Euro: Final: Italy vs England (Part 3)

[TheGreenTBer]

Depending on one's pov, Copa America is/is not a major tournament. (I don't think it is). But congrats to Messi for finally winning a Big Trophy with Argentina (or so I heard on the radio, since I didn't watch a single Copa America game).

To Argentinians, beating Brazil to clinch a football title of any kind will never not be a big deal.

 

[TheGreenTBer]

2006. Two goals conceded. 1 was an OG, the other a PK to Zidane. Cannavaro, Nesta, Zambrotta, Totti, and a young De Rossi and Pirlo. They absolutely dominated.

Yup. Choked you to death and if you get through the defense you get freaking Buffon in your way.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

Depending on one's pov, Copa America is/is not a major tournament. (I don't think it is). But congrats to Messi for finally winning a Big Trophy with Argentina (or so I heard on the radio, since I didn't watch a single Copa America game).

It’s that region’s equivalent to the Euros

 

[Luigi Habs]

What a turnaround for Italy. From missing rhe WC in 2018 to winning the Euro 3 years later. They deserved it. They were the most consistent team.

What a weekend with Argentina and Italy winning. My 2 favourite NTs.

 

[Luigi Habs]

To the point about veteran leadership on the England squad should have pushed ahead of Saka for the PKs, basically the only remotely reasonable option they had in that regard is Sterling.

The other 5 who didn’t take PKs were the a FB who basically never scores (but scored his first international goal today), a central defender who also rarely scored, an attacker who is older but not really that much more experienced (Grealish), a midfielder who is older but not really more experienced (Phillips) and the keeper.

It’s not like England had some deep roster of well experienced internationals. Once you cleared the big names (Kane, Maguire, Rashford, etc) you’re left with a lot of inexperienced players or non-natural attackers.

Henderson should have stayed and surely should have taken one. Trippier also should have taken one.

 

[TheShape]

Bonucci and Chiellini were immense. Chiellini was charging forward in the 119th minute to put an end to the game.

Mancini danced circles around Southgate after HT. Southgate's decisions for the PKs were a fire-able offense. Incredible England managed to mess this up.

 

[The don godfather]

What a turnaround for Italy. From missing rhe WC in 2018 to winning the Euro 3 years later. They deserved it. They were the most consistent team.

What a weekend with Argentina and Italy winning. My 2 favourite NTs.

Yep it's a nice practice tournament to win . Now bring the world cup.

 

[NorCalhockey]

lol how is copa america not a major tournament? its the continental championship for 2 powerhouse soccer nations and 3 or so other big time teams that are capable of winning any year. its also the only tournament that isnt the world cup that those teams can play in...

It’s that region’s equivalent to the Euros

I like watching tournaments where more than 2 countries have a legit shot of winning the title. To my mind, Copa America is a two-horse race (wins by Chile/Uruguay seem to be outliers).
Compare to the Euros: can anyone say only two countries have a legit chance of winning?

And to take it to hockey: that's why I like the World Juniors or Olympic hockey (when it's best on best). The more countries that have a legit shot to win make the tournament more exciting.

 

[Power Man]

 

[TheGreenTBer]

Yep it's a nice practice tournament to win . Now bring the world cup.

It's not a practice tournament in any way. It's just not as important as the World Cup.

 

[The don godfather]

France overrated.
Brazil need a new coach; they have the talent but look like a "horse without a head".
Argentina I'm always a fan of, but they find ways of disappointing in major tournaments.
England will challenge, winning is a different story.

France overrated lol. They only won the world cup recently and they all in prime age . [MOD]

 

[The don godfather]

It's not a practice tournament in any way. It's just not as important as the World Cup.

Ha no way. World cup is the big daddy .

 

[kovacro]

Mancini Masterclass. Pushed the right buttons all tournament long.

Wish Croatia had someone at the helm with half as much tactical wherewithal.

 

[SeawaterOnIce]

Bonucci and Chiellini were immense. Chiellini was charging forward in the 119th minute to put an end to the game.

Mancini danced circles around Southgate after HT. Southgate's decisions for the PKs were a fire-able offense. Incredible England managed to mess this up.

I was shocked. Total domination in the first 30 min. Then they invited Italy in and just got into the full defensive mindset with Kane and Sterling holding back instead of trying to cheat on the counter. Then to further compound matters...Southgate waits to sub in Grealish for some reason and absolutely bottles it on the PK choices. I was rooting for Italy so I didnt mind but wow..Good on the manager for losing that.

 

[ecemleafs]

I like watching tournaments where more than 2 countries have a legit shot of winning the title. To my mind, Copa America is a two-horse race (wins by Chile/Uruguay seem to be outliers).
Compare to the Euros: can anyone say only two countries have a legit chance of winning?

And to take it to hockey: that's why I like the World Juniors or Olympic hockey (when it's best on best). The more countries that have a legit shot to win make the tournament more exciting.

if its a 2 horse race than why did it take 28 years for argentina to win it?

 

[Selyanin]

France overrated.
Brazil need a new coach; they have the talent but look like a "horse without a head".
Argentina I'm always a fan of, but they find ways of disappointing in major tournaments.
England will challenge, winning is a different story.

Reigning world champions are overrated?

 

[Moncherry]

Italy will get smashed in the world cup. They aren't all that. They lucky they missed France to be honest. France would have had them for breakfast.

Well, maybe France should have beat Switzerland then. Like Italy did.

 

[gary69]

Reigning world champions are overrated?

They usually are. No repeat World Champions since Pele hayday Brazil in the 1960's.

 

[Petey But Really Jim]

2006. Two goals conceded. 1 was an OG, the other a PK to Zidane. Cannavaro, Nesta, Materazzi, Zambrotta, Totti, and a young De Rossi and Pirlo. They absolutely dominated.

Nesta didn’t make it through the group stage healthy and played not a second of the knockout stages, and Materazzi came up massive in his place.

A lot of this post was me wanting to try out the cross out thingy.

 

[Bondurant]

Thats the whole point of my post. Individually that Italy team is really not good. No surprise that they did not even qualify in 2018. A very weak italian generation.
Aside from maybe Donnarumma after tonight, the oldies who are a bit past it (even though they held up incredible) in Bonucci and Chiellini and a very good midfield in Verratti- Jorginho and basically nothing else all that great after that.

Individually there are easily 5-6 teams in this tournament that have more talent and better talent than Italy. A bunch of them underperformed pretty badly but Mancini made a mediocre team (IMO) look very good and rightfully win the title with them.

Their squad is solid. They don't have names that stand out like Baggio, Maldini, Buffon or Pirlo but they are still damn good as a team and individually.

 

[All Mod Cons]

Congrats to Italy. Well done. Congrats to England for surprisingly getting this far. Shame on the North American haters who tried to take away some of the joy that fans had. Or the fake European's should i say.

Thanks all. It was a slice.

 

[NorCalhockey]

if its a 2 horse race than why did it take 28 years for argentina to win it?

Too lazy to look up the history of Copa America. Hasn't Brazil won it more times than any other South American nation? As I said, I don't normally pay attention to Copa America. My impression is going into that tournament, Brazil & Argentina are always the favorites to win. (But outliers can win - even though they aren't the "favorites", just like Denmark & Greece have won Euros).

 

[kovacro]

Their squad is solid. They don't have names that stand out like Baggio, Maldini, Buffon or Pirlo but they are still damn good as a team and individually.

You could see throughout the tournament how together they were. That’s huge when he entire team is on the same page and buying in to what the coach is preaching. No dressing room drama and respect for each individual player who you are going to battle with.

You can have some of the best individual talent in the world but if you don’t come together and play for each other and put the team first, your going to fail.

 

[N o o d l e s]

Too lazy to look up the history of Copa America. Hasn't Brazil won it more times than any other South American nation? As I said, I don't normally pay attention to Copa America. My impression is going into that tournament, Brazil & Argentina are always the favorites to win. (But outliers can win - even though they aren't the "favorites", just like Denmark & Greece have won Euros).

I mean you called Uruguay an outlier but they’ve won it 15 times which is more than Brazil

 

[Live in the Now]

Too lazy to look up the history of Copa America. Hasn't Brazil won it more times than any other South American nation? As I said, I don't normally pay attention to Copa America. My impression is going into that tournament, Brazil & Argentina are always the favorites to win. (But outliers can win - even though they aren't the "favorites", just like Denmark & Greece have won Euros).

Uruguay's tied with Argentina for winning it the most. Then Chile were among the favorites very recently and won it twice.