EURO Final - Portugal V France

Portugal have lost to France in their last 10 meetings.

France has full selection of their squad.

Carvalho is back for Portugal, but Pepe is a question mark due to injury.

France - FTW!  Even though they beat ze germans ................... 

Busby wrote:

Portugal have lost to France in their last 10 meetings.  

France has full selection of their squad.

Carvalho is back for Portugal, but Pepe is a question mark due to injury.  

So Portugal have lost 10 straight to France? The way this tournament has gone that bodes well for Portugal. Germany had not beaten Italy in a tournament, France had not beaten Germany for awhile, so put your money on Portugal.

I'm just hoping for a good final. Both teams have showed ambition so far, though Portugal have struggled to get on the score sheet in a couple of games, I still felt they were going for it.
France obviously like to play cavalier football, which should give the Portuguese some room to run into.

Pepe could be a big miss, especially with Giroud's heading prowess.

3-2 to the French would be a fun scoreline. I'll win the pool at work, if it happens (any French win).

Milt wrote:

I'm just hoping for a good final. Both teams have showed ambition so far, though Portugal have struggled to get on the score sheet in a couple of games, I still felt they were going for it.
France obviously like to play cavalier football, which should give the Portuguese some room to run into.

Pepe could be a big miss, especially with Giroud's heading prowess.

3-2 to the French would be a fun scoreline. I'll win the pool at work, if it happens (any French win).

France should win, they are the better team and have home field advantage. Also here that Pepe has passed fit and should play.

Sorry to see Ronaldo out. I think Payet knew what he was doing. Nothing wrong with the initial challenge, but the follow through was diliberate. You see it too much in today's game, the first challenge takes the ball, but the trailing leg is left in to take out the man.

Hope it does not mean Portugal will set back, defend and hope for penalties, unless France get a quick goal. Ruins the final as a spectacle if it goes that way.

Found myself rooting for Portugal after Ronaldo was injured, which is fucking weird.
I felt sorry for him and the team. I thought Payet did him good, and I suspect it will be ligament damage. Anyway with odds stacked against them so much I couldn't help but cheer on the underdog.

France didn't do enough to win it either. Nice goal by Eder, a worthy goal to win a tournament.

Pepe player of the Euros for me. A real master class of defending from him.

I agree Portugal was good for the win. France played well, but I think the expectation was higher. I thought Deschamp could have done a bit more tactically earlier on, but the game really did look destined for penalties, so I can forgive this a bit.

I too found myself rooting for Portugal, which was weird given the history, but not surprising since I'm a fan of Cristiano. Portugal's Rui Patricio looked very good. I'd wager a big club comes in for him because he looks a very good player. I wonder how loyal he'd be to Sporting if a big offer came in.

I'm also surprised that France's Sissoko is the same Sissoko that we saw all year at Newcastle.

Redcanuck wrote:

I think Payet knew what he was doing. Nothing wrong with the initial challenge, but the follow through was diliberate. 

Totally agree, Red.  Payet definitely left his knee in with that challenge.  I'm no CR7 fan, but I hate cocks that do intentional shit like that.

I thought Dechamps got his tactics wrong. Pogba was played to deep, he sat just in front of the back four and hardly got foward all day. He got the subs wrong in my opinion, Gignac for Giroud was like for like, he needed to change things up and Martial would have been a better option.

This should be the end for Dechamps, with a better manager and all the young talent they have, France should have a great chance to win the next World Cup.

Gooner wrote:

Redcanuck wrote:

I think Payet knew what he was doing. Nothing wrong with the initial challenge, but the follow through was diliberate. 

Totally agree, Red.  Payet definitely left his knee in with that challenge.  I'm no CR7 fan, but I hate cocks that do intentional shit like that.

See I disagree. If Payet didn't "leave his knee in" he'd have not been standing. He made a challenge on the ball and it's a contact sport. I think it's a bit assumptive to think Payet was trying to hurt Ronaldo. Ronaldo, for once, stood in and paid the price with his foot being stuck, again, on his standing leg. He also tried to drag the ball back rather than pass it (hence the reason they do one touch training...he had Sanchez square), which gave Payet the time to make the challenge. It wasn't even a foul if you ask me.

This is a classic example of why players jump or pull up their other leg then get accused of over acting and over dramatizing a challenge.

So what is Payet supposed to do exactly? Use the force to move his leg an inch or two, or halt his momentum altogether? Or realistically, not try to make a tackle in the first place? I see this as looking for something that's not actually there.

There's five to ten of these collisions a game, and more if you play Sunday (Friday in my case) league.  No one's trying to hurt anyone in a situation like this. If players were this good at sneakily hurting others, you'd see way more injuries in the game.  This is incidental contact in my opinion and an axiom of the sport.