Semi-Finals

Semi Finals

Portugal v Wales

Germany v France.

Both these games will be close and could go either way. Wales are on a roll, but I think Portugal are the better team. My distant Welsh heritage makes me hope Wales win, but i have a feeling this is Ronaldo time. Ronaldo with a brace to led Portugal to the final.

Germany v France could be a classic as good as the 82 World Cup semi final, which ended 3-3 (Germany winning on penalties), providing they both come to attack and ref lets them play. Doubt it will reach those heights, but 2-2 and penalties, with the Germans winning as usual.

Wakes will struggle to replicate the performance they had against Belgium without Ramsey who is suspended.
That said, Carvalho is also out for Portugal.

Bale v Ronaldo. A close one. Penalties and Portugal win.

Germany are without a few guys through injury, Gomez, Schweinsteger and Khedira. I think France beats them in regular time. 2-1.

I will be giving the rest of the games a miss to get ready for the new premiership season. As much as I was looking forward to the Euro's, its been a huge let down for me. Ok England didnt help, but I think its the introduction of extra teams which has made the competition over long and downgraded the level of football by a big margin. When you think back to the previous 2 or 3 Euro's I believe the standard was much stronger. At least, more entertaining.

TickTok wrote:

I will be giving the rest of the games a miss to get ready for the new premiership season. As much as I was looking forward to the Euro's, its been a huge let down for me. Ok England didnt help, but I think its the introduction of extra teams which has made the competition over long and downgraded the level of football by a big margin. When you think back to the previous 2 or 3 Euro's I believe the standard was much stronger. At least, more entertaining.

Get ready?

Are you playing?

TickTok wrote:

I will be giving the rest of the games a miss to get ready for the new premiership season. As much as I was looking forward to the Euro's, its been a huge let down for me. Ok England didnt help, but I think its the introduction of extra teams which has made the competition over long and downgraded the level of football by a big margin. When you think back to the previous 2 or 3 Euro's I believe the standard was much stronger. At least, more entertaining.

Agreed regarding the new format.

Long ago, I was firmly of the belief that the Euro was THE pinnacle of world football, due to the groups being all elite teams, with no lame ducks like the world cup. FIFA's attempt to promote the game globally has lead to a dilution of quality. The Euros always avoided this, but this year, it's been tedious. The Wales v Belgium game has so far been about the best one, but it has dragged on a bit.

The other aspect is these top players are playing too much football leading up to the tournament. Ronaldo hasn't been fully fit for a major tournament since 2004, when he was 21. The German talent is struggling, along with the likes of Hazard, Greizmann, Pogba, etc etc.

Sad for Wales, but Portugal deserved it. It was their best game of the tournament, and Ronaldo was the difference. Incredible header for the first goal, and Nani did well to redirect Ronaldo's shot for the second.

Milt wrote:

TickTok wrote:

I will be giving the rest of the games a miss to get ready for the new premiership season. As much as I was looking forward to the Euro's, its been a huge let down for me. Ok England didnt help, but I think its the introduction of extra teams which has made the competition over long and downgraded the level of football by a big margin. When you think back to the previous 2 or 3 Euro's I believe the standard was much stronger. At least, more entertaining.

Get ready?

Are you playing?

Alas my representing my club on the terraces & surrounding area's of away grounds are long gone. TG!

Get ready refers too the probability of having to pay for Sky while I am unable to find a new watering hole to enjoy the game with friends. The internet speed here in the sticks means it will be impossible to watch a game live on stream. The guy turned up to make it faster only for it to stay the same. They tell me it will get faster over a period of time. Sounds like John Inman telling me they will ride up with wear!

Crap Beer - Slow Internet - Buses an endangered species, you can probably tell leaving London is killing me softly.

Not all bad thou, get to see my daughter n Grandson far more regular & able to keep a better eye on my mother who is only a mile or so away.

Redcanuck wrote:

Sad for Wales, but Portugal deserved it.  It was their best game of the tournament, and Ronaldo was the difference. Incredible header for the first goal, and Nani did well to redirect Ronaldo's shot for the second.

As I said I didnt watch the game. Looked up the prices on Wales not to qualify for the World Cup finals. Makes interesting reading, but to long to come to fruition for a large bet.

Living in the country has it's perks. Get a gun...shoot some pheasant.

TickTok wrote:

Milt wrote:

TickTok wrote:

I will be giving the rest of the games a miss to get ready for the new premiership season. As much as I was looking forward to the Euro's, its been a huge let down for me. Ok England didnt help, but I think its the introduction of extra teams which has made the competition over long and downgraded the level of football by a big margin. When you think back to the previous 2 or 3 Euro's I believe the standard was much stronger. At least, more entertaining.

Get ready?

Are you playing?

Alas my representing my club on the terraces & surrounding area's of away grounds are long gone. TG!

Get ready refers too the probability of having to pay for Sky while I am unable to find a new watering hole to enjoy the game with friends. The internet speed here in the sticks means it will be impossible to watch a game live on stream. The guy turned up to make it faster only for it to stay the same. They tell me it will get faster over a period of time. Sounds like John Inman telling me they will ride up with wear!

Crap Beer - Slow Internet - Buses an endangered species, you can probably tell leaving London is killing me softly.

Not all bad thou, get to see my daughter n Grandson far more regular & able to keep a better eye on my mother who is only a mile or so away.

Homebrew and pirating Sky. Problem solved.

Nice to be closer to family as you age disgracefully. Not really an option for me, although the savaging of the pound means my relative net worth CAD to Sterling jumped a fair bit. I might even be able to fill up my petrol tank!

Busby wrote:

Living in the country has it's perks.  Get a gun...shoot some pheasant peasants.

fixed that for you.

Hate to say I'm enjoying the current conversion of £ to CAD.  Have me full kit (wanker) ready for purchase at Arsenal Direct and have been watching the price fall daily.  Dunno how much lower it will go, but, every cent is a bonus.  

Bale was lost without Ramsey.  Wales spent too much time thinking of how they were going to piss off UEFA with their kids on the pitch scheme.

Milt wrote:

Homebrew and pirating Sky. Problem solved.

Nice to be closer to family as you age disgracefully. Not really an option for me, although the savaging of the pound means my relative net worth CAD to Sterling jumped a fair bit. I might even be able to fill up my petrol tank!

Homebrew has crossed my mind and there is even a homebrew shop in a village not far from mine. May have a go, still hoping I will find somewhere local to park my ass.

Pirating Sky is something I remember doing when they first started. Used to run a card attached to my computer and into the sky box. Worked a treat for years, plus live saturday afternoon premiership football direct from Scandinavian channels. Loved that. Would not have a clue how too these days as I thought everyone streams.

Yep, the £ is taking a kicking as everyone jostles for the top political jobs getting ready for leaving Europe. Can't say I am a expert, but figure you should enjoy it while it lasts.

By the sound of Gooner's post.... Sod the football kit, leave it another week and you will probably be able to afford to play in the opening fixture at the new highbury  

Milt wrote:

Busby wrote:

Living in the country has it's perks.  Get a gun...shoot some pheasant peasants.

fixed that for you.

Haha, yes, I am surrounded by what I would call Country Bumpkins.

Pheasants are shot Sept 1st - Jan 31st. Peasants can be shot year round, but you need a Double 00 Licence

I find streaming such a pain in the ass. You have to find a feed which takes time, plus none of them are reliable and often in SD vs HD. And of course you have to have a PC to run the streams, one that you will essentially throw out in a year for all the HIV it's obtained from the nefarious websites running the stream.

Finding a solid watering hole and buying a few pints is the best option.

Good first half, lots of chances created, couple of good saves. Cruel on the Germans who have dominated, but clear penalty on Schweinsteiger and a ncie taken penalty by Griezmann.  Still think the Germans will score in the second half and take it into extra time at least.

Bloody French. Come on Portugal.

French defended well, capitalized on two German mistakes, recieved great goalkeeping from Lloris and Griezmann continued scoring.

Germans had enough chances to win that game three times, but didn't take any of them. That part was very un German like.
They missed Gomez in this game and Reus in the tournament.

I think they had enough options to deal with these missing players, Milt.

I agree, they didn't have their best 11, but they had a better 11 than every team, including France.

Boateng continues to be this amazing defender, that's got one or two school boy mistakes in him every three games. Remarkable. Same goes for Neuer with his flap on Pogba's cross. Very odd defending from this team.

France did all the right things, and got all the luck to fall their way. This is par for the course in these big games. Such fine margins and it seems like these reffing decisions tip the scales.

I think the German chances were all 'saveable' at this level. Nothing really in the corners, or with pace. Even looking at Can's chance early on. Kimmich's shot was nice, but indicative of the luck not being with the Germans.

Greizmann really does flourish in this counter attacking style. An excellent player for this type of football.