scenario, avoiding the 2nd place from group F. Big brain from Southgate, or straight up luck.
 
It certainly benefits England to be in 2nd and able to keep 2nd with a draw, but I don't think it was done on purpose.

England came closest to scoring in the game, and although they maybe didn't press as hard as they might have, I don't think the England team at any point played for a draw - even the last few minutes saw a goal-mouth scramble that simply wouldn't have happened if England had been instructed not to win the game.

It leaves Group D very finely poised.

By virtue of losing 2-0 to Czech Republic, Scotland now need to beat Croatia by a couple of goals to have any chance of 2nd place.

That said, Scotland needs to beat Croatia even just to get 3rd, but hopefully 4pts would be enough to progress.

It's a big ask though. 0-0 against England was perhaps an unexpected result, and Croatia still have to be favourites against Scotland, though with Home advantage, a full strength line up and a bit of self-belief, Scotland might just do it.
 
England-Scotland game last night got 19.5 million viewers, a huge number! And a 78% audience share which basically means that out of everyone who was watching TV in the UK last night 78% of them were watching the Football!

I have been looking ahead to see who Wales' potential last 16 opponents could be, we have put ourselves in a good spot with that win over Turkey if we stay second in the group then we will face second in group B (not the group winners, don't know why) which could be Finland or Russia, and if somehow we can beat Italy and win the group (highly unlikely!) then we will face runners up in group C which could be Ukraine or Austria.
 
Am I right in thinking Poland could be the first team eliminated today?

If Spain beat Poland, that puts Spain and Sweden joint top on 4pt, with Slovakia third on 3pt and Poland bottom on 0pt. Poland could still beat Sweden in their final game, but that would only put them level with Slovakia on points and the tie-breaker would be the result between the teams - which Slovakia won. That means that if Poland lose today they cannot finish anywhere but last in their group, which means progress isn't possible.
 
Good lord, Germany-Portugal is a bizarre match. Ronaldo scores to put Portugal 1-0 up despite only 10% possession, Germany score two in four minutes, with Havertz equalising and another own goal to go into the lead...
 

Latest Posts

Back