Match Day Thread European Championships Thread

Maybe so, but even if that was the final score, England still couldn't 'go all the way' with 1-0 wins as they hadn't won all their previous games.

 

Spain just get through after a pretty average set of penalties.

Feel for the Swiss - unlucky red card .

 

The quality in the Belgium v Italy match is there to see - good for England that these two are playing each other in the quarter finals but not so good for football.

 

Very good game but Italy rode the game out well with the usual tactics at the end .

 

Good example of sudden pain loss.

 

Shame.... such talented players..... but cheats......

Great game though....

 

Most definitely - sadly, just about every player is at it these days though.

I sometimes think that a suitable punishment for the guilty players would be a compulsary 2/3 month transfer to Rugby League in Australia - they'd soon learn what pain actually is...

 

Bring on the Danes!

Clinical stuff .

 

Have Ukraine forgotten how to defend? Good save by their keeper to the shot from Kane.

 

I have been reading erroneous claims that Southgate is the first manager to take England to two consecutive semi-finals of major tournaments. I am showing my age because I can remember Sir Alf Ramsey's England teams winning the World Cup in 1966 and reaching the semi-final of the European Championships in 1968.

Admittedly the format for the European Championships was different. The quarter-finals were played on a home and away basis with the semi-finals taking place in Italy. England finished in third place after winning the play-off for the losing teams from the semi-finals.

 

I can remember that as well Luther so you're not alone there. You get lots of erroneous claims these days as if history only started this century. The other difference in 1968 was that 2 years of the home internationals were used simultaneously as the group phase for the European nations cup.

 

I read it in a couple of places that Southgate was the first since 66/68...
not to say it wasn't wrong elsewhere.

 

That takes me back - four of us set out to hitch-hike there for those games. After being stuck in Brussels for a while, we decided to split up into two pairs, thinking that it would be more likely for two to get a lift than four - how wrong we were. My pair got the first lift, which took us to Luxembourg - and got stuck there for a couple of days. We eventually scored a lift to Frankfurt - a bit out of the way really, but beggars can't be chosers. We got stuck there for two days too, eventually catching a train just to get out of the place - and ended up in Budingen, even further out of our way (nice little town though, even though it has/had a US army base). We got a lift from there to Heidelberg, but realised there that we'd never get to the games & turned back.

The other pair got one lift all the way from Brussels to Florence - on the back of a truck full of Boy Scouts. Had we not split up, we could have joined them as there was plenty of room.

 

I never did understand why England qualified that way - Scotland were champions in 1966/67 and England the following year. It obviously wasn't on head-to-head as Scotland won one and the other was drawn.

 

¡Mama mia!

 

Well Spain were probably the better more attacking side but Italy had the better penalties.

 

I would rather have played Spain in the final.. Italy have flair and are a bunch of cheats

 

The Spanish would be the best in the World if it was all based only on ball possession Mark !

 

Get in!!

Maybe the luck we needed!

Probably wasn’t a penalty tbh .

 

Just a warm up in tension for the coming season.