Euro 2020

[EJG1980]

Well done England! Not pretty or exciting for most of the match, but got the job done. Muller will have a few sleepless nights about his miss when it was still 1-0. So glad Kane finally got his goal, hopefully it spurs him on for the rest of the tournament.

Massive chance for England to get to the final now: Sweden or Ukraine in the quarters and Czech Republic or Denmark in the semis. A set of fixtures you'd have taken all day long before the tournament started. Let's hope we take advantage.

[QualityChimp]

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[prinnysquad]

I still hate the negative, slow, scared tactics. But you can’t argue with a win and another clean sheet. Well done to the players for the fight. Grealish added the spark. We must try to play on the front foot with people like him, Foden and Sancho. Put Sweden/Ukraine to the sword.

[fallenangle]

Yeah, the England game was indeed yet again dominated by some really boring, long passages of slow, dull play. Same old stuff, then it suddenly all came alive and you wondered WTF they hadn't being playing like that earlier. Good result and very pleasing in the end but might have been very different if Thomas Muller had put away that almost unmissable chance.

Ukraine next.

Surprised it wasn't Sweden but they messed up a really bitty match, had a player sent off and then exhausted themselves and the Ukrainians (potentially helpful to England) with that half-hour of extra time. Then they give away a goal a couple of minutes before it would have all come down to the lottery of penalties. Tough.

[EJG1980]

C’mon the Swiss, let’s have another turn around and another giant killing!

Gah, as if that was a red card.

That’s a shame, twice the Swiss had the advantage in that shootout and ended up losing it. Ah well, no giant killing this time.

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Excellent match between Italy and Belgium, especially the first half, some really high quality football from both teams.

It’s Such a shame that Spinazzola got injured, he’s been so good in this tournament, it’s a big blow for Italy. Massive bad luck for poor Nacer Chadli too, horrible to see him injured within a minute or so of coming on.

Really looking forward to the semi-final between Italy and Spain, should be another great match with a bit of luck.

[Nu-Eclipse]

Italy unbeaten in 32 matches. Are they the tournament favourites now?

As for Belgium, this is surely the end for this "Golden Generation"? The best crop of players they've produced in my lifetime (I didn't see the Belgium sides of the 1980s), they've been together for a LONG time at all levels of international football and have had four senior tournaments together, but they've failed to come close to winning anything. I'd imagine that this group will start to get broken up now. Vermaelen, Alderweireld and Vertonghen are all in their mid-30s - that's gotta be it for those three now, surely? And that's not even mentioning others like Dries Mertens and Axel Witsel...

[fallenangle]

Kiss of death mentioning Swiss attacker Breel Embolo as a player Spurs should look at - he too was injured early on in the match and subbed.

Worst set of penalties I've seen in a long time.

Yep, Italy v. Belgium game was good but Belgium were hugely unlucky not to at least force extra time. Romelo Lukako messed up an easy chance and they had other ones where they should have done better.

If England manage to beat Ukraine I expect a meeting with Denmark in the semi-final. That could be interesting too but Italy v. Spain is indeed the game that, on paper, should be the one most likely to be an epic encounter.

[EJG1980]

Italy unbeaten in 32 matches. Are they the tournament favourites now?

As for Belgium, this is surely the end for this "Golden Generation"?

Yup, Spain have looked at bit flakey in a few matches, not watertight at the back and misfiring strikers, I think if both teams play to their current best then Italy will win, so I’d make them tournament favourites too.

Agree about Belgium, you’d expect them to decline over the next few years. Even De Bruyne is 30 now (or he will be later this year).

Kiss of death mentioning Swiss attacker Breel Embolo as a player Spurs should look at - he too was injured early on in the match and subbed.

So you cursed Embolo and I cursed Spinazzola, we should stop mentioning players! At least Mikkel Damsgaard escaped unscathed today after I mentioned him to you the other day.

Decent match between Denmark and Czech Republic without ever exploding into a classic, and it was getting a bit attritional by last twenty minutes. I think Denmark just about deserved to win it, they made better use of their first half dominance than the Czech Republic made of their second half dominance.

England up next to see if we can earn the right to face the Danes….

4-0 at the mo, I think even England couldn’t mess it up from here

Very well done England. I’m not a big fan of Southgate, but credit where it’s due, he got it spot on tonight. Quite a few very good performances from various players too, Harry Kane might have found his goal scoring touch at just the right time. Denmark up next!

[teddymeow]

Luke Shaw just been substituted so he can go and leave a poo in a bag on the manager's desk at the Stadio Olimpico.

[fallenangle]

Excellent win for England, particularly in the second half they played like they had been let off the leash. So maybe the earlier, mostly ****, performances were Southgate deliberately pacing the team for a long run in the competition. Do I believe that? I won't say.

The physiological boost that a 4-0 win should give us means I have a bit more belief we might actually get to the final. But meeting, as I predicted it would be, the dark horses: Denmark in the semi-final is likely going to be tough. Hope it is a good game whatever happens.

[EJG1980]

What a fantastic semi-final that was. The best I’ve seen Spain play all tournament, such great passing moves, excellent counter attacking from Italy, the tension of extra time and penalties, just a really high quality match.

Either side would have been very tough to beat in the final, but Italy it is. England vs Denmark up next

[Nu-Eclipse]

What a fantastic semi-final that was. The best I’ve seen Spain play all tournament, such great passing moves, excellent counter attacking from Italy, the tension of extra time and penalties, just a really high quality match.

Either side would have been very tough to beat in the final, but Italy it is. England vs Denmark up next

Agree with all of that.

Spain have got to find a true top-quality striker though, Morata just isn't the one. He looked nervy as fvck walking up to the spot - you knew he'd miss.

Hats off to Bobby Mancini - 33 matches unbeaten and counting with Italy is a cracking record. Whatever happens on Saturday, he has thoroughly revived Italian football after the despair of not qualifying for the World Cup in 2018.

If England v Denmark is half as good, what a game that'll be!

[EJG1980]

Spain have got to find a true top-quality striker though, Morata just isn't the one. He looked nervy as fvck walking up to the spot - you knew he'd miss.

Yup, if Spain put on the same performance but had someone like David Villa or peak Fernando Torres up front, there’s a decent chance they’d have made the final instead of Italy.

[wheelaa]

There's a lot to really like about this Italian team.

But then I remember the last 10 minutes of the QF with Belgium.

And Immobile.

Bunch of filthy, yet also brilliant, and brilliant at cheating, cheats.

[Nu-Eclipse]

Bunch of filthy, yet also brilliant, and brilliant at cheating, cheats.

Yes, because no other teams in the tournament have been cynical at any other time in any way, only the Italians.

Sorry, it just really grinds my gears when English fans (not necessarily you) start getting on a high horse about what is right and wrong about how teams behave on the pitch, especially when England are/can be as cynical as anybody!