Board 8 > Euro 2020 Topic 4 - Italy vs England

(+) Yeah! (+)

I don't think calling yourselves "Belgium level" is something you really want anyway.

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Ultimately, the two things I'm saddest about this tournament is probably the lack of a bronze match and that it was impossible to attend the semi-final unless you went to London before the quarterfinal because you can never be certain Denmark is actually getting this far again. I do like our chances at the World Cup compared to what I usually think of our chances.

It really stung seeing all the young players miss, but I will admit it was quite enjoyable seeing Chiellini and Bonucci winning.

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Still, after the disaster that was the loss vs Iceland.
England's offered a heck of a lot more than what anyone could have hoped for when Southgate was initially appointed to replace Big Sam.

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Donnarumma being Player of the Tournament should technically default him as best young player too. Does it work that way though? In any case, very impressive at that age and especially as a goalkeeper.

He's gonna be quite the man to watch. Goalkeepers named Gianluigi in general. I really hope it's not true that he's going to PSG.

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Well Buffon didn't accomplish much with PSG!
But yeah Donnarumma is a hell of a talent.

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ExThaNemesis posted...

Yeah idk about drawing Germany in the last 16 as group winners was very lucky tbh

It's not a particularly strong Germany side right now, although I take your point. Regardless, Sweden, Colombia, Croatia and Germany, Ukraine, Denmark are two pretty easy runs to two finals compared to what you'd typically expect.

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Buffon was in Juventus until a good while after his prime though.

I just can't really support a team like PSG so it's more personal I hope a promising talent doesn't arrive there.

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ExThaNemesis posted...

I don't think calling yourselves "Belgium level" is something you really want anyway.

I'll never understand people who go "lol belgium golden generation what a joke" when Belgium is one of the tiniest countries in Europe and managed to get together a bunch of elite players who were all playing at the highest level at the same time. I'm sooooo sorry we lost to countries more than five times our size and could have expectations for the first time in a long time. What a stupid fucking comment.

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Belgium were the 2nd best team in 2018 and the sf with France was the true final

Did lose to Wales though which wasn't great

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I've always thought it was weird to only judge teams based on victories.

In most official rankings, all matches count, bigger matches count for more and obviously no system is perfect, but just using 0 and 1 makes no sense imo.

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If I could find the racist trolls and line them up against the wall and open fire... Fucking KKK-lite.

Drag them for Penalty flops if you must but not the colour of their skin, ffs.

Fucked Ignorant people who I would look the other way or join in if they were getting beaten.


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RyoCaliente posted...

I'm sooooo sorry we lost to countries more than five times our size and could have expectations for the first time in a long time.

Belgium also lost to a country four times smaller not so long ago

XIII_rocks posted...

Belgium were the 2nd best team in 2018 and the sf with France was the true final

does that make Japan the 3rd best team cause if so i'm on board

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voltch posted...

Mark Zuckerberg was a mistake

zuckerberg is to blame for a lot of bad things but i don't think he's the reason racism exists

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firefdr posted...

Belgium also lost to a country four times smaller not so long ago

And your point is?

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Well, I imagine is point is that while there's no shame in Belgium losing to France and Italy, and your point is a valid one for the most part, it falls down a little given the loss to Wales in 2016.

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I'm so tired of the complete lack of consequences to these racists fucks. They need to be given lifetime bans and their workplaces need to fire them. There is no place in society for these ignorant morons.

XIII_rocks posted...

it falls down a little given the loss to Wales in 2016.

'16 isn't very relevant to the current quality of belgium. a lot can happen in five years. spain completely sucked in euro '12 after they won the world cup in '10.

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So on an unrelated note, I wanted to listen to Seven Nayion Army and the comments on YT have almost completely been taken over by fans of Italian Football.

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Mr Lasastryke posted...

spain completely sucked in euro '12

You sure you got the right years?

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XIII_rocks posted...

Well, I imagine is point is that while there's no shame in Belgium losing to France and Italy, and your point is a valid one for the most part, it falls down a little given the loss to Wales in 2016.

Right, France should lose their status as world champions, given they lost to Switzerland.

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Lol

Belgium still had Courtois, Alderweireld, Witsel, Carrasco, and most importantly Hazard, De Bruyne and Lukaku in the team against Wales

If we're comparing incarnations of Belgium, 2021 Belgium is less relevant to 2018 than 2016, given Hazard's decline and the aging defence. But all three teams are of the same generation.

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RyoCaliente posted...

Right, France should lose their status as world champions, given they lost to Switzerland.

Not at all, but France's loss to a clearly inferior team was definitely laughable.

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ctesjbuvf posted...

You sure you got the right years?

oh, i was thinking about world cup '14, not euro '12. still, my point remains.

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Pedri did end up being Best Young Player of the tournament, so I guess you really can't get both. I don't think Spain is on top by the WC but perhaps by next Euros, future is looking bright.

Feels weird to say given they lost to the champions on penalties, but they looked shaky up until that point.

Also, Pedri will still be eligible for the prize at the next Euros. I know that they're closer than usual, but that's still crazy.

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My point in general was that talking down Belgium's golden generation for not going all the way is ludicrous when the competition is so high and our resources are so limited. Of course we refer to it as a golden generation. If you feel we have to win something to be named that, that's fine, but I don't agree.

Yes, we lost to Wales, but that was peak Wilmots coaching and we had also been completely and utterly outclassed by the Italians in the group stage, so I doubt we would have actually won the thing if we had beaten Wales.

France's loss to Switzerland is as laughable as Belgium losing to Wales, but it doesn't turn France into a garbage side whose squad is incompetent and shouldn't be considering for victory in a tournament ever again.

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yeah, i'm with ryo on this one.

sure, belgium lost to wales, but i don't think one bad game is reason enough to go "LOL BELGIUM" like extha did.

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Oh for sure I'm not agreeing with ExTha who went way too far in his criticism, I'm just saying you can't only say Belgium lost to great teams like France/Italy given 2016 happened. The other two times Belgium did exactly what you said - lost to bigger countries with marginally better teams - but Wales can't be forgotten; it's what I'd call that generation's only total failure.

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Well, the better team won in the end. I said that after the Denmark game so it's only fair to say it after the Italy game. The main regret is that it didn't seem like the lessons of Croatia semi-final 2018 had been learned - what a shame for England.

Why is it a shame

You know what? I'll wear that. I'm not mincing words today.

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In which we all stan Tyrone Mings

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I wish someone would Silence Patel permanently.

Take that how you will.

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Pain.

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Still stand by my dislike of Patel even *before* Mings went in two-footed on her.


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Identity politics had nothing to do with England's loss lmfao please don't talk about football, Ulti.

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My laughing at Belgium is purely off of bitterness for the 2014 world cup game where they knocked us out, nothing more.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


It's a shame because they let slip a massive opportunity to win a cup final after being 1-0 up.

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if you're gonna chat that sort of shit it would at least pay to not make provably incorrect claims

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Noted Euro penalty kick choker Southgate would never choke a penalty kick in the Euro as a coach, that's just unheard of.

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UltimaterializerX posted...

Okay well call it inexplicably bad coaching.

Again, please do not come talk about football when your knowledge is a few layers below cursory.

The main thing Southgate got wrong in that match had NOTHING to do with the penalty kicks, and even there the more questionable thing than sending Saka up to take the 5th kick was subbing on Rashford and Sancho with only 1 minute left to play so they were completely cold before they took theirs.

Penalties get saved all the time, and Donnarumma is a freak of nature who made two amazing saves. Has nothing to do with your narrative bro.

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And even if you want to go over everything I disagreed with Southgate on, and there's a lot, the fact remains that he got England to their first major tournament final in 55 years. Two years ago he had them within touching distance of the World Cup final. This is better than anything they've done basically since I've been alive.

No one's perfect, but Southgate has done a fine job.

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AND FURTHER MORE, anyone who wants to try to imply that our mothafuckin Starboy Bukayo Saka is some kind of affirmative action case will have to suffer the fuckin consequences!

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Oh Ulti being Ulti.


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Zylothewolf posted...

Oh Ulti being Ulti.

For a change (!)

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