OT - 6/29 - Euro 2020
It has been very entertaining! Don’t think I’ve ever really watched a full soccer game until yesterday. I’m tuned in again today.
Fired up for football?
England lineup is weak in the attack in my opinion. No Foden, Graelish, Mount???? What is Southgate thinking?
Southgate seems to like Phillips in the mid and he also started Sterling and Saka. I prefer Graelish or Mount in the mid, as Phillips seems a little wreckless on his challenges. Saka is a good player, but he and Sterling are small and get knocked off the ball easier than some of the others like Foden or Rashford.
Phillips has been one of England’s most consistent players this tournament alongside Sterling and Pickford in goal. Agreed about Saka and Sterling’s size, but in Sterling’s case it’s such an easy sacrifice when you consider his explosive speed and play making with or without the ball.
Southgate is the English version of Didier Deschamps. His terms are boring despite their talent, they play to the level of their competition, and he makes a lot of odd tactical choices . . . but he wins.
Come on England!
Some terrific opportunities from both sides in the first half. Especially with the frenzy from yesterday, for it to come up empty is quite the roller coaster.
Germany missed what could have been the qualizer.
Eek!
Oh oh. England's got a 2-goal lead . They might be in trouble now.
It's coming home, lads
Cans?
Indeed it is....
Thomas Muller has been one of my favorite players for the last decade, but the game has seemed to have passed him by. Today, he was terrible in the midfield with half a dozen terrible passes. He also wasted both of Germany's most promising chances. He just can't make the magic happen like he used to.
Looking forward to the next generation for Germany and congratulations to England.
Löw is finally going to be put out to pasture after this, right? Talk about staying on way too long.
Hansi Flick, Bayern's coach, is taking over after Euros, so I guess now?
Who is part of Germany's next generation and are they any good? Will they be ready to feature by next world cup? As a casual German fan, its obviously been all downhill since 2014.
Yes, they have several 26 and under players who played well in this tournament (e.g. Gosnes, Goretzka, and Havertz). I have yet to see the emergence into stardom from any of them, but the cupboard is far from bare.
Also, the World Cup is next year. It's unclear how the relatively quick turnaround will impact a national team with a new coach. But Germany has a number of 24-27-year-olds with promise. Hopefully, the next three years can lead to a peak for this generation at the next World Cup or the next Euro.
I'm only checking out games occasionally. Does anybody who's watching regularly have an opinion about the various announcing teams? Really good? Really bad?
I know, I know. It's rare to find a strong opinion on MGoBlog, but I thought I'd check.
I think it's been excellent, but I'm always biased towards British-accented (i.e., proper English speaking) commentators.
Proper English or Posh English?
https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20180207-how-americans-preserved-british-english
Proper Spice or Posh Spice?
Nice article. Thanks for posting.
But it's ironic, in an article making the point that dialects & pronunciations are dynamic, changing over time, that it uses as one key bit of evidence the OP (Original Pronunciation) movement, which is a static system, claiming to reveal "authentic" Shakespeare speech.
Ian Darke and Stewart Robson were excellent today calling the England v. Germany match.
On the other hand, any match being called by Jon Champion and Taylor Twellman is an auto-mute. Champion will usually just utter player’s names successively as they get touches without adding any real commentary. Meanwhile, Twellman comes through sounding like an arrogant douche who likes to think he knows more than he actually does.
Thanks, jd.
The theatrics I see the most is the constant embellishment of injury after any contact. I just chuckle. I know this isn’t exactly breakthrough analysis by any stretch, and it’s become part of the game. It's even creeped it's way into hockey. But I still have to laugh.
You think this is bad, watch the Copa tournament that is going on. It starts back with the knockout rounds on Friday. What I want to know is what is that "magic spray" that they spray on the injuries that all of a sudden heals anything? I need to get me some of that!
As bad as soccer is, the NBA is worse. I blame James Harden, LeBron, Blake Griffin, and the Europeans. Yes, all of them.
Just when Sweden thought they were going to be able to hold on with 10 men to make it to PK's, Ukraine snatches it away from them in the 122' of extra time!
Hey Southgate, maybe start Grealish next time?
Signed,
Everyone, except your next opponent.