Shame on the senior England players for not stepping up. Saka should never have been put in the position of taking a penalty in that situation. Kudos to him for not shying away, but what is Southgate thinking having a 19 year old take a spot kick in a game that meaningful? More experienced players should have taken the responsibility. England were very unimpressive. They scored early (surprising even themselves I'm sure) and then sat back to defend the lead. Italy was the outstanding team of the tournament and deserved to win.
I just watched 5-10 mins of highlights of Argentina's last 2 matches, and that's the sum total of my CA watching so maybe take the following with a few grains of salt... Emi Martinez seemed like MVP/MOTM, at least in the Semi and perhaps the Final too? Although I wasn't exactly super gutted when we sold him to Villa, it seems more an more like we let one get away there. And the final highlight I saw was of the squad throwing Messi into the air. OK, it's nice that he finally one a major trophy with his country, but shouldn't they have been hoisting Emi in the air instead, or at least in addition?? Seems pretty clear they wouldn't have won this cup without the saves he made in the shootout vs Colombia. p.s. And from the highlights anyway it sure seemed like the Copa Final was a better, more lively match than the Euro Final.
We definitely should’ve gave Emi a long term contract and sold leno. Instead we stuck with leno and now leno wants to leave.
Looked at the last times we went to penalties in the last year, EFL cup and Community Shield. EFL Cup we had Lacazette, Soares, Elneny, AMN, Pepe and Willock. Elneny was the only one to miss. Comm Shield we had Nelson, AMN, Soares, Luiz and Auba. No one missed. Then during the season we had Pepe, Laca and Auba take all our penalties in League and EL. In the 19/20 season EFL Cup we had penalties with Bellerin, Guendo, Martinelli, Ceballos, AMN, with Ceb missing. And during the season Auba and Pepe took the FA Cup and PL penalties. So if we went to penalties and you could choose anyone on our list, our best takers have been Auba, Laca, Pepe, AMN, Soares who have all consistently nailed penalties, and then Bellerin/Martinelli/Nelson/Willock who are all still on our list that haven't missed in recent times.
Why didn't Grealish take one? Why would you bring on two cold players in Rashford and Sancho. The worst thing that hurt England was they were dominating ET, then Grealish got stomped, it chewed up a lot of time but they only added 2 minutes to the second period of ET. Before the tackle on Grealish I was certain England were going to score.
It's odd to me that guys like Sterling and Grealish didn't take one. Their field play suggests they're guys with supreme confidence.
Never mind that Messi has been playing for Argentina since the 2006 World Cup in Germany, he is 160 lbs. soaking wet, while Emi is almost 200 lbs, which one are you going to throw in the air?
Seems they are not good at them Had to look this up.Raheem Sterling has taken 4 penalties in his 400 odd games. He scored once. Jack Grealish has taken 1 in his 240 odd games. He missed it. https://t.co/6gsnyHmFgS— The Tactical Times (@Tactical_Times) July 11, 2021
i mean, you might not be great at them but, y'know, when you strut around like the cock of the walk, you need to take the ball instead of hanging back and hoping a 19 year old takes it in your place.
I kept expecting Stirling and Rice to come off in the second half but nothing doing. I think Southgate choked in the second half after having a decent if not good tournament.
All the US group stage matches are here in Kansas City at Livestrong/Sporting/Children's Mercy Park. They had under 13k in attendance last night, not sure how much money they are making running out a B/C team against Haiti, Canada and Martinique. Busio got his first cap in front of his club's (for now) supporters, which was nice.
Grealish responded this morning saying he volunteered. The decision was Southgate’s. The fact that he subbed in Sancho and Rashford in the last couple of minutes of overtime indicates he already had his five in mind, he wasn’t looking for volunteers. After the game Southgate mentioned that they practiced pks, with the implication that he made his decision on the who looked best in those practices. I wouldn’t be surprised if Saka was impressive enough that Southgate decided to have him go fifth. But their is a world of difference between practicing pks and stepping up to take the 5th pk with the tournament on the line. Southgate shouldn’t have put that pressure on a 19 year old. That said, Saka didn’t choke, he didn’t sky his attempt over the bar like one of the Italians did. Donnarumma may have simply guessed the right way.
All this stuff is worked out long in advance. I agree they will have selected a ranked order of players. e.g. Foden might have been on the list had he been playing. Typically the attacking players are favoured as they are better finishers. That said, Saka had never taken a senior penalty apparently. I do think both Saka and Sancho bottled their penalties - hitting them in the easiest zone to save
Penalties are a horrible way to end a game, at least in their current form. Move the penalty spot back 3-5 yards so guessing becomes less of a thing. Blaming players is only a thing because penalties are more of a sure thing (75%). If the conversion rate were more like hockey's (33%), players would be more hailed for their brilliance rather than effing up. End of the day, current PK's are basically RNG.
Imagine if the Bucks won game 4 and they decided to determine the NBA Finals on a free throw shooting contest. Giannis is the equivalent of the weird run-up penalty takers.
Penalties have been around ever since I’ve started watching football. Players can’t play for more than 120+ minutes and there needs to be a finality to the game. I’ve seen players who are good penalty takers miss them like Jorginho did. It always sucks to be last guy to miss the penalty.
Yep My first ever tourney in '82 I think i saw Socrates miss? And in my time in germany Schweini, Mueller, Ozil - all big players - have missed
Especially with the Nations League around now and no Confederations Cup to qualify for its clearly all just a money making effort for CONCACAF. Wouldn't surprise me if the Gold Cup faded away pretty soon. Not much point to it anymore. You can clearly see US Soccer isn't all that bothered with it. If they wanted to they could have their best European based players there, but they are allowing them to be with their clubs for the start of preseason.