Euro 2020 Final - England vs Italy

[Gordon EF]

17 minutes ago, DeeTillEhDeh said:

1 hour ago, Jacksgranda said:

Me, too!   No Englishmen in my team, either. (Petty, petty.)

I had one - Sterling.

Happy enough with the defence and forwards.

Looking back, it didn't really seem to be a big championship for midfielders. Bizarre that at least one of Veratti and Barella weren't included and I'd have picked Rice or Phillips over Grealish as an option for England any day of the week.

Sterling could easily have gotten in, Walker could be in ahead of Maehle and Stones and Maguire could have been in if Bonucci and Chiellini weren't so imperious and handsome.

Edit. Obviously raging that Billy Gilmour wasn't an option either.

Edited July 12, 2021 by Gordon EF

[Jacksgranda]

3 hours ago, WhiteRoseKillie said:

Similar to my experience. Those who follow football were a lot more restrained during the tournament, and especially in the run-up to last night. Those who don't follow the game, but got swept up in the hysteria, were convinced "it was coming home".* 

Scene : WRK Towers, last night. The big telly's on in the extension. Present are the eponymous owner, his English wife, three of his four English daughtrers, his two English sons-in-law, and three English grandkids. With the exception of one son-in-law (long-suffering NUFC fan) and self (even longer suffering Killie fan), nobody has expressed the slightest interest in the Beautiful Game before this month**. Tonight, the flags, face-paint and bunting make my wee retreat look like the venue for a NF meeting. 

Cue self and said Toon fan decamping to the living room - 40" beats 65" when it's not accompanied by non-stop bollox repeated from the media. Game much more enjoyable - more for me obviously, although the lad was watching in hope rather than expectation. At least we could converse sensibly about the action, as we knew what we were watching. 

The upside of this was, of course, that no-one was all that bothered about Italy winning (except yours truly, but I tried to be diplomatic), so my house remains untrashed. 

*Loathsome fucking phrase, imho. Just one more reason for Baddiel to be flayed and dipped in salt.

**Seriously, even previous Tournaments have elicited nothing more than a passing "who's playing?" in passing from Mrs WRK.

That actually sounds quite enjoyable.

Here it was just myself and our daughter watching, with emotions ranging back and forth from "oh, no*" to "yabba dabba doo".

* = I paraphrase slightly.

[Forest_Fifer]

Aye I was waiting all morning for it. 
Well done your 8th team won where as my 1st team won the league and my international team lost the final on penalties... [emoji23]

You need to change your account name again, that's not how you spell "fandan"

[Theroadlesstravelled]

I was going to pick a diddies of the tournament but Foden wasn’t listed.

[Jeff Venom]

But apart from that Mike, how did you enjoy the final?

And writes for the Mail?
Wanting cake and to eat it too, is it Mike?

[Gordon EF]

1 minute ago, Theroadlesstravelled said:

I was going to pick a diddies of the tournament but Foden wasn’t listed.

The Stockport Gazza?

[Forest_Fifer]

Lee Dixon fell silent as soon as Donnarumma saved the final penalty and never uttered a single word thereafter.
Genuinely think he stormed out the studio in a huff as Matterface had to gonsolo for a good 10 minutes.

We need the footage of him angrily taking his headset off, throwing it to the ground and PeirsMorganning out of the studio.

[johnnydun]

3 hours ago, yoda said:

Declan Rice having two or three digs at him and Chiesa still wriggling away with the ball was sublime. 

You have to feel for Declan Rice today.

Heading back to his club, only to find out that they failed to beat Dundee.

[HalfCutNinja]

YYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

[SoapMactavish]

[Elixir]

 

[101]

1 minute ago, HalfCutNinja said:

YYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Please keep this up until Qatar.

[GiGi]

[topcat(The most tip top)]

35 minutes ago, eez-eh said:

Except that’s not what I said and you’re completely misconstruing things.

I’m just surprised to see a manager being so controlling in that situation. I’d have thought it far more common to consult with everyone and largely let the players speak up about who was up to it. But as I said I might be wrong.

I  used "suggestions" plural to indicate that  this  was a general observation about the questions being asked of Southgate's handling of the situation as opposed  to your ones specifically. 

Apologies for the confusion

Edited July 12, 2021 by topcat(The most tip top)

[Jacksgranda]

51 minutes ago, PauloPerth said:

I didn’t think that video was anything at all. Yes there were a couple of wee shites go over to the Italian lad, but he did similar later on.  Thought the Italians were doing as much goading.

A tense penalty shootout in a  final, a full day in the piss for most and hundreds of fans from the two countries standing right next to each other, it didn’t look too bad all things considered.

My thoughts, too. Thought the Italian with the flag draped round his shoulders was lucky he didn't get a slap, tbh.

[speckled tangerine]

1 hour ago, Frankie S said:

I was at the match last night with my 12-year old son, and while we enjoyed the game, the rest was utter chaos. My son and I arrived at our entrance point (Entrance 1) in plenty of time, and joined a sea (the shapeless mass couldn’t be described as a queue) of thousands of bodies swarming towards the entry points. Once you were absorbed by the throng there was no way back  - people were crushing in from all sides. I almost went hoarse from shouting at people not to push forward - there were loads of children in the middle of the scrum and I genuinely thought there was a danger of another Hillsborough the way things were going -, but to no avail. I can only hope no-one got hurt.

There were lots of decent England fans amongst the crowd, but the rogue element was high. ‘Fans’ were pushing from all directions with no regard for the safety of those caught in the middle; other ‘fans’ were throwing beer over the crowd, soaking everyone, with cans and bottles flying everywhere. Yet more ‘fans’ were scaling the walls in their dozens to get into the stadium without passing the entrance points. All this behaviour would be imbecilic at the best of times, but as we emerge from a pandemic it was almost beyond belief.

After nearly an hour of being crushed from all sides, we were finally swept through the entrances by the sheer pressure of the crowd, by which time the stewards had more or less given up trying to activate the match tickets (let alone check Covid certification etc.). I got my ticket checked (only by holding my phone out in the general direction of a scanner, not due to any intervention by a steward), but my son was pushed over the mess of bent and fallen barriers by the pressure behind, with no chance to get his ticket scanned.

Once inside, we realised that it was a a two step activation process, with the second step to be triggered at the turnstiles, so if you hadn’t had your ticket activated at the entrance point you couldn’t access the QR code needed to get in at the turnstile. We pushed back against the crowd to get back to the entrance point, but the stewards were unable to help, and we finally discovered helpful UEFA staff who were able to activate my son’s phone, and we were eventually able to join the lengthy queues at gate G. Of course the result of hundreds (perhaps thousands) of people swarming in at the entrance points without getting their tickets activated meant huge delays at the turnstiles.

In the time we queued at Gate G (at least 30 mins) there were no less than FOUR occasions where people within the stadium flung open the fire doors and large numbers of ticketless idiots swarmed towards the open doors. Able-bodied people were also trying to storm the disabled access points. Simply beyond belief. The Times today estimated that 400 fans got into the game without tickets. From what we saw and experienced, I suspect their estimate is on the (very) low side.

The complicated entrance protocols (three-pronged checks on Covid certification, match tickets and ID, none of which actually happened for us as we were swept past the entrance barriers) were always going to cause severe delays and in the context of a 75% crowd might just about have been workable, without the substantial Neanderthal contingent attempting to force their way in.

The police presence was surprisingly low key for a match of this scale (there were no police at all within the stadium perimeter), and the stewards were either incapable, unwilling or simply too overpowered to fix the problem. It took ages to close the doors, and they were soon thrown open again. This looked like co-ordinated criminal behaviour by an determined element of idiots, though The Times is reporting today that stewards were opening fire doors to evict intruders, then being overpowered by a fresh surge of non-ticket holders. 

Once inside the stadium it was almost inevitable that our seats would be occupied by non-ticket holders. Luckily they moved when asked, but it was clear that the section we were in was not 75% full, in line with the overall 75% capacity limit, but was actually close to 100% (or more) with 4 people standing in the 3 seats in front of us and people standing in the back and in the aisles.

Contrary to media reports, the rogue behaviour we witnessed was not committed by a ‘tiny minority.’ It was a minority, but a very significant one. To be fair, there were many England fans who were absolutely disgusted by the behaviour of their compatriots, and there were loud choruses of boos every time a fire door was thrown open, with packs of idiots surging towards it. There were numerous England fans around me who were asking if my son (and other kids) was ok during the crushes.

To be honest, I feel sorry for the majority of England fans whose reputation is constantly trashed by the abject behaviour of the idiotic minority. Those fans are an utter liability, and if I were English I’d have given up supporting the national team by now.

FWIW, I didn’t hear any booing of taking the knee (only applause) or any sign of racist abuse where I was, but the constant booing of every Italian touch was utterly tedious. The England songbook was disappointingly limited - they only seem to have two songs - one about the massive size of Harry Maguire’s head and the other about ‘Scotland getting battered everywhere they go’ (apart from at Wembley presumably).

Quite a contrast between the antiseptic experience of nursing a cup of lukewarm after for 3 hours before the Scotland v Czech Republic game at Hampden and last night’s chaos in London. I generally find that an enjoyable football experience falls somewhere between the two extremes.

As far as the game itself goes, Italy were deserved winners. It was a decent effort from England, but they were outclassed - players of the quality of Insigne are a joy to watch and Italy’s centre back pairing (Chiellini and Bonucci) are a cut above. The first touch of every Italian player was a sublime, and they absolutely bossed the match and thoroughly deserved to win.

An eyewitness account from one of P&Bs own really puts the whole affair into a new perspective. Thanks for that man and I'm glad you're okay.

[Jacksgranda]

That's me caught up, great read.

Doubt I would have bothered had the result been reversed! 

[yoda]

Enjoying hearing and reading the revisionism of how England weren't even fancied for this tournament.

They were second favourites with most bookmakers and widely touted, alongside Belgium, as being the best of the rest behind France by a number of pundits and commentators.

Italy were 11/1 to win the tournament with some places.

Edited July 12, 2021 by yoda

[GNU_Linux]

Edited July 12, 2021 by GNU_Linux

[Elixir]