Euro 2016 - Part 1

[DeadPresident]

IMO the format of the tournament might need to be revised, it encourages cagey matches a little too much.

 

[Zantera]

Iceland deserved to win. Wales deserved to win. Italy, Germany. Basically any side that actually put effort into their game rather than coasting by on draws and penalties.

A team that goes unbeaten to the final and wins it deserves to win

 

[Grommers]

Yeah - people can criticize portugal all they want, but teams they were dominating lucked out and got ties vs them, so i'm glad to see portugal win this, cr7 is the most deserving of them all.

 

[aNarcHy2day]

A team that goes unbeaten to the final and wins it deserves to win

This.

 

[Harry_Lime02]

Honestly, I find it a little pathetic how shameless Portugal are about their overreliance on Ronaldo. It took them 10 minutes to take him off the pitch when he got injured. Is a Ronaldo that can barely walk still better than any of their subs? Then he basically becomes the manager during extra time, hosting team talks and barking orders. They don't even try to hide the fact that they're happy to let him carry the team on his back.

 

[Iceman]

IMO the format of the tournament might need to be revised, it encourages cagey matches a little too much.

What I did like with this format is that it gave a lot of teams a chance to appear in the finals who wouldn't have otherwise and some of them were the highlight of the tournament. If they go to 32 teams we will have teams like Holland not missing out and we can avoid this 3rd place thing (only top 2 go through) to keep the groups with higher stakes. I'd prefer an even more banal qualification year if it means a better main tournament.

 

[Iceman]

Honestly, I find it a little pathetic how shameless Portugal are about their overreliance on Ronaldo. It took them 10 minutes to take him off the pitch when he got injured. Is a Ronaldo that can barely walk still better than any of their subs? Then he basically becomes the manager during extra time, hosting team talks and barking orders. They don't even try to hide the fact that they're happy to let him carry the team on his back.

He isn't just their best player though, he's one of the 2 best in the world. Plus he is more of a leader and has more influence than most on top of his skills. He can be an annoying and silly bastard but he's been giving everything for Portugal over his career and it's nice to see that rewarded (even if I also always find it funny when he loses). Portugal have finally shown that they aren't totally reliant on him by winning a tournament final without him against the fancied hosts.

 

[Zantera]

This gives me some flashbacks to when Chelsea won Champions League. As someone who is a big fan of the sport and has watched it for almost 20 years, I feel like people sometimes equate playing attacking football with being superior, when sometimes that's not the case. Do I like teams that go forward and try to create chances? Yeah, I do. But I can also appreciate and get excited about a team with limitations playing to their strengths and beating far superior teams by doing so. Okay, so Portugal and Chelsea are not bad teams on paper, but they were both the underdogs in their finals. A better example is Leicester, a team that had no business winning Premier League but they did, by playing to their strengths. Did they have the best team? No. Did they play the best football? Not in terms of entertainment, but man did they get the job done.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

Portugal were undefeated in the whole tournament,last I knew one team had to beat the other team to win stuff and not a single team were able to do that against Portugal. Everyone thought Croatia,Poland,Wales and France were going to destroy them yet all these teams could do jack s**t. Portugal definitely deserved to win the Euro.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

I think the fact that people are downplaying Portugal's win on luck, comments like "they weren't good this tournament" speaks even more to the fact that they did deserve to win it, because if they didn't deserve it, and if they weren't great, then what about all the other teams? I can't buy a team "deserving to win it" if they went out, because that means they put in a bad game that got them sent home.

All that means are people are bitter and jealous.

 

[Iceman]

Ronaldo and Fergie's embrace was very cool to see.

 

[DeadPresident]

What I did like with this format is that it gave a lot of teams a chance to appear in the finals who wouldn't have otherwise and some of them were the highlight of the tournament. If they go to 32 teams we will have teams like Holland not missing out and we can avoid this 3rd place thing (only top 2 go through) to keep the groups with higher stakes. I'd prefer an even more banal qualification year if it means a better main tournament.

Yeah that's true. I do feel like they should encourage attacking a little more, there's a bit too much turtling up. While Portugal rightly won the tournament and worked hard for it it doesn't really encourage viewership when a team can play that conservatively and win the tournament.

I wonder if making a scored draw worth 2 points would make teams go forward a bit more. Besides Leicester and Arsenal last season I feel like most teams played precisely the same style of very slow and labored football, it won't stop me from watching necessarily but it's definitely not the most enjoyable period in the last while for me.

I do agree a different qualification system would definitely liven things up a bit, though.

 

[Iceman]

All that means are people are bitter and jealous.

Neutral people can have a view too. England fans have no right to be jealous of anyone competing in the final right now lol. I prefer the tournament winner to have directly taken a few bigger scalps along the way. Doesn't mean the winner didn't fully deserve to win and in a cup competition you only have to get through against whoever you get drawn against. But the victory is much more impressive that way.

 

[Iceman]

Yeah that's true. I do feel like they should encourage attacking a little more, there's a bit too much turtling up. While Portugal rightly won the tournament and worked hard for it it doesn't really encourage viewership when a team can play that conservatively and win the tournament.

I wonder if making a scored draw worth 2 points would make teams go forward a bit more. Besides Leicester and Arsenal last season I feel like most teams played precisely the same style of very slow and labored football, it won't stop me from watching necessarily but it's definitely not the most enjoyable period in the last while for me.

I do agree a different qualification system would definitely liven things up a bit, though.

That kind of play always has a good chance in knockout games. It's probably the best way for the non-favourite to play.

Are you talking about having that system in the group stage? (2 points for a score draw). To me all that is needed is the old system of top 2 only going through. The 3 points for a win already incentivises teams to go for the win as 3 draws and 3 points does not automatically get you through as top 2 in a 4 team group.

I'd welcome some more incentives for exciting football though.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Neutral people can have a view too. England fans have no right to be jealous of anyone competing in the final right now lol. I prefer the tournament winner to have directly taken a few bigger scalps along the way. Doesn't mean the winner didn't fully deserve to win and in a cup competition you only have to get through against whoever you get drawn against. But the victory is much more impressive that way.

Who is really a neutral though? Everyone has their country, everyone is a bit bias. When it comes to Ronaldo and Portugal, it is even bigger, when you consider the Messi situation.

 

[BlackFox]

The bitterness towards Ronaldo and Portugal is quite funny in a way. There is much hypocrisy about it as well.

England won one game in 90 minutes in Italia 90 and got to a semi of a world cup with Gazza crying as we went out, that was a golden run and a memorable emotional moment from a player.

Portugal go on and do the same actually winning the trophy and they are lucky, dont deserve it and Ronaldo only cares about himself so cries.

Enough saltyness to keep our roads clear for several winters. None of it surprising though.

 

[DeadPresident]

That kind of play always has a good chance in knockout games. It's probably the best way for the non-favourite to play.

Yeah, true, discouraging that kind of play is probably difficult to actually implement.

Are you talking about having that system in the group stage? (2 points for a score draw). To me all that is needed is the old system of top 2 only going through. The 3 points for a win already incentivises teams to go for the win as 3 draws and 3 points does not automatically get you through as top 2 in a 4 team group.

Yeah that's how I meant, as a way to encourage playing for goals at least in the group games, but I think in practice having the top 2 go through essentially achieves the same outcome really and it's already an established practice.

I'd welcome some more incentives for exciting football though.

Yeah, same, it's difficult to identify exactly what they'll be though haha.

 

[Iceman]

Who is really a neutral though? Everyone has their country, everyone is a bit bias. When it comes to Ronaldo and Portugal, it is even bigger, when you consider the Messi situation.

A bit of bias shouldn't make much difference to someone's comments. It's the heavy and obvious bias many football fans (especially in other forums outside of here) show that seems silly. Outside of France and Portugal fans there is every possibility that another fan won't even really have a favourite between the 2 or care that much who wins, and there are others who may prefer one but are able to behave like an adult and see and comment on what is happening in front of them without changing it to help out the team they favour. And we have all seen multiple tournament winners of the past and can differentiate between which ones were more impressive than others. Of course Portugal is the most deserving of all the teams on display at this tournament just by reflection of the result and that they got there through honest means. The less positive comments on them are only relevant when comparing to other champions of the past.

 

[Zantera]

Neutral people can have a view too. England fans have no right to be jealous of anyone competing in the final right now lol. I prefer the tournament winner to have directly taken a few bigger scalps along the way. Doesn't mean the winner didn't fully deserve to win and in a cup competition you only have to get through against whoever you get drawn against. But the victory is much more impressive that way.

I agree in theory but like DarthSkywalker suggested, I don't think people are completely neutral. The way certain teams play football, like some teams playing a more attacking football is gonna attract neutral viewers, and you always hear people say "now that my team is out, I'm rooting for X instead". Portugal didn't have much support going into the final because of how they played, and a lot of the so-called "neutral" fans showed clearly that they weren't neutral and that they felt the wrong team won.

 

[Iceman]

I agree in theory but like DarthSkywalker suggested, I don't think people are completely neutral. The way certain teams play football, like some teams playing a more attacking football is gonna attract neutral viewers, and you always hear people say "now that my team is out, I'm rooting for X instead". Portugal didn't have much support going into the final because of how they played, and a lot of the so-called "neutral" fans showed clearly that they weren't neutral and that they felt the wrong team won.

Some people ARE biased! t: And some heavily! All I initially said was that neutral people can have a view too. There are cool football fans and ******** football fans.

 

[Iceman]

Ronaldo and Fergie's embrace was very cool to see.

Lot of Utd fans in here so see the video underneath. Love to see that.

https://www.dreamteamfc.com/c/sir-a...eo/?CMP=EMC-Euro-Verdict-18_05_2016-829-0-0-0

 

[BatmanBeyond]

Yeah, it was a nice moment. He hugged Nani as well. t:

Speaking of which, I thought Nani played his socks off as well last night, was kind of scratching my head when he got the captain's armband after Ronaldo left the field, but it was nice seeing him track back consistently and contribute defensively, in addition to being an avenue while Portugal were attacking. Think it's the most motivated I've ever seen him.

 

[Iceman]

Think it's the most motivated I've ever seen him.

Same here lol.

 

[BlackFox]

IMO the format of the tournament might need to be revised, it encourages cagey matches a little too much.

Will never happen now, they just want to expand and expand to include more teams, same with the WC. UEFA and FIFA only care about the $$$ so the more teams involved the more money they make through advertising, tv etc etc.

They dont care if the quality dips a little as long as they can get more Wales/Iceland moments into the competition.