EURO 2020 Round of 16 Open Thread
Amazing that Denmark is a former Euro champion (1992). They beat Germany (then the reigning world champions) in that final. That must have been one of the biggest upsets of all time.
They weren’t even supposed to be at that tournament. Yugoslavia had to drop out because of a war, Danes were first alternate.
Did Jon Gruden just score that goal for Denmark?
1-0, Danes.
The folks at Borgen are loving it.
Pet peeve time. This ESPN announcer is really starting to bug me. He just completed a sequence where he said 6 players’ names, followed by a, “nicely done by Allen.” If I want to know who the players are, I’ll get a program. How about describing the action? Provide some insight, talk about strategy, tactics, whatever. Nope, it’s just, “Bale, Moore, Allen.”
didn't know Brandstatter was now doing soccer also. Any sack time yet?
I disagree. I can see what's happening, but I can't necessarily tell which guy is which when it's not a close up.
And Ian Darke also does say what's happening a lot.
When 2021 Bale is your best player, you’re gonna have a bad time.
Congratulations to Denmark on a big 4-0 win ti get through
AUSTRIA!!!!!!!
ed. has its heart forcibly ripped from it's chest... wow.
Even is onside.
Replay clearly showed his trailing foot was even with the defender's calf.
Horrible overturn on replay.
It sounds like you haven't watched a lot of soccer the last few years. I agree that pre-VAR, overlapping usually counted as "even" which was considered onside. Since VAR was instituted 3 years ago, it's always been offsides if any part of the body that can play the ball is ahead of the last part of the defender that can play the ball.
Just kind of surprised that anyone is surprised by this in 2021.
It sounds like you haven't read Law 11.
Kinda surprised that someone in a forum where a large portion of the participants trumpets academic superiority that you have such a strong take and you haven't done your research.
VAR sucks. Goals are disallowed on the most marginal of offsides. What advantage did he gain there?
None.
No advantage.
He was onside.
Refs must be from Ohio.
They really are, aren't they? I mean, a single foot placed beyond the last defender. The offside rule is ridiculous, and the way it's enforced only highlights that fact.
Agreed. If VAR is going to be enforced that tightly then the rule needs to be changed - measuring offsides by a half of a fingernail is going to kill the game. How many goals have been disallowed so far? This should be a 1-0 game with Italy desperately needing to press which would make for much better soccer.
Terrible decision and I say that with zero rooting interest one way or the other. I would be absolutely livid as an Austrian fan.
Ranks slightly below a hypothetical murder of an archduke.
The rule should be something like “The offensive player’s head/torso cannot be more than a half-meter beyond the defender’s.” Or maybe a full meter. There has to be a significant difference.
I'm fine with the rule being even, but measuring foot v torso/shoulder, etc is where things fall apart.
I mention the upper body because with the lower body, you can have situations where the offensive guy is striding and the defensive guy is still. With the upper body it’s more clear cut.
Regardless, the important thing is that the offensive player has gained an actual advantage from the distance and isn’t just an inch past.
Having played defense, I have no problem with a striding attacker and me standing still holding a line, like on a free kick. That's part of the game. But when an attacker has a toe slightly beyond the last defender's shoulder... that's rough.
And it cost Austria the game.
I didn’t realize there were so many Austrians on the board. The player was clearly offside and the goal was disallowed. Go Blue!
No one is saying that the call was wrong. The guy's foot was past the defender. It was the right call according to the rule. The current rule, however, should be improved. Right now, it hurts the game.
Reading the comments above, it sounds like a lot of people literally think that call was incorrect. Which is ludicrous. And to the guy asking, he did gain an advantage because if he was six inches behind where he was, he may not have gotten to that ball and put it in.
Would it be a better rule if you anyone who was overlapped counted as onside? Sure, I'd like that since it's a slight change that would lead to more goals.
But I am shocked that anyone thinks that call was actually incorrect.
The people complaining sound like someone watching an NFL game and complaining that it was a complete pass because the receiver got one foot inbounds.
I understand that the call was correct by the book. I’m not confused by the call. I just don’t think this should be the rule, because it’s hard to argue that he gained an advantage on the defense being so marginally offside.
Without VAR this kind of nitpickety call doesn’t get made, so that annoys me about VAR. This just means fewer goals, when I enjoy watching goals scored.
(For the record I don’t like the NFL rule requiring two feet inbounds, either. That eliminates too many good plays.)
Yeah, I'm surprised reading these comments. I wasn't rooting for Italy, but the dude was obviously offsides. By only 6 inches or a foot, but still obviously offsides. I like that there's finally a level of precision in what counts as offsides (and I wish they'd do the same thing handballs, but that's a discussion for another day).
Just curious, were any of you guys whining when Mexico's goal got disallowed for being 3 inches offsides in the Nation's League final? I sure wasn't.
It's funny that people complain so much about VAR, but would it really be better to have these games decided by clearly incorrect calls? It's like VAR gets 4 out of 5 calls right and people want to get rid of it because 1 out of 5 calls is arguably wrong. When it used to be 50/50 at best.
A bad rule is a bad rule, whether it affects Mexico, Papua New Guinea or anyone else.
Need show some cards for all these Italy dives.
Italy is the most frustrating international side to watch with all of their diving antics and yet somehow always seem to receive favorable officiating.
Second match was a great match. Austria looked very good in the second half, was worried they’d sneak out with the win. A couple great goals in that one.
2-0 Czech Republic. And the weaker half of the bracket is going to be even more wide open. Wow.