So Poland win! Shaqiri may have scored the goal of the tournament, but it does not mean that they deserved to win. Poland knew how to take penalties and defended well enough to win the game! Will they advance to the semi-finals? I say no. Can Northern Ireland or Wales advance to the quarter-finals? Well that is what we will find out in 2 hours. For the time-being, let the tie begin!
Wales has had the better chances, but I wouldn't be surprised if this game went to penalties as well!!
Hey Guys, Sorry I haven't been on here for a while. I had a lot of issues to deal with, but now I can start making predictions. Switzerland 1-1 Poland (4-5 on penalties) (Already Happened) Croatia 4-1 Portugal Wales 1-0 Northern Ireland (Already Happened) Hungary 2-2 Belgium (2-4 on penalties) Germany 3-1 Slovakia Italy 2-1 Spain France 1-1 Republic of Ireland (4-3 on penalties) England 1-2 Iceland Poland 1-3 Croatia Wales 1-2 Belgium Germany 0-2 Italy France 2-1 Iceland Croatia 3-2 Belgium Italy 3-1 France Croatia 1-1 Italy (2-1 in extra time) Croatia to win the tournament.
Well at least we got Croatia in the Final!! Hopefully they will have a full squad, cause 6 of their starters have yellow cards!! And Portugal made 4 changes, 3 in the back but keeping with the hothead Pepe, who also have a yellow card!!
Well Wales deserved it in the end, Northern Ireland just were not as good and Wales were smarter at decision-making and had that extra bit of quality to go through to the quarter-finals. Will they be able to beat Hungary or Belgium though? Hungary, yes although they would put up a fight, but Belgium, no although Wales would put up a fight with them too. But as it stands, Croatia vs Portugal looks like a much tighter match than we expected. Or so we say it is... (Ronaldo or Perisic might have something up their sleeve)
The Poland - Switzerland was a pretty good game, but the other two today have been terrible. The group phase didn't have many enticing encounters either, a lot of bunker ball... Only Hungary - Portugal was very memorable... past that...
The quality of football at the Euros so far has been utterly mediocre, especially in comparison to the Copa America...
I believe tomorrow's games will be more open!! Especially the Germany-Slovakia and Hungary- Belgium games!!
The Copa America has also been low on quality. I have no idea what you were watching. A couple of teams bashing the others to a pulp does not make good football. There were 4-5 quality teams at the Copa, the rest were poor, while Mexico disentegrated.
Don't know about that my friend, cause as shitty as my Brazil(and other teams)played it makes me wonder if we would've made a 3rd place team if we were invited to play in the Euros!!
Yeah, and that was a mistake. Italy got crushed 0-4 against Spain. And Portugal looks exhausted today. Two days rest is not enough.
The final third in this game doesn't exist. Creativity is nil. And when you think it's going to finally be a play, lame passes are made to give it away.
Right well I will just take back everything I said about Croatia now. It was absolutely the most diabolical football match I have watched this tournament. No confidence, no stamina, no ability to control the ball, no ability to kick the ball, it was just depressing. At least Portugal were not too bad, their defending was good and they got the goal they deserved because they were the better team, but as for Croatia, any negative word in the dictionary that is deeper than bad is what I would use to describe Croatia's performance. Shocking, clueless, diabolical, abhorrent, just disgusting to watch. I may be critical, but it is understandable when fans are spending hundreds of euros to watch these football matches, so you need to have high expectations for that reason. My guess would be because of how many flies were flying around everybody which is fair enough because even I would get distracted by them, but even so I have to be honest. It was a torture session rather than a football match which we will just have to hope not to witness tomorrow, the day we find out who will play Wales and the day that we find out what France and Germany are capable of in this Euro 2016 knockout stage!
Well now that Croatia are out, I am actually lost on who I think will get to the final, so what I am going to do is wait until Hungary vs Belgium is played and then I will make my prediction on who will get to the final. For me, I do not think any of them are good enough to get to the final, but this is why I will wait until I have seen Hungary vs Belgium.
Poland is decent, but not for the long haul. That said Portugal is waiting to be battered. Portugal is riding their luck and have not shown anything so far at this tournament. But they are eking out results. Wales... honestly can't say anything after todays game. Bale and co are pretty dangerous and they can score goals. All in all... from the five teams left in this bracket any can make the final and it shouldn't be any surprise. And once they make the final the stage will be set for a new champion...
Did you watch their games in the group stage, particularly against Austria? They were Top 3 countries in possession and shots on target in the group stage. They were anything but lucky.
That is a good way to put it, although I do not think Wales are that good either. I would most likely pick Belgium to get to the final. I do still think they can come back and get better, and they proved how good they can be when they beat Ireland 3-0. They can be really good as long as they perform like they did vs Ireland. However what I am scratching my head over is how inconsistent these teams are, but if Belgium can impress me vs Hungary, then I will tip them to get to the final. To be honest it is all there for them to do in my books for I was not that impressed with Poland who barely won by penalties although Shaqiri's goal was just on a different planet, Wales who only won by an own goal that could have been prevented from someone like Boateng and Portugal who only managed to beat a Croatian team out of fuel by a little header even a 5 year old could score. I can predict the semi-final though, I predict it will be Poland vs Belgium. Poland impressed me in the match until extra time when they were getting tired but for me it is more about how you finish than how you start. They played good football, they passed really well, they defended really well, they were brilliant in penalties, now all it takes is for them to drop Lewandowski. Yes, I said it. Lewandowski just cannot play by Poland's style of play with all that passing and moving around while Milik stands out a lot more, and I can tell because Lewandowski played like he did not care. I saw him slouching on the wing, I saw him not making incisive passes he could have made and his playing style revolves around finishing everything. I would drop Lewandowski for he needs to realise that this is not how you play as a striker and that he is not bigger than the Poland national team and Milik is trying harder than he is. They had all that possession and all those shots on target yet they failed to score vs Austria and could not beat Iceland or Hungary. I am sorry, but even as a Portuguese fan, you have to admit they have not been that amazing and have been a bit lucky as well. I am an England fan yet I think we are one of the luckiest teams on the planet and I am even predicting Iceland to beat us because of how useless we actually are even though you are better than us but still. Portugal are an average team, not bad but not good. However I do not think you are as good as Poland when you look at how much of a fight they put up with Germany in their group and how they beat Switzerland compared to how you beat Croatia. Okay Poland switched off a bit at extra time, but to be fair their penalty taking is very good, everyone gets a little tired while extra time is going and that goal by Shaqiri was the next level.