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The final! France - Portugal


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Well, I thought the game plan was Portugal sucks the life out of this game, hangs on till extra time and win the penalty shoot out. 

I wasn't that far off. 

Finishing third in their group behind the giants Hungary and Iceland, managing to win only one game in 90 minutes and lifting the trophy in the end. 

Yes, totally deserved winners. There really needs to be a puke smiley on this board.

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At least Ronaldo will have something that Messi might never achieve - a major international trophy. World Player of the year should be in the bag.

Well done to Portugal. Not the most watchable football but they defended very well all throughout the knockout rounds and managed to win this final without their best player for the most part.

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Well, they did win, and they did deserve it, on the performance of the final. And they did it without CRonaldo on the pitch, which is remarkable. Well done to Portugal.

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Just now, Consigliere said:

At least Ronaldo will have something that Messi might never achieve - a major international trophy. World Player of the year should be in the bag.

Why? They played better without him.

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Portugal have basically done against France what Greece did against Portugal when Portugal really had a first class national team. Mind, France mugged Italy in a similar manner in the final the last time they won it also. Things tend to swing about.

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Just now, Altherion said:

Why? They played better without him.

Yes, he got them here. Without his goals against Hungary, they would not have even advanced from the groups. Granted, he didn't play extraordinarily in this tournament, but between this and the CL, player of the year.

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Just now, Consigliere said:

At least Ronaldo will have something that Messi might never achieve - a major international trophy. World Player of the year should be in the bag.

And that's a good thing? I mean Ronaldo losing finals is one of the guilty pleasures of football fans around the world.

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1 minute ago, Emre Mor-mont said:

And they did it without CRonaldo on the pitch, which is remarkable.

Well, Ronaldo did his best to stay on the pitch regardless of being able to play or not, so there is that.

I guess it is a fair win. I couldn't stomach the smug face of Ronaldo if they had won with him, but I can live with his teary face after they proved they don't need to rely only on him after all.

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11 minutes ago, Corvinus said:

Yes, he got them here. Without his goals against Hungary, they would not have even advanced from the groups. Granted, he didn't play extraordinarily in this tournament, but between this and the CL, player of the year.

And he isn't a convicted tax cheat.

Plus, CL winner+top goal scorer and European Championship winner should mean that world player of the year is in the bag for Ronaldo.

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3 minutes ago, Consigliere said:

What? Did they actually play substantially better tonight than they did in the previous games?

I didn't watch all of Portugal's games so I'm not going to vouch for that, but they definitely played better in this game once he was gone. In one of the games that I did watch, his teammates kept feeding him great chances and he kept screwing it up (I distinctly remember him missing the ball entirely twice and botching another chance in a different way).

To be fair, I didn't see the Hungary game which was probably his best, but in the games that I saw, he probably wasn't even the best offensive player on Portugal's team (that would be Nani).

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They played better on the night, especially in extra time. So yeah, well done.  Seems insane that they could win only one game in 90 mins but oh well who am i to question the great football governing bodies.

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4 minutes ago, Altherion said:

I didn't watch all of Portugal's games so I'm not going to vouch for that, but they definitely played better in this game once he was gone. In one of the games that I did watch, his teammates kept feeding him great chances and he kept screwing it up (I distinctly remember him missing the ball entirely twice and botching another chance in a different way).

To be fair, I didn't see the Hungary game which was probably his best, but in the games that I saw, he probably wasn't even the best offensive player on Portugal's team (that would be Nani).

Yeah, Ronaldo was not the standout player for Portugal - it was a team effort built on a well organised defence. I still don't think that Portugal improved substantially once Ronaldo left the field. They just continued to do what the team has been set up to do i.e. defend well and look to counter. Ronaldo's individual performance in the tournament will not affect voting for world player of the year. All that will be considered is Ronaldo won a major international trophy + the CL + was top goal scorer in the CL. He's basically guaranteed to win that award now.

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France had exactly the same offensive game against Portugal that Germany had against France: the ball hit the post, went just over the top of the goal, hit the side netting and was repeatedly saved by the keeper -- but it just wouldn't go in. It's hard to feel too sorry for them though; they were clearly the better team in the first fifteen minutes or so, but towards the end the game was fairly even.

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Just goes to show how much of an impact luck can have. Yes, they were defensively organised but still conceded 3 goals to Hungary. Should have gone out in the groups as they didn't win. Croatia had the better of the chances in the first knockout game, beat Poland on penalties despite again offering nothing. Then through a sub-par Wales to the final, where France never really turned up. Second time this year Ronaldo and Pepe have won a major trophy this way. And now CR is going to get the balon d'or - give it to Pepe, at least he played well in these Euros.

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