Haha the joke there is on England. They once again showed their colors in European competitions. Still I'd be in favor of reverting to the old format after these somewhat lackluster matches. The amount of games that are played every year now seem to be taking a toll on the players. By the end of the year and in these tournaments many look very fatigued.
There are so few if any great CFs in Europe. There seems to be such a shortage of them overall. It was very interesting seeing Copa and Euro this summer concurrently. European teams boast great organization, but the South American creativity is clearly missing. The play becomes very predictable.
Now the Big Sunday Portugal vs France Final of Euro cup 2016 in France. Cool, so excited to see this one on tv but don know whom to support here really!. Both Portugal & France have been lucky and have been brilliant on field.
Lewa, Ronaldo, Ibra, Muller, Mandzukic, Kane, etc. all failed. If you took away Ronaldo's three goals, the other five elite forwards scored a total of a single goal. Even Griezmann looked liked he was misfiring in the first few matches. The players are also missing penalties. Renato is probably the only, young attackers who impressed. Perhaps, Morata too.
Note sure if I agree with Morata, he scored two goals in a game Spain dominated, he did not do much agaisnt Italy or even Czech. It is interesting like you say that so many forwards had such a prolfic season for their clubs, especially Ibra, Lewa, Kane, Muller etc... but they have really struggled. Kane had a shocker, and other than not scoting gave the ball away a lot and his set piece delivery was terrible. I thought Lewandowski did not look to bad and still looked dangerous but jsut could not score except the Portugal game which gave him confidence, it would have been itneresting to see him against Wales to see if that acted as a big lift had Poland gone through.
Problem is if you "take away" ronaldo's goals Portugal don't progress from the group stage and exit the competition at the bottom of their group most recently his goals that you are hesitant to credit him with booked his country a place in a euro championship final Not to mention he was directly involved in 3 other goals(1 great assist and 2 deflected shots that resulted in goals) If you combine Lewa,Ibra,Muller together there goal involvement this euro's does not even come close to ronaldo's Ronaldo has had bad/average games but he has also had good games and he has scored the most crucial goals in Portugals journey to the final. His performance vs Hungary was arguably the greatest example of clutch performance in recent euro championship history(considering the position Portugal where in, the short intervals between Hungary scoring and Ronaldo responding ...it was pretty epic) A potential great final performance by Ronaldo against tournament hosts France would place his euro 16 amongst the best in the last 25 years On the other hand if on Sunday he is invisible on the pitch or if his general performance is mediocre I would say that his euro 16 has been a good but not great performance in which he contributed to Portugals progression to the final heavily but was kept quite for long periods in many games and had games that were very average if not bad (Iceland and probably vs Austria the first 2 games of the groupstage) Ibrahimovic,lewandowski and muller definitely didn't have better euro performances than ronaldo and a great final performance from him would have you eating your words
Ronaldo has been better than Ibra, Lewandowski, and Muller, I agree. But that's largely because they were all not good at all. Ronaldo could still have a legendary finals of course, but as of right now he is not even close to the best player of the tournament. Griezmann and Payet have definitely been better, for instance. And there's a slew of players who have been better while not having their team get as far (Bale, for instance).
Bale better than ronaldo in euro 16, based on what? Even discounting the fact that ronaldo has a final to play I just don't see how bale has been better Bale was very quiet almost invisible against Iceland and England .excluding his freekicks that many have called goal keeping mistakes. He was pretty good against the Russian national team(a team with an average age of over 30,extremely boring and frankly very weak defensively(England drawing with them was a disgrace) Against Belgium Ramsey ran the show and ashley Williams was the rock in defence.apart from the long ball pre assist that bale gave to Ramsey who assisted robson kanu's goal he didn't do much else Ronaldo vs Austria and Poland where comparable to bale vs England and Slovakia . Gareth bale did not have a game as bad as Ronaldo did vs Iceland but bale did not have a game that was as good as Ronaldo vs Hungary. Add to that ronaldo won the battle against Wales and against another world class player who is being heralded as Ronaldo's equal by the media(similar to how ibrahimovic way overhyped before the world cup playoff in 2014) If ronaldo has a good game in the final then then it's not even close As for Payet he was great vs Romania nothing special in the 2 other groupstage games,good vs Iceland and a non factor in the semi final.overall i would agree that Payet has probably had a better tournament but there is still the final to decide it. Griezmann has scored alot of goals in fact twice as much as ronaldo this euro's but remember ronaldo was denied two blatant penalty calls this tournament which where at least 2 times more credible than Frances penalty vs Germany with these 2 penalties that ronaldo most probably would've scored and his 3 goals he has already scored he would have 5 goals and 3 assists in 6 games in these euro championships compared to Griezmann's 6 goals no assists in 6 games even without these 2 blatant pens that he was not awarded ronaldo still has 3 goals and 3 assists in 6 games . moving beyond the raw stats in which they are clearly equal I would say that Griezmann has definitely posed a greater threat than ronaldo in these euro's and been a greater spectacle to watch but you have to consider ronaldo is now playing as a box striker for portugal while Griezmann is playing more of a free role on a superior team that averages way more possession than Portugal thereby giving him more chances to run and opposition defences,dribble players and ultimately score goals Whoever shines brightest in the final will have his tournament go down as the greater individual campaign.
I'm a bit shocked UEFA's own twitter feed got this wrong. France manager Didier Deschamps could become the first man to win the EUROs as a player & coach. #PORFRA #EURO2016 pic.twitter.com/QNdxgIlypR— UEFA EURO 2024 (@EURO2024) July 9, 2016 Berti Vogts (1972 / 1996)
Lucien Favre has come out saying -- the Euros? a horror show -- group phase was incredibly boring, a horror. the flood of games did not create any tension or excitement. and the quality was simply too bad -- criticizing the two big power houses Spain and Italy: "You know why Italy plays with three at the back? Cause they are incapable of defending with 4. And Spain isnt the Spain of old. Look at Sergio Ramos. He was so abysmally bad." -- responsible for the bad tournament? "When Uefa includes 8 additional teams then that this is good for business but it hurts the game. The players are at the limit. Especially on the mental level." -- Only team convincing was Germany: "all the players are on an incredibly high level, they defend well and in offense they look at many details. That Germany did not make the final is only because of the missing players." http://www.focus.de/sport/fussball/...ege-gegen-italien-und-spanien_id_5713945.html
Where would you rank Ronaldo in relation to Messi if he has an impactful and decisive performance today? ...... I can't believe @leadleader, you've gotten the other thread closed. 2nd or 3rd time you've done that. You were probably writing the mods to get it closed so I couldn't respond to your rubbish and expose your simpleton and ironic logic. See why I said "cop caller?" You're in the middle of a forum crying about injustice because your own tactics were being used against you and now there's a spotlight on the thread and over-moderation for nothing. Simply because you couldn't handle the heat. The name explanation alone....oy vey.. I won't respond here as I won't ruin another thread so I'll keep my discussion civil but you are lucky that thread was locked when I returned today.
I discussed this a bit with Carlito in the now-closed thread. I had Cristiano Ronaldo in my all-time top 10 prior to this tournament. Overall, in this tournament so far, Ronaldo has been below his normal level, IMO. So, currently, regardless of his team advancing, there's nothing in this tournament that would make me think Ronaldo is a better player than I had previously thought he was (in fact, if anything, it'd be the opposite). With a really great performance in the finals, I'd probably rank his overall performance in the tournament as being about at his norm. Generally speaking, performing at your normal level isn't going to make me raise you in my all-time list, because it doesn't make me think you're a better player than I previously realized. With that said, beyond just general quality of a player, I do think there's something to be said for players who have the mentality to step up in big matches. If he had a great match today, he would go up in that category in my eyes, even if this tournament as a whole wouldn't make me think he was a better player than I realized more generally. However, I'm a bit skeptical of the "big-match" thing because I think people end up putting huge importance on something for which we have a very low sample size of matches (especially when people just talk about big NT matches). So, while a great performance in the finals would move the needle for me in terms of my thoughts on Ronaldo as a big-game player, I don't put tremendous value on that, since I think it's subject to a lot of randomness. As such, a great performance today might move Cristiano Ronaldo up a spot or two from where he was in my all-time top 10 prior to this tournament, but not more than that. Considering that he was somewhere near the bottom of my top 10, though, this would not really change his standing in my eyes relative to Messi. What I can say is this: I think a great performance from Cristiano Ronaldo in this match would settle the debate for me over who is the better Ronaldo.
Fair enough, but oh no! I didn't know you were a Fakenaldo vs Real-Ronaldo guy. I have had just as many of those arguments as Messi/Ronaldo. I didn't know people today really still felt R9 has a case against Cristiano anymore.
More extremely bad luck for Ronaldo, no other way to put it. Claettenburgh encouraged a challenge like that from the opening whistle letting some very rough and questionable plays go on. If Ronaldo doesn't need major surgery or need months & months off then I have to think scoring shitloads of goals for Madrid is his main priority. This is probably disappointment talking as I'm sure if there was a way he could have stayed on he would have. It's just amazing that his legacy will be largely altered by a fuking West Ham midfielder that was subbed early on. Ronaldo's absence has little impact on this game as Portugal are just a stalemate type of team. Ronaldo touched the ball once in the first 12 minutes and you could see it was always going to be that game where there was going to be gulfs between possessions. The positive to take from this is Ronaldo will be more motivated than ever to reach another final with Portugal. If Sanches develops well at Bayern and Bruma comes along they could be a threat in 2018. This may keep him around until 2022.
I feel for Cristiano. I really hope he is is ok and this is not a major injury but he was in so much pain . It sucks
In a nutshell: positives: minnows playing exiciting, passionate football, peaceful tourney, more passionate fans than hooliganism all in all, new star players emerged negatives: Worst final ever, worst winner ever, worst tourney ever, most boring group phase, lopsided tournament table, dubious ref calls, injuries, tactical backfall into the early 90ies, slow-paced games, defensive, frightened-chicken tactics get rewarded
I didn't contacted any mods at any point in the past 2 days or so. Curiously, threads only get closed when I respond to you or when I respond to @AD78 who probably was the poster that contacted the mods, but it's funny how the thread remained open for as long as you were allowed to have your way with the thread. Moreover, the idea that I would "write to the mods" after I wasted my time debunking your main claims against me, does not make any sense. I debunked your claims, with actual evidence that proved beyond any reasonable doubt that your claims were false, and then the thread got closed immediately after @AD78 told me that I had insulted him yet again. The idea that I would want to see the thread closed, after I wasted my time writing a detailed rebuttal -- makes no sense. Oh and, Portugal just won the Euro Final without the need of a PK Shootout, and without Cristiano Ronaldo -- such bad luck that Cronaldo plays for a national team that can beat France in France, without Cronaldo on the pitch. This must be the first tournament where I cannot mention a single attacking player who was worthy of the Golden Ball. Was Pepe the Golden Ball?? He arguably did more than CR7... Cristiano Ronaldo's bad luck: Played poorly at the 2014 UCL Final = Real Madrid wins it. Played poorly at the 2016 UCL Final = Real Madrid wins it on PKs. Literally does not play the 2016 Euro Final = Portugal wins it. Very unlucky player. Does nothing in the Champions League Final. Does not play the Euro Final. Cronaldo will win the Ballon d'Or on the back of Finals where he either played badly or not at all... This type of luck is unprecedented stuff.