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

[MirrorMask]

And now we know who's gonna lose the final.

I really can't see anyone else than Germany or France winning.

[Elite]

I hope wholeheartedly that you're right. The Portuguese don't deserve to win this in the slightest. What a fucking disaster this tournament is.

[Train of Naught]

Could've and most likely should've been at least 3 (talking about that DREADFUL Joao Mario rebound) and maybe even 4 goals from Portugal, some poor finishing in the second half. That said, I think Portugal were easily the better team here but I'm favouring whatever team is facing them in the finals.

[Evermind]

I hope wholeheartedly that you're right. The Portuguese don't deserve to win this in the slightest. What a fucking disaster this tournament is.

Thousand times this.

[Kwyjibo]

Reminds me of the world championship in 2002 where Germany played like shit but somehow reached the final, where they put up at least a decent performance against Brazil but still lost 2-0.

Alright Portugal, your time is up now . Hoping they play against Germany because Germany always played good against them in the last tournaments.

[Train of Naught]

So how about that fantasy team thing? I've lost interest ages ago and I think I'm not the only one because none of the contenders ever mentions it anymore

I'm mostly neutral on today's game but since I'll be in France during the final I think it would be awesome if they would make it. Special regards to Griezmann who has been my favorite player of the past season, goddamn, what a service he's been to Atleti. Seems like he's picking it up again in this final stage of the tournament too, with a great game against Iceland.

[Evermind]

So how about that fantasy team thing? I've lost interest ages ago and I think I'm not the only one because none of the contenders ever mentions it anymore

I'm mostly neutral on today's game but since I'll be in France during the final I think it would be awesome if they would make it. Special regards to Griezmann who has been my favorite player of the past season, goddamn, what a service he's been to Atleti. Seems like he's picking it up again in this final stage of the tournament too, with a great game against Iceland.

I'm making transfers and substitutions every round, so I'm up to date with that Fantasy thing, but I looked at Onno's team and he still has some players from Belgium and whatnot. But overall, it's not that fun when there are only four players participating, I guess.

I planned to go into a pub to watch the final game, but I might cancel these plans if France wins today. I have no interest in France vs Portugal finals.

[Onno]

Yeah, I'm having exams in a little under two weeks so I totally forgot about it 

[Evermind]

And you're still in the lead!

[Tomislav95]

And I wasn't paying attention so I substituted few players more than I was allowed and got negative points and I made some bad decisions, too. Still believing in Muller tho.

[MirrorMask]

Well, with the least enthusiasm possible, go Germany. When it comes to football, like it happens basically with every neighbour, be it national, regional or a derby between two teams of the same city, Italy and France hate each other so my dislike for the french football team still comes before the resentement against Germany for having kicked Italy out 

[Evermind]

You know, that's probably my emotions talking, but that was the most bullshit penalty kick on this Euro I've witnessed.

[Scorpion]

Can German players please stop jumping into balls with their hands in the air, thanks.

[Elite]

Are you seriously proud of this, France!? After that abominable first half you played, the best you can do is a goddamn penalty kick? What the ffuck this tournament sucks

[Elite]

Jesus Christ this referee is terrible

[Train of Naught]

You know, that's probably my emotions talking, but that was the most bullshit penalty kick on this Euro I've witnessed.

Why? It kinda sucks for germany but it was just an oddly unnecessary move by Schweinsteiger.

[Elite]

Alright game over

[Evermind]

Jesus Christ this referee is terrible

Yup.

I didn't see any hand-play or whatever it's called, but even if it happened, I think you should've let it slip so you won't break the game with that penalty kick in the end of the first half. It wasn't something too outrageous. I'm all for "let the teams play and decide the winner themselves" and all that; and this penalty kick was the opposite of that.

[Elite]

I agree with all that.

[Scorpion]

As much as this game annoyed me, I'm probably still rooting for France in the final, just because I detest Portugal.

[Elite]

I detest Portugal as well, but this French team isn't worthy of the finals either.

[Train of Naught]

I'm super stoked!! My favorite player of last season is curremtly leadong the topscorer boards, my ideal two finalists out of the last 4 are playing against eachother and I'm going to see the game in France holy shit!

No hard feelings to the Germans of course, not the most convincing win I'll admit.

[Evermind]

Okay then, it was fun following this Euro and this thread. I highly doubt I'll be watching the Finals to be honest.

[MirrorMask]

Looks like this time around the french stopped the germans from reaching Paris. 

At this point to hell with it, let Portugal have their moment in history, only downside of their eventual (and very unikely) victory is Ronaldo being showered with money, women and Best Player awards.

[Train of Naught]

Unless Ronaldo pulls off something spectacular I doubt he'll get the best player award, even if they win. Most likely will go to Griezmann who has been great at worst in every game (bar the first one), really fun guy to watch.

[senecadawg2]

Fuck Griezmann and fuck his stupid celebratory dance.

Lloris, on the other hand, can have my babies.

[MirrorMask]

Ronaldo has already won the Champions League, if he nails also the final the "Golden ball" is his. Especially since in latest years it always seems a two people race only between him and Messi.

Anyway, I've noticed that this Euro has broken quite some "curses":

- Italy defeated Spain, last time was in 1994
- Germany defeated Italy, to quote Frozen, for the first time in forever
- France defeated Germany, last time it was half a century ago or even more

But geez, the french to win something they have to organize it, otherwise they can't 

[Train of Naught]

I rest my case, club football has nothing to do with the euros so that comparison makes no sense. I think most people are aware that Ronaldo is one of the best players ever but he is always surrounded by world class players in Real Madrid, something he can't quite live up to in this tournament.

[Kwyjibo]

Life is meaningless and full of pain 

Sucks if you lose when you are the better team. But congrats to France for being effective. Germany made two mistakes and France scored on both. And fpr the future Germany has a lot of work to do in the goal scoring department, doesn't help you if you control the game but can't create enough scoring chances. Till the end I got the feeling that even if the game would go on for another hour, Germany would not score a goal.

And not to blame it all on the referee, but I'm still not convinced that the decision to let a referee from Italy lead the game is such a great idea, after Italy got defeated by Germany in the previous round. Dear UEFA, maybe a german referee for the final then? 

But regardless, it was a stupid thing by Schweinsteiger and totally unnecessary.

[MirrorMask]

I found it weird too to give the match to an italian referee, but I thought to myself "Well, Germany kicked us out, with France there's a strong football rivality, he probably just hates them both and thus will be impartial that way" 

[Cyclopssss]

Jesus Christ this referee is terrible

Yup.

I didn't see any hand-play or whatever it's called, but even if it happened, I think you should've let it slip so you won't break the game with that penalty kick in the end of the first half. It wasn't something too outrageous. I'm all for "let the teams play and decide the winner themselves" and all that; and this penalty kick was the opposite of that.

He'd been letting fouls slide all over the place to keep the flow of the game. All ruined by this decision. Maybe France would've won the game regardless, because the Germans couldn't score for shit, but this was gross.

[RoeDent]

Germany failed to take advantage of their first-half dominance, and paid the ultimate price. I'm so glad France are in the final. The nation deserves something after the year they've had. I hope they destroy Portugal in the final, although if Portugal win, it would be a fair reflection on what has been a dismal tournament overall. If the UEFA teams play like this in the World Cup, it's definitely going to a team from another continent in 2018.

[Train of Naught]

A bit of an early call but Chile are still becoming better every year with a great youth, putting my money on them taking home the 2018 WC

Germany failed to take advantage of their first-half dominance, and paid the ultimate price. I'm so glad France are in the final.

This. Dominant game from germany but no finishing ability, so i cant really say that either side really proved themselves. Then again, how much should one need to prove to take on Portugal?

[Kwyjibo]

A lot can happen in the two years until the next world championship, but if Chile can keep it up they are one of the favorites, along with the usual suspects I think.

And as I said before, Germany has to be more efficient with their chances. With Gomez out and Müller and Götze underperforming, it was the great problem right from the beginning of the tournament. For instance they should have crushed Ireland but only scored one lucky goal. What good is control of the game if you don't score? They need more goalgetters.

But if Löw carries on (and I'm sure he will) I'm sure he will try to solve this problem.

[MirrorMask]

France's tactic during the final: beat Ronaldo into injury so that he has to leave the field.

Ok, now I really want Portugal to win.