I'm surprised this douche showed up again. Portugal are champs. Germany eats sh*t. CAMPAO CARAHLO! SCHWEINHUND.
Yeah Italy seriously were amazing. They are the only team that actually knocked out two of the favorites in the beginning in fashion style. They put up a great fight against Germany, and let me tell you: Candreva, DDR, and Motta were all injured. Maybe doesn't sound much but keep in mind we lost Marchisio and Verratti even before the tournament.
Italy, Germany and France had something in common, Germany also missed 3 very important players in the SF: Hummels, Khedira and Gomez. Also Reus and Guendogan got injured just before the tourney. To be fair France also missed very important players before the tourney: Varane, Benzema, Lacazette. At the end of the day Portugal won the title, even without Ronaldo, and they deserved it! And to be honest, I feel very good that Portugal finaly won a title.
Yeah Germany as well were missing players. Hummels played against Italy. Yeah I know I think if Germany had all their players available against France, they would have won. Varane is not that good to be honest. Lacazette is level with Giroud. Benzema was a blow, but he might be suspended forever. Portugal I am not sure if they deserved it the most, but they found form at the end when it actually mattered the most, so I can't say they didn't deserve it at all, but I do think other teams maybe deserved it more. Just like in 2012 I am not sure if Italy deserved runners up. I think there were other teams in 2012 that deserved to be runners up more than us. France, Portugal, and maybe Germany to name a few.
I personally found the quality of the Euro disappointing. While Italy surpassed my expectations, and was one of the better teams in the tournament (along with Germany, France and - at the end - Portugal) none of the teams were close to being stellar. In that context, we saw teams that would ordinarily be rated as 2nd and 3rd tier in Europe often compete toe-to-toe with the more accomplished European sides and none among the various teams that competed in the tournament clicked in a way that would make anyone remember them even months (much less years) after this tournament was over. While I generally rooted for Germany among the top teams in this tournament, even the Germans failed to truly impress. France, despite being the hosts, could only muster moments were they looked good and they would then often fade and become rather ordinary. Italy did well but that was mostly within the context of having a rather ordinary group of players. Portugal, despite winning the tournament, was hardly a side anyone would savor. And such was the case with this Euro as a whole, with its most lasting memory the fact that a nation with a population of a few hundred thousand, namely Iceland, showing that -- contrary to what Ronaldo had mentioned -- they had not come to the Euro to just celebrate being there but were intent to make a mark for themselves in the tournament.
Yeah it was a little disappointing. Something I really thought that was missing was thrashings. The biggest was Spain 3-0 Turkey and France 5-2 Iceland. Too many wins by one goal.
I have to say this European Cup was disappointing but still a lot better than World Cup 2010 which I thought was a disaster.
2010 was a disaster...for Italy! Otherwise, except for Holland making the final with a side that was more accomplished in hacking than playing football, the tournament was alright. That tournament stamped the success of Spain's tiki-taka in football and will be part of the story of how that style of play (for Spain at the national level, and for Barcelona at the club level) became the new standard on how the game should be played for the period between the 2008-2012. And 2010 was the tournament were Germany showed a crop of young talented players who showed Germany can be exciting too and set the foundation for Germany winning the World Cup 4 years later.
I don't want to rain on your party, but Portugal's championship will be less memorable than Greece's in 2004. With Greece, there was at least a narrative on how a certain style might work against better teams and Greece winning the tournament was so improbable that by itself will make people remember that tournament. If Portugal had won the tournament with Ronaldo shining in the final, maybe someone would remember the tournament for that reason. But as it stands, Euro 2016 will be remembered by the Portuguese for a long time but by no one else!
I agree with the first part, not the second. Sure, Greece were amazing in 2004. Knocked France out, beat the Czechs, who were dominating that tournament, and Portugal in the final. Their set pieces were nuts. The relative lack of success in their history make their story amazing. But to suggest that no one will remember this tournament, but the Portuguese is nonsense. Iceland had a great story playing the same style of ball, the Welsh thrashing the Belgians after the Nainggolan screamer, Italy's amazing run (they were one of the best teams in the tournament IMO), the English losing, Portugal trolling everyone with a genius manager who had a plan for every situation, etc.
Did you happen to read the article from some ESPN guy? don't remember his first name, but last name Jones. You almost seemed to have cut and pasted what he said. The thing is, it's in the record books. Portugal could have won in style and they still would have been discredited. This Euro was Portugal vs the world, and in the end, winning without Ronaldo against the host nation, beautiful. I would also like to add, I will never forget England losing to Iceland, not only losing but not really even threatening. When 2018 comes around, I will read articles and hear commentary about how England could go all the way if they just piece it together. Meanwhile all the English commentators will speak about Portugal is a condescending manner, by the end we will probably make it further than them yet again. 2020 comes around, rinse repeat lather.
Why Portugal couldn't have deserved the title? 1- Didn't play entertaining football. A: Hardly a new feature of a tournament winner. The fact that the Euro was of low quality (according to some) was not Portugal's responsibility. Besides, I think there was a lot to remember from this Euro besides Iceland. Most critics are the kind of casual supporters who don't passionately follow any team. They are just used to following spectacular teams like Barcelona or Madrid. The truth is that the average quality of football in most leagues is not better than this. It's more about the fans, their passion, the uncertainty about the final result, and the struggle to win. Any supporter of a small team like me understands this. From this perspective, this Euro had great matches and atmospheres. It wasn't a Euro for the casuals, for sure. 2-Didn't win a match in the group stages. Anyone who saw Portugal vs Iceland or Austria and is intellectually honest knows that Portugal created more than enough goal chances to win at least one of those two matches and with it win the group. Only an uninspired Ronaldo prevented Portugal from scoring. And anyone that saw the match against Hungary knows that almost every Hungarian shot from outside the box was a goal. 3-Had the easiest path towards the final. First of all, Portugal only didn't play Spain in the last 16 because they lost to Croatia. This had nothing to do with the tournament's format. Italy could also have fallen into the easy bracket had Belgium lived up to the hype, and England was not there because it drew against Russia. Finally, is a path with Croatia (who beat Spain), Poland (who drew Germany), and Wales (who beat Belgium) that easier than Ireland, Iceland, Germany? Very arguable. These critics remind me of Game of Thrones and the talk about honour, like when Bronn wins the trial by combat, then someone says "you didn't fight with honour", and then he says "no, but he did". This talk is completely irrelevant, and is mostly used by people who are pissed at some external factor that has nothing to do with football. In Portugal's case, it's clearly Ronaldo and Pepe. I accept people who say that Portugal had the players to do better, but judging a team for employing its best weapons to win a tournament is idiotic to say the least. Many disagree, but I prefer to watch a match where I know that both teams are doing their best to win it, even if it ends in a 0-0 draw, than a match with many goals that is either one-sided or shows complete lack of discipline. For instance, I thought world cup 2014 was mostly poor from the tactical perspective, aside from Germany, Argentina, Netherlands, Costa Rica, and a few others. Some of these teams were the most boring to watch, but their matches always had tension and left me interested until the end.
Everybody and their mother wants to talk about how Portugal didn't deserve this Championship because they had the Easiest route to the final ever blah blah blah. Are we all supposed to pretend like France's Road to the Final was the Gauntlet of death?? France Faced: Romania (Grp. Phase) Albania (Grp. Phase) Switzerland (Reached Rd. 16) Rep. Ireland (Reached Rd. 16) Iceland (Reached 1/4 Finals) Germany (Reached Semi-Finals) Portugal faced: Iceland (Reached 1/4 Finals) Austria (Grp. Phase) Hungary (Reached Rd. 16) Croatia (Reached Rd. 16) Poland (Reached 1/4 Finals) Wales (Reached Semi-Finals) Other than facing Germany you tell me who had a more "difficult" path to the final...
Cool story bro. You came in here, talked a bunch of sh*t, watched your country sh*t the bed and players like Muller and Gotze sh*t the bed, and we became the champs. Chat sh*t, get banged. See you in two years.
Gawd it took you that long for such a weak comeback? BS trolls arent the ones of old anymore. Germany B would beat Portugal on any given day and you know it. When you cant deny it, troll mode is the only way to go.
Portugal only won one game in 90 min. Germany and Italy had a lot of injured players which allowed France to get through instead of one of Italy or Germany, which was easier for Portugal. I saw Portugal play vs Iceland and Austria, I know they had all the chances in the world, but still they couldn't score a goal. Croatia was under-performing and underestimated Portugal in the round of 16. If the same Croatia in the group stage turned up against Portugal, Croatia would have won. France wasn't that good of a team, but Croatia, Germany, Italy, and maybe Spain (not sure) are all better than Portugal, and if it weren't for the injured players of the Germans and Italians, and the tired Croatians that couldn't perform that day, Portugal would have been out.
Germany definitely have a good team and would most likely beat us but at the end of the day, Germany wasn't good enough to beat the French and Portugal was. I'm happy for you to keep claiming Germany is the better team but at the end of the day, we are the ones with the trophy. I'd rather have the trophy.
So no credit is given to Portugal's tactical ability to stifle the Croatian team that were one of the favourites for the tournament after their group stage fixtures? It was just because Croatia were tired. Some of you guys are delusional. Have you ever coached a team and do you understand anything about implementing a tactical plan?