Euro 2020 Day 8 Game Thread: Bannockburn

Dummy Hoy

Angry Pissbum
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Sweden v. Slovakia at 9:00
Croatia v. Czech Republic at 12:00
Scotland v. England at 3:00
(all times EST)
 

Nick Kaufman

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Bold choice by the Slovakian federation to use a pentagram as a badge for their national team.
 

Kliq

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Sloppy start for Sweden. They aren't use to seeing this much of the ball.
 

Kliq

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Klusveski is apparently on the bench today after missing the last game due to COVID. I wonder if he can come on and provide a spark for Sweden.
 

Kliq

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Penalty! Isak making things happen and a smart run by Quaisson.
 

OurF'ingCity

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I'm roughly 50% Slovakian, 25% Scottish and 25% English so this is a big day for my ancestral homelands.

Was really hoping Slovakia could snag a point and be in line for a third-place knockout-round slot but Sweden pretty much dominated the second half save for a few opportunities so it's not like this is an undeserved win or anything.
 

Kliq

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Slovakia have to be tournament leaders when it comes to poor tattoos.
 

Section30

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I have the ESPN feed with Moreno. Man does he harp on mistakes made 10 minutes ago in the game. Every player is tactically/executing/finishing wrong.

I watch it on mute.At least the picture quality is good.
 

Kliq

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Massive three points for Sweden, really puts them in a great position to advance with four points heading into the Poland game. Just how Andersson would have drawn it up over the first two games.
 

Nick Kaufman

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I have the ESPN feed with Moreno. Man does he harp on mistakes made 10 minutes ago in the game. Every player is tactically/executing/finishing wrong.

I watch it on mute.At least the picture quality is good.
The picture quality isn't good. It's on 720p!

EDIT: I should add. I occasionally download sporting events at 1080 and you can definitely see the quality difference.
 

nolasoxfan

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Was in PT this morning for my ruptured L plantaris and the SWE-SVK game was on the big screen. Fantastic last 25-30 minutes of the match; end to end play. Isak is a joy to watch. Happy the incidental handball wasn’t called a penalty.
 

lars10

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I have the ESPN feed with Moreno. Man does he harp on mistakes made 10 minutes ago in the game. Every player is tactically/executing/finishing wrong.

I watch it on mute.At least the picture quality is good.
Moreno is such a cocky, smarmy announcer.. everything he says seems to be dripping with sarcasm or a superiority complex. I wish ESPN could hire some competent announcers that could present the game so that first timers watching may want to watch again.
 

OurF'ingCity

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Moreno is such a cocky, smarmy announcer.. everything he says seems to be dripping with sarcasm or a superiority complex. I wish ESPN could hire some competent announcers that could present the game so that first timers watching may want to watch again.
Yeah, 75% of his comments during the game were along the lines of "this is boring, terrible football, both teams should have been ashamed of themselves, I would be booing if I were at the stadium." I get where he is coming from and if you're just watching a game at a bar or whatever that's a valid point but it seemed weird coming from a color commentator.

Edit: There is a way to make the same point in a less condescending manner, e.g. "Well, I can't say this has been the most exciting of games, but..." etc.
 

Section30

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The picture quality isn't good. It's on 720p!

EDIT: I should add. I occasionally download sporting events at 1080 and you can definitely see the quality difference.
I'm getting at 1080p, perfectly crisp no blurring on fast movement. I have a LG television with the automatic HDR to sharpen lower quality feeds.
 

nolasoxfan

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shit man, what happened?
Sounds a little worse than it is. Tore the plantaris and medial gastroc muscles in my left calf running hills and stairs at AU. Hurt like hell when it tore; BIG tug and a 'Pop.' Wailed like a banshee. Healing nicely, though, and I'm ahead of schedule Thanks for your concern. **THREAD HIJACK OVER**

On the topic of announcers: Agree with comments above. ESPN play-by-play and color commentators are terribly boring. Why not just subcontract all announcing duties out to the BBC? Only half-joking.
 

67YAZ

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Sounds a little worse than it is. Tore the plantaris and medial gastroc muscles in my left calf running hills and stairs at AU. Hurt like hell when it tore; BIG tug and a 'Pop.' Wailed like a banshee. Healing nicely, though, and I'm ahead of schedule Thanks for your concern. **THREAD HIJACK OVER**

On the topic of announcers: Agree with comments above. ESPN play-by-play and color commentators are terribly boring. Why not just subcontract all announcing duties out to the BBC? Only half-joking.
That'll learn ya for trying to stay in shape.

I don't know what ESPN is telling the announcing teams, but the color guys are too overbearing and spending too much time explaining things to what they imagine is a new-to-the-sport audience. Look, no one tuning into Sweden-Slovakia on a weekday morning is watching their first match. For marquee weekend games, they may need to tweak the approach to be more accessible.

Tony Meola has been doing color for some pretty poor quality Chicago Fire the past couple years, but he has a strong grasp on the idea that his role is to engage and entertain. When things get dire, he's not afraid to call it what it is, but he's also quick to go a relevant story (national team or old school MLS), talk about keeping strategy, parse tactics, or talk about individual players. And always through in a joke or two, try to get Tyler Terens laughing.
 

allstonite

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That’s a tough penalty for Lovren. Not sure how you’re supposed to jump your arms at your side
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

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Is it the ref's final decision on VAR in Euro? It seemed that he had to be talked into that.
 

Mr. Wednesday

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That’s a tough penalty for Lovren. Not sure how you’re supposed to jump your arms at your side
Maybe not arms at your side, exactly, but there has been an ongoing point of emphasis on players jumping with flying elbows that connect with opposing heads, which it looked like that was.
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

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VAR continues to ruin football.
There's a fundamental choice you have to make with replay. Which is more intolerable? Occasionally missing big subjective calls in important moments? Or the unpleasantness of subjecting ordinary run of the mill subjective calls that might not be all that important to replay? You have to choose. We have enough data in all sports now to know that you cannot avoid making this choice. There is no way to prevent one but not have to accept the other.

American football thought it couldn't accept outrageous missed pass interference calls like the one in the Saints playoff game. But then it decided that the alternative was worse. Soccer is caught in the very same dynamic.

Replay works fine on objective calls. It's largely non-controversial in MLB and NHL and even with the objective stuff like offside in soccer. It's not always great and delays the game over very small detail like calls that are not apparent with the naked eye but it's not really at risk of ruining the game. Once you decide that subjective calls have to be part of replay, it has proven that there's no way to write or administer a standard that captures only the truly egregious ones you care about (like the Saints PI) without also subjecting the play like the one we saw today to overruling by replay.

Bottom line is that when we judge whether or not VAR is ruining football you cannot just look at a play like today in isolation for making that judgment. Today's call is the result of a very conscious choice. Would you rather see the World Cup decided because a team is awarded a penalty on replay on a play like today, or because a player clearly bats the ball into the goal with his hand but the ref and the AR are shielded and don't see it?

VAR is about choosing the former over the latter. For me it's a very close call.
 

allstonite

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On ESPN commentators, I think Rae and Ekoku have been excellent in the games I’ve heard. They have an easy chemistry with some playful back and forth. They both seem to be having a blast
 

Ale Xander

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There’s gonna sell a lot of Ale in the UK today, aren’t they? Good thing they have like 60 hours to recover

looking forward to it, surprisingly more than I expected

fletch, we want reports every 15 minutes
 

Section30

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VAR has been implemented with continuously changing guidelines that leave people with a feeling that calls are being made by the 4th official and not being determined on the field of play.

I can't celebrate a goal anymore as I fully expect some marginal callback for a incidental bump or elbow or touch at the other end of the field.

Watching offsides be called in the premiere league last season I saw the line be set by the last defenders foot, then the knee, then by the shoulder, then by the hip, then by entire body.

When they survey the fans and 65% feel that the games are worse with VAR than without you have a problem.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1094007/influence-of-var-on-the-enjoyment-of-english-premier-league-football-matches/

I feel VAR should only be for correcting egregious plays like the hand of God and not for every little fingertip offsides call.

In this tournament Kasey Keller has already remarked about how the free and open first games in the groups were called and now they are being called differently the second games of the group. How can you have any feeling of confidence in the officiating when the way the games are being called change from game to game?
 

Tangled Up In Red

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I'm not Scottish expert, but McTominay and Tierney as two parts of a back three seems...? Aggressive? Foolish?
Do they not have more center backs?
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

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I feel VAR should only be for correcting egregious plays like the hand of God and not for every little fingertip offsides call.
I think pretty much everyone feels this way. I'm sure FIFA even feel this way too. The problem is that it is easier said than done. That simple truth has been proven over and over in multiple sports.
 

Joe D Reid

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I'm not Scottish expert, but McTominay and Tierney as two parts of a back three seems...? Aggressive? Foolish?
Do they not have more center backs?
If you just identify their 10 best field players and then figure out the positions from there, you end up with a pretty attacking side. Seems like that's what they've done.
 

Morgan's Magic Snowplow

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I'm not Scottish expert, but McTominay and Tierney as two parts of a back three seems...? Aggressive? Foolish?
Do they not have more center backs?
Tierney is an obvious starter for them if healthy. He has played as the LCB in a back three with Arsenal and is just better than any other option for that role. McTominay is an interesting but aggressive choice. Scotland should be able to do pretty well in terms of possession with their three man midfield, Robbo on the left, and Tierney and McTominay both good passers for center backs. We could actually see Scotland have more of the ball in this match, whether they can do anything going forward is another matter.

But England should definitely have some opportunities on set pieces against that group.