EURO 2024 and Copa America 2024 Championships

Heading to penalties now. Wowzers. Ronaldo, saved by Oblak in extra time. That's got to weigh heavily on all of the Portuguese players. and give loads of confidence to Slovenia. No pressure on them at all. All on Portugal. Lets see.

 

Top saves by Diogo Costa... not only on the pens, but against Sesko after Pepe did the poopie.

 

i wonder if there's analytics on the speed of the ball of each of those pens. I'd reckon all of Portugal's pens were faster than Slovenias.

 

USA not good enough. Failure. And we'll see if they make changes. I think I said it many years ago. They should have gone to Tab Ramos. He was doing a splendid job with the U21s (or U23s, whatever it was). It would have made so much sense. I don't know what he's doing now.

 

Fox's Rob Stone panning for USA to go big or go home, wanting Klopp or Pep to manage the team As if the US Soccer Federation would give them the money they'd ask for.

 

2nd goal for the Dutch and it looks like they are through. Thoroughly deserved. Gakpo has been brilliant. involved in both goals.

as that was happening they were talking about the players faking injuries and embellishing. the NHL started penalizing players for embellishment. Even if a player is the victim, if they go too far in their reaction (high sticking as an example), both teams get a penalty of two minutes. This is much easier to institute in the NHL than it is in soccer. But I would like to see VAR get involved in this. If a player over dramatizes and fakes getting hit in the head like that by a "high" foot, and it's clear and obvious, they should get a warning first. do it again, and it's a yellow card. And I'd start only with high boots before I moved on to other things in the game. See how that goes.

 

really looking forward to Austria vs TURKEY... Turkiye? GTFOH. TURKEEEY. Just like what I have at Thanksgiving. That's why they changed their English pronunciation of their name. haha... But yes it's Fletch and Owen calling it on Fox. Going to be a great game I THINK!

 

as advertised, game of the summer so far. Not Even Close. Sucks for Austria... Sucks for my bracket predictions haha. 7/8... but the team I had going to the finals are out now. What a save at the end of the game there. Phenomenal

 

Colombia wins the group over Brazil, drawing 1-1 this evening. A very pro Colombian crowd up in Santa Clara. Really gave the players the extra juice to see it through. And the players fed off that. At times it seemed like they had an extra player vs Brazil. Just the heart and desire to go out and outplay them. Good stuff... which leads me to the predictions for the elimination rounds of the Copa America:

Quarterfinals:

Argentina 2 Ecuador 0. I'd be surprised if it's close... Messi or not...
Venezuela 2 Canada 1. Could be a good game here as one of them will be making the semis, lots to play for.
Colombia 4 Panama 1. Colombia are going to be too much.
Uruguay vs Brazil. Well, it's the best game of the quarters. Brazil have been somewhat disappointing for me. Just a little out of sync. Going up against a Uruguayan side that will be hungry to win it. I hope it's a great game with no drama. Vini will be out for this one, and that will be big. Rodrygo has struggled IMO. where's the offense going to come from? Going with Uruguay 1-0

Semifinals:

Argentina 2 Venezuela 0.
Colombia 3 Uruguay 2. Could be the best game of the tournament.

Final:
Argentina 2 Colombia 0. I was going to say 2-2 with Argentina winning on Pens... but Argentina have an easy draw and I just think it catches up to the Colombians.

 

yeah, they talked about putting in a "blue card" rule back in February of this year. So much backlash from the PL managers. I don't know where that ended up. The blue cards were going to mean a player was put into a "sin bin" for ten minutes. Are they still going to test it this summer?

 

Argentina fortunate to go thru there. They almost pulled an England Went defensive after going up 1-0. Conceded late in time added on... and Messi missed his PK. Fortunately, his keeper saved the day. And everyone else made their pens for Argentina. I didn't realize there was no 30 minutes of extra time at the Copa America. Welp, they are thru... barely...

 

A couple of mouthwatering matches today, Germany v Spain, France v Portugal.... I feel bad for Canada v Venezuela later at the Copa

 

I don't think the quarterfinal matches disappointed. Germany v Spain was brilliant. France v Portugal was great even though no goals were scored and it was decided on penalties.

Yeah, I think Spain were the better side vs Germany. They deserved to go thru. Questionable hand ball not going the German's way (by the English refs ). But the Germans turned the ball over numerous times, particularly in the first half. Credit Spain for that, forced turnovers (not mistakes per se)... you don't see a German side turning the ball over that frequently in their own half historically. Musiala and Olmo were the best players on the pitch, particularly in extra time. It didn't go to penalties! Which was probably a good thing for Spain, given the histories of both sides.

I thought Portugal were better than France, just failed to score. So many chances for both teams of course. Portugal looked the more dangerous in their buildup play, moving from back to front at times very smoothly. Dias had a tremendous block late on. Went to penalties and I thought Portugal would pull it out given the hero in their last match, their keeper. Was not to be... he guessed wrong on 4 of 5 penalties, which is quite staggering. Great penalties by everyone... except for poor old Joao Felix. You cant complain if you lose on pens because you should have won it in the first 120 minutes. (I will remind myself of that tomorrow perhaps ).

Two great matches on QF day 1. Probably the best I can remember for a long time at a Euro.

 

This Venezuela v Canada match is on crack. It's incredibly frantic as we near the 60th minute. Neither team has shown the ability to control the game. Though Canada are up 1-0. It's a bit like watching an MLS game (which I admittedly don't do very often). It's just like an NBA game, up and down the field Never slowing down. Opportunities all the time.

 

Canada survives somehow on penalties. Survives the heavily Venezuelan crowd at ATT stadium (where the Cowboys play). All Americans should be happy for Canada because they are CONCACAF. And it helps validate the region. Which they need, always.

 

So relieved that Trent made his penalty... when I saw it was going to be him, the weight of it all came to the fore front. "We" may just win this in spite of Southgate as our manager He did get the tactics mostly right today. Which I felt in the first half led England to have control of the game, for the most part... then came the second half.... At about the 60th minute, you could tell the team were out of ideas. Subs needed to be made. Of course he wants until we go down 0-1 to make changes, as has been the norm. It's kind of amazing that England have given up the 1st goal in each of their elimination matches, only to come back and win each game... tying it up late to force extra time. And yeah, of course the pens were a worry as is usual. but I was pretty calm after Pickford saved Akanji. **** do i hate penalties though... Switzerland were the better side for most of the second half... marginally better in the extra 30. Neither team really going for it...

The Dutch will be difficult. Set pieces have been an issue for England. Just no goals created there IIRC. Holland have been fairly solid on them. It's a bit of a toss up for me. Either team could win it. Could see penalties again. It's almost better for England to give up the first goal. And I can't believe it, but we'll probably see Kane start again. He's been mostly dreadful. So slow. Not making any runs in the box when Saka beats his man wide. May as well start Bellingham as a 9. Toney would be the preferred choice though for me.

And Spain are the class of the tournament. They should beat France. Stranger things have happened. Turkey v Netherlands was a great game. Full marks for Turkey. They've been a joy to watch.

 

Not sure how this ends, 0-0 at the half with Brazil and Uruguay. Uruguay looking the more dangerous, certainly more fun to watch. Marcel Bielsa has them on fire.

 

So many fouls by Uruguay... 26 in total. Just a shame... one guy sent off with a red card... and we're on to penalties now... not sure who i'm rooting for here..

 

Uruguay pulls it out on penalties! Another team (like England) that struggles on Pens (at the Copa at least) against a Brazil side that usually does well. So it's Colombia vs Uruguay in one semi and Argentina vs Canada in the other. Both of those games should be fairly decent. Especially Col vs Uru. Hopefully it's not a foul fest and the game is allowed to breath... doubtful That's been the problem here at the Copa... way too much drama.

 

I was thinking about this... maybe had an epiphany...

Instead of taking the penalties at the end of the game... why not take the penalties at the START of the game. This way, each team playing knows the outcome if the game finishes tied... it would make the end of games MUCH MORE EXCITING! And the dread of penalties would be less nerve racking. haha... it's like one of those movies that starts at the end... bookending is what it's called.

 

na, it really wasn't tongue in cheek. I was being serious. I would have used an emoji if I was being sarcastic (I think). To answer your question, I suppose it could. But that's a long time to defend. It just starts the game essentially giving the winner of the penalties 1/2 a goal.

 

bah, Luis Suarez... never dirty