Nice decoy play by the italians, leave a man for dead and shoot over his dead body. Does twellman ever say anything that makes sense?
Never been impressed with Belgium. I think Lukaku is a front runner, DeBunyuns is weak. Martinez can't build a winner like Mancini can. Verto and Toby are old. I'd like for them to win, but no chance.
Italy clearly have the upperhand in midfield. Belgium get constantly outnumbered in midfield. Italy are a very bad matchup for Belgium so far. Belgium got a lifeline with the penalty.
Clatts explanation for the foul is nuts. 'he'slittle, he went flying'? Had it been a clean shoulder to shoulder he would have been sent flying. He was sent flying forward because he was hit in the back, Marc.
IDK, it might've been a little soft, but Di Lorenzo did push him though. Definitely was a foul. My question is though, we're up 2-0, why did he need to do that? We had defenders in back. He really did not need to do it.
"I got better" Immobile wasn’t going to miss the celebration 🤣 pic.twitter.com/MsAPzadZba— ESPN+ (@ESPNPlus) July 2, 2021
Belgium have no midfield defender or possession. Earth Witsell Fire and the wing players are not getting any kind of pressure.
italy has always loved playing against guys like Doku. So much pace...so little end product. They let you run and run and run and before you know it, you look like you've done so much, but all you've really done is hand the game to italy. 2nd half has been pretty terrible.
More italians dropping than in the battle for Cassino. Watch out! Martinez set this team up to play some other team. What was he thinking? Zero game plan. Mancini monstered this gaem.
Finally the true #1 place in the FIFA rankings should be proven in the field. Belgium was so overrated. Italy has played with heart and for the Italian public which has suffered with this Coronavirus.
Gosh so happy we did it!!!! However, Spinnazola's injury looked terrible. I'm afraid he is out for the rest of the tournament, and he has been a very key player for us. I hope I'm wrong and its not as serious as it looked.
2-1 for Italy. My pre-tournament favourites lost. Dissappointed. Impressed by Italy. The more energetic and technical sounded team won. Italy played just the better football. Belgium clearly lost the midfield battle. Spinazzola was a hand ful for Meunier. Lukaku was isolated. Not enough support from De Bruyne and others. Belgium could have scored the equalizer but it wasn't meant to be. Italy now first favourites to lift the trophy in my eyes.
I feel after a horrible 2020 for Italy this Italian team is on a mission to bring some joy to the nation.
at least he won a PK though, albeit a soft one. I doubt Hazard would have done anything had he played.
Belgium are slightly over their peak. I thought they would still have enough to edge this. But experience wasn't the key for this game. This game was decided by tactical preparation. Mancini beat Martinez today. Belgium faced a very hungry and energetic opposition who were out to prove a point. To prove that they belong still to the continent's very best. I can't really blame Belgium. It was a game of two top class sides. The better performing team won in the end.