netzerkaiser wrote:Italy & Spain - two sleeping giants that can awake & just get it right.
I wasn't wrong.
Sweep11 wrote:What a night!
Football’s coming home
YumYum74 wrote:I would advise all English fans to be cautious. After all, even WE beat Ukraine.
In all seriousness though, congratz.
TheVulture wrote:YumYum74 wrote:I would advise all English fans to be cautious. After all, even WE beat Ukraine.
In all seriousness though, congratz.
I'm always cautious but we do seem to be peaking at the right time. And I think Denmark will be worried having seen us last night. Southgate has kind of rewritten the rule book of how to navigate a tournament. Years ago I'd have been livid to see an England manager chop and change like he has but somehow he does it for the right reasons and always explains it well in advance. He does manage to create an environment of trust that I haven't really encountered before from an England manager. So many attacking options in that squad and he does very well to keep them all engaged and hungry when not playing. The thing I like most about this group is that usually England squads at major tournaments have some big egos and loads of drama following them around but all of those lads seem very grounded and you can tell they love playing for each other. That's a little unique with England in my lifetime and all credit to Southgate.
I haven't really enjoyed our style of play at times this tournament but they have earned the right in recent years to do it their way so fair play to them. I think we had a bit of luck against Germany. Needed 2 world class saves from Pickford at 0-0 and I thought Phillips could have seen red for his raised boot. Very similar to Ampadu's for Wales and 1 or 2 others that have been reds this tournament. Perhaps the home venue and crowd saved him there. You always need a bit of luck at these tournaments though and England have certainly taken theirs. Whatever happens against Denmark I'll be happy if they go out and express themselves without fear. I've got my England flag flying from my upstairs window every day now and it isn't coming down until we're knocked out or the tournament ends with us as champs.
netzerkaiser wrote:The penalty was rough. I blame the VAR guys, they bottled it.
TheVulture wrote:netzerkaiser wrote:The penalty was rough. I blame the VAR guys, they bottled it.
A shocker for sure and very much one of the reasons I've never been a huge fan of Sterling. Too often he wants to go down and either get the soft decision (as here) or throw his arms in the air in a display of superiority if he doesn't get the call. He's had a good tournament and won me over quite a bit but that was the old Sterling and the worst of him. Never a pen in a million years.
Still, I thought that from 60 mins onwards we were much the superior team so it was the right result.
Should be a good game tomorrow. I've seen bits of Italy and whilst it might sound hypocritical in light of the above, they're a very theatrical bunch. I think with us it's just the odd player who, well, cheats (Sterling definitely, Grealish and Kane perhaps occasionally), whereas it seems a bit more hard-wired into that Italian team. I think it could be a bit of a bad tempered, tetchy affair so hope the ref gets on top of it early if so. I think that would play into the Italians hands as well as we're a younger and more inexperienced group so I really hope we keep our heads if it does go that way. In many ways Kane is probably the best centre forward for their old centre backs to play against as the one thing he doesn't have is any pace. So not sure it's a great match up for us but we'll see.
As long as England give it their best and play with a bit of fearless abandon (ie not freeze due to the occasion) that's good enough for me. Been an amazing journey and a major final is a significant breakthrough. Obviously I hope we win but if we give it our best and the best team wins that's as much as any of us can ask for really.
BlueShadow wrote:They say that Italy won by playing 'dirty'. Maybe they forgot that England failed 3! penalties. LOL
Italy 34 matches without losing. Get informed. XD
ItsNotComingHome.
error01x wrote:Final will be England vs Italy and Italy wins
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