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Football Season 2020-21


Fierce_LiNk

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Just caught up with Sweden-Ukraine. The red card is one of those that you don't want to see again. Sure, the intent might not have been there but it didn't look good at all.

8 hours ago, Fierce_LiNk said:

England have had a massive leg-up with this competition in terms of their venue for matches, their little need to travel, and having their home fans so easily able to attend games. I do think other nations have a right to feel aggrieved.

Belgium had their games at St Petersburg, Copenhagen, back to St Petersburg, Seville, and the next game is in Munich! In comparison, England have had four games at Wembley. Not sure how this can be justified...

Yeah that aspect's been rather brushed aside, hasn't it? Not needing to jaunt back and forth across Europe is a bonus. Give them one home game for a wee boost, why not, but maybe teams should be on rotation otherwise. I only watched the England-Scotland match so there was likely no bother for fans to travel down and balance things out in Wembley for that one. Those numbers @Julius posted for yesterday's match really took me by surprise. I'm not saying it hasn't been the same for other home nations, just that without knowing numbers, support hasn't seemed so heavily skewed. ::shrug: Okay, perhaps at Hampden but I put that down to no one being brave enough to venture near the highlands (even in June!) and Scotland would get a good turnout anywhere, especially since they hadn't qualified in so long. :p 

The other day I read that England had to bow to UEFAs demands to let 2,500 of their VIPs into the country quarantine-free, or they'd throw a strop and take the final somewhere else. Makes you wonder what other hoops they've had to jump through to keep themselves based at Wembley until now.  

 

Well, anyway that's that for a few days. Anyone for tennis? Tour de France?

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COVID has certainly affected this tournament. I'm pretty sure the intention with holding a European wide tournament wasn't taking in the idea that there might be serious travel restrictions for fans to be able to attend certain matches and it's definitely had an impact. Not least with England getting that extra Wembley game because the previous venue for it was no longer safe.

 

Then again, a European wide Euros was a flawed idea in practise. A romantic one that practically leads to some unfair advantages as we have seen.

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Kroos is retiring from international football:

I was initially surprised considering there's a World Cup next year, but he's been pretty vocal about his thoughts on Qatar holding the competition, so I guess it makes sense. 

Anyways, I know it's only a retirement from international football, but he's undoubtedly one of the best central midfielders of the last decade, and I've always admired how calm he remains in the most tense of situations.

One of the few players I watched with the intent of basing my football on back when I was still playing, it's definitely going to be strange seeing so many of my football idols from back when I was still in high school retiring in the next few years! 

Edited by Julius
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Even if they are a goal down, I do think that the Swiss have been the better of the two teams. They started off slow but seem to have played with more confidence as the game went on. Spain seem okay with hanging back and then possibly getting another on the counter. Going to be interesting to see if the Swiss can break them down in the second half. 

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2 hours ago, Julius said:

I was initially surprised considering there's a World Cup next year, but he's been pretty vocal about his thoughts on Qatar holding the competition, so I guess it makes sense. 

Good for him for sticking to his guns.

2 hours ago, Julius said:

it's definitely going to be strange seeing so many of my football idols from back when I was still in high school retiring in the next few years! 

Just wait until your perspective adapts and you're looking "down" at the next generation of players as boys rather than looking "up" to them as mythical heroes with special footballing powers.

As for Switzerland, needless to say but they need a breakthrough. We've seen that Spain can be got at. 

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Didn't think the Swiss would hold on but Spain were incredibly wasteful in front of goal. With the respective teams recent penalty records this should be a forgone conclusion but you never know - the Swiss might end up missing all of them

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Gutted for the Swiss, absolutely gutted for them. They should be exceptionally proud of their showing. Spain on the other hand - well fuck I’d rather play them than the Ukrainians. I can’t remember a Spain team with so little quality. They are - with the exception of that magic 18 year old - total fucking shit.

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I'm seeing a lot of posts online about people assuming England will just somehow breeze into the final to play against Italy. This is the same England that were underwhelming against Scotland. I don't think anything should get taken for granted. Focus on the next game first. 

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