A Beautiful Thread for the Beautiful Game

Wales may have finally been beaten, but what a ride it was. Hats off to the Welsh side. It's great to see such a small nation make such a large impact.

Wales played a very admirable role in this tournament indeed.

I really wonder if I am just not made for watching football, or if the competition was rather poor when it comes to greatly entertaining games. Out of the 49 games played so far, I think maybe 6 or 7 were either spectacular or thrilling enough level to be truly memorable.

And I don't feel like we saw many games that were just very high-quality, like Croatia-Spain, with two superlative teams facing each other. I assume that Wales-Belgium is the best we had when it comes to entertainment, especially given the quality of some of the goals.

WOOOOOOOHOOOOOO! WE'RE AT THE FINAL AGAIN, CARALHO!

I didn't expect any of this before the Euros began. These draws, this win in regular time, Santos' tactics actually working out well (and his statement that he would only return to Portugal on the 11th [of July] coming true), the PK's against Poland... this still feels like a really strange dream,

@Rachel: Kudos to Wales. I suppose if Wales had Ramsey, things would have gone a bit differently (or perhaps there would've been a draw in regular time). In any case, it was a great run, and I hope to see Wales again either at the WC or in 4 years.

edited 7th Jul '16 2:57:11 AM by Quag15

Ramsey has been the best midfielder in these Euros, IMO. The stats seem to agree - he's won possession the most of any midfielder in this tournament (Xhaka is second in that statistic), and he's been involved in the joint-highest number of goals (5). That's better than Griezmann, for instance.

Now Ramsey is saying that he'll probably need the first week or two of the season off to recover from the Euros. He's citing the rest given to German players after the World Cup as an example of Wenger's willingness to give that sort of leave. Obviously, if he feels he needs a rest he should get it. Arsenal can replace Ramsey with Wilshere or Xhaka for the first few games of the season.

Griezmann was involved in 6 goals - 4 scored, 2 assists. Payet and Giroud both scored 3 and delivered 2 assists. But out of those three, Payet is the only midfielder.

Conversely, Ronaldo is now at 3 scored & 3 assists, putting him ahead of Ramsey and tied with Griezmann (with one more game played). And Hazard has the exact same stats that Ramsey (1 scored, 4 assists) with the same number of games played.

Also, Ronaldo will end up with the highest number of attempts in the competition. He is at 47 so far. To give a comparison, Bale ended up with 25, De Bruyne with 22, and Nani is at 20 right now. In France, Griezmann is at 16 (!) and for Germany, the highest is Müller with 17 (including two posts).

edited 7th Jul '16 4:30:03 AM by Julep

I'm guessing the stat I saw wasn't up to date. My bad.

France-Iceland really messed with the previous rankings indeed. Griezmann had 1 goal & 2 assists, Giroud had 2 goals & 1 assist, Payet had 1 goal & 1 assist, all of it in a single game.

edited 7th Jul '16 5:41:34 AM by Julep

Meanwhile, the semifinals of Copa Libertadores kicked in, and Atlético Nacional defeated Sao Paulo 0-2 in Brazil. I'm disappointed, to tell you the truth. This is a match Edgardo Bauza could have won easily. The away match is going to be a lost cause for him.

Well, the Euro Final is suddenly looking a lot more interesting...

Missed the game. Lost ten minutes on the way back from my party because I am supposed to go through the town's main square, which was full of people.

From what I gathered...

• Iceland will not only be the greatest story of this competition, they might have left a very significant mark on football
• Remind me, who said that Lloris was a second rate GK?
• Griezmann's on fire. 5 goals in the last three games. All knockouts. If Portugal wins on Sunday, the golden ball is obviously going to Ronaldo, but if France wins, Grizou will be a very serious contender, if you factor in the year he had with Atletico.
  • On that note, I don't know how Atletico does it to almost always turn its strikers into killing machines. There was Torres, Diego Costa, and now Griezmann, all went from good players to huge threats while playing for the Colchoneros.
• France has something with refereeing. I think that Zidane in 2006 was the first (and only) player to be expelled by video refereeing. Then Benzema scored the first goal that got confirmed by the brand new Goal-Line Technology in 2014. Back in 1998 I think Laurent Blanc scored the first Golden Goal in a World Cup, and Trezeguet might have scored the last in the 2000 finals. Now, how common is that for a penalty kick to be awarded by the goal-line official? For that matter, it doesn't look obvious to me: the handball is clear, but as to know if it should have been a penalty kick, I assume that depending on your country of residence, YMMV. According to the Guardian, it's 60-40 in favor of the penalty, based on the reactions received by the journalist.

P.S: "Giving France a penalty was not the wrong decision. It was the right decision, just 34 years late” – Robin Hazlehurst." - Truth. Take that, Harald Schumacher.

P.P.S: Guardian comment: "As for Germany. They need to get busy manufacturing strikers." Ouch. Germany is really a reminder of Spain five years ago, with their 25 insanely talented midfielders, who played with Fabregas at number 9.

P.P.P.S: Oh, I forgot that Griezmann missed a penalty kick in the CL Final...the boy has cojones to take another one in a game as important as a Euro semi-finals.

edited 7th Jul '16 3:38:27 PM by Julep

Wales, if by a nose.

And from what I've been hearing about the origins of the Icelandic "Viking Clap" (if that's what I'm hearing it called now)... It originated in the Scottish Premiership. Apparently, supporters of Icelandic club Stjarnan first adopted the chant after seeing the it performed by Motherwell supporters during a Europa League clash at Fir Park in 2014.

Hmm, I still rank Iceland slightly above. Wales still has 10 times as many inhabitants as Iceland does and no world-class player whatsoever. Bale proved during the tournament that he is among the 10, or maybe even 5, best players in the world. And he is among the few Euro stars who was as good as he was expected to be. Many were disappointing, but neither him nor Ramsay belong to that bunch.

In the end, both Wales and Iceland will be the definitive success stories of the tournament, and both Irelands will be remembered as having absolutely amazing fans. I would say that England was put to shame both on- and off-the-field as it will be the only British team not to leave amazing memories through its fans. I am also glad to see Russia going back early while many teams with amazing fans advanced to the knockout rounds, there is an aesop in it. After the horrendous start to this Euro, the mood drastically improved as of late, and I cross my fingers so that it remains the case until Sunday (there is a huge Portuguese community in France, so whoever wins, it will be noisy - I don't remember Portuguese and French fans ever having a heated rivalry, and I hope that no matter what happens, it will remain that way).

For the funny part, last year I was best man at one of my friend's wedding...and his wife is Portuguese. They are going to have an entertaining evening on Sunday.

I didn't know about the clap, but in any event, I thank whoever created it, and I thank the Vikings that made it popular. When you think that six years ago when we said "fans" we thought "vuvuzelas"...

Edit: "Then again, pillaging the chant from a foreign land was probably how the Vikings would have wanted it all along." - couldn't agree more.

edited 7th Jul '16 4:21:09 PM by Julep

I'm gonna have more time to talk more about Wales and Iceland tomorrow, but I will say right now that what makes Wales much more impressive is that they actually made it to the final four. Iceland still played well, made many good impressions, and give me a lot to talk about, but just looking at this tournament campaign by itself... I've already seen Costa Rica pull bigger upsets at World Cup 2014 (even over England), and their campaign to the quarter-finals at an international tournament was about every bit as extraordinary as it is... not talked about that much anymore only two years later.

The other thing I see you brought up that's worth a quick comment:

I don't remember anybody outside of South Africa thinking that, certainly not anyone I know. And the more I keep thinking about them, the movie I still hate them. And not just for their noise (and the thought of several of them buzzing directly in your ears as you sit in a stadium) but also the thought of saliva and spittle spraying down those tubes when being blown for 90 straight minutes, leaving this mist of human moisture hovering over people's heads and falling down on everybody (a reason why some local officials in South Africa after the World Cup tried the goddamn things outright banned from soccer matches for posing public health risks).

The way I read Vuvuzelas were given as an example of inferior fan culture.

I certainly don't recall anyone at all thinking they were a good idea, either. (EDIT: Well, except the people who had them at the games - obviously they would've thought it was a good idea to have them.)

edited 7th Jul '16 6:00:49 PM by BestOf

I hated vuvuzelas too, but they were what everyone was talking about when mentioning fans in South Africa. That, and the awesome Shakira song.

It is honestly rare to hear so many positive comments about football fans around here - Russia & England notwithstanding. Sport fans un general tend not to be pictured in a positive light, except maybe rugby fans who are both numerous enough to make an impression, and respectful enough to have it be positive - but rugby suffers from a very small number of competitive countries and a significant gap between the best countries and the rest of the world - Iceland would have needed to win the Euro for it to be tied with Japan beating South Africa during the last World Cup when it comes to insane performances. Also, the biggest countries are either British, or too far away for fans to come (even during a World Cup, you don't see Northern hemisphere countries flooded with Australians & New Zealanders, even though the next WC in Japan might be an exception).

I heard that Lithuanian basketball fans left a very positive impression during the last Eurobasket. But again, it's an isolated case (and the only country in the world where basketball is by and large the most popular sport).

Bottom line: there might not always have been a show on the field, but off the field, after a rough start, I think this 2016 Euro is good.

Out of the major tournaments I've watched - which would be all the Euros, World Cups, Olympics, and some Copa Americas from 2008 on (incuding one or two women's tournaments in all of them except the Copa America) - the fans at this year's Euros have probably been the best, overall. The notable exception, of course, would be the Russian and English hooliganism very early on.

edited 7th Jul '16 6:47:27 PM by BestOf

Oh, Van Gaal, you have just made my day.

When I feel like I have wasted my life, thinking frequently on the difficult economic situation of my country, which also happens to be the only country in South America whose national football team never went to a World Cup and one of the only two in the region to have never won a Copa América, and whose clubs always fizzle out in the CONMEBOL club tournaments, and that I've felt like I've missed golden opportunities in the sentimental and vocational department, I can always count on your sorrow-drowning moments to smile again.

He's probably feeling better now that his trajectory in the football world has ended, harvesting his 20th and final trophy as a manager. Considering how chaotic the world of this beautiful sport is turning, he'll be happy not to be part of it.

So, what do you think about the whole Bielsa fiasco? I mean, he is known as "El Loco", AKA, Crazy Bielsa, and I respect him for getting Chile back to a World Cup, but what he did to Lazio is just lacking any class.

And, how long will it take to Argentina to get their s*** together and get a new coach? And pay Martino what they owe him?

Bielsa is a very rare specimen. He increases the power and potential of the teams he manages, but never enough to win titles with them. And he's extremely demanding when it comes to the medical, administrative and assisting staff. You either fulfill every single request he gives to you, or bust.

As for AFA and the next coach.... I think they must first solve their inner crisis ASAP, because they're on the verge of exposing the national team and clubs to the risk of being expelled from competitions if the institutional problems aren't solved. For starters, they haven't even agreed on the format of the next league (and in my opinion, the two experiments they have done so far, the tourney with 30 teams and the one with two groups of 15, are utterly idiotic and unnecessary. What was wrong with the Opening and Closing semestral tournaments, anyway?)

EDIT: Also, someone please tell Maradona and Verón shut up already. They look like a married couple arguing. -_-

edited 8th Jul '16 10:16:31 PM by MyFinalEdits

Just want to point this out to ~Julep -

The problem with that comparison is that Rugby Union as a sport is actually far more popular in Wales than soccer is. The LOW estimation for the Six Nations, basically games against the four nations of the British Isles plus France and Italy, in Wales is around 3.5 million, and some games have drawn 4 million.

The popularity of Rugby Union in Wales is such that it's often called Wales' national religion, along with New Zealand.

It's unlikely to change much because of this, but it has bought more people to Football.

edited 9th Jul '16 3:11:44 AM by RatherRandomRachel

Collected assortment of personal opinions on the Euro and various odds and ends. Feel free to pick them apart, make your own picks, or bring up anything else.

• Biggest Loser — Russia. After being selected to host the 2018 World Cup, making an impact in a cup tournament leading up to that has been a high priority for the Russian federation (not only to build up their squad and impress others on an international stage but also to drum up interest in the sport at home, where most people really don't care about football; only 8% of the country identified as fans of the sport a year ago). They already failed on their first attempt when they were eliminated in the World Cup group stage in 2014 (guided by Fabio Capello, who the Russian Federation made the highest-paid manager at that tournament), and they shown no improvement whatsoever (and, perhaps, took a few steps backward) here at the Euro, finishing 4th in their group behind Wales, England, and Slovakia (all of whom advanced) and with only one solitary point to show for all that effort (from a draw with England that they pulled out of nowhere with, pretty much, the last kick of the game). Better luck next year at the Confederations Cup.

• Biggest Winner — Wales. Participating in their first major tournament since the 1958 World Cup, made it to the final four, and although there isn't a 3rd-Place Match at the Euro, Wales' 4-0-2 record in the competition would be superior to Germany's 3-2-1, which means the Dragons get the bronze. On top of that, having begun the tournament as the 26th-ranked FIFA member, Wales now looks set to shoot up the rankings and overtake England's spot at #11.

• Greatest Upset — Wales 3-1 Belgium (FIFA World Rankings: 26 v. 2). There were a good few upsets all Summer, all of which seemingly share a few trends:
  • Croatia (27) 2-1 Spain (6)
  • Italy(12) 0-1 Republic of Ireland(33)
  • Iceland(34) 2-1 Austria(10)
  • England(11) 1-2 Iceland(34)

Even during the Copa América Centenario, we saw United States(31) 2-1 Ecuador(13) and Brazil(7) 0-1 Peru(48) (if you're fine with a handball goal). But Wales stand out as the only squad to triumph over a favored Top 5 nation more than twenty places ahead of them in the rankings and win by a greater scoring margin than one goal, Plus, this win solidified every other accomplishment just laid out, above.

• Best Goal — Robson-Kanu v. Belgium. Not so much for the Cruyff Turn itself but for how it left each of Thomas Meunier, Jason Denayer, and Marouane Fellaini so lost and disoriented that they probably needed to pay re-admittance to get back inside the stadium.

• Most Consistent — England. Twelve years and six tournaments of mediocrity and repeated failure to get a win in a knockout round (Last one coming at the 2002 World Cup in a Round of 16 matchup with Denmark). This tournament presented their most credible chances of advancing to the quarterfinals, but they figured they already did their job after converting a penalty against Iceland in the opening four minutes, and had no interest in playing out the next 86+.

• Best Player — Cristiano Ronaldo. As goes Cristiano, as goes Portugal. It may not have looked pretty, but Portugal have earned and are fully deserving of their place in the final, with much thanks to the face of their team stepping up, acting the team player, and carrying them through with 3 goals and 3 assists to his name. I also feel I should give a shout out to Nani, who has also been quietly racking up 3 goals, plus 1 assist, under everyone's noses. If CR 7 can't make a goal or an assist in the final, Nani just might unexpectedly steal the show.

• Breakout Star — Antoine Griezmann. 6 goals, 2 assists. Total beast and even outshining the more established international all-stars. Welcome to the elite.

• Ugliest Kit — Paella Vomit◊. Just about what you'd expect to see in a mid-90's throwback design, although the 1994 Spain Kit it apparently took its inspiration from◊ actually looks a lot nicer, and seeing the promo photos of the Spanish players posing in this abomination only elicits laughs◊ "Oh, you puked all over my clothes? Then why don't you come here and do that in my FACE, tough guy?"

• Classiest Kit — Germany◊. Absolutely perfect 1970's throwback. 'Nuff said.◊

• Best Online .GIF — All of Germany's PK's (v. Italy) Taken at Once◊. It's creator also made one (with even more shameless promotion for himself) for Italy◊ (and Simone Zaza's effort is still laughable).

edited 9th Jul '16 7:30:36 AM by SeanMurrayI

Fully agreed with those choices except Biggest Loser. For me, the whole fiasco regarding Del Bosque and his poor tactics, plus the unnecessary decision to make public his damaged relation with Pedro and Casillas, have been the last straws of a Spain that has lost the mystique they had in the past years. So unless they're happy with emboding the Every Year They Fizzle Out trope once again like they've historically done, they will have to start a new project from zero.

@RRR: ...I don't understand your comment. I don't think football is the #1 sport in Iceland either, that would be handball, where the team won a silver medal in the 2008 Olympics (the most prestigious competition there is). They also ended up in third position in the 2010 European championship, which is by and large seen as the hardest competition (since the overall level is better).

And still, when you look at demographics, it is harder for Iceland to face its rivals in handball (big handball countries are France, Germany, Spain, Denmark, Croatia, Poland - the smallest of these, Croatia, has more than 10 times as many residents that Iceland does) than it is for Wales to face rival rugby countries - New Zeland only has about 4.5M inhabitants, compared to Wales' 3M, for example.

I only brought rugby because in France it is the only sport that is both super popular (moreso than handball, volleyball, basketball, despite French teams being more than decent in those three - better than the rugby team right now, at any rate), not "uppity" (unlike, say, tennis), and where fans are liked by the general population even though they are usually pictured as boisterous.

So while Wales might have had a wonderful competition, for me, Iceland remains the greatest upset. Actually, the list would go as follow:

• Biggest Loser - Russia, on- and off- the pitch. Runner-ups: Spain and England.
• Biggest Winner - Iceland, explained my choice above. Runner-up: Wales, obviously, and then Italy who was actually very entertaining to watch despite missing several key players.
• Greatest Upset - England 1-2 Iceland. Already said why. Iceland won against a side that included many stars - that did not play well that day, but again, neither did De Bruyne, Hazard, Fellaini or Lukaku against Wales - without a single one on his own. On the other side, Bale is one of the best players in the tournament, with Ramsay not too far behind. While 21 of the 23 players in Iceland and Wales are similar when it comes to level, Ramsay and especially Bale are way better than anyone in the Viking squad. I might add that for all its shiny stars, Belgium hasn't really accomplished more than England in the recent years. And for extra fun, Wales and Belgium already faced each other during the qualifiers...and it ended up in a 0-0 draw in Brussels, and a 1-0 win for Wales in Cardiff. So...

Also, FIFA rankings are plain stupid. Belgium is above Germany (4th), Italy (12th) or France (17th). Croatia isn't even in the top 20. They are 2nd because their pool for the 2014 WC qualifications was challenging and they got amazing results in it, but since then, they haven't done much. I'm not happy about it, I would love to see the Red Devils playing to their full potential, but as a matter of fact, they are as much Every Year They Fizzle Out as England.

• Best Goal - Shaqiri vs Poland.

• Most Consistent - well I feel like this was the category made to spit on England, so...I'd say Germany is, hands down. Semi-finals again, as they have done since 2006. Portugal also keeps getting very good results, and they might finally get the title they covet.

• Best Player - Gareth Bale. One-Man Army (with The Lancer Ramsay). Ronaldo and Griezmann are contenders, but the latter had a slow start, and the former is too much of a ball magnet - he shot at the goal twice as much as anyone else. Both Portugal's and Wales' offence run on "give him the ball and let him do his thing", but Bale has been a much more efficient user so far (obviously, a great Cristiano game tomorrow will change that). Oh, and Bale also defends, that has to count.

• Breakout Star - Griezmann is if you didn't consider him as an established star already (YMMV), but I think Renato Sanches deserves a mention. The few times I enjoyed watching Portugal was when he brought some intensity and speed to their offence.

• Best XI - Lloris - Hector, Pepe, Bonucci, Saevarsson - Allen, Kroos, Modric - Bale, Ronaldo, Griezmann

Runner-ups in no particular order: Buffon, Srna, Koscielny, Boateng, Ramsay, Nainggolan, Pogba, Payet, Iniesta, Özil, Sigurdsson. Damn, there aren't many good strikers in this Euro.

• Classiest kit: Croatia◊. Always loved their shirts, and this one is perfect. Sadly, it did not bring them luck, as they lost the only game where they used it. Runner-up: Iceland◊.

• Worst kit: Sorry Quag, but Portugal◊ got shafted by Nike. Horrendous color. Worst part is that they keep using it. At least, unlike Croatia's, this one seems to actually be lucky. But let us hope for the big Blue vs Red classic on Sunday. Runner-up: Belgium◊. Where does the sky blue come from exactly?

edited 9th Jul '16 9:27:20 AM by Julep

Spain did about as well as most anyone could've reasonably expected them to. They were never going to be in the running to make it to the end of this tournament (out by the quarter-finals, at best), and Del Bosque's time in charge was always bound to reach a less-than-stellar (if "ugly") conclusion ever since Spain were eliminated in the group stage at the last World Cup. Why the Spanish federation didn't think to cut ties and give a new coach a fresh start two years ago is more surprising than the outcome of this Euro campaign.