Euro 2024 AH thread

tom1ie

Jesus that is so cruel

Allinall

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122299845#Comment_122299845

4-0 win for England would see Croatia go through.

Come on the brits!!

StevenToast

Poor old Modric....

Cruel...but fair play to Italy...

I have a soft spot for them ever since they saved the football world in the last euros....

AndyBoBandy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122299845#Comment_122299845

if Slovenia get beat by 4 goals then Croatia will overtake them and go into 4th place in the 3rd place teams… (this scenario also needs Czechia to lose)

AndyBoBandy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122299858#Comment_122299858

that scenario also needs Czechia to lose…

Strumms

stunning finish for the equaliser. Beautiful goal and some.

Have to say I’ve liked any and every Croatian person I’ve met. Warm and courteous people….But some of those fans tonight, littered the pitch with bottles and other projectiles when they were winning. A pretty scummy element amongst them in that stadium and it was more than a handful. Ball boys / girls, camera people and others having to do their jobs with that going on…. Not much sympathy for them…. Trying to foul the fûck out of the Italians towards the end too…. Sorry Croatia, Bye now !

Say Your Number

Croatians believe they are gone judging by their reaction.

Allinall

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122299881#Comment_122299881

fair point.

gym_imposter

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122299904#Comment_122299904

Croatia is a stunningly beautiful country but I wouldn't be a huge fan of the people, typical surly Slavs and rubbish customer service

Say Your Number

Didi says Italy serious contenders.

wazzzledazzle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122299932#Comment_122299932

😂

Montrose, the greatest infector of stupidity and mediocrity in the land

Say Your Number

Class goal by Torres.

Say Your Number

Richie hammering Kane for his response to pundits.

wazzzledazzle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122299972#Comment_122299972

Gary Lineker took the piss out of him too over on BBC during the game tonight

waynescales1

Kane was talking nonsense. It’s not a pundits job to build up players confidence. They’re there to provide unbiased analysis.

Lineker is a weasel though.

standardg60

How often does it happen, last Croatian substitution doubles up on right backs and that's exactly where the goal comes from.

Both run towards the ball carrier ignoring their positions. Some finish though.

Say Your Number

That was fun tonight, but it would have been more immediate and dramatic if it was only two teams from each group going through, no hanging around for a few days, that's it Croatia you're out go home.

Strumms

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122300160#Comment_122300160

true, the competition is too big now probably. Too many teams. No fun waiting for other permutations to unfold…

Euro 2012 - 16 teams

Euro 2024 - 24 teams

kowloonkev

It seemed good in the first round of fixtures but it's slowly dawning on me and others that the group stage is almost meaningless, and with great room for collusion and dead rubbers to boot.

For the bigger nations it is utterly pointless. No chance of getting knocked out and you can't even knock out a rival.

What a waste of f**king time.

odyssey06

Austria leading the 'Habsburg Cup'

https://x.com/Antonio12I/status/1805329317951586800

wazzzledazzle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122300570#Comment_122300570

Unless the real England turn up tonight then Croatia are doomed.

England firing on close to full cylinders would put 5 past these tonight, but unfortunately they have Southgate as a manager, so looks increasingly unlikely that will happen

StevenToast

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122300586#Comment_122300586

"The Real England"???

That is exactly what you are seeing so far....

This isnt some mickey mouse friendly in Wembley when there is no pressure on....

This is a proper tournament....so of course they will fail miserably in the most hillarious of ways....ive seen it for nearly 40 years and its been happening for nearly 60....

wazzzledazzle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122300597#Comment_122300597

Qualifying England. Where they brush all teams aside.

When it comes to tournament football, different story.

randd1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122300226#Comment_122300226

Adds to it in my opinion. And of course it means an extra round of knockouts, and you just can't beta knockout football.

Though I don't understand why it has to be stretched out over the four days. There's only 6 groups, surely having two days of 3 games would be better off for the tournament?

PS - You wonder will UEFA ever go ahead with a shield tournament? Say the next 16 that didn't make the Euro's playing off until there's a winner. Can see it happening in the near future, if only as a deliberate ploy to make money from it.

AndyBoBandy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122300888#Comment_122300888

it means an extra round of knockouts, and you just can't beta knockout football

This. Going from group stages straight to the QF usually meant only the best 8 teams being there, but now that 16 teams get to the knockout stages it gives some lesser teams the chance to go on a run, or to simply just get a knockout game with the chance of having extra time or penalties in their game, and thus heightened drama….

It'll be sad tomorrow when the group stages end, but it almost feels like they've run their course now, and it's time to up the ante…. and thats exactly what the knock outs will bring…

Thursday and Friday, won't know what to do with no games…. (even herself is getting right into these Euros)

1st knockout game on Saturday 5pm, Switzerland v Italy, neither set the groups alight so maybe it could be a good game…

Arghus

It does reduce the stakes of the groups considerably to have all these games - the vast majority of games in the tournament - to just remove eight teams.

I think they'd nearly be as well off to go all the way to 32 so that the groups were real do or die stuff again - top two or bust - even if that would dilute the quality of the tournament an awful lot.

It's great having an extra round of knockouts though. Once the groups were done with the old Euros it felt pretty much over.

ArmaniJeanss

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122300888#Comment_122300888

Your idea (I assume you mean 3 of the groups finishing each day for 2 days) wouldn't fit in with the structure vis a vis rest days. They've aimed for min three full rest days between games for each team.

So because Group B (Spain) was playing game 2 on Thursday gone it couldn't finish until Monday. Group D (France) played Friday so can't finish until today. E & F played Saturday so can't finish until tomorrow. And only the German group could finish on Sunday. Hence this round is spread over 4 days, but for good reason.

randd1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122301301#Comment_122301301

Ah, thanks.

randd1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122300997#Comment_122300997

Wouldn't it be some craic if for just one time, they just had a straight knockout tournament for every country in Europe? Play off the Nations League as normal, then used the standings in it to seed a knockout tournament?

There's 55 countries in UEFA. Have teams ranked 49-55 play teams ranked 42-48 in Round 1. Have the winners of those 7 games join with teams ranked 33-41 play against teams ranked 17-32 in Round 2. Have the winners of those 16 games play teams ranked 1-16 in Round 3 (Round of 32). Then you'd have Round 4 (Round of 16), QF's, SF's and final.

Pure cup competition, and better use of the Nations League.

I'd tune in.

wazzzledazzle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122301510#Comment_122301510

You've too much times on your hands this morning Randd 😂