Don't know what is happening to me, but this modern football just bores me to death.

I have been a decent player and football fanatic since I was a little kid. For decades I wouldn't miss a Milan game for no reason in the world, no matter if it was during our dark ages when relegated in second division or on top of the world.

Same for world cups and euro cups.

Now its as if all teams have lost their identity, They all play the same. Some have better players, some have only good luck, and that is all the difference there is.

Players are all tattoos, Shaved legs and fancy hairstyles.

In this contexts, old players like Ronaldo can still make a difference only because defenders can't defend anymore. I can remember a great Milan vs Manchester utd 2006 semifinal when a Ronaldo in top form wouldn't touch a ball against Maldini!

And of top of this, the VAR BS and the pharisaic idea of "fair play" ...

I miss the toilet paper on the pitch, the mortars, Passarella's killer tackles, Cruyff's class, Maradona's genius and his "mano de dios", forwards who always fell down to gain a penalty, and those who would never do it, I miss the old traditional shirts, the hairy legs, "Italian style" shorts, black boots, corrupted refs, etc. etc.

C

On the contrary, I like the EC and WC. The quality of most games is good. I'm not a fan of the big clubs football though. It's mostly buy and sell and my Swedish clubs can't compete with Real Madrid or Man U.
Nations competing against each other is more fair in a way. And Barcelona or Milan won't win in the end. Good enough for me. The tattoos and hairstyles? Can't do much about that.
Give a footballer some money and they will spend them in tattoo parlours and car dealerships. VAR? Maybe I will get back to that...

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TheflyingDutchman

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NilsHolgersson

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TheflyingDutchman
The level of the Dutch team is an absolute disgrace at this point.

?why?

EURO 2016 they didn't qualify, EURO 2012 they lost every single match, now the opponents aren't that good but at least they're winning.. most players are not world class but they've got some quality in the defence imho

The Dutch national team has played first division level (Dutch Standards) on this tournament so far.
Agains teams like Belgium, Denmark there will be trouble already, let alone the Portugese. France, Italy or Germany will wipe the floor with the Dutch team, unless miracles happen: More focus, playing with a decent plan that creates scoring opportunities, decent ball possession and not going easy once the team scores a goal.It's the Dutch press that is very optimistic, naturally. I give the Dutch team on or two more games in this tournament.

Yeah well.. the days of Van Basten and Gullit are over, you can't expect Wout Weghorst to play like Ronaldo, but I don't think it's an absolute disgrace, they got 9 points. Hopefully they don't draw Portugal already in the next round, but I'd give them a 30% winning chance if they do, and then it's either Denmark or Wales, then it's probably more than 50% winning chance, and then they're in the semi finals. Might be against Germany, maybe a suprise win like when they elimitated Brazil in 2010, and then it's just the final that needs to be won. If Greece could do it in 2004.. yes I can dream.

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tioms
So far so good to read about the football. But I see nobody is talking about my country: Belgium: The Red Devils! Maybe not good enough???

I wrote in a previous message that Italy and Belgium were serious outsiders for the title....Lukaku is very dangerous, he can beat any defense on his own...and of course Hazard too when he is in a good shape.

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NilsHolgersson

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TheflyingDutchman

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NilsHolgersson

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TheflyingDutchman
The level of the Dutch team is an absolute disgrace at this point.

?why?

EURO 2016 they didn't qualify, EURO 2012 they lost every single match, now the opponents aren't that good but at least they're winning.. most players are not world class but they've got some quality in the defence imho

The Dutch national team has played first division level (Dutch Standards) on this tournament so far.
Agains teams like Belgium, Denmark there will be trouble already, let alone the Portugese. France, Italy or Germany will wipe the floor with the Dutch team, unless miracles happen: More focus, playing with a decent plan that creates scoring opportunities, decent ball possession and not going easy once the team scores a goal.It's the Dutch press that is very optimistic, naturally. I give the Dutch team on or two more games in this tournament.

Yeah well.. the days of Van Basten and Gullit are over, you can't expect Wout Weghorst to play like Ronaldo, but I don't think it's an absolute disgrace, they got 9 points. Hopefully they don't draw Portugal already in the next round, but I'd give them a 30% winning chance if they do, and then it's either Denmark or Wales, then it's probably more than 50% winning chance, and then they're in the semi finals. Might be against Germany, maybe a suprise win like when they elimitated Brazil in 2010, and then it's just the final that needs to be won. If Greece could do it in 2004.. yes I can dream.

If France ends up at the third place tomorrow after the game vs Portugal, then, your team will play against mine.
Would you be happy with that ?
usually, it's always a pleasure to play against the world champion team and above all to defeat it.

Will be channel hopping tonight with England and Scotland matches both kicking of at 8pm U.K. time.

England are through to the next round but Scotland have to beat Croatia.

Both home teams will have the crowd behind them, playing at Wembley and Hampden Park tonight.

Come on England . Come on Scotland . You can do it.

I'm sure it helped Denmark playing at home in Copenhagen last night.

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Paris75014

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NilsHolgersson

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TheflyingDutchman

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NilsHolgersson

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TheflyingDutchman
The level of the Dutch team is an absolute disgrace at this point.

?why?

EURO 2016 they didn't qualify, EURO 2012 they lost every single match, now the opponents aren't that good but at least they're winning.. most players are not world class but they've got some quality in the defence imho

The Dutch national team has played first division level (Dutch Standards) on this tournament so far.
Agains teams like Belgium, Denmark there will be trouble already, let alone the Portugese. France, Italy or Germany will wipe the floor with the Dutch team, unless miracles happen: More focus, playing with a decent plan that creates scoring opportunities, decent ball possession and not going easy once the team scores a goal.It's the Dutch press that is very optimistic, naturally. I give the Dutch team on or two more games in this tournament.

Yeah well.. the days of Van Basten and Gullit are over, you can't expect Wout Weghorst to play like Ronaldo, but I don't think it's an absolute disgrace, they got 9 points. Hopefully they don't draw Portugal already in the next round, but I'd give them a 30% winning chance if they do, and then it's either Denmark or Wales, then it's probably more than 50% winning chance, and then they're in the semi finals. Might be against Germany, maybe a suprise win like when they elimitated Brazil in 2010, and then it's just the final that needs to be won. If Greece could do it in 2004.. yes I can dream.

If France ends up at the third place tomorrow after the game vs Portugal, then, your team will play against mine.
Would you be happy with that ?
usually, it's always a pleasure to play against the world champion team and above all to defeat it.

No, France should beat Portugal with 3-0 or 4-1 and eliminate them haha

France, Germany and Portugal in 1 group is crazy though, compare that with Austria, Ukraine and North Macedonia.. it's almost unfair

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tioms
So far so good to read about the football. But I see nobody is talking about my country: Belgium: The Red Devils! Maybe not good enough???

Why, I said they are the top contenders for the title. They look fantastic.

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Stoneage
Yep, congrats Denmark! What a game. Denmark and Belgium through to the last 16 round. Finland has to wait and see. Russia out. I wonder what Dictator Putin will say about that?

No need to bring up politics. I think Russia deserves some respect and recognition for being great hosts. Yeah they sucked this time but shit happens.

*removed by request*

replacement post:





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2021-06-22 22:27 by NilsHolgersson.

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Paris75014

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tioms
So far so good to read about the football. But I see nobody is talking about my country: Belgium: The Red Devils! Maybe not good enough???

I wrote in a previous message that Italy and Belgium were serious outsiders for the title....Lukaku is very dangerous, he can beat any defense on his own...and of course Hazard too when he is in a good shape.

Outsider? I think France, Italy and Belgium have the best teams

Okay then, some short info: Scotland and Finland out. Wales will face Denmark in Amsterdam and Italy Austria in London on the 26th of June (1/16-finals).
England will meet number 2 in group F ( the group of death) on the 29th of June. The rest of the finals to be decided tomorrow.

So for us that don't follow soccer, is every European country represented in the championship or do you have to qualify? Is this held every year?

You have to qualify but now with 24 teams almost every country can take part
Blue = Team qualified for UEFA Euro 2020

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NilsHolgersson
You have to qualify but now with 24 teams almost every country can take part
Blue = Team qualified for UEFA Euro 2020

Kind of sucks for the countries that don't make it!

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DGA35

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NilsHolgersson
You have to qualify but now with 24 teams almost every country can take part
Blue = Team qualified for UEFA Euro 2020

Kind of sucks for the countries that don't make it!

They can still take part in the Eurovision Song Contest tough

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NilsHolgersson

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DGA35

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NilsHolgersson
You have to qualify but now with 24 teams almost every country can take part
Blue = Team qualified for UEFA Euro 2020

Kind of sucks for the countries that don't make it!

They can still take part in the Eurovision Song Contest tough

Not if they're knocked out in the semi-finals...

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DGA35

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NilsHolgersson
You have to qualify but now with 24 teams almost every country can take part
Blue = Team qualified for UEFA Euro 2020

Kind of sucks for the countries that don't make it!

It's quite a high number of countries that don't make it to the championships. Many of them (including mine, unfortunately) are small countries, though...

In Euro 1976 only 4 teams participated
Then 8, 16 and now 24
Maybe 32 in the future?

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DGA35
So for us that don't follow soccer, is every European country represented in the championship or do you have to qualify? Is this held every year?

The Euro's take place every 4 years, last time in France 2016. The best format was the 16 team format, 8 (the last time in Sweden 1992) was alright but it went by too fast, the 1996 championship was great, just the right amount of teams(16).



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2021-06-23 12:57 by MadMax.

Ronnie's watching too:






via: [twitter.com]

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NilsHolgersson
In Euro 1976 only 4 teams participated
Then 8, 16 and now 24
Maybe 32 in the future?

In 1976 many more teams participated in the qualifying rounds which were played in 1974/75 but only 4 teams made it through to the semi-finals, in the former Yugoslavia, which was a strange system, denying footballs the enjoyment of a tournament.

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RobertJohnson

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Silver Dagger
Bet against Germany at your peril! So typical for them to play a few off matches before the tournament and then even lose their opening game.

We saw the real Germany team against Portugal - a team with one of the meanest defences in the world - and they put 4 past them.

If England finish top of their group, and Germany finish behind France in 2nd place, they will play each other. That will be one hell of a game.

Unfortunately, the German team took a leaf out of the English team's bad habit at major tournaments and went home after the preliminary round (WC 2018) ... I hope that was an exception ... but I'm not sure because of the bad coach.

I guess a coach who wins the World Cup can't be bad buy Low has made some questionable decisions in recent years - dropping Hummels and Muller being one of them. It will be interesting tonight as I expect France to beat Portugal and if Germany beat Hungary they will meet England in the first knock-out round. And that should be a great match. It always is.

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Silver Dagger

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RobertJohnson

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Silver Dagger
Bet against Germany at your peril! So typical for them to play a few off matches before the tournament and then even lose their opening game.

We saw the real Germany team against Portugal - a team with one of the meanest defences in the world - and they put 4 past them.

If England finish top of their group, and Germany finish behind France in 2nd place, they will play each other. That will be one hell of a game.

Unfortunately, the German team took a leaf out of the English team's bad habit at major tournaments and went home after the preliminary round (WC 2018) ... I hope that was an exception ... but I'm not sure because of the bad coach.

I guess a coach who wins the World Cup can't be bad buy Low has made some questionable decisions in recent years - dropping Hummels and Muller being one of them. It will be interesting tonight as I expect France to beat Portugal and if Germany beat Hungary they will meet England in the first knock-out round. And that should be a great match. It always is.

The decisive man in 2014 was Hans Flick, his assistant. Löw has made crucial mistakes at every tournament over the years (2008 and 2010 against Spain, 2012 against Italy, 2016 against France). In 15 years (!) he has never managed to build up a good defence. I'm glad that Hans Flick will take over the DFB team after the tournament.

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NilsHolgersson
In Euro 1976 only 4 teams participated
Then 8, 16 and now 24
Maybe 32 in the future?

Why not 64? More countries than Europe has ... The greed of football officials doesn't stop at borders. The price is that the first two weeks are usually filled with football that is almost unbearable. Almost any match in the Champions League is on a higher level.

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RobertJohnson

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NilsHolgersson
In Euro 1976 only 4 teams participated
Then 8, 16 and now 24
Maybe 32 in the future?

Why not 64? More countries than Europe has ... The greed of football officials doesn't stop at borders. The price is that the first two weeks are usually filled with football that is almost unbearable. Almost any match in the Champions League is on a higher level.

Yes, why not 64? Then the greedy UEFA - btw: they didn't have the balls to allow the Munich stadium to be illuminated in rainbow colours - can make more money money money...
Gary Lineker tweet: Do it Munich. Do it. Light it up for the world to see.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2021-06-23 15:19 by MAF.

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MAF
they didn't have the balls to allow the Munich stadium to be illuminated in rainbow colours - can make more money money money...
Gary Lineker tweet: Do it Munich. Do it. Light it up for the world to see.

Politics are football shouldn't mix. The fans don't want it; nor do the players. The taking-the-knee debacle proves this.

It's not about polics it's about human rights. For respect and against discrimination.
And now the UEFA has changed the logo - for a moment or today:





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2021-06-23 16:27 by MAF.

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MAF
It's not about polics it's about human rights. For respect and against discrimination.
And now the UEFA has changed the logo - for a moment or today:

I'm just going to bite my tongue and not fuel another Tell Me, racy discussion on hot topics!