I stand corrected....... Portugal 3-5-2 Goalkeeper Diogo Costa#22 =23 Defenders Pepe#3 =41 Ruben Dias#4=27 Diogo Dalot#5 =25 Nuno Mendes#19=22 Joao Cancelo#20=30 Midfielders Bruno Fernandes#8=29 Bernardo Silva#10-29 Vitinha#23=24 Forwards Cristiano Ronaldo#7=39 Rafael Leao#17=25 Substitutes Rui Patricio#1 Jose Sa#12 Nelson Semedo#2 Joao Palhinha#6 Goncalo Ramos#9 Joao Felix#11 Danilo Pereira#13 Goncalo Inacio#14 Joao Pedro Goncalves Neves#15 Matheus Nunes#16 Ruben Neves#18 Diogo Jota#21 Antonio Silva#24 Pedro Neto#25 Chico Conceicao#26 A little bit better but they are still too old at 28.54 years of age. I can't ever remember seeing a plyer start in a major tournament who was Over 41 since the days of Dino Zoff. Maybe Roger Milla at 38 and 42 in 1990 & 94 respectively, but that's about it.
Well Albania needed to win against Croatia. A draw means they have to beat Spain to have any chance to advance. You will not make the knockouts with only 2 points or less. 3 points you have about a 33% chance if history is anything to go by. 4 points is the magic number to be certain of going through in third place. Let's see how things go tomorrow, but I can definitely see a 0-0 scoreline happening against Spain.
I just checked the standings from 2016. Ireland and Slovakia finished with 4 points while... Albania, North Ireland, Portugal, and Turkey finished with 3 points for third place. So yeah, 4 points is a lock while 3 points is a sweat. If we finish with three points overall after three games, I wouldn't even wait to see how everyone else does. I would just book a plane home and leave immediately.
- The kid who scored the winner for Portugal against Czechia was teammates with Lorenzo Lucca at Jong Ajax. I remember him when I briefly used to follow Lucca's progression in his short stint in The Netherlands. - That first German goal could have been called back for a Foul and it wouldn't have been the wrong call. - Italy fans blast the lack of scoring from their CF's but see who was leading the line for the Swiss today? Dan Ndoye of Bologna. 1 or 2 goals all season in over 1,000 Minutes, 8 or so less than Orosolini and this guy is s starter for the Swiss. Hilarious. Would love for Italy to play them, their Serie A players and all.
Italy vs. Germany in Germany would be an AMAZING final (WC 2006 semi finals vibes!), but if we finish first in our group, we would most likely have to play them in the quarterfinals. That is the only shitty thing about finishing first, but if they want to be the best, they should have to go through the reining champs!
Looks like little Slovenia blew their chance in the 95th min. Maybe that means they're going to unless Ilicic and destroy England now. Wouldnt that be a story.
that's the 3rd or 4th 90 minute plus goal already none of these games are over until they are over there is something in the air this tournament
this tournament has given us more goals from outside the box already than the last one .. this feels like another culture shift for the sport moving even more away from pragmatism and back passing or Pep ball. I think the teams that are adventurous will be rewarded this year.
Yes there is a rise now occurring in bringing back relationism and moving away from positionalism. Its already started in south America and a few teams have started to play that way in Europe the past year. For those who claimed the number 10 is dead, I always said there are cycles and there will come a time when they come back. I am sick of every manager with a Uefa B license thinking they're Pep. The system mangers over controlling players and insisting in always playing structured passing out of the back has become stale to watch. Theres nothing wrong with mixing play up, long or direct when needed. Insisting that every play must be 5 yard passing in your own half, even with players not capable of it is brutal to watch. There is a push back starting and it will kick the game on again in the next decade, we should see a nice mix of styles again.
For a team that is supposed to be a contender.... England have no midfield and can't control games whatsoever.
This is why it's so comical to see them listed as a favorite going into every tournament. They aren't playing great teams and they are just getting by.
England are so boring to watch they put me to sleep! The EPL English born players are also very overrated! They look worse than my Earthquakes! Give me a break!