I thought that was alright that. I spent the evening discussing all sorts of minutiae such as how old or young certain players are, what players you would buy from this tournament and which national finals have actually been good* [/European Bias].
That it ended with a good goal was bonus enough for these occasions considering there was a few "ooooh" moments.
*We decided on France in 1998 being the last ones but I have no idea why we ignored Euro 2012.
Without the expanded tournament Portugal isn't in this final. But I have to say that this was a side prepared for the loss of its star since they had played the same style throughout the tournament.
You can't be sure about that. Portugal knew that 3-3 v Hungary was enough. Under the old system they would have went for it more. They may have scored, they may have been countered, we don't know.
So we can go only by what we know.
It seems appropriate that this mediocre, bloated tournament should have been won by a side that finished third in their group.
I think that is coming slightly from a very BRN/BBN/BWN point of view. The big teams were a touch mediocre and below par but Wales, Iceland, Hungary and even Albana meant that this wasn't a mediocre tournament in terms of results and play.
Thrilling to see green and red ribbons on the Henri Delaunay. Portugal have earned their stripes over the decades - and no-one wins an international trophy by accident.
All this "They wouldn't have got through if it wasn't for the new format" is as relevant as "they wouldn't have won tonight if goals from outside the box were outlawed".
Feel the history ... coz that's all that was on offer really.
The winners - winners - have just won a final where they didn't have a shot on target in the first ninety minutes. When you wake up tomorrow you're going to begin to have the sickening realization that had Wales beaten Portugal (as you could have) you'd have won the whole thing.
The winners - winners - have just won a final where they didn't have a shot on target in the first ninety minutes. When you wake up tomorrow you're going to begin to have the sickening realization that had Wales beaten Portugal (as you could have) you'd have won the whole thing.
I don't think that is accurate. Lloris made a double save in the 2nd half from a Nani cross then Quaresma overhead kick.
Borracho wrote: They did not muster a single half-decent attack in the 12 or 13 minutes that were left after Eder scored. That's incredibly damning. Everything was on the line in those final stages and they just didn't respond at all.
They didn't not have anything left in the tank. At that stage, 72h vs 96h of rest made a difference.
Really good analysis on the Canadian Sports Network: they've shown that Lloris had banged up his knee on the post trying to save the phantom handball kick moments before the goal. He was still hobbled when Eder fired his shot, and didn't generate a proper amount of push off his right leg reaching out for the ball. You could see him still trying to walk it off and hobbling moments before the goal.
Despite rooting for France up until kickoff, I was glad Portugal won, in the end - not least because it gets that particular monkey off their back.
As for the format and 'deserving to qualify', I say expand it to 32 teams (8 groups of 4) and only let the top 2 from each group through. Either that, or only let the winner of each group through and take it straight to the quarter-finals.
If there's going to be 32 finalists, surely don't subject everyone to 2 years of qualifying. Seed the top 16 straight into the fucking thing and let them play friendlies against each other.
It won't go back. There's too much money for too many people. But letting so many teams into the knockout is a joke. More teams qualify than get bounced. And the qualifiers have become more of a joke as well. At least with a bloated WC, we have meaningful qualifiers. I would do group winners only in the tournament itself if that math works out mathematically, but it won't happen.
The winners - winners - have just won a final where they didn't have a shot on target in the first ninety minutes. When you wake up tomorrow you're going to begin to have the sickening realization that had Wales beaten Portugal (as you could have) you'd have won the whole thing.
I don't think that is accurate. Lloris made a double save in the 2nd half from a Nani cross then Quaresma overhead kick.
Of course it's not accurate. It's Rogin, he's full of shit.
I wanted France to win that pre-match but they didn't come close to deserving to.
As it is, I'm really pleased for Ronaldo - especially after he was kicked out of the game. A great, great footballer who deserves it for dragging his country to and through so many tournaments.
I must say that I'm fucking delighted for Portugal for reasons that have nothing to do with football. This is the first bit of good news those poor godforsaken cunts have had in a decade.
That they did it without Ronaldo makes it even more glorious. If anyone could do with an injection of national enthusiasm right now it's Portugal.
This dynamic goes a long way to explaining why irish people rightly and enthusiastically lost their shit over Thierry Henry. Even if we had lost lost on penalties, we would have won in Paris, and at least we would at least have had that tiny flickering candle of light and warmth in a tsunami of apocalyptic news stories.
(I wasn't holding that against France either coz when I went to the arse end of France in 2012, I saw French people gather together enough broken English from their group to come over to apologise to us, once they figured out we were irish. I was pretty impressed. All the young people who spoke with who had plenty of English apologised reflexively. Nothing melts the frozen heart like heartfelt contrition.)
Ray de Galles wrote: I wanted France to win that pre-match but they didn't come close to deserving to.
As it is, I'm really pleased for Ronaldo - especially after he was kicked out of the game. A great, great footballer who deserves it for dragging his country to and through so many tournaments.
Maybe ironically, they did it without him on the pitch for most of the game, their manager's tactics (& record to date) have been superb, even if not exactly the best to watch.
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