Embarrassing from Wales. Bale and Ramsay went missing.
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Okay, it's do or die now. And my national team Finland is already out, unfortunately. Now I'm rooting for Sweden and Denmark our fellow Scandinavian countries. And England of course.
How about predictions for the 1st playoff round?
Wales-Denmark -> Denmark advances
Netherlands-Czech Republic -> Netherlands
England-Germany -> England (I sincerely hope the English team does it this time, they deserve it after all suffering. I still remember WC 1990 and that Shilton's mistake and the horrible penalty shootout that Germany won)
Sweden-Ukraine -> Sweden
Italy-Austria -> Italy without a doubt. My prediction to win the tournament.
Belgium-Portugal -> Belgium
Croatia-Spain -> Croatia
France-Switzerland -> France
How about your predictions?
Embarrassing from Wales. Bale and Ramsay went missing.
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Personally, I thought Denmark were superb .
I wouldn’t bet against them at the moment
Great game by Austria. Too bad about the offside goal. Austria deserved at least a tie.
In my opinion they should change the offside rule so that it wouldn't be called unless the other player is full body ahead of the defender.
Now that it's about millimeters is too severe.
Denmark will be very dangerous now
Building a lot of self belief and they've done this sort of thing before
Italy obviously don't deal well with the pressure of favourites.
If I had an outside bet on the Danes I'd be getting a little bit interested.
I don’t see any leadership in this England side, nobody with half the desire of Gerrard, Lampard or Beckham. Captain Kane hasn’t managed to get himself in the position of having a shot on goal yet so I can’t see this guy leading England to glory. Germany through to the next round as is so often the script.
As long as it doesn't go to penalties England have a good chance.
Kane hasn't been that good but the team has played well.
And Kane only needs one shot. That might be enough.
Really looking forward to that Belgium-Portugal game tomorrow.
I think you're being a bit harsh on Neco Williams - every defender makes mistakes, the problem is usually when a defender or goalie makes a bad mistake it leads to an opposition goal (as opposed to midfielders and forwards).
He tried to clear it, couldn't wrap his foot round the ball properly and was unlucky it fell to a Danish player. I've seen the best defenders in the world make similar or worse mistakes - it just happens. Williams is still a young player and actually played pretty well apart from that.
I don't know what match Ryan was watching - Wales looked tired but were certainly not embarassing. They were outplayed by a Denmark team who were brilliantly organised and used slick passing to get out of trouble and start attacks - I think the commentator said they had only been beaten 4 times out of 30 previously and 3 of those were vs Belgium?
Yeah... you have a point. Everyone makes mistakes occasionally, even the best players.
I guess I was just disappointed that Wales couldn't get things going and the game was so disappointing.
Wales made Denmark look better than they actually are (imho).
Two great matches today. Gotta love Ronaldo and Diaz but I think Belgium has more depth and they're going to advance. We'll see.
Who had the Czechs beating Holland in 90 minutes?
Gotta love the unpredictability of the knockout stage.
Someone who lies about the little things will lie about the big things too.
The Dutch was poor. Seems to be a theme in major tournaments after the groups. Well played to the Czechs
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After the red card Holland was screwed. Their system collapsed.
Czech is a strong team but still a small surprise.
Today Portugal wins with Ronaldo or then get their asses kicked by Belgium.
I feel that Portugal is like Zidane's France in 2006 World Cup... one man show. Pepe and Diaz are great though... but Portugal lives and dies with Ronaldo.
Very interesting game.
First penalties tonight.
Someone who lies about the little things will lie about the big things too.
Time for Belgium’s golden generation to deliver
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Dutch comments make mince meat of the team and the coach. One single sentence near the end of the match: "The Chechs have no players from Barcelona, Olympique, Liverpool or PSG. But still..." The exchange of Malen for Promes is something that's considered a very, very bad move here.
I would have agreed with that up to a couple of years ago but , Ronaldo aside, Portugal have a wonderfully gifted squad . Don’t get me wrong , the man is a phenomenon and I even loved watching him play for City’s poor relations, but there is so much more to their team tonight. It could go either way, a real tough one to call but I do fancy Belgium for this .
Very disappointed by the Belgians so far, lots of sloppy passes. Are they underestimating the Portuguese?
Striking similarity to the Dutch a little earlier.
Someone who lies about the little things will lie about the big things too.
That Hazard's 1-0 goal was a good shot and had curve... but still the goalie should have saved it, imho.
Portugal played well. They'll come back I hope.
This is where it gets interesting - the teams that have played free flowing football and looked like world beaters in the groups often find out it’s much harder going in the knockouts.
Your well organised non glamour teams like Denmark/Czech/Austria/Ukraine often pull out some surprise results against the big boys and grind their way thru (let’s hope so eh England…)
I wouldn't worry too much about England. Germany is unbelievably bad and the country can't wait to see the back of Löw.
Someone who lies about the little things will lie about the big things too.
How is that not a red for Pepe?!!?
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This referee is a perfect fit for the Premier League
I think the ref was amazing. It was the players who created all the drama. The ref just didn't fell for them. Nothing really bad happened there... just football drama queens falling on the ground and whining like little girls. De Bryune's injury was unfortunate though.
That playacting is the worst thing in football.
Heroic battle by Portugal. They had a lot of bad luck.
Belgium didn't impress.
Last edited by JPE; 27th June 2021 at 22:12.
If DeBruyne and Hazard are out then their chances are gone for me.
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These knockout games are throwing up some real treats!
Insane drama in both games, loved every second of both of these matches today.
Finally first penalties.
Someone who lies about the little things will lie about the big things too.
Switzerland - you beauty!! ;-)
Coupon buster!
Wow! Mbappe taking the fifth. Script was written I guess.
I'd really like to see England come out and throw everything at the Germans. Give the young talent we have free licence to go for it. Experience tells me this won't happen, we'll play it conservative, fanny about with the ball and not create much and lose it to the odd goal via a defensive mistake
....or go out in a penalty shoot out.
I can only hope I am wrong, but cannot see it.
It's anyone's now but I'll stick with my pre-tournament bet; Italy.
Just seen our team. I’ll stick by my earlier thoughts on this.
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Pleased that Löw is finally history.
Someone who lies about the little things will lie about the big things too.
Congrats England... it was a deserved victory.
Germany was almost just as poor as in the World Cup 2018 which ended in a disaster. They were lucky to advance from the group and tie with Hungary.
They just don't have the good strikers anymore. Just think about the history... Gerd Muller, Hoeness, Klinsmann, Bierhoff, Rudi Voller, Rummenigge, Matthaus (although not a pure striker), Klose...
Germany is not the same anymore. I'm sure they'll bounce back from this but this generation is just not as talented.