Just did a quick tournament predictor to get up to speed with who is in which group. Group F is gnarly with Portugal, France and Germany - how the hell did that happen? Will be nice to watch some futbol again, I'll have to pace myself during the group stage so I don't get too burnt out. 



Admittedly I am a good 18 months or so out of the loop so these might be obviously the opinions of someone stuck in a pre-COVID timeline!

Knockout rounds for fun - France are obviously a boring pick but they just have the best team.

I think Italy could have a good run.

I really don’t know how England are going to do, the group isn’t the easiest but it’s basically a home tournament for them. Will be interesting to see how the fans get behind the team. Both friendlies had the crowd booing the taking of the knee and the ‘Brexit’ crew came out this week and peddled some line that it was the BLM movement and their Marxist plan for world domination that was being booed and not the players.
I’m not sure the players would see it that way.

I'm going with Germany vs Italy in the Finals with the Germans winning.

Denmark v Finland has been suspended.

Eriksen dropped to the floor, and needed CPR. All very alarming, and very worrying.

Just awful. I was looking forward to this match all week and out of nowhere this happens. I hope Eriksen is ok.

Thank god for the medical team and refs who caught that immediately and did the necessary actions to save the man's life. Thank god we have medical supplies and necessary tools here in 2021 in these stadiums for these reasons. Prayers for Erikson and his family.

Denmark shouldn't be expected to suit up again, that is way too traumatizing to even want to go on if I am a teammate.

Jun 12, 2021 17:58:33 GMT Blindy said:

Thank god for the medical team and refs who caught that immediately and did the necessary actions to save the man's life. Thank god we have medical supplies and necessary tools here in 2021 in these stadiums for these reasons. Prayers for Erikson and his family.

Denmark shouldn't be expected to suit up again, that is way too traumatizing to even want to go on if I am a teammate.

Game is resuming soon, player's choice once told the improvement of Eriksen's health. A lot of those guys full of grit.

Denmark really looks shook, a real easy goal let up by the goaltender and now a missed penalty kick. Credit to Finland for hanging in there and even more credit for them not showing up Denmark in the celebration given what happened but sucks. I can't imagine mentally how hard it is to get back on track so soon after all of that.

Thank God Erickson is okay. Got an alert on my phone when it first happened and then when he was in stable condition. Thank God is all you can say.

Russia might not even score a goal this tournament. They fucking suck.

Eriksen, I am happy he is stable and being responsive in hospital, thank the lord he was in an area with a fast responsive team.

Today we (England) get our European Championships campaign under way against a team we lost to in the WC18 semi finals, not particularly excited about our chances today, but I sense either a 1-1 draw or a slender, a very slender 2-1 win.

Ref in the Netherlands/Ukraine game is calling everything. Netherlands are going to get punished way more with the amount they're attacking. If they don't bury one in the first half then this game is going either way.

Netherlands just making me look silly now.

Feels to me that Ukraine were playing for a draw and thought they played well enough in the 1st half, not realizing their keeper bailed them out hard and you can't stack 9 players in the box all game and get away with it. Netherlands adjusted their attack and bam. 2-0.

Best game of the tournament so far, for entertainment value alone.

Oh , and never take betting advice from me.

I feel for Ukraine's keeper. Kept them in it, made that awesome save in the first half, then ruins the comeback with that awful giveaway when he could have cleared the ball instead

Ah well. Yay Netherlands!

I still wouldn't rule Ukraine out just yet though, very impressive from them, and it makes me think why the hell Guardiola plays Zinchenko as a left back, he is a natural attacker.

Jun 14, 2021 13:22:00 GMT Jake said:

I still wouldn't rule Ukraine out just yet though, very impressive from them, and it makes me think why the hell Guardiola plays Zinchenko as a left back, he is a natural attacker.

Gonna come down to the game against Austria which I know nothing about. Are they any good?

Jun 14, 2021 15:20:33 GMT RT said:

Jun 14, 2021 13:22:00 GMT Jake said:

I still wouldn't rule Ukraine out just yet though, very impressive from them, and it makes me think why the hell Guardiola plays Zinchenko as a left back, he is a natural attacker.

Gonna come down to the game against Austria which I know nothing about. Are they any good?

I'd be lying if I said I knew how they played, outside of Alaba, Arnatovic & Bachmann, I don't know if they're any good , however, they gave England a tough friendly before the tournament started.

A positive result v the Dutch will help their chances to advance to the next round.

Ukraine, should easily defeat North Macedonia, and then the Austria game will be tasty, as is the interesting thing with this tournament, if you finish 3rd, and fall into being in the top 4 out of 6 in this placing, you're into the next round, so it's possible Austria could realistically shut up shop now, and put the pressure on Ukraine, all ifs and buts.



Looking at the tripe I've typed, I don't think I've even answered your question.

Spain are a side with impeccable players, with sublime talent. However, they're a boring side to watch based on tonight's offering.

Slovakia was fantastic against Poland today. Excellent first half. They did a great job at defending and attacking as a team together. The three points are so important for them, great start.

Jun 15, 2021 0:21:59 GMT Zappy said:

Slovakia was fantastic against Poland today. Excellent first half. They did a great job at defending and attacking as a team together. The three points are so important for them, great start.

Poland had a lackluster 1st half and came on really good out 2nd half but the red card(I don't care for the 2nd foul honestly, seen worse get let off due to player having a yellow) played a massive role and lost it for Poland. Poland nearly equalized too by the very end, Lewandowski had golden chance he should have hit but he never does it in primetime for the Polish side. 

I don't know who lets me down more, USA or Poland for the men's side. USA lacks the upper echelon talent(Got some really good youngsters who came on strong vs Mexico last week though!) but both teams have such mental breakdowns defensively, that happened on the 1st Slovakia goal today for instance. 

With Spain and maybe Sweden looming, another early exit for Poland. Again.

Jun 15, 2021 0:23:57 GMT Blindy said:

Jun 15, 2021 0:21:59 GMT Zappy said:

Slovakia was fantastic against Poland today. Excellent first half. They did a great job at defending and attacking as a team together. The three points are so important for them, great start.

Poland had a lackluster 1st half and came on really good out 2nd half but the red card(I don't care for the 2nd foul honestly, seen worse get let off due to player having a yellow) played a massive role and lost it for Poland. Poland nearly equalized too by the very end, Lewandowski had golden chance he should have hit but he never does it in primetime for the Polish side. 

I don't know who lets me down more, USA or Poland for the men's side. USA lacks the upper echelon talent(Got some really good youngsters who came on strong vs Mexico last week though!) but both teams have such mental breakdowns defensively, that happened on the 1st Slovakia goal today for instance. 

With Spain and maybe Sweden looming, another early exit for Poland. Again.

I think Poland had their best chances in the second half including after the red card.

Jun 15, 2021 0:29:26 GMT Zappy said:

Jun 15, 2021 0:23:57 GMT Blindy said:

Poland had a lackluster 1st half and came on really good out 2nd half but the red card(I don't care for the 2nd foul honestly, seen worse get let off due to player having a yellow) played a massive role and lost it for Poland. Poland nearly equalized too by the very end, Lewandowski had golden chance he should have hit but he never does it in primetime for the Polish side. 

I don't know who lets me down more, USA or Poland for the men's side. USA lacks the upper echelon talent(Got some really good youngsters who came on strong vs Mexico last week though!) but both teams have such mental breakdowns defensively, that happened on the 1st Slovakia goal today for instance. 

With Spain and maybe Sweden looming, another early exit for Poland. Again.

I think Poland had their best chances in the second half including after the red card.

Yep. They waited too late to get in the subs and put forth more attack out there, both guys looked fresh and gave them looks, they just missed 3 chances in SLO territory. Mak had a great 1st goal, sucks it's credited as a own goal on Szczęsny since it bounced off the post and into him to push it in. 

Jun 15, 2021 0:31:31 GMT Blindy said:

Jun 15, 2021 0:29:26 GMT Zappy said:

I think Poland had their best chances in the second half including after the red card.

Yep. They waited too late to get in the subs and put forth more attack out there, both guys looked fresh and gave them looks, they just missed 3 chances in SLO territory. Mak had a great 1st goal, sucks it's credited as a own goal on Szczęsny since it bounced off the post and into him to push it in. 

Imagine how many own goals there would be in hockey if they had the same rules.  :lol:

Jun 14, 2021 20:45:51 GMT Jake said:

Spain are a side with impeccable players, with sublime talent. However, they're a boring side to watch based on tonight's offering.

Wasteful rather than boring I would say - this wasn't one of those Spain performances where they just pass the ball around endlessly for the sake of it, they created plenty of chances but just fluffed them all. Morata has always been like that.

I've been enjoying the tournament. A few wild second halves of games, and most games have had a good few chances. I think our game was the worst game I watched, and we were very lucky to come away with a draw. Now we face a must-win, but winnable, game against Turkey.

The Italians looked excellent though I am more cautious in my expectation that the general consensus. Something about playing a high block with intensity with Chiellini and Bonucci fills me with dread. Turkey had a few opportunities to play some triangles to get out and couldn't because Yilmaz has a top speed of 3 km/h. We'll see how that adapt but I haven't seen anything yet to deviate from my pre-tournament thoughts. France are big favourites, and you can throw a blanket on four or five teams behind them who all have a chance, including Spain.

I was pumped up for this France/Germany game but my goodness it’s so fucking boring. 😂

It's hard to argue with the idea that Low has been holding Germany back for a while now - his tactics seem very poor. Crossing the ball into Werner and Gnabry against legit centre halves is never going to work - and then when he finally brought on a pure striker he put him at left wing back! :lol:

Pogba was sensational - he's just unstoppable in a pairing with Kante.

Little side hype for me: the Canadian men's team qualified for the final World Cup qualifier tonight. First time since 1997 they've made it this far.

They're not in yet and have their work cut out for them, but it's a big deal. They're improving a lot and Alphonso Davies is a godsend. I'm not getting my hopes up but if they qualify I'll fucking lose my mind.

Ordering a Davies Canada jersey for my birthday.