The Official Football (Soccer) Thread (v. It's starting again!)

[Evermind]

Entered the DTF League, let's see how it goes.

Ready for Spain - Czech Republic match.

[Eldomm]

Great Italy win yesterday night vs Belgium! Totally unexpected... Italy played well though, we deserved it!
However that doesn't mean that we are not going to lose to Ireland and/or Sweden in the next matches, as in the last World Cup (first win with England, then two losses vs Costa Rica and Uruguay)...

[Train of Naught]

I was really glad to see Italy win, I like some of their players (Mertens, Vermaelen, Courois and Vertonghen) but mostly I think they're a bunch of world class players that can't seem to perform too well as a team.

People say they put up a great fight at the world cup. Well, they gave Argentina a tough match but overall they probably had the easiest possible group and still struggled against teams like Algeria, South Korea, and USA in the round of 16. I think individually the players might be at their prime right now though, so I'm hoping for some improvement from Kevin de Bruyne mostly, and the team as a whole.

Spain - Czech Republic was a really frustrating match to watch. I thought Spain played really well for the most part, and I feel like a broken record player, but they were really bad at finishing those opportunities, mostly the huge chance Jordi Alba had. But I'm glad they got the win and I think we'll be in for an amazing match with Croatia - Spain to possibly decide the most likely to be #1 of the group.

[Kwyjibo]

Doesn't matter how Italy fares in qualification rounds and friendly matches, they are a team that is always up for a good tournament (2014 being the exception to the rule). And sorry Belgium, but I never understood why everyone suddenly had you as one of the favorites. Surely a good team but not world class (imo). We'll see how it fares in the next matches.

[Zantera]

Doesn't matter how Italy fares in qualification rounds and friendly matches, they are a team that is always up for a good tournament (2014 being the exception to the rule). And sorry Belgium, but I never understood why everyone suddenly had you as one of the favorites. Surely a good team but not world class (imo). We'll see how it fares in the next matches.

I agree. How on earth Belgium is ranked #2 in the world is beyond me. Did they win a couple of world cups and euros when I was asleep?

[Kwyjibo]

There seems to be a lot of math involved in the fifa ranking, but when I see that they have France at #17 and Austria at #10 (and Belgium at #2), maybe the math is wrong. And Germany is still #4 despite not acomplishing much since the world cup.

[Train of Naught]

Their record was really solid last world cup even though they only made quarter finals and didn't score much goals. They went out of the group with 9 points. And they got out of Euro 16 qualifications pretty easily with quite an easy group again.

The Fifa/Cocacola rankings are one of the most unreliable ranking systems I've ever seen though, never trust any of that. I mean, to put it in perspective: France is ranked below Switzerland and Romania most likely because they simply played less games because they didn't have to play qualifiers for EURO 16.

Spain was also unexpectedly at the top before they even won any major tournament because they went out of the euro qualifiers with only wins, though I don't understand completely because that would mean England should probably be higher than #11 right now.

[Tomislav95]

I don't know exactly how are those points calculated but I know even the win against very bad teams (San Marino, Andora etc.) give negative points

[Scorpion]

I find it pretty amazing that the most decisive score so far has been 2:0, and that there has been no match with more than 3 goals in the tournament so far. I don't have the statistics of past tournaments on hand, but it seems pretty low to me.

[Heavy Metal Hippie]

Epic italian rape with a wonderful old school, but effective strategy.

And Germany is still #4 despite not acomplishing much since the world cup.

Well, they won their qualification group. There wasn't much more to acomplish.

[Zantera]

There seems to be a lot of math involved in the fifa ranking, but when I see that they have France at #17 and Austria at #10 (and Belgium at #2), maybe the math is wrong. And Germany is still #4 despite not acomplishing much since the world cup.

Yeah but the world cup was the last tournament after all, how much could you accomplish outside of that? That's my main problem with the rankings is that it seems completely random. The teams that actually end up winning world cups and euros don't seem to benefit much from that when they rank the teams, so what are they giving out points for, friendlies?

[Nekov]

I find it pretty amazing that the most decisive score so far has been 2:0, and that there has been no match with more than 3 goals in the tournament so far. I don't have the statistics of past tournaments on hand, but it seems pretty low to me.

You should be watching Copa América, tons of goals and fun matches

I don't know exactly how are those points calculated but I know even the win against very bad teams (San Marino, Andora etc.) give negative points

https://www.fifa.com/fifa-world-ranking/procedure/men.html Reading that won't guarantee that you'l understand how they're calculated but at least you'll have a reference 

[Cyclopssss]

Portugal tie to Iceland 1-1! 

[Evermind]

I expected more from Portugal to be honest.

[Kwyjibo]

That shows that you shouldn't undererstimate Iceland. Just ask the Netherlands 

[Tomislav95]

Anything can happen on Euro Cup, every team went through qualifications and ddeserved to be here. Iceland is very good team, I hope they'll advance to the next stage.
Few more hours left to join fantasy league for matchday 2, there are only three of us for now.
https://eurofantasy.uefa.com/en/fantasy16
League Code: 45727F0P

[Train of Naught]

I thought the biggest surprise was 0-2 Hungary Austria to be honest, didn't expect Portugal to do well at all. But I had my hopes for Austria. I think I even placed Austria first of the group.

[Evermind]

Russia is playing their match early this time, can't watch it at work. Bummer.

Looking forward to see how much will I fail in the league.

[Eldomm]

The teams that actually end up winning world cups and euros don't seem to benefit much from that when they rank the teams, so what are they giving out points for, friendlies?

Yes! this is one of the reasons why Italy is so low in ranking and was not seeded among the first teams. Always quite poor performances in friendlies...

[Onno]

Joined the DTF cup as well!

[Evermind]

Just got back from work and found out Eden Hazard is marked "doubtful" in the Fantasy League. Did anything happen to him during Belgium - Italy or what? I didn't watch it.

[Elite]

Jesus Christ that was the most undeserving win I've ever seen. The French shouldn't have won that in the slightest.

[senecadawg2]

   I only saw the second half but it seemed like they created far more chances than Albania and earned at leas one goal. The header was practically unguarded.

[Eldomm]

Just got back from work and found out Eden Hazard is marked "doubtful" in the Fantasy League. Did anything happen to him during Belgium - Italy or what? I didn't watch it.

Not during the match... possibly in the following days?

[Onno]

  I only saw the second half but it seemed like they created far more chances than Albania and earned at leas one goal. The header was practically unguarded.

The first half was atrocious.

[Nekov]

Just got back from work and found out Eden Hazard is marked "doubtful" in the Fantasy League. Did anything happen to him during Belgium - Italy or what? I didn't watch it.

Not during the match... possibly in the following days?

I read that there's some speculation that Wilmots might decide not to play him for the next match

[Kwyjibo]

According to a short notice in a german newspaper Hazard has knee problems and it's unsure if he's fit to play the next game. So the situation is hazardous. 

[Elite]

  I only saw the second half but it seemed like they created far more chances than Albania and earned at leas one goal. The header was practically unguarded.

The first half was atrocious.

The first half was terrible indeed. Also they seemed to get away with many more fouls. The match really should have ended in a tie, no team was clearly better, even though it was a matter of time before the French scored, but the way they screwed up most of their chances was terrible as well. As soon as they hit a team that's clearly stronger, it's game over.

[The Trooper]

USA v Ecuador....................what a game

[Kwyjibo]

Boring game yesterday between Poland and Germany. Germany controlled the game but couldn't create quality scoring chances. They have to do better than that if they want to go far.

[Onno]

Yeah holy shit that game was boring.

[Tomislav95]

Really? Second half was entertaining.

[Train of Naught]

I didn't catch all of it but Poland definitely seemed like the more dangerous team in the final parts of that game. Didn't look like Germany were in control to me. One thing's for sure, Milik can not perform under pressure, holy shit he dun goof'd

[Kwyjibo]

The second half was a little better because Poland tried to play a bit more offensive and it created some half-chances for both teams, but for me it was far from an entertaining match. Only me rooting for Germany kept me watching otherwise I would have gone to sleep.

And I don't saw Poland as the more dangerous team, but then I'm biased. They could have two dangerousa chances if Milik could hit a ball, but apart from that there weren't really any dangerous situations for the german team. Not that Germany was that much better but at least they had some half-decent shots at the goal.

[Tomislav95]

Croatia vs Czech Republic today. Can't wait