Who will win Euro 2020?

  • England

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Germany

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Italy

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Netherlands

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Portugal

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Spain

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Other

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    3
  • Poll closed .
Belgium 1–2 Italy

Another pre-tournament favourite gone. While the Italians were a joy to watch in the first half, the game deserved better than the cynical disruption tactics which they used at the end.

Spinazzola will be a huge miss for Italy in the game against Spain, but personally I would still back them to make the final as Spain have had a leaky defence, and the Italian forwards ran rings around a Belgian defence that had only conceded one goal in the tournament prior.
 
Belgium 1–2 Italy

Another pre-tournament favourite gone. While the Italians were a joy to watch in the first half, the game deserved better than the cynical disruption tactics which they used at the end.
That's why I don't like the Italian football team. They have ample talent, yet choose to employ unfair tactics. However, if you think the second half was bad, you should have seen them back in the 70's and 80's when I formed my opinion of them. I don't mind gamesmanship such as keeping the ball by the corner flag as the ball remains in play, but faking injury to waste time is not on.
Belgium had three golden opportunities in the second half, but failed to make the most of them. There also seemed some 'unusual' refereeing decisions.

Kevin
 
This thread began with a poll, albeit poorly supported with only three votes. However, Kevin's thoughts have merit.
Football is "The beautiful game" allegedly , but those that offered beauty in their performances have been eliminated, Netherlands, France etc., whilst those that practice street football on grass have progressed with the implicit help of match officials instead of natural skills.
I gave up on the Italy game, unwatchable at best with cleaning my toilet proving an attractive diversion.

Never mind, the domestic season is not far away!!
 
Whatever might be thought of Italy's approach it cannot be denied that their national team has now played 32 consecutive matches and remained unbeaten in that time.

I actually enjoyed last night's match. I found it fascinating that a team containing so much talent as Belgium was often outplayed and outthought. Having pulled a goal back immediately before half-time I expected the Belgians to be on a high and would come out and make the running at the beginning of the second half. Instead it was Italy who took the game to their opponents for the first ten minutes of that half. It was a shame in many people's eyes that Italy resorted to what professionals would regard as 'game management', whilst others would describe it as gamesmanship.

Italy can be very attractive and effective as was the case during the first half of last night's match although Italian football still has the historical baggage of the Catenaccio Defence system developed in the 1950s and honed in the 1960s, an ultra conservative method based on excessive defence.

If England do make it to the final - if - of those other countries still in the competition the team I fear most is Italy.

Belgium is ranked number one by FIFA, probably on merit in a ranking system that has many critics, with France 2 and Brazil 3. Of those countries left in Euro 2020 England is now the highest ranked at 4, Spain 6, Italy 7, Denmark 10, Ukraine 24 and Czech Republic 40.
 
What an impressive performance!

Two goals scored in the three group games and six in the two knockout stage games........so far. Still no goals conceded in this tournament by England and, in fact, they have now played over seven international matches since the opposition scored against them.

An early Kane goal settled nerves and also confirmed that the captain is back on song. Until Ukraine made an enforced substitution after half an hour which changed their team shape they offered little. They came into the game more as an attacking force in the last 15 minutes of the first half but in truth England looked largely untroubled.

Two goals in the first five minutes of the second half all but settled the game as a contest and from then on Ukraine were a well-beaten group of players who offered no more than token resistance. England knocked the ball around at will and after the fourth goal went in Southgate enjoyed the luxury of several substitutions in part to protect some of the players on yellow cards from previous matches. The great thing was that the substitutes fitted in perfectly and there was no disruption to England's dominance.

Some people might say that the opposition was no great shakes which would be to underestimate Ukraine. They were in the quarter-finals on merit and can be a notoriously difficult team to break down, with a penchant for breaking out of defence to put pressure on their opponent's goal. We saw glimpses of this at times in the first half but the England defence was too resolute to be breached.

Southgate deserves much praise. In every game he has sent out a team designed to cope with the particular opposition. He is not afraid to change a winning team or to adapt his tactics. England showed beyond doubt tonight that they can play attacking and entertaining football when the situation allows.

Denmark will present another set of challenges. I await with great interest Southgate's response.
 
Certainly one of the best England performances I've seen. Would probably have to go back to the 4-1 defeat of The Netherlands for anything comparable.
I did wonder if they had scored too early and hoped they wouldn't sit back and try and defend a 1-0 lead for 86 minutes. No chance!
Credit to Ukraine (particularly in the first half), but as the goal tally increased their heads dropped. In contrast, England's confidence soared and it was quite obvious that they were really enjoying the game. Delighted that Henderson's first England goal came from open play. Much more memorable for him than if he'd scored the penalty previously.
As an England fan, I can still be nervous with a 3-0 lead.
I'm going to put this victory down to the lucky bag of pork scratchings that I ate during the game. I'll have to get another packet for the semi-final.

Kevin
 
Be aware of Denmark, a team riding a wave of emotion. Only complacency can derail England. That said, congratters to England.
As recently as last October Denmark beat England 1-0 at Wembley in the UEFA Nations Cup, a competition of some complexity designed mainly to avoid meaningless friendly matches and to provide an extra way into the World Cup and Euro for countries who fail to qualify by the primary methods.

Harry Maguire was sent off in the first half of that match for two yellow cards and a few minutes later Denmark were awarded a soft penalty kick from Christian Eriksen of all people scored the only goal of the match. As the teams were leaving the pitch at the end of the match Reece James was shown a red card after an incident involving the referee.

Denmark began the Euro 2022 Finals on the back of a run that had seen only two defeats in their previous 28 matches. They then promptly lost their first two group matches before beating Russia 4-1 in the final group match. That led to a 4-0 win over Wales at the Lats 16 stage and a hard-fought 2-1 win over the Czech Republic in the quarter-final.

They are certainly on a tremendous run looking back over their previous 30-odd matches but Southgate and his team will know that and will certainly not be regarding the game as a walkover.....far from it.

The game has ominous reminders of the 2018 World Cup semi-final when England were probably expected by many to beat Croatia and reach the final. England even took an early lead but Croatia won 2-1 after extra time.
 
Another super performance from England last night.
I did think though that Ukraine were probably the poorest side England have faced so far.Unluckily for them,they did have to go through extra time in their last match which could have been a factor.

Denmark will be,as others have said,very different.They will have the neutral support,and from the ‘’anyone but England’’ camps.However,England will be at home,with a partisan crowd.Hopefully they can play with the same efficiency as last night.
Another plus is the strength in depth England have off the bench.I have said previously that I don’t fancy England if they have to chase a game,and while I stand by that,I think the defence is very solid.I believe any opposition will have to score at least twice in order to beat England.Doing that will be very difficult indeed.
 
If I remember correctly, that 2018 World Cup semi-final versus Croatia was shown on ITV, ending a sequence of BBC covering earlier England games up to the semi. It was referred to as " The ITV curse". As Wednesday's match is to be shown on ITV, i sincerely hope we are not cursed again!!.
 
If I remember correctly, that 2018 World Cup semi-final versus Croatia was shown on ITV, ending a sequence of BBC covering earlier England games up to the semi. It was referred to as " The ITV curse". As Wednesday's match is to be shown on ITV, i sincerely hope we are not cursed again!!.
ITV showed England's group matches against Scotland and the Czech Republic in Euro 2022, but if you mean the knockout stages then the BBC showed the Last 16 game against Germany and last night's win over Ukraine, so if that's the case then we must certainly hope that history does not repeat itself......that is those on F4A who support England.
 
1-0 Snooze fest against Denmark?

(save themselves for Final?)

Or will we just go hell for leather. The trouble is Gareth will have to be strategic. He doesn't want to use all the substitutes in 90 minutes especially if it then goes into extra time. That's how our World Cup semi final ended - 10 men unable to sub.
 
So Italy won the post-match lottery and have reached the final.

I thought that Spain was the better side for much of the game with the original 90 minutes a very entertaining contest.

Come extra time and it seemed that Italy was playing for the penalty shoot-out perhaps feeling that their luck was in; more likely they were out on their feet.

I wrote in an earlier post that I feared Italy above the other teams left in the tournament. They weren't as impressive this evening to my eyes although they so often seem to find a way to win a match, even when not playing particularly well. They will be a formidable opponent for either England or Denmark.
 
Putting my neutral hat on, I would rather have seen Spain in the final as they would have played a more open and attractive game. They look like they have a bright future.

My thoughts tonight are with Alvaro Morata, as prior to tonight he was already being scapegoated in some quarters. I believe death threats had been made at some point.
 
Putting my neutral hat on, I would rather have seen Spain in the final as they would have played a more open and attractive game. They look like they have a bright future.

My thoughts tonight are with Alvaro Morata, as prior to tonight he was already being scapegoated in some quarters. I believe death threats had been made at some point.
I was hoping for a Spain win too - broadly for the reason you give.
 
Another highly professional performance from England. The first half was pretty even with Denmark contributing as much as England to an entertaining half. As the second half wore on Denmark clearly began to flag and in extra time they were like a heavyweight boxer riding the ropes desperately trying to avoid the knock-out blow.

England's penalty kick was soft but so too was the free kick from which Denmark scored their goal.

England showed that they can come back from adversity and yet again Southgate's tactics, substitutes and formations were immaculate. So too was England's game management at the end. For the last four minutes of extra time Denmark could not get the ball off them.

I was so thankful that the match was not decided by the lottery at the end of extra time. It's such an unsatisfactory way to decide a game and I would say that if England won the penalty shoot-out.

From the crowd celebrations and tv coverage after the match one could be forgiven for believing that England had actually won the tournament. That will take another battle.

Very well done to all involved in the England set-up. Even if the final is lost the progress through the tournament has given a huge lift to the majority of people in England. Many people not normally interested in football have been sucked into the excitement as England cleared one hurdle after another. I remember the same happening in 1966 at the World Cup.
 
ITS COMING HOME @TheLocalYokel.

Won’t lie, credit due where credit is due, my opinion/minor criticism as someone who doesn’t like football is that the only two players willing to take a punt at the net are Stirling and Foden. Willing to take a shot, if it ends up in opposition, willing to get it back and have another punt. It feels the rest have to have a clear shot at the net, or resort to passing backward.

I know naff all about football but my two cents.
 
I'm still floating around near the ceiling. Watching extra time was an ordeal and I found myself looking at the clock every 30 seconds or so. When the final whistle blew, I couldn't believe the power of the emotion that hit me (I was alive in 1966, but only two and a half years old - although my Dad said that I was sat infront of the B&W TV during the game).
As for the game itself, I thought that for large parts, the teams were evenly matched. It was only in the latter stages of the second half and extra time that Denmark started to look tired. That's when I started to believe. Was it a penalty? I'm still unsure, but equally, the free kick from which Denmark scored also appeared to be a soft decision.
Congratulations to the England team and Gareth Southgate. England showed determination and courage to come back from 1-0 down. Probably the best England team I've seen in decades. But I'd also like to congratulate the Denmark team on their progress in the competition, especially considering the awful and extremely distressing scenes that they witnessed in their match against Finland. Hold your heads high, Denmark!
So now we have to go through it all again against Italy. I think this could be a very tough test for England but I believe they can do it.
I had my lucky packet of Pork Scratchings again tonight (see my previous post) and I have another packet ready for Sunday (actually, I'm not superstitious at all).
Wow, I still can't believe it!

Kevin
 
Everyone here is seemingly happy for England as am I. However, the game acted as my anaesthetic, I struggled because it was as near perfect as possible, like Rollo described. It is mistakes that bring the goals and so few of them, mistakes. I find trying to understand algebra more interesting and you can bet on Italy to bring the final to life. Roy Keane ( splutter ) has it said, won nothing yet!
 
So far so good I think the final is evenly balanced but I have a couple of wishes.

One we get a decent game and two it would be nice to see both teams in traditional colours like last nights match, o'h and one more England win its been a long time since I was on a school trip aged 14 in Switzerland when I watched England in the 1966 final and all that.


Been a long, long time but apparently everything comes to those that wait.
 

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