Had to be penalties. Gutted but more gutted for my 5 year old son who screamed his lungs out when we scored. Good thing he went to sleep when extra time started. Time to go out and take his flag off the car. Pure pain.
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The 2020-2021 Football Thread
- Thread starter Scepticalscribe
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Agreed. Just blast it. Trying to be clever isn’t the way when it comes to penalties.
Italy were the best team in the tournament from start to finish, they deserve this. But England were excellent, Southgate's approach has been vindicated and he should be given plenty of time to develop this team into tournament winners...
...unless, of course, The Sun ensures that all of England's young players spend the rest of their lives suffering over this loss.
...unless, of course, The Sun ensures that all of England's young players spend the rest of their lives suffering over this loss.
Well make sure he knows Pickford did everything right, but multi millionaire strikers couldn’t hit the spot from 12 yards.
Agreed.
Pickford was excellent, possibly England's best player this evening.
However, what is especially disappointing is how Gareth Southgate - drawing on his own experience as a player - had coached and drilled the team (in 2018) so well, that penalties didn't stress them - in fact, they won a couple of penalty shoot outs - but it appears that this lesson may have to be learned all over again.
Having said that, while England - and it was an exceptionally impressive achievement to reach the final of an international competition - played extremely well in the first half, overall, Italy were the better team.
Congratulations Italy!
By far the better side and a well deserved win!
🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹
By far the better side and a well deserved win!
🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹
To be fair, he (eventually) sent Donnarumma the wrong way, but unfortunately hit the post.
This result is all on Southgate. Poor substitutions made way too late, got completely outmanaged by Mancini after about the 30' mark, and God knows what they were doing in training for preparing for penalty kicks, and why was Saka taking a spot kick before Grealish, Sterling, etc?
Italy probably are the better team, but England were in position to win the match today, and they didn't get it done.
Still, England have to be one of the favorites for WC 22, if Southgate can learn to take the handbrake off a bit. With young phenoms like Jude Bellingham and Mason Greenwood likely to be ready for regular action by them, they'll have an even more loaded squad.
Penalties are a stupid way to decide a match, as I've always said. I hate penalties. The ONLY reason they exist is because they are a less stupid solution than the previous method of flipping a coin.
Also - and this is not directed at anyone here - The people out there brutally criticizing Saka can go to hell, that kid had a great tournament and he showed tremendous courage by stepping up to take his penalty. I hope people rally around him and let him know he's a hero with a big career ahead of him.
It was a razor thin margin though, and with a player like Rashford just how much managing does he need to bury a pen? He knows his business by now. I think he was just unlucky (and why am I defending a Man Utd player?
). I admit the order of the takers is a bit confusing, but maybe Sterling and Grealish weren't coming forward? Or maybe they were biffing penalties in training?
England fans are within their rights to be disappointed, but this is a team that can win silverware. There are more positives than negatives to take from this tournament. They are better, from top to bottom, than they were in 2018. And they still have plenty left in the tank.
And let's face it - Italy are a damned good team, clearly the best in the tournament. It's no shame to lose to them.
Also - and this is not directed at anyone here - The people out there brutally criticizing Saka can go to hell, that kid had a great tournament and he showed tremendous courage by stepping up to take his penalty. I hope people rally around him and let him know he's a hero with a big career ahead of him.
It's not like the Italians had more 'appropriate' haircuts, which gave them a decisive advantage. Penalties are a lottery; at the end of the day the Italians were a little bit better, a little bit luckier.
It was a razor thin margin though, and with a player like Rashford just how much managing does he need to bury a pen? He knows his business by now. I think he was just unlucky (and why am I defending a Man Utd player?
). I admit the order of the takers is a bit confusing, but maybe Sterling and Grealish weren't coming forward? Or maybe they were biffing penalties in training?England fans are within their rights to be disappointed, but this is a team that can win silverware. There are more positives than negatives to take from this tournament. They are better, from top to bottom, than they were in 2018. And they still have plenty left in the tank.
And let's face it - Italy are a damned good team, clearly the best in the tournament. It's no shame to lose to them.
It’s weird, I’ve seen England lose so many times over the years but this time it feels different. This tournament we’ve actually shown up and genuinely shown we are a side that can win.
That game kept us on the edges of our seats. England we the best team for the first 25 mins and it was 50/50 until half time. Italy were the better side in the second half and it was again 50/50 in extra time. Either team could have won it and penalties is sadly a really crap way to win or lose. I thought the ref was bad and not the standard we’ve seen through much of the tournament. The game management Italy are known for wasn’t penalised hard enough but hey, it was a good match.
Well done England, very proud of what I have seen over the past few weeks!
That game kept us on the edges of our seats. England we the best team for the first 25 mins and it was 50/50 until half time. Italy were the better side in the second half and it was again 50/50 in extra time. Either team could have won it and penalties is sadly a really crap way to win or lose. I thought the ref was bad and not the standard we’ve seen through much of the tournament. The game management Italy are known for wasn’t penalised hard enough but hey, it was a good match.
Well done England, very proud of what I have seen over the past few weeks!
To be fair Saka hit the target at least. Rashford should have come on the pitch a bit sooner maybe.Penalties are a stupid way to decide a match, as I've always said. I hate penalties. The ONLY reason they exist is because they are a less stupid solution than the previous method of flipping a coin.
Also - and this is not directed at anyone here - The people out there brutally criticizing Saka can go to hell, that kid had a great tournament and he showed tremendous courage by stepping up to take his penalty. I hope people rally around him and let him know he's a hero with a big career ahead of him.
It's not like the Italians had more 'appropriate' haircuts, which gave them a decisive advantage. Penalties are a lottery; at the end of the day the Italians were a little bit better, a little bit luckier.
It was a razor thin margin though, and with a player like Rashford just how much managing does he need to bury a pen? He knows his business by now. I think he was just unlucky (and why am I defending a Man Utd player?
England fans are within their rights to be disappointed, but this is a team that can win silverware. There are more positives than negatives to take from this tournament. They are better, from top to bottom, than they were in 2018. And they still have plenty left in the tank.
And let's face it - Italy are a damned good team, clearly the best in the tournament. It's no shame to lose to them.
I think the English substitutes were too late for me. They needed to come on sooner to have a chance.
As for players like Stirling not stepping forward to take a penalty, there is always someone who doesn’t fancy it (Paul Ince comes to mind).
what a missed oportunity to win a major tournament by England. Italians had more of the ball but ****ing scored a scrambled goal and needed penalties to be winners for the last 240 minutes of football...Greece didnt need penalties , so Portugal.
playing at home ,scoring a early goal , didnt travel at all during the tournament, perfect climate and easy routeto the final and they managed to fuc it up.
no more chances England
playing at home ,scoring a early goal , didnt travel at all during the tournament, perfect climate and easy routeto the final and they managed to fuc it up.
no more chances England
So Im not disappointed as I thought I would be. Still incredibly proud of the boys for going further than I've ever seen and to be honest further than I thought we would ever go. Italy were the team of the tournament and deserved winners.
I don't blame Rashford its an incredibly difficult situation but I do have to ask why? From a child I was always taught don't do what he did, just pick a corner and back yourself. I really hope this doesn't scar him as he is one of the nice guys in football.
I still think England have a bright future going forward and we should go in to the the world cup believing we're a true challenger rather than a pretender like previous teams.
The prophecy is still correct, IT'S COMING HOME!!!!!!!!!
I don't blame Rashford its an incredibly difficult situation but I do have to ask why? From a child I was always taught don't do what he did, just pick a corner and back yourself. I really hope this doesn't scar him as he is one of the nice guys in football.
I still think England have a bright future going forward and we should go in to the the world cup believing we're a true challenger rather than a pretender like previous teams.
The prophecy is still correct, IT'S COMING HOME!!!!!!!!!
Substituting in 2 players just for the penalties ? That guaranteed to pile up the the pressure through the roof for those two.
Southgates penalty taker order also ridiculous, the players simply become younger and younger to the end. Why ? This is a situation where cool heads are needed.
I rather would have picked a worse shot who played most of the game than substituting young players in the last minute who will the have extra pressure added.
To be honest when Rashford was stepping up I would have bet 100 bucks on him doing a staggered run and not make it.
Blasting a ball over the top is one thing that’s pure bad luck but staggered run and bad placement makes you look like a fool.
Southgates penalty taker order also ridiculous, the players simply become younger and younger to the end. Why ? This is a situation where cool heads are needed.
I rather would have picked a worse shot who played most of the game than substituting young players in the last minute who will the have extra pressure added.
To be honest when Rashford was stepping up I would have bet 100 bucks on him doing a staggered run and not make it.
Blasting a ball over the top is one thing that’s pure bad luck but staggered run and bad placement makes you look like a fool.
Fifa or Uefa should ban England from next round of Championships.
The violence (beating up away fans) and racial abuse is not acceptable.
The violence (beating up away fans) and racial abuse is not acceptable.
I’d rather they took action against the minority of plastic thugs that turned up for a fight. I won’t call them fans because they aren’t and aren’t in anyway associated with the country or team on the pitch. Football is just the excuse and venue unfortunately.
They were not just beating up away fans either. They were beating up England fans trying to get out of the stand. The sad thing is the video I saw had men in their 50’s causing the trouble and showed a boy who couldn’t have been more than 14 getting punched in the side of the head. Disgraceful and I hope the police charge every single one of them.
I mean FIFA and UEFA have made it pretty clear they don’t take it seriously so it would be pretty disappointing to see the nation punished for a minority.
If you’re not English you probably don’t know there are some very draconian football laws in place and with the amount of CCTV at Wembley there will be a number of people who are soon to be banned from being within a mile of a stadium on match day for life, who will have to surrender passports to police if England play abroad etc etc.
FIFA and UEFA may not take action but I’m sure the English system will run its course. You will note stuff like this is very very rare at premier league games for this exact reason.
It’s just a shame internationals bring all the crazies out of the woodwork and lower leagues where there’s less oversight.
I see that the boorish and classless behaviour of some of the English fans was carried forward by the English players who removed their medals seconds after having received them. What a pitiful display of bad sportsmanship. And some call them heroes.