So England finally beat Germany! Well Done!

But... just one note on my part:

All the nations from the group F (aka group of death) were eliminated in this round of 16. Coincidence...?! I don't think so... This edition of the euro will forever be marked by the pandemic and the general disorganization of the event!

• How 3 of the top 6/7 European football nation end up in the same group in a tournament with 24 nations...?!

• 11 cities from 11 different countries in the middle of a global pandemic...?!

• Group stage where the 3 games are in 3 different countries, wearing players needlessly with long journeys...?!

• Nations that benefit highly because they play all the games at home and don't have to travel long distances...?!

How is this fair?! How can we judge two nation on the field when one have more time to rest, and didn't have long hours of travel to do before the game?! I'm not saying that England, Switzerland and Belgium didn't deserve to go to the next stage. I just think that fatigue was visible on the nations that had multiple long trips, always playing away from home and, on top of that, with less days to rest.

With the semi-final and final in England, you can be sure England will win EURO 2020! If it was to be like that, it would be better if the EURO was entirely in the UK (England)!!! At least all the nations didn't have to travel long distances for each game!

England will finish the EURO with only 1 away game in the "tournament hosted by multiple countries" ... RIDICULOUS!

Congratulations to England for winning the EURO 2020!

Despite the clear advantage for England being at "home", I still don't see them winning the whole thing.

To your point though, this is not a normal Euro at all. The travel, the protocols, countries sharing venues, ect.... It's all things we might never see again in our lifetime.

As for the group of death... There is always one group that has some of the best teams in the world packed together. Build some great drama but yeah, it hurts those teams in a lot of ways. It also helps them as they gain a ton of confidence when coming out of the group though.

Crazy that all three from that group are out, but more shocked to see France go out the way they did, and for me, Holland as well.

Italy looks to be the favorite at this point.

I totally agree. Have been thinking the same thing. England's not going to win it though.

I have very similar question as well. I dont see England winning the tournament despite having lots of stars, just because of Southgate's weird tactic and choices. :D.

But you can't blame on anything if you see how the group of death played.

• Portugal with all the star from front to back failed to spark any kind of decent attack formulation. They were very very luckly to win last EC, and this time again crawl through the group staying at 3rd place.
• France was below par, lost concentration, and celebrated too much when 3 -1 up, before the 1st match, the dressing room was already a mess.
• Germany of Low was ridiculous, so many young star but he refused to play them.

Look at the Netherlands, they only had themselves to blame, hiring Ziggo Sport's kind of pundit, with extremely poor coaching CV: Mr. Frank De Boer.... played stone age formation 3-5-2.

So despite aggreeing with your unfairness statement, the lost was just fo them to blame.

Well tbh, generally, there is alway a home team that got home advantage in that kind of competition. The way Euro 2020 does thing was a celebration of sort and not to make thing more fair. Obviously, I agree England seem to get especially good treatment because of it and personally, I don't like it.

Now saying that England will win it right now seem way too early, they still got to win 3 games before that happen and even if they make it to the final, they are gonna have to play propably one of Italy, Spain or Belgium, all of which are propably more complete team than that Germany team.

Still gonna say the rant is deserved though, clearly, England team shouldn't play as many match at home.

I liked the concept of multiple countries, it's just weird that England stays at home all along and some countries have to travel to damn Baku. If it was all hosted for example Germany-Netherlands-Czech Republic-France.

I just simply hate the "Baku" thrown in the mix.

All the nations from the group F (aka group of death) were eliminated in this round of 16. Coincidence...?! I don't think so...

You can't blame UEFA for France loosing to Switzerland, Germany was poor and Portugal lost to very good Belgium. Look at Netherlands, they had basically free way to semi-finals, yet they lost to Czech Republic. Italy, who played amazing and looked absolutely best on the tournament almost went out against Austria. This is simply poor football and I love it.

Portugal lost to very good Belgium

Er, they were very solid at least. Still a bit sore Portugal didn't get anything out of that game despite all their attempts.

It's totally unfair, because you can play abroad, but not change locations each 3 days... France played groupstage in Germany, Hungary and Portugal against hosting nations that's not right conditions but the exit was deserved....

I don't know why we are just saying teams just play poorly therefore dismissing the fatigue part as if that wasn't a factor. It's not easy playing well when you're fatigued and not able to get a full rest.
Maybe they played poorly because they weren't fresh, maybe they "just" played poorly but maybe its a factor.
There is an obvious advantage in being able to relax and unwind after games, discounting that doesn't take away from the obviously unfair advantage England have had.

Also Switzerland in groups, they first played against Wales in Baku, then travelled to Italy to face them and then travelled back to Baku to face Turkey. While Italians were always at home and Turkey played two times in Baku. It was an unfair tournament in general. The eliminations in RO16 were deserved though. Except England playing at home against Germany and them also playing the Semis and the Final at home also if they qualify.

@Emrecan_58 You can't say the group fase was unfair but the RO16 was fair. It doesn't make sense! You can't have a fair RO16 when it proceeded from an unfair group fase. Its all conected!

I didn’t say it was fair I said the eliminations were deserved.

I didn’t say it was fair I said the eliminations were deserved.

Isn't that the same thing...?! If you say that the eliminations in RO16 were deserved, then you are saying that it was a fair RO16.

Or are you saying that the eliminations in the RO16 were unfairly deserved...? LOOL

Portugal lost to very good Belgium

🤦🏻‍♂️ your standards are very low if you think Belgium were very good.

Italy looks to be the favorite at this point.

I thought they might be after the group stage, but after their drop in performance versus Austria they are clearly not favourites.

No team looks like the favourites at this point.

@Marcos

I understand you but you misunderstand my point. With "The eliminations in RO16 were deserved." I only talk about the RO16. Not before not after. We both agree that before RO16, it was unfair. So in general it is unfair as they're connected like you said.

I actually concur with the opinion that this format has been terrible. Thus another reason why some teams did better and favorites underperformed. I can understand maybe two or three neighboring countries hosting.. but entire fcking Europe? Why not USA and Japan too?? UEFA is still ran by idiots who chase money.

Italy is a tank in this tournament. I have my money on these guys to take it all.

Also, if only UEFA read the opinion of fans, and paid closed attention to football to notice that English and Spanish referees in general are crap. What a shamble of a decision Michael Oliver has made. Yellow yes, but straight red?? Wtf should this sport be contactless?
I always thought that if player made a contact with the ball first whatever happens after is an accident. Sht happens. We want energy and drive from players to risk, yet these guys are turning football into contactless sport.

fatigue part

It was a factor.
Debruyne played over 50 or 60 games this year, he barely recovered well yet this man has to travel from one place to another. Adjusting to new weather, new pitch condition and etc. so many factors play the role.

I remember in 2004 players were complaining about new ball technologies that were making ball unpredictable at times. It wasn't made issue, it was true one because UEFA was bragging about that ball being amazing invention. Yet, why test it on the major tournament? Why not wait and see the flaws in regular league matches.. as always organization ran by people who have nothing to do with football. We need educated career football people not corporate man that used to kick ball on sunday and worked in the office or ran a business to make their way into football.

lmao when I saw that red card and saw that it was an english referee I was laughing - like of course it would be. And of course he didn't consult VAR. The best referee has been that south american referee that was brought it. I want to see more of him in the big games.

UEFA and FIFA keep making the same mistakes over and over, but there's no accountability so it'll just keep happening. The only thing they are worried about is the money.

I just hope England loses to Italy, if France doesn't win, England shouldn't win either

I say England have a 50% chance of winning the euros. If they werent England they would be favourites with the quality of their squad imo.

All four teams in the semifinals played all their group games at home.

• England - 3 x London
• Denmark - 3 x Copenhagen
• Italy- 3 x Rome
• Spain- 3 x Seville