Euro 16 gamethread

[Schnerres]

Goal Albania! Wonder if 3 points and a -2 GD with only 1 goal scored will be good enough to advance if the result holds today.

I thought it´s almost impossible, but after checking it, it´s somehow a huge reality to advance:

Group B: Either Wales(3P,+0) or Slovakia(3P,+0) has to lose by -3. Somehow possible, but unlikely.
Group C: Northern Ireland(3P,+1) has to lose (vs. Germany) by -4. Minimum possible.
Group D: Czech(1P) vs. Turkey(0P,-4) needs a draw or Turkey wins by only +1. Biggest chance.
Group E: Sweden(1P,-1) (vs.Belgium) and Ireland(1P,-3) (vs. Italy) have to lose or draw. Also big chance of happening.
Group F: Either Austria(1P,-2) vs. Iceland(2P,+0) ends in a draw or Portugal(2P,+0) doesn´t beat Hungary(4P,+2). Also very likely to happen.

More likely than not, I would say (depending on how teams who are already through like Italy play).

 

[OCST]

The ball popped.

JFC, that's terrible. Some marketing duder just had his career ruined. And a bunch of little kids chained to factory machines in Pakistan are going without dinner tonight.

 

[soxfan121]

Watching France without Ribery feels a bit... off.

I know what you mean. There are not nearly enough Frenchmen on the France team who look like they hired an underage prostitute last night.

 

[Cellar-Door]

Good lord another bad call.

 

[SoxFanInCali]

JFC, that's terrible. Some marketing duder just had his career ruined. And a bunch of little kids chained to factory machines in Pakistan are going without dinner tonight.

Those kids are already missing dinner because of the lousy job they did on the Swiss shirts.

 

[PedroSpecialK]

Holy mother of god Payet with that volley mid stride

 

[McBride11]

Holy shit. Payet almost another highlight reel goal.

 

[SoxFanInCali]

Another Swiss shirt bites the dust.

 

[Cellar-Door]

Another Swiss shirt bites the dust.

That's his 3rd. These are the same as the Arsenal shirts for the coming season so that will be fun.

 

[SoxFanInCali]

France get away with a shirt pull for the 723rd time in this game, and it ends 0-0.

Albania trying to hold on through 5 minutes of added time.

 

[dirtynine]

I really dislike this third-place advancement thing. It’s really annoying to conclude group play and not know who’s advancing.

 

[SoxFanInCali]

Albania! Albania!
You border on the Adriatic!
Your terrain is mountainous,
and your chief export is chrome!

 

[ifmanis5]

Albania! Albania!
You border on the Adriatic!
Your terrain is mountainous,
and your chief export is chrome!

Always funny. Always.

 

[Conigliaro's Potential]

I thought it´s almost impossible, but after checking it, it´s somehow a huge reality to advance:

Group B: Either Wales(3P,+0) or Slovakia(3P,+0) has to lose by -3. Somehow possible, but unlikely.
Group C: Northern Ireland(3P,+1) has to lose (vs. Germany) by -4. Minimum possible.
Group D: Czech(1P) vs. Turkey(0P,-4) needs a draw or Turkey wins by only +1. Biggest chance.
Group E: Sweden(1P,-1) (vs.Belgium) and Ireland(1P,-3) (vs. Italy) have to lose or draw. Also big chance of happening.
Group F: Either Austria(1P,-2) vs. Iceland(2P,+0) ends in a draw or Portugal(2P,+0) doesn´t beat Hungary(4P,+2). Also very likely to happen.

More likely than not, I would say (depending on how teams who are already through like Italy play).

Because of the non-Group C scenarios you've outlined above, if I were Michael O'Neill, I'd be verrrry tempted to have Northern Ireland park the bus for 90 minutes against Germany and go for no more than a 2-0 loss.

 

[Schnerres]

Because of the non-Group C scenarios you've outlined above, if I were Michael O'Neill, I'd be verrrry tempted to have Northern Ireland park the bus for 90 minutes against Germany and go for no more than a 2-0 loss.

What else could their tactic be, even if they wanted to win?

 

[Conigliaro's Potential]

I'm saying that they might well keep the bus parked even after conceding a goal, or two, or even three. Which isn't noble, but could be very pragmatic.

 

[The Price Is Wrong]

Looks like Sturridge was a half-step too slow on that flick-on header from Vardy. I won't call it bad footwork, but with different footwork, he probably gets there before the defender's slide.

 

[fletcherpost]

Ramsay with the dink over the goalie to put Wales in front.

 

[DJnVa]

Wales with an early tally against Putin's boys.

 

[The Price Is Wrong]

Say what you will about many exaggerated injuries, that is a lot of blood for a football injury.

 

[fletcherpost]

Oh My God - Wales are 2-0 up

 

[fletcherpost]

Wales are playing well at the moment. Russia are having to press and there's space for the counter attack. If they stay organised at the back, but positive going forwards this could be a great result for them.

 

[CodPiece XL]

Russia have made six changes. I'm not really surprised. Bale can counter attack them to death.

 

[Philip Jeff Frye]

I wonder if Lallana will ever score for England.

 

[fletcherpost]

Bale just ran 50 or so yards passed to Vokes who scuffed the shot that could have killed the match.

 

[The Price Is Wrong]

They entered the day with England on 4 points (+1), Wales on 3 (+0). So England needs at least as good a result as Wales in order to win the group.

Group B Winner plays 3rd place A/C/D (Albania, Northern Ireland, maybe Czech Rep.)
Group B Runner-up plays runner-up Group F (Portugal, Iceland, Hungary, in descending order of likelihood)

 

[Bailey10]

As long as Roy is giving a lot of different people a look today, I wouldn't mind him experimenting with vardy and Kane up top in a 4 2 2

 

[CodPiece XL]

Bale slicing and dicing...

 

[The Price Is Wrong]

Slovakia looks totally gassed, they really need halftime and subs.

 

[Cellar-Door]

They entered the day with England on 4 points (+1), Wales on 3 (+0). So England needs at least as good a result as Wales in order to win the group.

Group B Winner plays 3rd place A/C/D (Albania, Northern Ireland, maybe Czech Rep.)
Group B Runner-up plays runner-up Group F (Portugal, Iceland, Hungary, in descending order of likelihood)

It would be very English to draw today then lose to Portugal with Ronaldo scoring a hat trick.

 

[SoxFanInCali]

Liverpool guys playing well but not able to push a goal across.

I've seen this movie before.

 

[The Price Is Wrong]

Yeah, I usually root for England but I'd be hard-pressed not to cheer Iceland in any hypothetical knockout match.

Nation of 80M people who invented football and have the richest, most competitive domestic league on the planet, bolstered by immigrants from basically everywhere
vs
Nation of 300K people where it's too cold to play outdoors 8 months out of the year and are one of the most ethnically homogeneous countries in the world

It's a bit like cheering for Buffalo NY, if it were an independent country, who were facing down USA West Coast FC.

 

[fletcherpost]

Population of UK is about 65M; was 63m in 2013 - but your points are valid all the same.

 

[CodPiece XL]

I'm in the ABE camp.. Anyone but England. I can't change the habit of a lifetime.

 

[The Price Is Wrong]

Liverpool guys playing well but not able to push a goal across.

I've seen this movie before.

You'd think they'd know what buttons to push vs Skrtel.

 

[CodPiece XL]

Russia are looking like they have mailed it in

 

[fletcherpost]

Ramsay should have passed to Bale a couple of touches before he did. Bale would have had a much better angle to shoot from. Ramsay needs to trust himself more, be more instinctive.

 

[Ale Xander]

Population of UK is about 65M; was 63m in 2013 - but your points are valid all the same.

And as we have learned, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own capable teams, and to a lesser extent Scotland. Points valid absolutely, but let's go with the 53 million England figure

 

[Infield Infidel]

Slovakia has barely had the ball
How has England not scored?

 

[CodPiece XL]

Wales score the 3rd ...

 

[CodPiece XL]

Wales could be leading 6: 1

 

[Philip Jeff Frye]

It would be very English to draw today then lose to Portugal with Ronaldo scoring a hat trick.

It would be even more English to lose to them on PKs.

 

[Zososoxfan]

Slovakia defending in 2 banks of 5 currently. You can chalk that up to the format of the tourney by the way.

 

[swiftaw]

Slovakia defending in 2 banks of 5 currently. You can chalk that up to the format of the tourney by the way.

Yep, if it were top 2 only, Slovakia would have choice but to try win it. Instead, they realize 4 points virtually guarantees they get through.

 

[Cellar-Door]

Man shame England couldn't find a physically dominant striker who could use his head to take advantage of this defense.

 

[swiftaw]

Man shame England couldn't find a physically dominant striker who could use his head to take advantage of this defense.

Peter Crouch

 

[thehitcat]

That's who I was thinking of as well.

 

[Ale Xander]

Good job Wales

 

[Philip Jeff Frye]

Why are these announcers making the prospect of playing Portugal so daunting? Yeah, England will figure out how to screw it up but that's because they're England, not because Portugal is so fearsome.

 

[Ale Xander]

Yep, if it were top 2 only, Slovakia would have choice but to try win it. Instead, they realize 4 points virtually guarantees they get through.

Yeah
What was wrong with doing 12 teams move on with top 4 point getters getting byes? Wouldn't that encourage wins and attacking more?