The England-Italy Euro 2020 Final!

[Noelle Delaunay]

I'm not sure what the statistics are on getting players in in the last minute, possibly without the chance to even touch the ball once, to shoot a penalty^^

[Amina Sopwith]

1 minute ago, Noelle Delaunay said:

I'm not sure what the statistics are on getting players in in the last minute, possibly without the chance to even touch the ball once, to shoot a penalty^^

My understanding is that when it goes down to a "beat the goalie" like that, the striker usually wins. It would make sense; goalie has to guess to an extent.

[Marianne Little]

I feel sorry for Saka. But Italy played better. So it is the best team winning.

[Amina Sopwith]

Penalty shootouts are unsatisfying though, because they don't really rely on who played better. They rely so much on luck. Rashford hitting the post was very unfortunate. 

Still, a fair win is a fair win. Congratulazioni 🇮🇹

[Krystina Ferraris]

5 minutes ago, Amina Sopwith said:

Penalty shootouts are unsatisfying though, because they don't really rely on who played better. They rely so much on luck. Rashford hitting the post was very unfortunate. 

Still, a fair win is a fair win. Congratulazioni 🇮🇹

I agree I think all players gave everything and poor Rashford! He's an incredible player though and the pressure was beyond crazy.

Bravissimi tutti ragazzi!! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇮🇹

[Rat Luv]

And because I saw this earlier, you all have to see it too 😮

I'm going to bed before the riots start 😉

[Claireschen Hesten]

I'm not disappointed we didn't win, well maybe a little, but proud we managed to get in to a final for the first time in 55 years 

[Phil Deakins]

23 minutes ago, Marianne Little said:

But Italy played better. So it is the best team winning.

I agree. Italy was the best team overall.England are good at losing penalty shoot-outs BUT we usually score more than 2 out of 5. That was pathetic.

[Rowan Amore]

9 minutes ago, Rat Luv said:

And because I saw this earlier, you all have to see it too 😮

I'm going to bed before the riots start 😉

That was mean!  What has been seen, can not be unseen.

😪😭. Eye bleach! 

 

[Amina Sopwith]

1 minute ago, Phil Deakins said:

I agree. Italy was the best team overall.England are good at losing penalty shoot-outs BUT we usually score more than 2 out of 5. That was pathetic.

Rashford was very unlucky.

[Moondira]

22 minutes ago, Rat Luv said:

And because I saw this earlier, you all have to see it too 😮

I'm going to bed before the riots start 😉

Guy put on the pounds since last photo I saw 

[Sid Nagy]

England is the land of traditions.
So it is a good thing that they keep up the tradition to never win a great footbal tournament since 1624 or whatever year it was exactly.
 

[Marianne Little]

Social media, ugh. ☹️  England missed 3 penalty shots, and all was with young men of color. No one is getting more nasty comments then the penalty shooter who misses. But of course racism raises its ugly head, making it so much worse. 😠

Gareth Southgate would have been called a genius if he succeeded with the bold selection of players to walk up to the penalty mark.

[Phil Deakins]

Our goalkeeper (who has a *very serious flaw, imo) saved 2 out of 5 penalties, one of theirs missed on his own, and we still managed to lose the shootout. The good thing about it is that it wasn't just one who missed, so there isn't just one who will shoulder the burden for many years to come, and we'll forget who they were.

*The very serious flaw that the England goalie has is that he almost always boots the ball a long way down the field, which almost always gives the ball to the other side. Every time, I'm thinking, don't pass it to the goalie because he'll just boot it and give it back to the other side. He does it even with goal kicks when there are players in open space at the sides. It was only near the end last night that he started playing the ball with some sense.

Edited July 12, 2021 by Phil Deakins

[Phil Deakins]

54 minutes ago, Marianne Little said:

Gareth Southgate would have been called a genius if he succeeded with the bold selection of players to walk up to the penalty mark.

The manager normally asks for volunteers - who is feeling confident? The first 5 will have volunteered. I am sure that the 2 he brought on just for the penalties will have have volunteered while on the bench or in practise.

Edited July 12, 2021 by Phil Deakins

[Krystina Ferraris]

19 minutes ago, Phil Deakins said:

The manager normally asks for volunteers - who is feeling confident? The first 5 will have volunteered. I am sure that the 2 he brought on just for the penalties will have have volunteered while on the bench or in practise.

I honestly didn’t know that’s how it worked for penalties! Like Marianne I thought the manager chose them.

That makes the effect of missing out even worse on the players, I would imagine. Saka is just so young. 

[Amina Sopwith]

42 minutes ago, Phil Deakins said:

Our goalkeeper (who has a *very serious flaw, imo) saved 2 out of 5 penalties, one of theirs missed on his own, and we still managed to lose the shootout. The good thing about it is that it wasn't just one who missed, so there isn't just one who will shoulder the burden for many years to come, and we'll forget who they were.

But it's also a team game. So the fact that it even went down to a shootout in the end is because, as a team, they hadn't secured a win by full time and extra time.

Winning or losing, however it comes about, is the cumulative result of an ongoing team effort.

Edited July 12, 2021 by Amina Sopwith

[Krystina Ferraris]

1 hour ago, Marianne Little said:

Social media, ugh. ☹️  England missed 3 penalty shots, and all was with young men of color. No one is getting more nasty comments then the penalty shooter who misses. But of course racism raises its ugly head, making it so much worse. 😠

Gareth Southgate would have been called a genius if he succeeded with the bold selection of players to walk up to the penalty mark.

That is absolutely disgusting, not the first time either players are racially abused on the pitch. I hope those keyboard hooligans are found and duly punished.

[Marianne Little]

Even if Saka volunteered, I think the manager should have said no. It was the goal that was going to decide the Championship. 

An older player, one who had already been established, might have been more used to pressure. Or at least he could face the internet abuse better.

Saka had only 3 matches for England.

Edited July 12, 2021 by Marianne Little

[Sid Nagy]

This is what always happens after a shootout:
1. The losing side supporters find it unfair to decide a game this way, whether it is England, Germany, Spain or Midsomer United. You never hear the winner about that.
2. The manager took the wrong decisions in the line up for the shootout.
3. The last one who misses gets most of the blame.
4. People ask why they don't practice more on taking a penalty.

 

[Amina Sopwith]

15 minutes ago, Sid Nagy said:

This is what always happens after a shootout:
1. The losing side supporters find it unfair to decide a game this way, whether it is England, Germany, Spain or Midsomer United. You never hear the winner about that.
2. The manager took the wrong decisions in the line up for the shootout.
3. The last one who misses gets most of the blame.
4. People ask why they don't practice more on taking a penalty.

 

I don't think it's unfair; them's the rules and everyone takes the same chances by them when they play.

I do think it's unsatisfying because it does depend so much more on luck than anything else and there's something a bit simplistic about it coming down to a game of one-on-one beat the goalie. Still, they can't play forever so if it's a total deadlock even after an extra half hour, they've got to find a way to end it one way or another.

We have no way of knowing if the wrong line up was picked; for all we know, if they'd done it another way we might have lost every one. I'm very satisfied that Southgate did a better job of managing the team than I would have.

But I do think Rashford was incredibly unlucky. But you know, Marcus, you used your influence and money - none of which you were born with - to get a lot of disadvantaged children fed. You're all good.

Edited July 12, 2021 by Amina Sopwith

[Arduenn Schwartzman]

12 hours ago, Rat Luv said:

I'm going to bed before the riots start

You're missing all the fun. Rick and Ade are making the best of it:

 

[Phil Deakins]

2 hours ago, Krystina Ferraris said:

I honestly didn’t know that’s how it worked for penalties! Like Marianne I thought the manager chose them.

I'm going by what I've heard in player interviews in the past, that the manager asks for volunteers who feel confident enough to take one. I assume that the manager then writes them down in the order that he wants them to be taken. He probably also asks certain players if they feel confident. Stuff like that. I don't believe that the manager just has a list, and players have to comply. Shootouts need those who take them to genuinely feel confident about it.

[Phil Deakins]

1 hour ago, Amina Sopwith said:

But I do think Rashford was incredibly unlucky. But you know, Marcus, you used your influence and money - none of which you were born with - to get a lot of disadvantaged children fed. You're all good.

A lot of people in Britain owe a lot to Marcus Rashford, and he has a lot of respect for it, including from me. But I don't accept that he was unlucky with the penalty. He often takes them for ManU, and he knows where the sticks are. He simply kicked the ball in the wrong direction. Only slightly wrong, but wrong just the same. He would have been unlucky if the ball was heading into the corner but the goalie guessed the right way and saved it. But the goalie went the other way.

Edited July 12, 2021 by Phil Deakins

[Phil Deakins]

My summary

England aren't there yet. We did better in the tournament than I expected but we're not quite up there yet. If we'd won on the penalty shootout, all over Italy people would be saying, "It's a travesty. We were better than them through the match", and I would agree with them. I'd still have liked to have won though

 

Edited July 12, 2021 by Phil Deakins