Portugal would still need to beat Germany or France to win the Euros. If they do fairly, they deserve this cup. That is how I see it.
I believe Beckenbauer decided to slow down after the big match against Holland. They went back to the German way and the German way has been very successful. So why not? England suddenly wake up against the Germans. Perhaps, they saw their main rival in football.. Actually, they wake up after falling behind to Cameroon. That semifinal match was not bad for the pressure and drama alone. Argentina had been playing negative football throughout the tournament. I did not watch the Italy-Argentina match. I was happy to see Italy gone. Normally, I cheer for the home team until the semifinal, but I have a dislike of the host reaching the Final. The Final? Yes, I was disappointed. I watched it in North America. Ron Atkinson was the commentator. He absolutely hated the Germans for their negative football. Hey, I thought Argentina never even attempted to attack and played for the PK shootout. I admitted that I saw the Germans in 1990 in a much, more positive light than the rest of the world because of Atkinson's biased commentary. Besides, Holland, Italy, etc all had a poor tournament. Luckily, for the next 26 years of my life, I never got him on my TV commentary.
If there have to be 24 teams, would it not be better to go straight from the group stage to the quarter-finals? The six group winners would go through, plus the two second-placed countries with the best record. Teams would have to play to win in order to progress. Had this system been in place in 2016, France, Germany, Italy, Wales and Poland would still have reached the last eight. Portugal, Belgium and Iceland would have been replaced by Croatia, Hungary and Spain. 5 points (a win and two draws) would not have been enough to progress and Belgium would have been eliminated on goal difference with 6 points. The group matches would be more open and interesting to watch, setting a positive tone for the rest of the tournament.
So 3.00 Pm France vs Germany , Now who is going to win? Portugal? are they rusty? Is France gonna beat them ? Just can't get enough on this red hot topic
Not sure who will win tonight (I think it's roughly 50/50), but Portugal has a big advantage in the finals having an extra days' rest. That will be especially true if this match goes to extra time.
I thought Italy was one of the big positive surprises in Italia'90. I really liked them because they played attractive offensive football contrary to their image and the Italians fans were great. That Italian team was special to me and a final Germany vs Italy probably would have given us a much much better game.
So Germany have always prevailed when they met the host of a World Cup or European Championship in a semi final except in 1958 vs. Sweden, but since have eliminated Belgium in 1972 (2-1), Yugoslavia in 1976 (4-2), Sweden in 1992 (3-2), England in 1996 (1-1, pens.), South Korea in 2002 (1-0) and Brazil in 2014 (7-1) but when they were hosts themselves, they always were eliminated in the semi final! (Netherlands in 1988, Italy in 2006 - in 1974 there was no semifinal).
italy played better football in the group games than the knockout stages of italia 90 i thought.. But yeah - i can remember being very disappointed by italia 90 overall...
No hate man. I wish Portugal the best of luck in the final. However, as a tournament it feels far less legitimate given how things unfolded. No disrespect but a 3rd place side that only managed three points in the group stage is in the final. One would expect the finalists make it there by beating the best sides first. It just isn't the case this time.
Thanks for the good luck. I understand what you are saying about beating the best teams but you are looking at it from a historical best teams view. Portugal Went through Croatia (Group D Winner), then Poland (Group C runner-up tied in points for first) and then Wales (Group B winner) to reach the finals where we will play another group winner. So we did finished in 3rd in our group but the beat 2 group winners and a runner-up who was tied in points for first. We will play another group winner in the finals. If this isn't good enough then scrap the group stage since beating 1st place teams isn't impressive, We beat the best sides in our bracket and in their groups and not historically good teams like Germany, France, Spain and Italy. We could of just as easily played Spain if they finished 1st in their group, then Germany if they finished 2nd in their group and England if they finished 1st.
Given how lucky France was vs Germany after being bossed the whole game, Portugal get another best case scenario and play France. It almost seems like this cup was always meant for Portugal...
But germany despite their dominance in posession didnt have a cutting edge, they had no focal point in attack..
really do not understand all this praise Germany are receiving. In the second half they were poor and in the first they were like a poor man's version of Pep's Bayern.
I like that German team because they scored 9 goals in their first two games. Italy was great, but too many 1 or 2-0 games. Back to Euro 2016, Germany just could not score. they went 180 minutes scoreless. They looked toothless against Poland, Northern Ireland, Italy and now France. But ACTUALLY, everyone looked toothless. Portugal, Poland(whom i considered to be very good), England, etc all did not look liked scoring in many of their games. France seemed to have found their scoring touch.
Most definitely. Italy tops its group over Belgium, Ireland and Sweden and gets Spain in the second round while England finishes second behind Wales and is rewarded with a virtual bye in the second round against Ice-...oh wait nevermind
Beating Croatia was definitely a great win. Yes Poland and Wales were group runner-ups and winners. However, given the nature of the group stage, it's not as if either had very difficult groups. It's not like prior Euros were the four groups were matched up the power nations very early on. Poland played very well vs Germany to their credit, yet still only needed to beat N. Ireland, Ukraine, and Switzerland to get to the QF. These are very average teams. Wales needed to advance against Slovakia, England, Russia, N. Ireland, and Belgium to get to the SF. England have been exposed as a very mediocre side full of many overrated players given that they lost to an Iceland side that were easily beaten by France. Slovakia were also crushed quickly by Germany 3-0. Belgium, like England, were equally exposed as they were convincingly defeated by Italy (2-0). As for the teams to have advanced along with Portugal out of the group, Iceland and Hungry were eliminated by France and Belgium by a combined score of 9-2. My hope is that Portugal take this gift of a road and make the final interesting. If it's not then it will cap a very very disappointing tournament that should cause UEFA to rethinking the format.
If Germany had Gomez, If Germany Had Gundogan, If Germany had Khedira, If Germany had Hummels, If Germany had Reus. If the game had a more fair referee. Well, in the real world there is no "if" France is the winner, so Congrats and good luck in the final. My Euro 2016 is officially over. A Long and boring 30days.
Not that France was as depleted, but they have played this entire tournament without Benzema and Varane...two players who almost certainly would have been starters if they were available. And don't forget the World Cup semi in '14 when Brazil missed Silva and Neymar. Just a part of major tournament play.
Germany certainly were the much more depleted side. After looking good in the first half, the Germans seemed to tire in the second half given that they played a long 120 minutes vs the Italians whereas France were fortunate enough to play Iceland. With that said, Italy were missing four of their starting midfielders (Veratti, Marchisio, De Rossi, Candreva) vs Germany. As we know they needed to overcome Spain before the QF while Germany played Slovakia. So it's odd because in a way it's understandable that Germany were too tired and missing fundamental pieces which hindered their performance, but they can't really use this as an excuse seeing as these two huge factors gave them a big advantage over Italy.