Euro 2020, round of 16, day 2: Tilting at Windmills

Nick Kaufman

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A Lost Time
Belgium are surviving by the skin of their teeth. And if they have lost KDB and Hazzard, it's a pyrrhic victory.
 

Kliq

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That's a tough loss for Portugal, who were probably the superior side today but Beligum converted on an outside the box chance while Portugal wasted a bunch of chances in front of the net.
 

blueguitar322

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Sep 20, 2005
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Glad to see Portugal out. They can play so beautifully at times, but mostly they're an affront to fair play.
 

teddykgb

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A shame Felix was injured he’s so fun to watch and class on the ball. Portugal are t going to go anywhere without Ronaldo. A harsh result but a class strike you have to respect and you have to be clinical in knockout football
 

Dummy Hoy

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Not a great game for Belgium overall (Martinez was poor too), but credit to their much maligned back line who played very well today. Losing DeBruyne and his ability to control play was a major factor in this one.
 

Nick Kaufman

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The game became watchable for me after the 60th minute. In retrospect, I should have know, because this is exactly how Santos' teams play. Tight and conservative in the beginning and if they fall behind in the score, throw caution to the wind in the final minute. I know, because he coached the team I root for for a few years and this was basically a script.
 

Verryfunny2

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Jul 22, 2005
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Been letting of some steam before posting. Dutch were bad, but one thing i dont understand is you win the group then get an away game? Thats just horrible. Players were complaining about the weather its about 20 degrees in Amsterdam and 30 in budapest. Thats just bullshit too me. This game in Amsterdam with 30.000 dutch fans in attendance. End rant.
 

speedracer

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Counterattacks without shots don't produce xGs.
That's kind of the point, right? A fast break that ends in a turnover isn't necessarily 'worth' less than a half-court possession that ends in a contested shot.

(Not saying that Portugal didn't have legit dangerous chances, of course.)
 
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67YAZ

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Dec 1, 2000
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Watch the behind the goal angle. The ball takes a swerve to Patricio’s right before bolting left. I don’t blame him, I blame the defenders who can him time and a clean look from 20yds.

 
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Been letting of some steam before posting. Dutch were bad, but one thing i dont understand is you win the group then get an away game? Thats just horrible. Players were complaining about the weather its about 20 degrees in Amsterdam and 30 in budapest. Thats just bullshit too me. This game in Amsterdam with 30.000 dutch fans in attendance. End rant.
Nobody is getting a home game in the Round of 16 - the tournament has intentionally been designed that way, hasn't it?
 

Nick Kaufman

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A Lost Time
England are playing on Wembley because the match was supposed to be played in Dublin, but since the Irish couldn't guaranteed a crowd all the Aviva Stadium matches were moved to St. Peterburg and Wembley. Tuesday's match was supposed to be played at Aviva.
 

SocrManiac

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I’m not going to call that goal unsavable, but it was damn close. Combine the change of direction you can see on the slow motion shot from behind the net with some full speed replays to get a sense of what happened and how quickly.

The referee had a howler today, allowing the Portuguese to put their absolute worst on display. It could have been nipped early and, if anything, I bet Portugal then at least draw level if they’d been concentrating on playing the actual game.
 

67YAZ

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I’m not going to call that goal unsavable, but it was damn close. Combine the change of direction you can see on the slow motion shot from behind the net with some full speed replays to get a sense of what happened and how quickly.
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Watching the goal again, it’s Dias who has his hand up yelling at the ref for a call when the ball gets switched to Hazard. Dias is distracted, so he a step slow to step out and challenge the touch and close down the space. To Hazard’s credit, he traps, takes a dribble, and the pounds the ball - he knew exactly what he wanted to do. But Dias was bitching at the ref instead of anticipating play.