There might be some interest in discussing the tournament despite the fact that we're not participating. So I figured a thread was in order. France kicks off the opening match in 30 minutes.
I remember 2002 so well. I think it is the tournament that I followed the best of all tournaments. If you have no horse in the race, you can just enjoy the football for pure football reasons. In my circles Belgium is the new horse though. Some wanted to come over on Monday and watch the game. Thought that was funny. I myself will just support the team(s) that give me reason to. From 2002 I do remember SK and though Hiddink was a factor it were the people who went absolute mad that did it. Turkey did well back then. If the Czech and Iceland will do bad I will feel a bit worse. Still can't believe what happened. What a joke.
On TV they showed Belgium was by a mile the most liked. Outright bizarre is the immense hatred for Turkey and Russia. They happen to be the most unpopular teams.
You cant call me a troll when we already had further discussing of Holland's youth development. hup holland
I actually think this is pretty funny. The facial expressions are pretty spot on. What is Veltman eating? Pizza or bread with jam?
Guys I think you shouldnt take posts on a internet forum sooo seriously. If have any Jogi Löw hurts himself with a hairdryer jokes Im all open to them
Anyway that last ball deep from Romania reminds me that also counter teams must have good footballing defenders. The defenders are the first players often to collect after an attack and then there is space in a short window. The pas must be perfect. if it is, you can do some real damage.
I like Pogba. I like how those backpasses (2 or 3) are so sharp that they are nearly interceptable. However as they were not, the receiver can open up at the other side. See there is even a difference in type of backpasses. Not all are bad, if they then create real space and time on the other side to accelerate the game again.
Wow, wasn't that a major goal keeper mistake? Great cross by Payet but I think both Zoet and Cillessen save that one. BTW, what are the chances that Pogba stays at Juventus?
Was not surprised by the Payet goal. Saw him play a number of times for West Ham and he's capable of magic, best player on the French team. Weird substitutions by Deschamps. Kante reminds me of Clasie but of course he has the great physical ability that Clasie can only dream of.
Giroud put his elbow against the keepers arm right before wanting to grab it. The keepers arm was held off that way, the ball landed on Girouds head and it went in. Should the keeper have stretched that way and not go for the fists? I think that is a legit question.
I'm impressed by Pogba and Payet. Their long, through passes or crosses are simply good. Their work rate are top notch. What are our equivalences? How I hope Van Ginkel/Bazoer/Propper and Depay/Berghuis can become our equivalences. I assume that we will play counter attack the next time we play France in WC qualification.
A healthy Robben can cause havoc to French defense, especially putting Robben on the right to play against Evra.
Still weird that a country like Russia can not be better than they have been in history. I mean this is a country 3 times bigger than England population wise. Football is also a big thing there and if you look at Olympics Russia can get gold medals and such. Anyway, that control of Kayne in the corner was really bad. I was told that he is a good player for Spurs and such, but that is lousy technique. Rose (?) at the left back side makes me cringe. Other than that, some oke football. A goal could have happened. I think I will watch the second half as well.
Well England kept their streak alive of not winning an opening match in a Euro competition. Poor defending in added time. I think Hodgson is a worse manager than Blind. With two great strikers to pick from among Vardy, Kane, Sturridge, and Rashford, why not play a 4-4-2? Raheem Sterling was terrible and IMO one of the most overrated players around; lots of speed but that's it, no field vision at all - he would be a good player of Ajax! Smalling kept my faith as he always has at least one bad play per match and he performed ball watching on the goal.
Prior to the split up most of the good players for the USSR came from Ukraine and not Russia. Why is your best goal scorer taking corner kicks??? Did Janssen ever do this for AZ? I can't think of an instance where a CF took all the corners. Curious decision and one that was WRONG