Euro 2020

[H.P. Lovecraft]

Days ago, if I'm not mistaken, Whiteshoes made a brilliant reflection. Italy's match against Austria would have been very tough: the typical "crossroads match", the challenge to overcome before becoming unstoppable and reaching the finish line. Many times in the history of the World and European Championships it has happened: Italy - Australia 1-0 (2006), Germany - Algeria 2-1 (2014), Brazil - Spain 2-1 (1962) and I could go on.

Austria was perfect: suffocating pressing, running to exhaustion (Alaba and Arnautovic were in pieces towards the end of the game), competitive malice, honor, and wise strategic "traps" by Foda. It should be added that Foda's choice to field powerful players in the last minutes was perfect. He was hoping for the goal on an inactive ball (which has arrived) and then ... with courage towards the second goal! But ... what did Austria lose? Italy, as you have all seen against Wales, has two teams. Our chance to have players ready to take over was our winning weapon. In fact, Chiesa and Pessina entered and scored. Bravo Mancini who was able to redesign the team during the match. Besides Chiesa and Pessina, the credit for the victory also goes to Belotti (who fought like a bull on every ball) and Locatelli (who gave substance to midfield). It doesn't end there ... Austria also lost because they chose to play with their hearts against a team used to always playing with their hearts in knockout matches. We Italians are usually bad in the groups but in the knockout matches, penalties aside, we are always very difficult to beat.

In Italy, we all knew it was a difficult challenge but, as the Italian commentators also said, "We didn't know it was so difficult ..." Besides the skill of the Austrians, Italy's opponent was ... Italy itself. We had a great weight on our shoulders: having to win outside the "comfort zone" of the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, we had to redeem ourselves after the failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, we had to demonstrate in an important knockout match that we had mentality and quality and, not least of all, to honor our coat of arms. Austria did not have these problems. They played "without psychological worries". They played their game aware that they have already reached a wonderful qualification. If the Austrians had lost to Italy they would have accepted it but ... if they had won they would have written history!

I am very happy for us and certainly in the next match we could also count on the return of the "bad and ugly" Giorgio Chiellini. In the next challenge we will meet either the golden generation of Belgium of the titanic Lukaku or the Portuguese army of the phenomenon Cristiano Ronaldo, a very serious match with a quality opponent. Belgium and Portugal have wonderful skills that could put us in difficulties and weaknesses that our compact group could exploit to their advantage. However, of the two the most formidable is Belgium (they are a complete team - even if their good defense could be put in difficulty if pressed - Belgium's strength lies mainly between midfield and attack).

How to end the speech? Always dedicating the same song to you! The "Notti Magiche" continue !

Mondiali ITALIA '90 | Notti Magiche

L'avventura vissuta durante i Mondiali del 1990, ospitati in casa, accompagnata dalla colonna sonora che fece sognare l'Italia intera fino alla semifinale pe...

www.youtube.com

 

[H.P. Lovecraft]

I knew that Chiesa is a "Player to watch", but heck that was amazing

When he was about to score 3-1 he was very good. Too bad that the Austrian defender was even better than him Chiesa has the same quality as Spinazzola: he is an arrow capable of breaking through defenses.

 

[H.P. Lovecraft]

Austria a bit wasteful now...
Italys clean-sheet-streak was in danger a several times tonight.
I am curios to see when it will break

Edit: oh well, didnt take a long time

Italy has conquered the "thirty-first consecutive useful result" tonight, breaking a record that had stood since the 1930s, conquered the doc-12th consecutive victory surpassing the same record held by Mancini and conquered the longest streak of "cleen sheet" that was held by Valcareggi and Italy from '72 to '74. I am very happy but ... both the Italian commentators and I are very happy to have concluded our "cleen sheet" in extra time Records are often broken in an abrupt and sad way this time however it was not so. It is better to have finished this record here and so we can face the next games more lightly

Come on Whiteshoes! Italy - Germany final of the 2020 European Championships!

 

[Looren]

Congrats Italy ! Austria really surprised me ! Great job guys !

 

[mauve]

Come on Whiteshoes! Italy - Germany final of the 2020 European Championships!

I doubt that seriously. I think swe have a fair chance against England because England hasn't convinced me in this tournament yet. But in case Germany wins, they need to win against Ukraine/Sweden and then probably has to play against Netherlands. That will be Germany's out - the latest.

 

[ShoeFlo]

Italy has conquered the "thirty-first consecutive useful result" tonight, breaking a record that had stood since the 1930s, conquered the doc-12th consecutive victory surpassing the same record held by Mancini and conquered the longest streak of "cleen sheet" that was held by Valcareggi and Italy from '72 to '74. I am very happy but ... both the Italian commentators and I are very happy to have concluded our "cleen sheet" in extra time Records are often broken in an abrupt and sad way this time however it was not so. It is better to have finished this record here and so we can face the next games more lightly

Come on Whiteshoes! Italy - Germany final of the 2020 European Championships!

"Records are often broken in an abrupt way" ... that's certainly true. If my memory serves me right it was the amateur national team of Haiti of all teams who broke the clean sheet record of Dino Zoff in 1974
the "football god" sometimes write great scripts

As you said right in another post, it was me me who predicted the match vs Austria to become an exhausting one, Austria was even better than I expected. Impressing how physically strong they were in the midfield, how tight they kept together they defense lines and how they dealt with Italian pressing as they usually tried to free themselves in a controlled and playful manner instead of desperately shooting the ball into the opponents half (maybe apart from the period between 30 and 45th minutes, when Austria looked a bit helpless) Whenever they entered the danger zone of Italy however Austria seemed to lose their head, made complicated decisions or acted hesistantly. They throw away some counter attacks. In the end Italy also won because of their squad depth. They also have players on the bench who can make the difference as we could see and Italy certainly also benefitted from the fact that most of their players had a 10 days recovering since the B team played against Wales. I think the substitutions that Foda made were good, too, but they were too late in my opinion. I would have brought Kalajdzic a bit early. It's always easy to say that after he scored but of all Austrian players he is actually the only clinical striker who has an excellent positioning and a good precision, especially with headers.
I think the win will make Italy even stronger mentally cause they proved to be able to keep their nerves in a tight and difficult match, to stay patient and to overcome resistance. I think Belgium could be a good opponent for Italy, cause they will offer Italy a bit more space. They rely a lot of their attacking power of Lukaku, Hazard and so on, but they never really looked solid in the back. They could have conceded more than once against Denmark, while Russia and Finlands quality were too limited to seriously challenge Belgium. Portugal I'd expect to play way more careful and defensive in the knock out matches, comparable to their Euro 2016 performances. They wouldnt defend naively as in the German match a second time and I think they would give Italy a proper fight.

Italy vs Germany is as you can imagine the last thing I want to have in the final Even though I think we would be even more helpless against France because France playing style these days resembles the typical Italian football. Losing to Italy wouldn't be tragical this time as Italy would go into the match as the clear favorites and nobody would expect us to win anyway, but it's undeniable that losing a final is always a bit painful. Having said that, I don't think we come anywhere close to the final. Even if we beat England I am not even sure if we would overcome Sweden (given their beat Ukraine), because they are the masters of defense and we hardly found a way to get through the Hungarian defense. I still have no idea what to expect from the England match though. England fears us as they always do because after 1966 we mostly beat them whenever it counted. Beating them on Wembley would be the sweetest thing I can imagine but then again atmospherically it will be a " (Three) lions den" and for covid reasons German fans are not allowed to travel to London. So it will be full support (and a very noisy support, I suppose) for England from the stands. Looking forward to it.

 

[H.P. Lovecraft]

I doubt that seriously. I think swe have a fair chance against England because England hasn't convinced me in this tournament yet. But in case Germany wins, they need to win against Ukraine/Sweden and then probably has to play against Netherlands. That will be Germany's out - the latest.

Paradoxically, for me, England is much more dangerous. The English team does not have a "champagne football" and historically the English are weak in tactics but it is a team made up of great athletes and hard-hitting defenders. Making a comparison with yesterday's Austria, both from an athletic point of view, both the reserves available and the quality are superior. Let's not forget that the British have a great desire to reach the semi-finals where the European championships are played in front of the home crowd. Mauve, England is Germany's worst opponent.

Sweden and Ukraine? They will stop their journey in Rome. The playing style of Sweden is a "bad copy" of that of Denmark. The Swedish game can only be difficult to unhinge because, like yesterday's Austria, it can close the passing lines however it is poor in setting. Ukraine are a "front-wheel drive" team with a weak defense. So is it difficult to face Denmark? The Netherlands or the Czech Republic? Let's not be fooled by the 0-4 of Wales - Denmark. Wales are a poor team where Bale and Ramsey are now at the end of their careers. In the group Wales managed to equalize against a Switzerland that has complicated things by itself. Then ... they won against a poor Turkey (1 goal scored and 8 conceded) and finally they faced an Italy B who did not want to push on the accelerator, risking fatigue, injuries and suffering yellow / red cards. If Italy had played like Belgium against Finland, now Heke would still be dreaming with his national team and Wales would be at home. The Netherlands are a "convalescent team" that comes from a lot of humiliation. They passed a group against a defensively weak Ukraine, a limited North Macedonia and an Austria that did not play as they did against Italy. The Netherlands could reach the semi-final but, when the level rises, their defense is not inpenetrable. The Czech Republic ... with respect, let's see the last four results: Italy - Czech Republic 4-0, Czech Republic - Scotland 2-0, Croatia - Czech Republic 1-1 (Croatia was subdued) and Republic Czech - England 0-1. Shick's team doesn't seem unbeatable to me. Unless a miracle happens, they will be eliminated from the Netherlands. Denmark? The group was not difficult. Finland and Russia, with all due respect, were not irresistible. Only the "Shock Eriksen" complicated things. The match against Belgium showed that Denmark are a performing team that stops when the level of their opponents increases. They are a compact team with a good attacking game but they are not strong enough to win the European championships (at least they could reach the semi-final). Germany, after these considerations, ended up in the simplest part of the board. The other part of the scoreboard is made up of teams like Italy, Belgium, France, Portugal, Spain and Croatia !!! If you beat England, then the final is yours or ... the British will be able to win their first final in the major competitions (after the farce of 1966). Trust Mauve, England is dangerous. The English referee Taylor also understood that he was tough with a direct contender. He cautioned Di Lorenzo for a non-existent foul and Barella for protests while the Austrian players were free to make slip interventions from behind. The referee warned the Austrians only when we were winning 2-0. Yesterday the good technique of putting opponents offside and the VAR saved us from defeat! Taylor himself sent by UEFA to referee Rome - Ayax. UEFA can send a Manchester referee to referee a match that will see the winner go face to face ... Manchester United? In fact, he cautioned Ibanez and Mancini, both warned, who missed the match that Roma lost with Manchester United. Roma also had a short bench due to injuries and after Spinazzola's stop was no longer able to resist the attacks of Pogba, Bruno Fernandes and Cavani. I will be unpleasant to read but I say things as they are. I don't like this culture of "sweetening the pill" to be friends with everyone. These are the "naked and raw" facts.

 

[mauve]

Paradoxically, for me, England is much more dangerous. The English team does not have a "champagne football" and historically the English are weak in tactics but it is a team made up of great athletes and hard-hitting defenders. Making a comparison with yesterday's Austria, both from an athletic point of view, both the reserves available and the quality are superior. Let's not forget that the British have a great desire to reach the semi-finals where the European championships are played in front of the home crowd. Mauve, England is Germany's worst opponent.

Sweden and Ukraine? They will stop their journey in Rome. The playing style of Sweden is a "bad copy" of that of Denmark. The Swedish game can only be difficult to unhinge because, like yesterday's Austria, it can close the passing lines however it is poor in setting. Ukraine are a "front-wheel drive" team with a weak defense. So is it difficult to face Denmark? The Netherlands or the Czech Republic? Let's not be fooled by the 0-4 of Wales - Denmark. Wales are a poor team where Bale and Ramsey are now at the end of their careers. In the group Wales managed to equalize against a Switzerland that has complicated things by itself. Then ... they won against a poor Turkey (1 goal scored and 8 conceded) and finally they faced an Italy B who did not want to push on the accelerator, risking fatigue, injuries and suffering yellow / red cards. If Italy had played like Belgium against Finland, now Heke would still be dreaming with his national team and Wales would be at home. The Netherlands are a "convalescent team" that comes from a lot of humiliation. They passed a group against a defensively weak Ukraine, a limited North Macedonia and an Austria that did not play as they did against Italy. The Netherlands could reach the semi-final but, when the level rises, their defense is not inpenetrable. The Czech Republic ... with respect, let's see the last four results: Italy - Czech Republic 4-0, Czech Republic - Scotland 2-0, Croatia - Czech Republic 1-1 (Croatia was subdued) and Republic Czech - England 0-1. Shick's team doesn't seem unbeatable to me. Unless a miracle happens, they will be eliminated from the Netherlands. Denmark? The group was not difficult. Finland and Russia, with all due respect, were not irresistible. Only the "Shock Eriksen" complicated things. The match against Belgium showed that Denmark are a performing team that stops when the level of their opponents increases. They are a compact team with a good attacking game but they are not strong enough to win the European championships (at least they could reach the semi-final). Germany, after these considerations, ended up in the simplest part of the board. The other part of the scoreboard is made up of teams like Italy, Belgium, France, Portugal, Spain and Croatia !!! If you beat England, then the final is yours or ... the British will be able to win their first final in the major competitions (after the farce of 1966). Trust Mauve, England is dangerous. The English referee Taylor also understood that he was tough with a direct contender. He cautioned Di Lorenzo for a non-existent foul and Barella for protests while the Austrian players were free to make slip interventions from behind. The referee warned the Austrians only when we were winning 2-0. Yesterday the good technique of putting opponents offside and the VAR saved us from defeat! Taylor himself sent by UEFA to referee Rome - Ayax. UEFA can send a Manchester referee to referee a match that will see the winner go face to face ... Manchester United? In fact, he cautioned Ibanez and Mancini, both warned, who missed the match that Roma lost with Manchester United. Roma also had a short bench due to injuries and after Spinazzola's stop was no longer able to resist the attacks of Pogba, Bruno Fernandes and Cavani. I will be unpleasant to read but I say things as they are. I don't like this culture of "sweetening the pill" to be friends with everyone. These are the "naked and raw" facts.

Of course, never underrate England! That is true, for sure. But looking back the three matches they had so far, I have hardly seen anything from Kane or Sterling to be honest. This might change since playing against the "enemy" Germany might give them an extra boost. But should they continue that way, they won't score many goals. Yes, In the defense, they are like a wall and hard to come thru for every opponent. I can't really say what to expect on Tuesday. I think it wouldn't be a surprise if England won, but it also wouldn't be a surprise either if Germany won. Playing in Wembley with many English Fans might be a huge plus for the English team though.
I am not sure by the way if it is just my imagination or not, but in this tournament there seem to be more offside situations than in the past tournament. And also more own goals, if I remember correctly.

 

[H.P. Lovecraft]

"Records are often broken in an abrupt way" ... that's certainly true. If my memory serves me right it was the amateur national team of Haiti of all teams who broke the clean sheet record of Dino Zoff in 1974
the "football god" sometimes write great scripts

As you said right in another post, it was me me who predicted the match vs Austria to become an exhausting one, Austria was even better than I expected. Impressing how physically strong they were in the midfield, how tight they kept together they defense lines and how they dealt with Italian pressing as they usually tried to free themselves in a controlled and playful manner instead of desperately shooting the ball into the opponents half (maybe apart from the period between 30 and 45th minutes, when Austria looked a bit helpless) Whenever they entered the danger zone of Italy however Austria seemed to lose their head, made complicated decisions or acted hesistantly. They throw away some counter attacks. In the end Italy also won because of their squad depth. They also have players on the bench who can make the difference as we could see and Italy certainly also benefitted from the fact that most of their players had a 10 days recovering since the B team played against Wales. I think the substitutions that Foda made were good, too, but they were too late in my opinion. I would have brought Kalajdzic a bit early. It's always easy to say that after he scored but of all Austrian players he is actually the only clinical striker who has an excellent positioning and a good precision, especially with headers.
I think the win will make Italy even stronger mentally cause they proved to be able to keep their nerves in a tight and difficult match, to stay patient and to overcome resistance. I think Belgium could be a good opponent for Italy, cause they will offer Italy a bit more space. They rely a lot of their attacking power of Lukaku, Hazard and so on, but they never really looked solid in the back. They could have conceded more than once against Denmark, while Russia and Finlands quality were too limited to seriously challenge Belgium. Portugal I'd expect to play way more careful and defensive in the knock out matches, comparable to their Euro 2016 performances. They wouldnt defend naively as in the German match a second time and I think they would give Italy a proper fight.

Italy vs Germany is as you can imagine the last thing I want to have in the final Even though I think we would be even more helpless against France because France playing style these days resembles the typical Italian football. Losing to Italy wouldn't be tragical this time as Italy would go into the match as the clear favorites and nobody would expect us to win anyway, but it's undeniable that losing a final is always a bit painful. Having said that, I don't think we come anywhere close to the final. Even if we beat England I am not even sure if we would overcome Sweden (given their beat Ukraine), because they are the masters of defense and we hardly found a way to get through the Hungarian defense. I still have no idea what to expect from the England match though. England fears us as they always do because after 1966 we mostly beat them whenever it counted. Beating them on Wembley would be the sweetest thing I can imagine but then again atmospherically it will be a " (Three) lions den" and for covid reasons German fans are not allowed to travel to London. So it will be full support (and a very noisy support, I suppose) for England from the stands. Looking forward to it.

Austria found difficulties in the last meters for two reasons:

-) Not a skilled team in setting.
-) The game was mainly prepared to create density and close the passing lines. The result we wanted to achieve was the goal in the 90 minutes (preferably from the 60th minute onwards) and then close everyone in defense.

We can say that, arguing the two points in question that, apart from some passages of fine workmanship, the Austrian weapons were the great physicality (thanks to their militancy in the Bundesliga and the pre-European training at high altitude), the pressing and the be careful to close the passing lines. Being more offensive would have caused them to move away from their game and they would have risked suffering the quality of our players and the famous "Italian counterattack". Yesterday Mauve said that Italy was not convincing while in reality it was Austria who canceled our game for 100 minutes! Late changes of Foda were studied. Austria had prepared the match with the starting 11. Changes can only be positive if they do not upset the set-up. Austria, apart from Kalajdzic (for inactive balls), had no other cards to play. So Foda's strategy was perfect. He prepared the challenge with the material he had.

Why did Austria lose? I don't want to repeat that it was due to the length of Italy's squad and the quality of the singles but also for two other factors:

-) Austria played almost in a mirror image with us Italians. The Italian national team is famous for defensive attention, tactics, heart and running. It was these qualities that allowed us to overcome better national teams than ours and win the World Cup. In '82 Brazil and Argentina were qualitatively stronger and in 2006 Germany was more candidates for the title than Italy and France was qualitatively superior (the Italian national team of 2006, unlike what is thought, was a " team at the end of the line ").

-) Italy is a team that is used to knockout matches.

Probably in the past Italy would have risked going to penalties and traditionally losing these matches. Italy has shown a lot of mentality and not even the most closed defense can completely stem our game.

Now, Italy has reached its "minimum result". Everything that will happen from now on will be an added value for our new national team. We Italians know that Belgium, France, Portugal and England (dangerous because they play at home) are more popular than us to win the European championship. Then there are also Spain and Germany which should not be underestimated. We can "make our voices heard" but we still have to keep our feet on the ground, firm and compact.

I agree when you say that Belgium are a little weaker in defense. Let's assume that the defense of Belgium has experience and is powerful but if Belgium is pressed a little it risks. In fact, with the "worst Italian national team ever" (Sturaro, Giaccherini, Pellé, Eder ...), playing in this way the "golden generation" of Belgium and Spain were defeated. If the penalties against Germany had not stopped us, we would also have risked winning. Let us remember that Portugal won when an obscene European played with wonderful players like Joao Mario ... The Italian game is this: we risk winning when we are weaker and we lose when we think we are strong. However, Portugal could be a very difficult opponent for Italy. It is true that the defense of Portugal is absent but the Portuguese are good at "dirtying" the knockout matches making everything complicated. Added to this is Ronaldo's talent and their dribbling skills. I'll stop here for now in evaluating the teams that Italy will be able to face.

Don't want an Italy - Germany final? If you win, the satisfaction would be 1000 times greater! It's a classic challenge, full of heart and twists.

Germany, as I wrote to Mauve, must overcome England's obstacle. You can beat the other national teams: they are strong but not invincible. If you beat them, we will make it to the final. Don't stop at the statistics, the British will play with all their vigor. The English know that if they reach the semi-finals they will play at home in front of their fans and with restrictions for fans of other national teams.

 

[H.P. Lovecraft]

Of course, never underrate England! That is true, for sure. But looking back the three matches they had so far, I have hardly seen anything from Kane or Sterling to be honest. This might change since playing against the "enemy" Germany might give them an extra boost. But should they continue that way, they won't score many goals. Yes, In the defense, they are like a wall and hard to come thru for every opponent. I can't really say what to expect on Tuesday. I think it wouldn't be a surprise if England won, but it also wouldn't be a surprise either if Germany won. Playing in Wembley with many English Fans might be a huge plus for the English team though.
I am not sure by the way if it is just my imagination or not, but in this tournament there seem to be more offside situations than in the past tournament. And also more own goals, if I remember correctly.

In this edition there are more offsides because there is the VAR and also because the national teams use it as a perfect defensive weapon. Own goals... Look at these interesting statistics:

Own goal Finland: they played against top quality and motivated Belgium.

Own Goal Germany: You were playing against the world champions of France and you suffered against a style of play that you have always hated: defense and counterattack (Italian game).

Own goal Poland: Spain were almost all game in the Polish half.

Own Goal Portugal (2): Germany had unleashed their many moving forwards and the Portuguese defense collapsed.

Own Goal Slovakia (2): Spain literally devastated Slovakia.

Own goal Turkey: Italy almost always forced the Turks into defense.

If you have been able to observe own goals, they were born because of the difference in quality (primarily) and because of styles of play that are hostile to a national team (Germany suffers from counter-attacks and Portugal suffers pressure in depth).

Regarding Kane (Sterling was England's best), you have to be careful because players can wake up suddenly. Paolo Rossi became a monster only during knockout matches. One that has disappointed me a lot is Grealish, a player who is pumping like the "new Beckham" but not at all. Be warned, bring out German pride hard pressed and always leave Hummels, Ginter and Rudiger as the last men. Of your team I really liked Gnabry (even if he was not shining), Havertz (even if he cheers at his goals with a sad face) and Kimmich (for me the best).

Believe me Mauve, unless the God of Football has chosen nothing else or one of the other national teams does not bring out an extraordinary strength (like Sweden which, after beating Ukraine, becomes Lideholm and Hamrin's Sweden of '58) , beat England you will reach the final. Then ... I can always make mistakes and the fatigue suffered during previous matches will allow the Netherlands or Denmark to defeat Germany or England and reach the great goal. Football is an unpredictable sport.

 

[Looren]

Today I'll suport and (obviously for the latter )

I think that The Netherlands will really have a hard time today against Czech Republic

The big match will clearly be Belgium/Portugal, am legit scared

 

[mauve]

Havertz (even if he cheers at his goals with a sad face

Literally everyone said this (even in the press).

But yes, I agree with what you said! Especially in these knock-out stages players suddenly start to bloom (we have seen this before) and literally EVERY team should be careful not to underestimate any team. It happened a lot before (we can sing a song about this), on the other hand a team should also be self-confident. It needs a good balance of self-confidence and caution.
Let's see which team has this balance this evening! The Netherlands? Czech Republic? Belgium? Portugal? I wouldn't count the Czech Republic out yet because we have seen yesterday what almost happened to Italy. Anyway, exciting matches!

 

[Milos-BC]

Well done , I didn't expect such a high victory, but it was deserved. The best match so far. Really happy for them.

played really well, I thought they could make a surprise, but one step was missing. Overall, this match has shown some weaknesses that has, hopefully Mancini will correct them until 1/4 finals.

 

[mauve]

C'mon ! Give us a surprise!

 

[Looren]

Let's goooooo !!!!

 

[Ekholmia]

I want both to win.

 

[mauve]

Well done so far, ! Let's see what is going to happen in the second half!

 

[mauve]

Red card! OMG!

 

[Ekholmia]

My god a red card for the Netherlands.

 

[Miloutchi]

I had this feeling since a few days that is going to win and sadly I don’t think I’m wrong.