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The Euros kick off in Munich in a few weeks time, and the New York Times has 10 of the best ever scored, and not behind its paywall. No prizes for guessing which is No 1.
Ranking the greatest Euros goals of all time: Van Basten, Schick and… Robson-Kanu - The Athletic (nytimes.com)
This link will give anyone interested the scheduled matches, etc
UEFA EURO 2024 | UEFA.com
I wonder if Kleenex has a stand outside the stadium so Scottish fans can dry their eyes in a couple of hours :peanutbutter:peanutbutter
They probably spent a wild evening of bier, wurst und sour Kraut in one of these places
Munich Beer Halls - Ranked – Thirsty Explorers Club
I spend two months of the year in Germany -for the music, not the football. I asked a friend if Gelsenkirchen was worth a visit, the answer was 'no'. The game yesterday was played 7km outside town in the home of FC Schalke 08, and though the ground has a capacity of 50-60,000, the transport links to the ground and the 'fanpark' were overloaded, allowing Germans as well as fans to complain about the decline in the efficiency of their networks.
That said, England did win, but should have scored at least 3 in the first half, and Kane hit the bar via a fantastic save from the Serbian goalkeeper. Now all eyes turn to France and Portugal, but it's too early to call. Of the top seeded teams, Italy and the Netherlands look beatable, Germany and Spain ahead of England and probably in the last 4. But as my predictions are as poor as my bets on the horses, I don't know this means anything.
Fans left sidelined and with nowhere to go thanks to Uefa’s bumbling genius | Euro 2024 | The Guardian
France like other teams are good at pressing, their passing is fluent, imaginative, but doesn't put the ball in the back of the net. Their star player has a broken nose and will miss the next game. In their group Romania showed what happens when belief drives the team to attack and score with the kind of enthusiasm one so rarely sees in football these days, carried over into the stands with magnificent support. Austria, again, good at pressing, passing and not scoring, so this group now looks uncertain, though Ukraine are unlikely to progress on yesterday's evidence.
Thus, with only one more group to debut, Germany and Spain look the two strongest teams.
What happens if the team wins a goal, and then goes for a cup of tea? The other team scores. Things can only get better, innit?
So far it’s been fairly entertaining though last night was a dismal watch seeing England looking like an early work in progress rather than a cup-winning candidate. They remind me of Toblerone with all the triangles and it’s great to be able to pass the ball but they look like a mutual insecurity society by passing the ball to each other until the opponent regains it.
Georgia looked good like a young person not ground down by the system yet and Ukraine are still in it perhaps they’ll squeeze through who knows?
Toblerone! Never thought of it that way, but still an accurate description of the aimless in search of the useless -as in strikers who never or rarely get to touch the ball. Georgia showed what it means to be there, fighting for every ball, charging at the opposing team and winning too, though most of Portugal's 'stars' were rested for the game. England are not about to change, so I don't see any of the attacking flair we saw last night happening against Slovakia. As usual they will pass the ball around and if someone dares to run down the wing and cross the ball, they will use that as their goal scoring opportunity. The irony is that dull football often wins games, even titles, which is why teams that have not been fun to watch -France and Italy, for example- could go all the way, though so far I don't see any team as good as Germany and Spain who on paper have the easiest games in the round of 16. But who knows? Switzerland and Austria have shown a lot of skill, and if England beat Slovakia they play either Switzerland or Italy in the Quarter Final.Quote:
Originally Posted by rodinuk
The result does no justice to what preceded the goals in Fergie Time. 5 substitutes were available, but dear Gareth seems to be emotionally committed to the players he has put on the field, even when they are not delivering the passing movements that create goal scoring opportunities. At the death he put on Ivan Toney who did at least pass the ball that Kane headed, but Conor Gallagher? When the score matters and it doesn't matter how, the team wins but nobody likes watching it.
Switzerland can score against England, but England can score against them too, and on the basis of what we have seen, we can expect an England victory, but not much fun.
Pleased to see Georgia score, and they had a couple of chances, but Spain look the best team so far, so their game against Germany is going to be one of the highlights of this tournament.