UEFA Euro 2020

[Brummiegem]

Despite the worries expressed in my last post,both Mings and Stones had decent games.
In fact the back line looked fairly solid,even if a right-back played at left-back.To be fair though,Trippier has played that position before,so not a massive problem.A clean sheet to start a tournament against a good side is encouraging.
Disappointing not to see Grealish out there,but no matter,it keeps him fresh.Could be a good tactical thing if Mr Southgate plays certain players sparingly.
All in all a good first match to start the tournament.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Only the idiots that booed the Croatia anthem spoilt it. Make them stand naked in centre circle and turn on the sprinklers. Wars have been fought over such disrespectful behaviour.

Do spare us the sight of some of those naked. It's bad enough as it is seeing some of them standing in the enclosures half-naked with their beer bellies hanging over their trouser waste band - something else tv match directors like to show in close-up. Why they pander to the egos of these people is beyond me.

Some years ago England played Liechtenstein in a European qualifier and that really stymied those who like to boo the opposition's anthem because Liechtenstein's anthem uses the same tune as the UK's National Anthem so they didn't know which version to boo.

Incidentally, why do England's football and rugby teams use the UK National Anthem at their matches? Wales and Scotland don't.

 

[jfy1999]

There are plenty of options for a more attacking line-up if we simply aim to out-score the opposition, but Southgate won’t do that. Since 2000 we’ve had 3 defeats, 4 draws and just 2 victories in our opening game at major tournaments. I have a suspicion that we wont be improving that record against Croatia as we have yet to find a settled first 11 and the weight of expectation is probably greater than the 2018 World Cup.

Happy to be proven wrong!

 

[JENNYJET]

England never bothered with an anthem preferring instead to follow the Kingdom hymn. Unofficially, Jerusalem has been adopted by the Barmy Army for England and the Celts their own ballads.

Viewers need to complain en masse about the images that offend or contact OFCOM. They will continue because few complaints are lodged.

 

[jfy1999]

Scotland 0–2 Czech Republic

Scotland had a couple of gilt-edged chances but the Czechs had a clinical finisher in Schick and a contender for goal of the tournament.

 

[Kevin Farnell]

Scotland 0–2 Czech Republic

Scotland had a couple of gilt-edged chances but the Czechs had a clinical finisher in Schick and a contender for goal of the tournament.

Certainly the first goalkeeping 'howler' of the tournament!

As a note, the direct link to the YouTube video that jfy1999 gives does not seem to work. However if you click on the 'Watch on YouTube' link at the lower left it will take you to the video.

Regards

Kevin

 

[Kevin Farnell]

I've just watched the Turkey v Wales match and have to sat that so far this is the game of the tournament for me (and I say that as a very, very, very proud Englishman). It was end to end stuff throughout the whole game, with both sides going all out for a win. Wales got the win that they needed and overall, deserved. Lets see more games of this calibre - excellent!

Kevin

 

[Ray Finkle]

Turkey v Wales was a very decent game, as was Netherlands v Ukraine a few nights ago.

Great win for Wales which should see them through.

Keeping a close eye on Italy now and both my son and myself have them in our sweepstakes at school/work.

 

[jfy1999]

Turkey 0–2 Wales

Highlights.

Here’s a remarkable Wales stat that was mentioned on the BBC. since the beginning of Euro 2016, only France have won more Euro finals games!

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Turkey 0–2 Wales

Highlights.

Here’s a remarkable Wales stat that was mentioned on the BBC. since the beginning of Euro 2016, only France have won more Euro finals games!

Wales reached the semi-finals of Euro 2016 so that would account for their total of wins since then, plus beating Turkey in Euro 2020.

It's an incredible achievement considering their extremely limited reservoir of players, both in numbers and the standard of club football in which a number of them play. Five of the outfield players who began the match against Turkey play for EFL Championship clubs and the goalkeeper Ward is not the first choice at his Premier League club, Leicester City.

Joe Morrell, who seems to thrive when playing for Wales, was on loan in League 2 with Lincoln City in season 2019-2020, was then transferred by parent Championship club Bristol City who saw no future for him there to Luton Town where he made only ten Championship appearances in the league season recently ended. Would England be prepared to give a chance to such a player? Of course not. Such an idea would be laughed out of court, yet Morrell is proof that such players can make a significant contribution at international level.

It will be interesting to see how Scotland perform against England this evening. England appear much stronger in most positions, but with the thought of putting one over on the Auld Enemy other factors come into play as they do with club local derbies. I expect the Scottish players to fight like tigers and England's players will have to work extremely hard to counter that.

 

[Jerry]

It's an incredible achievement considering their extremely limited reservoir of players, both in numbers and the standard of club football in which a number of them play. Five of the outfield players who began the match against Turkey play for EFL Championship clubs and the goalkeeper Ward is not the first choice at his Premier League club, Leicester City.

In 2011 the radio station TalkSport put this tweet out and did a show about it. Wales have definitely come a long way to qualify for 2 tournaments in the last decade.
View attachment 23678

 

[JENNYJET]

Brings me back to the selection criteria of England. If Wales can flourish with players from second or third tier clubs and mighty England bumble along, then it appears to be the public school tie governing the FA.

Wales appear to understand that their players may well have Premier league or European club experience and are easily coached without the big ego and salaries that England players flaunt.

I hope they go on to embarrass the big boys and reach the higher rankings after the tournament.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Brings me back to the selection criteria of England. If Wales can flourish with players from second or third tier clubs and mighty England bumble along, then it appears to be the public school tie governing the FA.

Wales appear to understand that their players may well have Premier league or European club experience and are easily coached without the big ego and salaries that England players flaunt.

I hope they go on to embarrass the big boys and reach the higher rankings after the tournament.

Just to add a little to the mix, there is always huge pressure on England to do well whereas Wales and now Scotland flourish as so-called underdogs, although it wasn't always like that and when Scottish league football was of a much higher standard than it is now relative to England's league, particularly in the first half of the 20th Century, Scotland often went into the Home International Championship matches (sadly now a relic of the past) against England as favourites, and invariably justified the tag.

We sometimes see a third tier club have a long run in the FA Cup, knocking out more illustrious opponents on the way, but would they be able to compete week in and week out in the Premier League? Few people in football would say yes.

Going back to Joe Morrell, why did two Championship clubs not rate him enough to play him regularly although one obviously did rate him at one point or they would not have signed him from the other? We can only surmise that he didn't cut the mustard in the Championship when he was given a chance but at international level he performs much better. Perhaps international football, usually less 100 miles an hour than the EFL Championship although generally more skilful, suits some players who seem ordinary at the tier 2 club level in England.

If Tomas Kalas is playing today for the Czech Republic I shall try to watch the game. He is a centre-back and captain of Championship club Bristol City which is the EFL team I follow. Usually he is superb at Championship level. I await to see him in the Euros. I missed his country's first match in the competition when they beat Scotland.

In 2011 the radio station TalkSport put this tweet out and did a show about it. Wales have definitely come a long way to qualify for 2 tournaments in the last decade.
View attachment 23678

Wales have enjoyed an impressive resurgence since then and having world-class players such as Bale and Ramsey has certainly been a help.

Giggs's off-field situation that prevents him managing the team at the moment is something that might have seen Wales suffer on the pitch, but caretaker manager Rob Page and the entire squad have responded magnificently.

Wales have always had great players at various times but perhaps not enough of them at once. No-one will convince me that Wales's greatest ever player is not John Charles. He would have walked into any international side in the world when in his prime.

As for fielding a GB side instead of separate home country teams, many in world football resent the UK having four separate international sides and from time to time they call for a change. It all goes back to the origins of the game that have their roots in Britain.

 

[JENNYJET]

As I understand it, FIFA admit association's rather than nations thus, East and West Germany , Soviet Union come to mind as those Associations collapsed into their new identities as reformed associations. Germany and Russia. The UK has never had it's own unified association but the four constituent countries remained independent for sporting purposes and FIFA rules permitted this so Gibraltar was admitted as separate from UK or GB. AS I UNDERSTAND IT!

 

[Jerry]

Wales have enjoyed an impressive resurgence since then and having world-class players such as Bale and Ramsey has certainly been a help.

What has helped Wales as well is that especially for 2016 a group of young players centred around Bale and Ramsey came through at the same time through the age grades so they almost generated a club feeling with the players knowing each other quite well. A team like England due to the size of the player pool might not be able to replicate that. The reality is for Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland the achievement will be to qualify for the tournament, anything else is a bonus they'll not have the pressure England will have where the expectation is that they should be competing to win tournaments.
I know there is a womens GB side going to Tokyo but i can't see a mens one becoming a regular feature.

 

[JENNYJET]

England's problem is being a World Cup winner and is not being allowed to forget it. Expectations will always exceed realism and Southgate will expect calls for his removal if England lose to Scotland.

 

[Sherburnflyer92]

We need to employ tactics however.

We win our Group we will be through to a harder team, on paper, in the round of 16's (France, Portugal or Germany or Hungary). We come 2nd we go through to face Slovakia, Spain, or Sweden. On paper the coming 2nd in our group is an easier way to get through.

 

[JENNYJET]

er, play NOT to win the group for a theoretically easier passage, am I being dense?

 

[jfy1999]

If the Czech Republic and England both win today there is the potential for a very dull game on Tuesday. In such a scenario I suspect that Southgate might deploy the “B-team” as he did against Belgium in 2018.

If I were neutral, I would want Croatia and Scotland to win today for maximum jeopardy on Tuesday…

 

[rollo]

er, play NOT to win the group for a theoretically easier passage, am I being dense?

It's been done countless times by many teams.

Tonight England require only a draw to guarantee qualification as four team with the third place finish from the six groups go through and already
three of the groups the best third place team can only achieve three points so England with a draw go through with four.

Wales are already through on this system which is designed to maximise the number of games and therefore income. In my opinion it lowers the quality of the competition but money talks.

The World Cup is due to be expanded to 48 teams so we might see the Dog & Duck in the finals at some point in the future.