2024 UEFA Men’s European Championship
- Thread starter Dummy Hoy
- Start date
I caught only the last 30 minutes but Rice was dreadful. Eze didn’t look ready.
I thought Kane and Bellingham would have better chemistry but it looks like they both want to go to the same spot. Not sure how they will figure that out.
I thought Kane and Bellingham would have better chemistry but it looks like they both want to go to the same spot. Not sure how they will figure that out.
My oversimplified thought was that Kane is a 9 who likes to drop back and link up with the MF while Bellingham is a 10 who likes to get in the box. Without any chemistry they might end up running into one another.
Ahh, good to see that Southgate has identified the problem.
View: https://twitter.com/FabrizioRomano/status/1803863148384161923
View: https://twitter.com/FabrizioRomano/status/1803863148384161923
So, the way this is shaping up, England will likely end up playing the loser of this game (if there is a decisive result) in the quarters.
Italy was already hanging on by a thread, but the own goal seems to have broken open the dam. Italy is now getting olé’d by the Spanish fans.
Mancini had turned over the roster, brought in a lot of too young players, and was molding a side for 2026. Spaletti has brought back some of the guys Mancini moved out but hasn’t had the time to really shape them into a functional team yet. They’re a mishmash of talents without a clear identity or style. There’s enough talent that if the tactics were properly drilled & the boys fluent in them, they could make a real run. But there’s not enough talent here to make up for inferior tactics against the big boys.
And I’ll also nod to Italy’s virulent racism and xenophobia shrinking its possible talent pool, especially compared to Spain & France. It's not that other European countries aren’t racist and xenophobic, but Italian ethno-nationalism is strangling the country. /End V&N rant
And I’ll also nod to Italy’s virulent racism and xenophobia shrinking its possible talent pool, especially compared to Spain & France. It's not that other European countries aren’t racist and xenophobic, but Italian ethno-nationalism is strangling the country. /End V&N rant
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Nicer than the Jaylen one I think.
View: https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/1803896915131515219
Mbappe fit to face Netherlands - wearing a mask http://reut.rs/3RzPDU4
View: https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/1803896915131515219
Mbappe fit to face Netherlands - wearing a mask http://reut.rs/3RzPDU4
Watching this current Spanish team, it's notable that some of their most promising players are Black, which is a major change from the glory teams from a decade ago. I figured a lot of that is just immigration and demographics changing over the years, but part of it may be more tolerant and inclusive training and youth development for immigrant/Black players.
A shite England squad inspire their sportswriters like nothing else can.
View: https://twitter.com/arusbridger/status/1803906295793172516?s=46&t=GfuLFvTYcOxcFiCZjyIYZw
I feel like I'm living in an alternative universe with England.
It's just the same fucking thing all the time. In major tournaments in the last 25 years, they are usually good enough to make the knockouts, and then to maybe win a game in the knockouts or eek out a second. Twice they have done better -- one semis and one final.
And that looks to be exactly what will happen this year. They will win their group, have a really good chance to get through the first round of the knockouts, and then would have to beat 3 really good teams without likely being a clear favorite in any of them.
They fucking are who they are. Exactly. As they have been. It's so fucking weird that everyone gets amnesia and thinks they are something else.
It's just the same fucking thing all the time. In major tournaments in the last 25 years, they are usually good enough to make the knockouts, and then to maybe win a game in the knockouts or eek out a second. Twice they have done better -- one semis and one final.
And that looks to be exactly what will happen this year. They will win their group, have a really good chance to get through the first round of the knockouts, and then would have to beat 3 really good teams without likely being a clear favorite in any of them.
They fucking are who they are. Exactly. As they have been. It's so fucking weird that everyone gets amnesia and thinks they are something else.
This is probably the most talent they’ve had in my lifetime. They are, of course, serially overrated but they probably should be a semi finalist at the bare minimum and right now don’t look much like that
Yeah, fair point, but it just seems like every year it's the same thing and they are never quite as good or bad as people suggest. I could easily see them getting to the semis. Probably have to beat like Poland and Italy, or something like that. Maybe they get an easier 3d place opponent. I like their chances against Italy actually. After that, who knows what will happen. I don't follow the squad all that carefully -- I mean, I watch the EPL plenty so I generally have a sense -- but it just kind of feels like same old same old in terms of how they are discussed.
It’s probably a combination, but I’d say it’s mostly because of immigration policies within Spain. I know I covered this a lot in the Vini thread, but Spain was not a very diverse place until recently. You gotta remember that Spain under Franco was not very tolerant of a good portion of their own population, never mind foreigners. It was more or less a pariah state until mid 70s when the dictator died, and still not considered much of a place to live if you were not Spanish until Barcelona games in the mid 90s. One of the reasons that Spain continues to have such visible issues with race is that it was a mostly homogeneous population until around that time. This all besides the fact that there are two Spanish outposts in North Africa. Spain/the EU did maintain pretty strict immigration policies for Africans, mostly restricting immigrants to refugees. Much is made of Nico Williams’ parents’ trek across the Sahara while his mom was pregnant with Iñaki, but often overlooked is that the family had to lie about fleeing the civil war in Liberia to get into Spain (theyre from
Ghana).
This is probably a coincidence or a result SSS but the bulk of the non-white players come from the Basque Country and Catalunya, the two most independent regions in Spain. Anecdotally, I noticed a larger non-white immigrant presence in Barcelona starting in the early 2000s. My family comes from a very small farming village southwest of the city that relies partially on migrant laborers. Maybe about 10-15 years ago, these laborers came almost exclusively from Eastern Europe. Now they come entirely from sub-Saharan Africa. I don’t know how much of a role economics and immigration policy have played.
I’m very pleased with how La Roja have played thus far, and a large part is because of the two wingers who are first generation Spaniards and the children of immigrants from Africa. I doubt they have enough to win the tournament, mostly because I don’t trust Morata to score an onside goal and partially because I’m not sold on Simon for some reason, but they are young and fun and only are getting better. So far this Euros, I’ve enjoyed watching them more than the glory years.
Who did he bring back outside of Jorginho?
I’d argue that losing Tonali and not having some of the attacking talent develop are the bigger issues. They were overrun in the midfield and their forwards offered little.