OT - 6/18 Euro/Copa America Open Thread
Belgium looked great in the second half after a poor first half performance. Turns out having your best player on the field does wonders for your team. Netherlands looked alright vs Austria and Ukraine-North Macedonia played a very entertaining game. Did not watch the Copa America games, but looks like Brazil handled their business in the second half. Surprised Colombia settled for a draw with Venezuela.
Today, we will see if Sweden wants to possess the ball more than 15% of the time. Czechs vs Croats is interesting. Croatia looked pathetic against England and the Czech Republic were far better than I thought they'd be. Rooting for the Scots to beat the English, but if Tierney isn't healthy and effective, I'm not optimistic. Argentina were disappointed to get a draw against Chile, now they get the other contender in the group.
9am - Sweden v Slovakia - ESPN
12pm - Croatia v Czech Republic - ESPN
3pm - England v Scotland - ESPN
5pm - Chile v Bolivia - FS1
8pm - Argentina v Uruguay - FS2
I'm still surprised South Macedonia didn't qualify.
Belgium has to feel like the favorite, when they have their entire offense working they can put together possessions that look unstoppable. On the other hand, if their defense gives the ball away 5+ times like they did yesterday, they're going to be vulnerable against other top sides.
Hopefully, I can finish up in the office in time to get home and watch the England-Scotland game. I'll pull for Scotland as well as the underdog, but I wouldn't mind if England rounds into shape and looks like they can contend for the Championship.
I think they’ll be fine until they face another top team. Probably play Italy in QF. Belgium would have the top 2-3 players on the field but I just don’t trust their defending
Yup, Lukaku and Courtois might be the best players at their positions, but their defenders are iffy, and even their midfield is not up to par with a France or even maybe England. I think 2 years ago, with Eden Hazard and De Brunye playing at an elite level makes them the favorite with France. Hazard's been struggling to get back to form after injuries and De Brunye looks in decline (though still very good).
Everyone loves France as the favorite and with Kante / Mbappe, one can see why. But do not ignore the Italians. They have not lost a match in over 18 months.
Italy has certainly taken care of business, but hasn’t faced too many tough teams in that time. The jury’s still a bit out on them.
Sweden has already completed more passes in 20 minutes than they did the entire game against Spain
As a man city fan, I cheer for the teams with the most city players. England has 4, but I have a lot of teams to root for. Gotta go for England today. I want to see Foden put one in!!!
Both of these teams are going to finish the game with less than .5xG
Very excited for Argentina/Uruguay tonight.
South America is easily the most enjoyable region for a neutral.
Took 60 minutes for the first save of the game
Keeper trips up the attacker in the box. Penalty to Sweden
I was definitely on the verge of ending it all as I contemplated why I was watching that match.
Sweden easily the most pragmatic team in the competition. Boring, yet effective soccer. I hope nobody wondering if they should get into soccer or not was watching.
If you haven't been watching the Copa, you are really missing out.
FIFA should extend VAR to include diving.
...and if VAR confirms a blatant dive, it should be an automatic yellow.
Fuck some of these diving clowns... like the Croatian player at 22:50
Who had Patrick Schick as leading scorer of the Euros? Czechs up 1-0
Hey Ref, It's called hold-up play, if Schick is holding his ground and then Vida for Croatia runs into him and then spectacularly dives to the ground, it's not a foul, granting the free kick to Croatia there was just gross. I love soccer, but incidents like that really make it hard to convert the skeptics.
I don't know man, I think people that complain about that stuff being the reason they don't like soccer is just people who don't want to like soccer and trying to find a reason to complain. No one decides they're not going to watch football when the exact same scenario you describes happens when a WR runs into a DB who has position on them and then the a PI penalty is called. We complain about it, but it doesn't affect fandom at all when it comes to football.
It doesn't look as blatantly obvious in football an maybe not seeing the looks on their faces as they are clearly over-acting may be part of it as well, but I know a lot of people who love sports see this in soccer and just say "Nope". Theatricality is a part of every sport, but you have to be trying really hard to pretend that its not worse in soccer.
Czech keeper should have stopped that shot from Perisic. 1-1
I don’t know. That shot was a missile. The keeper just slightly reacted late.
England with a few great chances early
Scotland deserved that point
Yup, definitely a lethargic performance by England, though give credit to Scotland, I thought they defended very well. England's attacking mids/wingers (Mount, Sterling, Foden) played well for the first 15 minutes and then struggled or disappeared. I like Mount, but he should've been taken off in the 2nd half. Provided nothing. Kane was useless, but wasn't serviced either.
It's just crazy that Southgate hardly plays Grealish. His creativity and even holdup play in the midfield is something England seriously lacks, and is just an obvious choice.
Very blah set of games today. The announcers were trying so hard to build up England-Scotland and it was a pile of nothing.
I thought it was incredibly intriguing. Entertaining match
Chile been hanging onto this lead. Far cry from their teams of a half decade ago. Bolivia arguably deserve something out of this
Chile/Bolivia was better than England/Scotland
+1 Chile/Bolivia was super entertaining... especially once Bolivia settled in. Bolivia's first 15 minutes in though? Woof.