theboyangel Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 Just now, AXD said: The tournament gets interesting once it’s the final 8 or so. There are too many terrible games in the group stages, so I would want it to go back to 16 teams (never going to happen of course). Half of europe qualifies, so it doesn’t seem a tournament of the best teams. There were only 3 'mouthwatering' fixtures in the knock out rounds - England vs Germany, Italy vs Belgium and Italy vs Spain. The rest were good games but not titanic clashes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugeley Villa Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 I watched second half of Germany game. The Denmark game but not extra time and one half of another game which I can’t remember who was playing. Shame England couldn’t win for the nation, but I’m not arsed anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AXD Posted July 12, 2021 Author Share Posted July 12, 2021 1 hour ago, theboyangel said: There were only 3 'mouthwatering' fixtures in the knock out rounds - England vs Germany, Italy vs Belgium and Italy vs Spain. The rest were good games but not titanic clashes You mean 'big name clashes'? Then I agree with what you are saying. My point was more about the Finland-Russia or Ukraine-Macedonia games, too many teams that are just happy to be there. With only 16 countries, over half them would at least feel they have a chance, there would be none of this 'best 3rd' stuff which then makes teams play for top 2 in the group, not just 'beat the other bad team'. It's not about the big names, but about the teams in it to win. Denmark as a prime example, Swiss as well, they are not the big names you mention, but made the tournament better. too many teams=too many games not worth it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 10 minutes ago, AXD said: You mean 'big name clashes'? Then I agree with what you are saying. My point was more about the Finland-Russia or Ukraine-Macedonia games, too many teams that are just happy to be there. With only 16 countries, over half them would at least feel they have a chance, there would be none of this 'best 3rd' stuff which then makes teams play for top 2 in the group, not just 'beat the other bad team'. It's not about the big names, but about the teams in it to win. Denmark as a prime example, Swiss as well, they are not the big names you mention, but made the tournament better. too many teams=too many games not worth it Then again Swiss were a best 3rd place team so it has its advantages as well. I dont mind this format, reminds me of the 1st few World Cups i remember 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisp65 Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 Thoroughly enjoyed lots of the football, enjoyed seeing something beyond the usual ‘big names’. It gives it more of a sporting festival feel when there are fans there that are genuinely happy to be part of the whole thing. I think that element of the expanded format really works. It is after all, a sport and an entertainment, for the fans. That suffered a little once Wales were out and the viewing had to be through the lens of BBC and ITV who only appeared to have any research notes on players that have played in the Prem.. There’s something quite blinkered there, which might be a contributing factor on why expectation and reality so rarely meet. It’s not only a good game if its got ex Man Utd players in it, it can be a good game if you haven’t heard of them and them having a good game doesn’t mean Chelsea or Arsenal or Man City need to ‘have a look’. Sometimes, a team can play better than the sum of its parts. I thought the geographical spread and the bias for the ‘home’ teams was terrible and that’s something that really didn’t work and was only then exaggerated by the weird and wonderful covid restrictions in various countries that appeared to be made up on a week by week basis. On reflection, that Spain vs Italy semi final was probably my favourite game. The ability to keep possession whilst also stringing together a dozen passes up and down the field not just across the back is just a delight to watch. Imagine if they expand it out again to 32 as has been suggested. Malta shit housing their way to a draw against Spain, Azerbaijan having the game of their lives against Scotland in a seven goal thriller. Love it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sne Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 Ceferin seem to have hated pretty much everything about the format of this tournament. He's already stated that it won't be played in multiple countries like this again and there is already talk of increasing the number of teams to 32 so they'll not have to deal with this 3rd place go through stuff. Won't be until the 2028 Euro's thou. Not sure I love the idea about 32 teams but no chance they will decrease the number of teams back to 16 because money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 9 minutes ago, sne said: Ceferin seem to have hated pretty much everything about the format of this tournament. He's already stated that it won't be played in multiple countries like this again and there is already talk of increasing the number of teams to 32 so they'll not have to deal with this 3rd place go through stuff. Won't be until the 2028 Euro's thou. Not sure I love the idea about 32 teams but no chance they will decrease the number of teams back to 16 because money. It'll be the 1 FA 1 vote stuff that will never see it decrease in numbers The likes of Scotland, Macedonia etc are never going to say yes to it And FWIW the number of games doesn't change just this stupid 3rd place thing so I'd rather it was 32 teams The multi country thing though I once saw was pure money, poor ticket sales and corporate take up for the Poland / Ukraine tournament lead to this brain fart Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sne Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 2 minutes ago, villa4europe said: It'll be the 1 FA 1 vote stuff that will never see it decrease in numbers The likes of Scotland, Macedonia etc are never going to say yes to it And FWIW the number of games doesn't change just this stupid 3rd place thing so I'd rather it was 32 teams The multi country thing though I once saw was pure money, poor ticket sales and corporate take up for the Poland / Ukraine tournament lead to this brain fart It was a vanity project for Platini to celebrate himself and the 60 anniversary of the first games. Didn't really pan out with Platini getting prosecuted and the games moved due to Covid but hey-ho. Rather have 32 than 24 teams but making the tournament that big excludes most countries from being able to host it and makes it unnecessarily big Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 i had a quick look at who was in the running for 2028 and its turkey or a joint bid from greece, bulgaria, serbia and someone else 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wainy316 Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 The multiple country hosting thing was a one off as it was the 60th anniversary of the tournament (or 61st as it ended up being). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisp65 Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 Multiple hosting isn’t an automatic problem. It could be a much tighter cluster of venues between Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece, or Ireland and England, Belgium and The Netherlands, than if the tournament goes to Russia or Turkey or France, and would reduce the financial implications of needing all those venues brought up to spec within one country. So it potentially makes hosting far more accessible for more participating nations. It can be a good way of spreading the love if its used correctly. It’s a hell of a big if though. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 Multiple hosting is here to stay Euros copa America and World Cup all doing it As long as they centralise it somehow then its not a problem, for 2026 for example base a group in Canada playing games in Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa and its not that bad, not compared with South Africa, Brazil and Russia, I'm sure for 2002 England had games in both countries That's why I think for all the corruption, human rights violations and bullshit about it being in Qatar that world cup will still be fascinating, its relatively tiny compared to most tournaments, I hope a lot of people travel as it could be really special and unlike anywhere else Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sne Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 They've made the tournaments too big and demanding to be hosted by only 1 country. But this one was an absolute disaster. Even the scaled down version we got with "only" 11 venues was horrible. The original idea was even worse. As for the upcoming north America crap with 48 teams it's a behemoth rules out all smaller bids. Smaller as in less than 4-5 countries combined. It will also make the money from vile companies and states to fund it even more vital. That ship has already sailed in football but if there ever was a way back it's long gone now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PussEKatt Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 I saw England supporters kicking an Italian supporter after the final.Was it his fault that England lost ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 personal team of the tournament Donnarumma Walker Maguire Chiellini Shaw Barella Hojberg Pedri De Bruyne Insigne Schick Ronaldo was top scorer but couldnt fit him in 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted July 13, 2021 Share Posted July 13, 2021 to be fair to him shaw probably did just about overtake spinnazola imagine if southgate actually let him play his football... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wainy316 Posted July 13, 2021 Share Posted July 13, 2021 2 hours ago, villa4europe said: to be fair to him shaw probably did just about overtake spinnazola imagine if southgate actually let him play his football... Imagine if Southgate let Grealish play any football. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted July 13, 2021 Share Posted July 13, 2021 but grealish doesn't cover for shaw... who doesn't get forward... who is playing in a back 5... with 2 holding midfielders... and then actually stats show that he was doing more defensive work than the guy southgate chose to play on the left instead... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Steve Posted July 13, 2021 Share Posted July 13, 2021 Walker in that list is hilarious Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Silvers Posted July 13, 2021 Share Posted July 13, 2021 10 minutes ago, The_Steve said: Walker in that list is hilarious The people who put the list together have not watched the games, they are just given the results and the team sheets up on a wall, which is coveted by a picture of Priti Patel and they just throw darts at her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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