that would be an insane turn of events, and would probably be the most hilarious EC ever. imagine all the big league players get knocked out in their first round against the underdogs. tips would be going crazy, and after that alot of transfers from the big leagues will happen đđ
its already kinda starting, after Georgias performance yesterday, i wouldnt be surprised for their goalkeeper, as their striker, to show up in germany, france, spain or portugal after the EC.
All of these can happen. Except Belgium. I would rather see the world burn than losing to fake French and âDutchâ people.
(plus their team sucks ass)
Havenât you heard. We just invented our [own Döner](https://www.derstandard.at/story/3000000223013/in-favoriten-dreht-sich-der-erste-kaesekrainerkebab). We donât need the Turkish Döner anymore. (I know the source is German but I couldnât find an English source. Maybe you browser can translate it for you)
A Portugal who basically only attended the match. They were guaranteed first place, all they played for was giving the Czech's a chance to kick the turkeys out of the tournament.
It was obvious from the start of the game we wanted to finish either #1 or #3. Finishing #1 was not under our control. Finishing #3 was. And as a bonus we get to destroy the #1 along the road to the final to set things right. Smart move.
Going to say it here first: it's not going to be the Netherlands, England or Italy that reaches the final.
My money is on Austria. Not the best players, but the best team.
Please FSM, don't let the turkeys win đ. It was Impossible to sleep yesterday due to Murat and Ali (all 3rd Generation immigrants) celebrating the victory of the country they only know from their yearly vacation.
The Austrian team played Oranje's midfield like a fiddle. I hope Koeman learned from that.
I'd even say there's a reasonable chance you're playing against Romania in the quarters.
We also got a bit lucky with the goals though. We made the second and third in a phase where you were the much more dangerous team.
Not saying we can't or won't win, but not looking forward to it either.
I don't hope so tbh, with all the Romanian hostility against Austria atm. It was a pleasantly wholesome tournament so far with few exceptions.
Although the Romanians were playing well in the games I saw, it wasn't luck that they won their group.
Austria or italy are my bets. I hope austria because honestly i don't think our current team has a chance against the other big players.
I kind of hope that koso.. i mean switzerland wins this round, would be something new.
This is the nadir for England and Southgate, like what happened with Wy 'Odseson in 2016 when they lost to Iceland.
They have been so indescribably awful that I wouldn't be surprised if Slovakia take them. They won't be fearful of England whatsoever, and they have no reason to be. If Slovakia nick a goal, I can well see them shutting that inept England attack out.
I know we don't do serious stuff on this subreddit, but I'd say this may be the most logical final. You Hanses have been the only big team that hasn't disappointed yet (I'd say it's not very difficult in a group with Switzerland, Hungary and Scotland, but the other teams managed to fuck up with similar opposition). Plus you play at home. Maybe Pedro gets a chance to deny you your final place, but I wouldn't know who else.
In the right half, Barry, Luigi and us are disappointing immensely. Basement Hans at least has some fighting spirit and can play quite okay. Maybe Murat can beat them next round, or else Milka Hans in the semi final.
And obviously it's been 86 years since the last Anschluss, the government has to try something to boost popularity, so why not?
I know we ain't gonna win
BUT
it would be so fucking hilarious if we did
like, objectively speaking if we beat Switzerland we have a decent shot to get to the finals
that's honestly so fricking funny
https://preview.redd.it/e06d0djpi39d1.jpeg?width=469&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ed2a32b3ae762588b55d09d6bd0a486c03976247
How can you be upset when we gifted you the best sports meme anyone has ever seen
we both know it won't happen, but imagine the memes
a team so shit it didn't manage to qualify for the world cup two times in a row manages to win the euros 2 times in a row
I think you too agree that that would be about the funniest shit ever
wowow I see what you're doing here.
We are the underdog!
But yes, I agree if we lose against you, I want you to win against England so badly. And after you've beaten the team with the second best squad, you might as well win.
no no you are clearly superior
but _please_ let us win. Not because we deserve it of course, but because if we manage to win a second time it will be the funniest shit ever
Italians are passionate about football but never believe their team is able to win a trophy. It has been like this for a long time, even in 2006 when they won the world cup, everybody in Italy was certain that France were going to destroy them.
Just do it for them memes. My favourite thing about Euro's is the banter and beating England, I enjoy winning cos it means we get to party but its the banter and the memes I care for.
Itâlbe like 1992. Itâl be like 1992.
https://preview.redd.it/3kafy78qt39d1.jpeg?width=306&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dc0514c4f13aa1017e6d07ba8ffc49c792efed1a
Nah, your stone solid technique of giving your fans heart attacks by minute 2 only to give them another 90+ minutes to recover so you make them shit themselves again is still working, you even use it successfully against balkan nations
This ranking setup matchup is a fucking idiot that have thought it. Some grps have 2nd best play 2nd best, other nr. 1 plays 3rd, others nr. 1 plays nr. 2 etc. It makes unfair matchups and actually best to have finished third lmao. Stupid fucking cunt UEFA. Who fucking greenlit this thing????
In the 1/8 finals, most of the match ups are the leader of one group against the n°2 of another group
And the winners, 2nds and thirds are all spread evenly on the right and left of the board
It just so happens that France is number 2 instead of number 1
The Netherlands are qualified thirds
Romania is first of its group
EtcâŠ
A lot of "good teams" are underperforming and thus not in their expected place
Edit : if you swap France and Austria for example, it looks much more balanced
That still doesnt make sense to why some grps play 2nd vs. 2nd, 1st vs. 2nd, 1st vs. 3rd.
Would be best if 2nd vs. 2nd and 1st vs. 3rd. That makes more sense logically.
You dont do rankings like that based on who you expect to finish in what place. Thats the dumbest thing i have read.
Well you have 6 groups (A B C D E F)
16 teams fight in the 1/8th finals
The first two teams of the groups makes 12 teams
That means you have in totals 16 matchups to spread across :
- 6 teams that came first in their groups
- 6 teams that came second in their groups
- 4 teams that came third in their groups
Now if you put a team that came first against another team that came first, potentially youâre making two teams that would have gone to the semi finals fight one another, which would be unfair
So you pair all the top teams against someone that came second or third
If you put all of the teams that came second against teams that came first, you have teams that came third that fight against one another and get a chance to advance to the quarter finals in lieu of a better team.
Thus you have to have teams that came first or second fight teams that came third
And when you add up all of the numbers, all the extra teams (the ones that came second) have no one left but to fight each others
The alternative would have been to not have a round of 16. We didn't have 8 groups, so there couldn't be 8 group firsts.
So that necessitates that in 2 matches, the high seed is a 2nd place team. So you still have 4 second placed teams to distribute. You can't make 8 equal pairs with 6 reds, 6 greens and 4 blues.
As for the 2nd place vs. 2nd place, that was obviously to not end up with a 2nd place vs. a 3rd place matchup. Winning the group is meant to be a reward, and giving a weak opponent to a 2nd place finish would be a reward they didn't earn, no?
I don't care about winning, we ain't going to, but please let us spank the Barrys again. The only reason being, I want to see every British commentator yapping on live tv after they overhyped again their players the whole year. Also imo they are somewhat responsible for the team recent results since the overwhelming expectations and pressure
Wow, England could really make it into the finals this time. I can see it, England suddenly starting to play the game like itÂŽs supposed to be played, they make their way into the finals where they meet an powerful and worthy opponent like Spain or France or whatever and they keep the pressure up but to no fault of their own they fail to score a goal. Penalties start and suddenly the opposing players start speaking german ...
Germany may loose against Denmark because why wouldnât it, but for all the other teams itâs just such a bad matchup. Georgia finally gets to enter the knockouts, only to immediately be raped by Spain. Belgium against France could maybe swing Belgiums way, that is imo the best match on the left side. Portugal is likely gonna just outclass Slovenia.
The likely course is Portugal/France and Germany/Spain in the quarter finals and that is just looking way too much like finals. And the semi could be Germany/France, Portugal/Germany or Spain/Portugal, all of these would make for amazing finals. Tbf Iâm just coping with Germany having to leave the tournament after loosing to Spain in the quarter finals, that is just way too early for a good comeback
Tbh playing on a far more competive side, the one winning that is probably the best of the tournament. If we Look at the UCL the last winner always had harder way. I think the biggest downside will be 120 min games who will exhausting, but there are good odds that there will hard games against parking Bus teams on the other side as well. But Overall the Winner of the left side will have won either against the two best teams of the tournament so far (germany and spain) or will have won against the Best Team of the last 5 years (france) and one of the Best teams of the tournament (germany or spain)
This is common in every tournament. Truth is the organisers want England to win (like last time) BUT how were they going to guess France was going to underperform (Belgium too, but that was more clear to anyone with at least a little bit of common sense)?
"Bolas calientes", "cruces arreglados"... I would care more about shitty refereeing than fixed paths to the finals. If you want to win, you need to win against anyone.
Do you understand the second paragraph contradicts the first one? It is obvious the path to the final for England is easier than Portugal's, for example, but in order to win you need to win against anyone. This kind of thinking is common in every tournament, not that I particularly take part on it (even though I find suspicious certain things, and corruption in football is a sad reality, as we already know).
Arabs will pay a billion to host the WC there but who's paying for England to win? I doubt a hundred million would be enough for such a thing and who in England would even pay that (let alone much more)?
Not "paying to win", this is not EA. Little things: a referee makes some questionsble calls in one match, a tip off of a incoming drug test... That kind of stuff. It's too naive to think those things don't happen, and also too stupid to think those things condition an entire competition 100%. It's just "a little help", but then the team needs to win those matches for real.
We (Italy and us) remember perfectly what happened in 2002. And who benefits? Isn't there some kind of election in England right now?
French will only look for a chance to burn their shitty country. Also, France has won other titles, it wouldn't impact as much: last time you won something people still went to the shop or the town bar to speak on the phone.
>2nd sista
https://preview.redd.it/o6ru78q7j39d1.png?width=646&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0d9486df05cb5296e684819ac02e4f30958f3fbf
The more incompetent version of the Spanish inquisition
They do, rightfully so. I'm convinced Spain will try to "sway" the World Cup as well in 2030. That doesn't mean the team will win it no matter what (that happened once, it was you guys and the upsided down guy).
That's true, to be honest. I already said many times England was going to win, not related to this. And even then, the path to the final shouldn't matter, if you're the best you don't need to worry about anyone. But that's in theory, and in theory even communism works.
I don't think we're the best and I don't think we'll win but look at Portugal in 2018 or Greece in 2004, even Italy in 2020. You don't need to be the best to win, this is tournament footy.
Of course, that's why I'm thinking England has their best shot. Individual quality, good path, even if the team plays badly, they can compete and win. The players need to believe in themselves, but England can win. What I was saying is we always hear about conspiracy theories, and even if they are true, don't matter that much in the end.
That was the point I was trying to make: even if UEFA wants England to win, they need to win, and if they win, they'll win because they're better, no more, no less.
It seems so. All I said (or tried to) was: yes, there's a bias in football tournaments towards certain teams. In every tournament we hear about these and referees, and this time is no exception. Even of they exist, we shouldn't worry about those, either them or us, because all teams should strive to be the best.
Now pointing out they have an easier path and the last time they played at home since quarter finals is a conspiracy theory.
In Brazil it was clear the anointed team was Brazil. That didn't stop the superior team to win.
>Now pointing out they have an easier path and the last time they played at home since quarter finals is a conspiracy theory.
Claiming that the whole group phase is fixed just so England gets a very specific path without any proof is obviously a conspiracy theory. Several high ranking teams didn't perform well but that was their own doing, not the referees'.
Quarter finals on the left side are gonna be wild
Georgia Denmark. Slovakia Belgium.
that would be an insane turn of events, and would probably be the most hilarious EC ever. imagine all the big league players get knocked out in their first round against the underdogs. tips would be going crazy, and after that alot of transfers from the big leagues will happen đđ its already kinda starting, after Georgias performance yesterday, i wouldnt be surprised for their goalkeeper, as their striker, to show up in germany, france, spain or portugal after the EC.
Newcastle were already sniffing around their goalkeeper, don't think they managed to seal a deal though
the georgian keeper already plays in Spain (FC Valencia) Edit: & Mikautadze plays in France (didn't mention Kvaratskhelia since he was too obvious)
mikautadze is pretty much sold to metz. dont know if they can pay ajax the fee since they relegated
I wonder if the Slovenia / Slovakia mix was intentional!
No, it wasn't đ In my defense, if they switched I don't think anyone would notice
All of these can happen. Except Belgium. I would rather see the world burn than losing to fake French and âDutchâ people. (plus their team sucks ass)
That's the one we are all hoping for.
Would you rather the French win or the French and the Dutch?
It doesn't matter, JoĂŁo will take care of the survivor
The less games of your shitty defensive football I have to see the better. Your style of playing is almost worse than the way you accord the participe passé. (Im still not over the fact I have to learn that it behaves different depending on if there is a COD or COI in front, especially the thing with sens figure/sens propre or the infinitive thing.)
True
seeing how france plays this euro i don't think belgium is that much of an underdog lol
Peut-ĂȘtre, you can tell Griezmann to take note of Modriç's more successful attempt to ram the ball in the net?
In a way, I really want it to be that way
Hell yeah
On the left side everything beginning with QF is gonna be like the Final
us performing so badly we now are against Romania was a 4D chess move I wasn't ready for.
Just win against Romania and we win against Turkey and you are getting your rematch.
That might actually be fun. Didn't know fun could be had at the euros
It will even be in the same stadium
Canât wait for daddy Fritzl to paddle us a second time
lets first try to win against Romania.
I hope you win! A rematch would be awesome. Just take care of your cars during the match vs Romania if you're planning on being there!!
Wait, what cars? Can we win the game and get some shiny wheels?
You would also need to win tho
Keep my fingers crossed đ€
We've forgotten what the word even means.
Football is to be endured, not enjoyed
Is that a Southgate quote?
Please defeat Turkey! It will finally silence them and their stupid cars
No Döner in Austria after that
Havenât you heard. We just invented our [own Döner](https://www.derstandard.at/story/3000000223013/in-favoriten-dreht-sich-der-erste-kaesekrainerkebab). We donât need the Turkish Döner anymore. (I know the source is German but I couldnât find an English source. Maybe you browser can translate it for you)
I leb in Vorarlberg, I kan di scho verstoh
Aso sag des doch glei.
Please win from Turkey, if they would win it's another sleepless night as the Turks celebrate by honking their cars all night...
Romania is gonna beat us fair and square if we perform the same as against you guys. We better get our shit together before the match.
Spain outperforms every other team and gets a 3rd place that just won 2:0 to Portugal.
A Portugal who basically only attended the match. They were guaranteed first place, all they played for was giving the Czech's a chance to kick the turkeys out of the tournament.
Which mainly consists out of painters and second hand stolen car dealers
We feel you
It was obvious from the start of the game we wanted to finish either #1 or #3. Finishing #1 was not under our control. Finishing #3 was. And as a bonus we get to destroy the #1 along the road to the final to set things right. Smart move.
Tbf a win wouldâve given us turkey, so not much changed
We did that in 2016 and it worked
Get ready, it can always get worse
Going to say it here first: it's not going to be the Netherlands, England or Italy that reaches the final. My money is on Austria. Not the best players, but the best team.
I naturally hope so, but beating you guys twice in a single tournament is a tough ask. And Turkey is always a chaotic team to play
Please FSM, don't let the turkeys win đ. It was Impossible to sleep yesterday due to Murat and Ali (all 3rd Generation immigrants) celebrating the victory of the country they only know from their yearly vacation.
You want Austria to win so you can sleep at night. I want Austria to win so I can post vintage propaganda against the Ottomans. We are not the same.
We have the same goal (literally) here. "The enemy of my enemy is my Austrian friend", or something.
I mean yeah, that's kind of the premise of the "We are not the same"
Can you two be more specific?
He is the one causing the evil things, I am the one getting blamed for it.
You're the one who votes for and commits those things I'm merely suggesting
Hey we voted to reverse Versailles, not for that bullshit your Austrian and his mainly Austrian SS-cronies did.
They lost the last friendly 6:1, now they even have some key players missing due to yellow cards. This will be the hardest slaughter since 1683.
Now I imagine some fancy dressed Poles running on the field after half time and kicking the Turkish Goalee in the kidneys.
I mean, gameâs in Leipzig, not like theyâd have to travel that far. They could even ride on a horse đ
also it'll be awkward if it ends with a Germany vs Turkey final and the Germs are confronted with the fact that they're outnumbered by the roaches
Which side has more Turks thoughÂ
Turkey has more real Turkeys but ours are more aggressive so it probably evens out.
I read that as "more progressive" and was about to question that
The Austrian team played Oranje's midfield like a fiddle. I hope Koeman learned from that. I'd even say there's a reasonable chance you're playing against Romania in the quarters.
We also got a bit lucky with the goals though. We made the second and third in a phase where you were the much more dangerous team. Not saying we can't or won't win, but not looking forward to it either.
I don't hope so tbh, with all the Romanian hostility against Austria atm. It was a pleasantly wholesome tournament so far with few exceptions. Although the Romanians were playing well in the games I saw, it wasn't luck that they won their group.
no worries, half their team has a yellow card on their back
Half? Even without the cards the Czech's got, they single handedly broke the standing yellow cards record on a Euros match...
I thought your co-ow ed record with Portugal was never going to be broken...
The number of yellow cards in that game was crazy
Austria or italy are my bets. I hope austria because honestly i don't think our current team has a chance against the other big players. I kind of hope that koso.. i mean switzerland wins this round, would be something new.
This is the nadir for England and Southgate, like what happened with Wy 'Odseson in 2016 when they lost to Iceland. They have been so indescribably awful that I wouldn't be surprised if Slovakia take them. They won't be fearful of England whatsoever, and they have no reason to be. If Slovakia nick a goal, I can well see them shutting that inept England attack out.
We're just lulling everyone into a false sense of security. Operation win-the-euros-scoring-the-least-goals-possible remains viable!
I honestly think the same. They've been my """"dark horse""" and I'm glad to be proven right
Germany vs Austria finals. Austria wins. Germany invades to take the trophy.
No we invade before the final so that the winner is decided instantly!
Et tu, Sepp?
As an actual Sepp that made me laugh so hard.
I know we don't do serious stuff on this subreddit, but I'd say this may be the most logical final. You Hanses have been the only big team that hasn't disappointed yet (I'd say it's not very difficult in a group with Switzerland, Hungary and Scotland, but the other teams managed to fuck up with similar opposition). Plus you play at home. Maybe Pedro gets a chance to deny you your final place, but I wouldn't know who else. In the right half, Barry, Luigi and us are disappointing immensely. Basement Hans at least has some fighting spirit and can play quite okay. Maybe Murat can beat them next round, or else Milka Hans in the semi final. And obviously it's been 86 years since the last Anschluss, the government has to try something to boost popularity, so why not?
I don't care who wins, as long as it's not Murat. Please...
I know we ain't gonna win BUT it would be so fucking hilarious if we did like, objectively speaking if we beat Switzerland we have a decent shot to get to the finals that's honestly so fricking funny
Weâve got a score to settle with you Luigi, see you in the quarters
https://preview.redd.it/e06d0djpi39d1.jpeg?width=469&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ed2a32b3ae762588b55d09d6bd0a486c03976247 How can you be upset when we gifted you the best sports meme anyone has ever seen
I spoke too soon you are shit m8
nah, I doubt we will beat Switzerland but we will for sure be able to beat you, you can bet on that, Southgate has been our double agent all this time
if
we both know it won't happen, but imagine the memes a team so shit it didn't manage to qualify for the world cup two times in a row manages to win the euros 2 times in a row I think you too agree that that would be about the funniest shit ever
wowow I see what you're doing here. We are the underdog! But yes, I agree if we lose against you, I want you to win against England so badly. And after you've beaten the team with the second best squad, you might as well win.
no no you are clearly superior but _please_ let us win. Not because we deserve it of course, but because if we manage to win a second time it will be the funniest shit ever
Italians are passionate about football but never believe their team is able to win a trophy. It has been like this for a long time, even in 2006 when they won the world cup, everybody in Italy was certain that France were going to destroy them.
Just do it for them memes. My favourite thing about Euro's is the banter and beating England, I enjoy winning cos it means we get to party but its the banter and the memes I care for.
France has been able to fall upwards so far, why wouldn't Italy be able to do the same?
because France has the players, we do not
Itâlbe like 1992. Itâl be like 1992. https://preview.redd.it/3kafy78qt39d1.jpeg?width=306&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dc0514c4f13aa1017e6d07ba8ffc49c792efed1a
You mean 1988 surely. Itâs even in Germany again.
Yeah but we won it all in 92
Wasn't that the time that your team was only told about two weeks before the European Championship started that you could participate?
Yes. Yugoslavia decided to do Balkan things, so a slot opened up;)
[It looked something like thisâŠ](https://youtu.be/831dqNH2kYY?si=FfRD_YREdE1spbnk)
Italy actually has a realistic chance to be beaten in the Final.
You underestimate our skilled ability to fuck up majorly against a team from a small country that is generally bad at football.
Nah, your stone solid technique of giving your fans heart attacks by minute 2 only to give them another 90+ minutes to recover so you make them shit themselves again is still working, you even use it successfully against balkan nations
You are right I do all the time.
We either lose embarrassingly against Switzerland or we win all the games to the final playing like shit. There's no in betweenÂ
This ranking setup matchup is a fucking idiot that have thought it. Some grps have 2nd best play 2nd best, other nr. 1 plays 3rd, others nr. 1 plays nr. 2 etc. It makes unfair matchups and actually best to have finished third lmao. Stupid fucking cunt UEFA. Who fucking greenlit this thing????
The matchup would have made sense if teams performed as expected
Explain how it makes sense
In the 1/8 finals, most of the match ups are the leader of one group against the n°2 of another group And the winners, 2nds and thirds are all spread evenly on the right and left of the board It just so happens that France is number 2 instead of number 1 The Netherlands are qualified thirds Romania is first of its group Etc⊠A lot of "good teams" are underperforming and thus not in their expected place Edit : if you swap France and Austria for example, it looks much more balanced
That still doesnt make sense to why some grps play 2nd vs. 2nd, 1st vs. 2nd, 1st vs. 3rd. Would be best if 2nd vs. 2nd and 1st vs. 3rd. That makes more sense logically. You dont do rankings like that based on who you expect to finish in what place. Thats the dumbest thing i have read.
Well you have 6 groups (A B C D E F) 16 teams fight in the 1/8th finals The first two teams of the groups makes 12 teams That means you have in totals 16 matchups to spread across : - 6 teams that came first in their groups - 6 teams that came second in their groups - 4 teams that came third in their groups Now if you put a team that came first against another team that came first, potentially youâre making two teams that would have gone to the semi finals fight one another, which would be unfair So you pair all the top teams against someone that came second or third If you put all of the teams that came second against teams that came first, you have teams that came third that fight against one another and get a chance to advance to the quarter finals in lieu of a better team. Thus you have to have teams that came first or second fight teams that came third And when you add up all of the numbers, all the extra teams (the ones that came second) have no one left but to fight each others
The alternative would have been to not have a round of 16. We didn't have 8 groups, so there couldn't be 8 group firsts. So that necessitates that in 2 matches, the high seed is a 2nd place team. So you still have 4 second placed teams to distribute. You can't make 8 equal pairs with 6 reds, 6 greens and 4 blues. As for the 2nd place vs. 2nd place, that was obviously to not end up with a 2nd place vs. a 3rd place matchup. Winning the group is meant to be a reward, and giving a weak opponent to a 2nd place finish would be a reward they didn't earn, no?
In every big tournament, there's always someone shitting their pants. To win it all, besides being a good team, you need to be also very lucky.
Koeman: fino señores.
I don't care about winning, we ain't going to, but please let us spank the Barrys again. The only reason being, I want to see every British commentator yapping on live tv after they overhyped again their players the whole year. Also imo they are somewhat responsible for the team recent results since the overwhelming expectations and pressure
Italy galaxy brain securing themselves a relaxed tournament until the semis.
Ok, ok, sigh, I dont care, I'm going to say it FOOTBALLS COMING HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Need before and after pictures
Wow, England could really make it into the finals this time. I can see it, England suddenly starting to play the game like itÂŽs supposed to be played, they make their way into the finals where they meet an powerful and worthy opponent like Spain or France or whatever and they keep the pressure up but to no fault of their own they fail to score a goal. Penalties start and suddenly the opposing players start speaking german ...
Germany may loose against Denmark because why wouldnât it, but for all the other teams itâs just such a bad matchup. Georgia finally gets to enter the knockouts, only to immediately be raped by Spain. Belgium against France could maybe swing Belgiums way, that is imo the best match on the left side. Portugal is likely gonna just outclass Slovenia. The likely course is Portugal/France and Germany/Spain in the quarter finals and that is just looking way too much like finals. And the semi could be Germany/France, Portugal/Germany or Spain/Portugal, all of these would make for amazing finals. Tbf Iâm just coping with Germany having to leave the tournament after loosing to Spain in the quarter finals, that is just way too early for a good comeback
I hope the right side is the after
Replying to this after the Slovakia game. After that level of stress, I'm already looking like the guy on the left.
this table is lopsided
Tbh playing on a far more competive side, the one winning that is probably the best of the tournament. If we Look at the UCL the last winner always had harder way. I think the biggest downside will be 120 min games who will exhausting, but there are good odds that there will hard games against parking Bus teams on the other side as well. But Overall the Winner of the left side will have won either against the two best teams of the tournament so far (germany and spain) or will have won against the Best Team of the last 5 years (france) and one of the Best teams of the tournament (germany or spain)
Can't wait to see Romania winning just to prove this comment wrong
I would absoluty love it. Nth better then some nice Underdog run.
So why does our team get punished for actually playing somewhat decently?
Pittiful attitude. Real winners don't care who they face, because they crush all before them. (Not this Belgium)
This is common in every tournament. Truth is the organisers want England to win (like last time) BUT how were they going to guess France was going to underperform (Belgium too, but that was more clear to anyone with at least a little bit of common sense)? "Bolas calientes", "cruces arreglados"... I would care more about shitty refereeing than fixed paths to the finals. If you want to win, you need to win against anyone.
âItâs all fixed to favour England?!â. Take the tin foil hat off mate. Itâs embarrassing.
It doesn't matter because England has the whole of England working against them.
They've got to be the worst fixers in history
Do you understand the second paragraph contradicts the first one? It is obvious the path to the final for England is easier than Portugal's, for example, but in order to win you need to win against anyone. This kind of thinking is common in every tournament, not that I particularly take part on it (even though I find suspicious certain things, and corruption in football is a sad reality, as we already know).
Arabs will pay a billion to host the WC there but who's paying for England to win? I doubt a hundred million would be enough for such a thing and who in England would even pay that (let alone much more)?
Not "paying to win", this is not EA. Little things: a referee makes some questionsble calls in one match, a tip off of a incoming drug test... That kind of stuff. It's too naive to think those things don't happen, and also too stupid to think those things condition an entire competition 100%. It's just "a little help", but then the team needs to win those matches for real. We (Italy and us) remember perfectly what happened in 2002. And who benefits? Isn't there some kind of election in England right now?
Are France rigging the Euros for their election too?
French will only look for a chance to burn their shitty country. Also, France has won other titles, it wouldn't impact as much: last time you won something people still went to the shop or the town bar to speak on the phone.
We won in 2022! It was great.
Someone miss his 2nd siesta of the morning?
>2nd sista https://preview.redd.it/o6ru78q7j39d1.png?width=646&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0d9486df05cb5296e684819ac02e4f30958f3fbf The more incompetent version of the Spanish inquisition
False. Nobody wants England to win.
They do, rightfully so. I'm convinced Spain will try to "sway" the World Cup as well in 2030. That doesn't mean the team will win it no matter what (that happened once, it was you guys and the upsided down guy).
At least let us win something before bringing out these embarrassing theories.
That's true, to be honest. I already said many times England was going to win, not related to this. And even then, the path to the final shouldn't matter, if you're the best you don't need to worry about anyone. But that's in theory, and in theory even communism works.
I don't think we're the best and I don't think we'll win but look at Portugal in 2018 or Greece in 2004, even Italy in 2020. You don't need to be the best to win, this is tournament footy.
Of course, that's why I'm thinking England has their best shot. Individual quality, good path, even if the team plays badly, they can compete and win. The players need to believe in themselves, but England can win. What I was saying is we always hear about conspiracy theories, and even if they are true, don't matter that much in the end. That was the point I was trying to make: even if UEFA wants England to win, they need to win, and if they win, they'll win because they're better, no more, no less.
Someone woke up the Barry's nest
It seems so. All I said (or tried to) was: yes, there's a bias in football tournaments towards certain teams. In every tournament we hear about these and referees, and this time is no exception. Even of they exist, we shouldn't worry about those, either them or us, because all teams should strive to be the best. Now pointing out they have an easier path and the last time they played at home since quarter finals is a conspiracy theory. In Brazil it was clear the anointed team was Brazil. That didn't stop the superior team to win.
>Now pointing out they have an easier path and the last time they played at home since quarter finals is a conspiracy theory. Claiming that the whole group phase is fixed just so England gets a very specific path without any proof is obviously a conspiracy theory. Several high ranking teams didn't perform well but that was their own doing, not the referees'.