The Official European Football Thread

[Seshmeister]

France would have destroyed them.

They only played 2 half decent teams in the tournament and got beat by both. After they scored last night from a set piece as usual they didn't get another shot on target before being beaten by a team of old players who had been through 2 sets of extra time in the last week.

Croatia are the smallest country to make it to a World Cup final with 4 million people since Uruguay in 1950.

Anyhoo I won my bet on Croatia last night and have a bet on France to win the whole thing back when they were at 2/1.

[vandeleur]

Bitter bitter bitter Scottish man ..... I think we should have buried Croatia in the first half, we were a poor team with out a mid field and they were fucked , Croatia deserve medals for finishing on their feet .
It was like the end of rocky .
As for England France we had a punchers chance at Best But it would have been fun drinking to help.
Now my gdansk weekend with the boys will involve tea and scones.

But normal service is resumed , cockney media darlings

[Seshmeister]

You still have the excitement of the 3rd place playoff.

[vandeleur]

No mater how bad the English players feel they can’t be feeling anything like as bad as the Croatian player who refused to come off the bench in the first game because it was beneath him, he gets to watch the final with his feet up at home .

[Seshmeister]

That was bizarre.

They aren't an easy bunch of guys to support in general, Modric could be in jail soon for perjury in a football corruption case.

[Jérôme Frenchise]

Allez les Bleus!

Seriously, I'm no chauvinist, if the Croatians play better and win, that'll be okay with me.

[Seshmeister]

I think they played better and lost!

The first 2 French goals shouldn't have been given, both referee mistakes.

[Jérôme Frenchise]

I think they played better and lost!

Exactly. They held the ball 70% of the time or so, pushed a lot towards the blue goal.

The Frogs were more efficient - and luckier - by scoring while being obviously dominated. I'm still wondering whether they couldn't do better than that, or it was Deschamps' strategy, letting the Croats come...

The first 2 French goals shouldn't have been given, both referee mistakes.

I disagree. These were not mistakes. In addition, a few other faults were not called, which harmed the Frogs, though it happened on the sides.

I wouldn't have liked being in the ref's shoes, watching the hand fault again and again, and running back on the pitch to call that penalty kick...

In retrospect, France - Belgium was much more interesting and pleasant to watch than yesterday's final, the match was much more balanced and catchy.

For those Frogs who aren't too chauvinist, it should be a bitter win.

[Seshmeister]

The Official European Football Thread

I was happy anyway not just because I love France but also because I won €50 I had put on them to win the World Cup last week. 😀

[Nickdfresh]

I think they played better and lost!

I agree, Croatia looked dominant at times, until the late French counterattack. When's the last time France conducted a late counterattack that worked?

The first 2 French goals shouldn't have been given, both referee mistakes.

It was clearly a handball Sesh, unintentional though it was...

[Seshmeister]

I agree, Croatia looked dominant at times, until the late French counterattack. When's the last time France conducted a late counterattack that worked?



It was clearly a handball Sesh, unintentional though it was...

That’s exactly the point, the handball is only a penalty if it is intentional. They need to sort this out as everyone I was watching it with didn’t think it was a penalty, neither did the 2 English tv commentators or the 4 ‘experts’ in the tv studio.

This is the entirety of the 'handling the ball' rule on the FA's website:

Handling the ball involves a deliberate act of a player making contact with the ball with the hand or arm. The following must be considered:

the movement of the hand towards the ball (not the ball towards the hand)
the distance between the opponent and the ball (unexpected ball)
the position of the hand does not necessarily mean that there is an offence

One of the reasons for football being so popular throughout the world is it is a comparatively simple game and unlike American Football there aren’t 100s of complicated rules.

Whether a handball is deliberate is one that causes problems all the time and they need to sort it out.

[Nickdfresh]

All I can say is the American (actually mainly UK) commentators here thought it was definitely a penalty shot. But France's first goal shouldn't have been a goal kick because the guy dived...

[Seshmeister]

Jero I need a translation from the Dutch commentator it sounds like he says 'Yah it is anal for the Scotsman'?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raPD4FXtcEY&feature=player_embedded

[jero]

Jero I need a translation from the Dutch commentator it sounds like he says 'Yah it is anal for the Scotsman'?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raPD...layer_embedded

Lol, he says it’s 1-0 (één nul)

[Jérôme Frenchise]

Sounds a bit like "un nul" in Frog, which means "a smuck".