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Group C & D match 3: Ukraine/Poland, Northern Ireland/ Germany, Czech Republic/Turkey, Spain/Croatia


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Depending on the results, Belgium could end up on that side of the draw too. If both Belgium and Portugal win their final games, they will face each other in the next round.

ETA. scratch that. If both Belgium and Portugal win their final group game, they end up on the 'easier' side of the draw.

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4 minutes ago, The_Raven_Quaresma said:

Shambles, eh? A 5-0, eh?

This feels so fucking good.

During the Keystone Kops display before they started to pull their socks up, you can't criticise me saying that. They were atrocious for the first eight minutes. It looked like they were settling for second place.

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That's why a 24 teams Euro is a mistake... Half of the table is hard AF, the other one is laughable.

With 16 teams you would only have great games from the quarterfinals to the end.

Anyway, this could be the Euro of Croatia or Belgium if they don't screw up.

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The fact that half the table looks a lot more impressive than the other half results from the fact that Spain and England finished second in their groups. I don't see how having 16 teams instead of 24 would have made a difference here.

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39 minutes ago, Lucailduca said:

That's why a 24 teams Euro is a mistake... Half of the table is hard AF, the other one is laughable.

With 16 teams you would only have great games from the quarterfinals to the end.

Anyway, this could be the Euro of Croatia or Belgium if they don't screw up.

The format is not at fault if Spain and England just suck and end up in second place. I think the way this Euro is playing out so far, raising it to 24 teams is a success, we've had lots of interesting matches with teams that played on the same level, just like with 16 teams.

The fact of the matter is, the top teams are now much more even, so it doesn't always have to be the same five or six teams that are playing for the title. The top-half is hardly laughable, Wales has been playing very well so far and has the best scorer up to this point, Croatia has been solid and deservedly won a difficult group, Poland proved that they can keep up with the big teams and Switzerland has been doing okay as well. And Portugal and Belgium might still end up in that half. If one of those teams makes it through to the finals and wins it, it's because they deserve it and not because there's now more teams. If anything, the bigger field makes it more difficult for a wtf-team like Greece or Denmark to win, because they have to win more knockout-matches in a row. With this format, you can't just somehow make it through the group stages by luck and then win three games and the tournament.

There will be plenty of excitement in all the games going forward, as the Euro has lost its worst teams and will finally begin on Saturday.

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22 hours ago, baxusz said:

Holding back is more unsportsmanlike than beating an opponent with a high margin.

You're probably right, but if we argue over semantics we risk forgetting about what is important: Northern Ireland advancing to the Round of 16.

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Can I just say, by the way, the funniest thing for me about the Spain-Croatia game was Ian Wright burbling before the match about how Roy Hodgson could learn from the Spanish who didn't change their lineup because they've won a few trophies and know what they're doing.

Result: Spain beaten by a Croatian team who made five changes.

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1 hour ago, Emre Mor-mont said:

Can I just say, by the way, the funniest thing for me about the Spain-Croatia game was Ian Wright burbling before the match about how Roy Hodgson could learn from the Spanish who didn't change their lineup because they've won a few trophies and know what they're doing.

Result: Spain beaten by a Croatian team who made five changes.

And they weren't just beaten. They were beaten well.

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5 hours ago, Criston of House Shapper said:

The format is not at fault if Spain and England just suck and end up in second place. I think the way this Euro is playing out so far, raising it to 24 teams is a success, we've had lots of interesting matches with teams that played on the same level, just like with 16 teams.

The fact of the matter is, the top teams are now much more even, so it doesn't always have to be the same five or six teams that are playing for the title. The top-half is hardly laughable, Wales has been playing very well so far and has the best scorer up to this point, Croatia has been solid and deservedly won a difficult group, Poland proved that they can keep up with the big teams and Switzerland has been doing okay as well. And Portugal and Belgium might still end up in that half. If one of those teams makes it through to the finals and wins it, it's because they deserve it and not because there's now more teams. If anything, the bigger field makes it more difficult for a wtf-team like Greece or Denmark to win, because they have to win more knockout-matches in a row. With this format, you can't just somehow make it through the group stages by luck and then win three games and the tournament.

There will be plenty of excitement in all the games going forward, as the Euro has lost its worst teams and will finally begin on Saturday.

Have we watched entirely different tournaments? I found the overall level of play to be rather poor thus far. True we really didn't see any blow outs, but the reason was that most of the weaker teams know how to park the bus, and a quite a few teams were not really on point when it came down to converting chances. All the new format did was to increase the number of games, and the higher quantity of games has unfortunately not lead to higher quality of games. 

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2 hours ago, Notone said:

Have we watched entirely different tournaments? I found the overall level of play to be rather poor thus far. True we really didn't see any blow outs, but the reason was that most of the weaker teams know how to park the bus, and a quite a few teams were not really on point when it came down to converting chances. All the new format did was to increase the number of games, and the higher quantity of games has unfortunately not lead to higher quality of games. 

I agree. Compared to the superlative quality of the WC a few years back, there's been a lack of magic this tournament. Too many closely decided games where neither side have been playing exceptionally. It's been mainly just adequate.

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2 hours ago, Notone said:

Have we watched entirely different tournaments? I found the overall level of play to be rather poor thus far. True we really didn't see any blow outs, but the reason was that most of the weaker teams know how to park the bus, and a quite a few teams were not really on point when it came down to converting chances. All the new format did was to increase the number of games, and the higher quantity of games has unfortunately not lead to higher quality of games. 

The level of play may not have been top, but with national teams it's kind of lack-luster most of the time anyways. But that's not what I'm watching this stuff for, I'm watching it as a source of entertainment, and entertained it has. Don't blame the format, if Spain came in second place with 16 teams, they would've probably had to go up against a strong opponent as well. And if the top teams don't play at their best, that has little to do with how many teams participate. I guess I just don't get why it would be better if Austria sucked against three better teams.

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Just now, Criston of House Shapper said:

The level of play may not have been top, but with national teams it's kind of lack-luster most of the time anyways. But that's not what I'm watching this stuff for, I'm watching it as a source of entertainment, and entertained it has. Don't blame the format, if Spain came in second place with 16 teams, they would've probably had to go up against a strong opponent as well. And if the top teams don't play at their best, that has little to do with how many teams participate. I guess I just don't get why it would be better if Austria sucked against three better teams.

I don't really mind. But really watching the Sweden games had just been painful; Sweden versus Ireland was particularly awful. And there were a great many awful games. 
The England games were not particularly high quality stuff. It was somewhat entertaining, but really not quality. 

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