Euro 2020 and Copa America Football Tournaments.

Too soon?

 

I remember problems with the Group games during the last WC. If I recall correctly, Belgium tried to throw a game (I think it was to avoid playing France) but they accidentally won 1-0.

I hate that stuff.

On a happier note, we saw a little of the beautiful game out of Brazil in their match against Venezuela in the Copa America yesterday.

BTW, Messi and Argentina are playing against Chile this evening - I'm guessing it will be around 10pm your time.

Lots of great football/soccer action to be enjoyed right now...

 

I couldn't face watching a 4th match yesterday so I gave it a miss.
I hear that Venezuela had 12 players and coaching staff out due to testing positive for covid.

 

Yup, they were practically dragging people off the street to field a team. I think a couple of their replacements joined within a couple hours of the game.

Needless to say it was a totally one-sided match, but everyone was pretty impressed that Venezuela managed to keep the score down to 1-0 at the half before Neymar & Co. put them away in the second. The final score could have been a lot worse than 3-0.

I'm looking forward to seeing Messi play tonight...

 

D'OH!!!

 

Yeah, a bit embarrassing for the goalie that one.

Sweden drawing 0-0 with Spain after 80 mins.
Be a great result for them if they can hold Spain to a draw.

 

0-0 final score.
Spain dominated possession and territory but lacked the finishing.
They're going to have to improve if they are to go deep into the tournament.

 

You got that right.

Meanwhile at the Copa America...

Lionel Messi bends a PK up over the wall and into the corner of the net to give Argentina a 1-0 lead over Chile:



You can't strike the ball any better than that.

And so the score stands at halftime - Argentina clearly the better team...

 

Great free kick.
I see it wasn't enough to win the game though. 1-1 after Chile equalise with a penalty.

 

My impressions of Spain 0-0 Sweden:

I'm kind of undecided if I feel impressed with Spain or not.

On one hand, they are likely the most technically disciplined team so far in the tournament, with the most skilled midfield. They keep possession like nobody else: a whooping 85% today! When the opponents recover possession, they swarm the opponents like bees and recover possession in seconds. And they did produce some beautiful triangulations on offense, and made the Swedish goalie work hard.

On the other hand, a team that keeps possession for 85% of 97 minutes (45' + 1' + 45' + 6') which is a whooping 82.5 minutes with the ball, and still can't score, is lacking something in terms of finishing, precision, and last third lethality.

One might think, the possession/passing style of Spain's greatest generation that was so successful in World Cup/Euro is preserved in this current younger Spanish team... but the absolute genius of that great generation that also translated the domination into goals, seems to be missing.

Not to forget, arguably the game's two hugest scoring opportunities belonged to Sweden: an open shot at the goal that got passed the goalie and was saved by a defender who deflected the ball to the post, and a cross to a player (again defeating the goalie) who had a huge open goal in front of him but managed to shoot wide left. One would think, if Ibrahimovic weren't injured and he were the recipient of that cross, the ball would have been in the back of Spain's net.

So despite the absolute dominance, this was a game that Spain could actually have lost.

So the TV commentators kept saying "Spain has it all: possession, talent, good decision-making" etc., and I was thinking, "yeah, except, that small detail in football matches, called goals."

85% possession is ultimately meaningless if you can't score. That's not how you win a tournament.

Then, the commentators kept repeating over and over "they got the Covid-19 vaccine on Friday; that explains why they are lethargic." Uh, really? These are all young athletes. 72 hours after the vaccine, usually there are no lingering side effects, especially to the first dose. And besides, they weren't lethargic. What they lacked was not energy, but rather, precision in the last third, and decisive finishing. I don't think a sore arm from the vaccine hinders your ability to shoot decisively on target.

So, color me only half-impressed. This is a team that is very difficult to beat given that they keep possession for so long; the opponents won't have a lot of goal-scoring opportunities. Still, it seems like the genius-level football that the preceding generation used to play, isn't there. A Spain that keeps possession but also scores at will is unbeatable, which is why they won three major tournaments in a row. But a Spain that keeps possession but doesn't score, isn't a winner. Thus, the draw we saw today.

This said, I'm aware that this team just recently beat Germany 6-0... so, maybe I'm being a bit too harsh on them due to this 0-0 draw. But then, I didn't watch that game, and I did watch this one, so I can't help but being a bit underwhelmed. We'll see.

 

Chile-Argentina was a very entertaining game. Messi played well and scored in a great free kick but Chile showed quality too and tied the game. Overall Argentina played better but they were unable to capitalize.

Copa America games for now are just for the entertaining value, because of the format of the tournament: two groups of 5 teams, only one per group is eliminated before the knock-out phase. So, almost certainly the two eliminated ones will be Venezuela and Bolivia, so this group phase pretty much counts for absolutely nothing given that none of the main teams will be threatened with elimination. However the rivalries in South America are such that Argentina and Chile still tried hard to win and played a beautiful game.

 

Euros isn't a lot better with 2/3rds of the teams going through.

 

We should also praise Sweden's defense. They did defend very well. There was always a leg interrupting or blocking Spain's triangulations and shots, and on the occasions when Spain did get through and shot on target, the goalie saved the day. That was a pretty impressive defensive effort, given the onslaught of 82.5 minutes with the ball belonging to Spain.

 

Sure, but 66% is a bit less bad than 80% going through, especially given that Venezuela and Bolivia are clearly inferior to the other teams, so Copa America group phase is basically a bunch of friendlies just to eliminate the clearly much inferior teams. Not a lot of surprises there. We all know that Group A will see Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, and Paraguay progressing, and Group B will see Brazil, Colombia, Peru and Ecuador. This is almost certain to be the group phase result (barred incredible zebras), while the Euro may deliver a surprise or two.

One may think from watching WC South American qualifiers over the years that while Venezuela is clearly the weakest team including because of the 8 players knocked out by Covid (Bolivia had 3), Bolivia is not as clearly so, being able to win some games. But this is only true because when Bolivia plays the World Cup Qualifiers, half of their games are home games, up their very tall mountains in rarefied air, where the visiting players get short of breath. That's the only reason why Bolivia doesn't always suck. Once they are in neutral terrain, with all 4 Brazilian cities hosting the games being in low elevation, Bolivia will likely lose all five games (they already lost today 3-1 to a relatively weak team, Paraguay), and so will Venezuela.

So, it's almost like, why have the group phase anyway?

Maybe to make it more interesting they should have included some sort of advantage for seeding. Say, once we established seeds #1, 2, 3, and 4, subsequent knock-out games wouldn't have overtime. If a game finished tied in regulation, the highest seed team would advance. This way, the group phase games would be more decisive.

 

@Adfundum, can I ask you another favor? I think the title of this thread should be edited again. Since we're also discussing Copa America, it would be more proper to call it "Euro 2020 and Copa America Football Tournaments." Thanks.

 

I suspect money plays a part. More games = more income.

 

Agreed, Sweden played great defence without parking the bus. They actually had two of the best chances to win the game.

 

Same old Argentina.

Chile was a completely different team in the second half. I don't know what their manager told them at halftime but it worked.

 

I hate to say it but I'm not impressed with Spain. Their style of play is a cure for insomnia. zzzzzzzzzzzzz

On the other hand, one team that did exceed my expectations was the Netherlands.

 

I did not watch the Netherlands-Ukraine game. I regret it; people are saying it was the best game of the tournament, so far.

I do look forward to France vs. Germany today. I won't be here to comment live since I'm at work and I have to DVR the game and watch it later, so I don't want spoilers. And while Portugal is facing a lesser opponent, I'm very curious about this Portuguese team and I think they will exceed expectations. Not only they have CR7 but the support crew this time is actually better than the players that surrounded Ronaldo when they won the Euro. They are the defending champs, after all. I think people are underestimating them. We'll see if they come up with an impressive show. I think people are underestimating my Italy too.

This Euro tournament is fascinating; there are several strong teams that are contenders for the title, so the knock-out phase should be very interesting.

While this much quality is not present in Copa America, there is enough quality there, especially from Brazil and Argentina, to make it intriguing, too. The Argentines look very eager to finally win a title with Messy, but the Brazilians are at home and did do very well in their first match too, although against a lesser opponent. Like I said this group phase doesn't mean much in Copa America, but the knock-out phase will be thrilling, as well.

 

Can you not just avoid reading this thread until after you have watched the match? That way those of us who are watching the matches live are not restricted in what we can say?
I don't want to be an arse about it but I enjoy talking about the games as they unfold.

 

I'm an F1 fan but the only way I can watch it for free is to watch 5 hours later when it is broadcast free on Channel 4. This means I have to avoid all radio, TV news and social media for 5 hours until I can watch it later.

 

UEFA certainly saved the best for last with today's Group of Death matches - I'm looking forward to watching Germany v France, too, especially since there's no telling how Germany is going to perform in this tournament (sadly, my expectations are pretty low).

Ronaldo is one of my favorite players so Portugal v Hungary should be fun. We'll see if he plays some defense beyond the rmidfield/center line today. We wouldn't him to strain himself.

 

I'm lucky - my satellite TV company enables me to stream the games on ESPN live when I'm not home....and the Christiano Ronaldo Show begins in about 40 minutes...

I haven't see Hungary play yet, and I hope they realize there's no point in sandbagging in the Group of Death. Throw caution to the wind and play to win! Playing not to lose is for losers....