QuoteAre Iceland going to bring Gudjonsen on?
I don't think we fell away against France so much as that we woke them up and they found a gear we simply didn't have.
Are Iceland going to bring Gudjonsen on?
I think Iceland did enough in the second half that the wonderful memory this tournament will be for them won't be tarnished by the manner of their exit.
What a tournament for Iceland. Not the most difficult WC qualifying group now.
Author of Never Felt Better (History, Film Reviews).
I fancy France myself but there are two BIG buts.Originally Posted by NeverFeltBetter
1. They haven't been tested yet. Haven't played a top seed or a group winner. The teams they played in order of ranking is Switzerland, Romania, Ireland, Iceland, Albania. The come back against Ireland showed character but bear in mind the team hasn't had any competitive games in two years either. So lack of competitive games against top opposition - how will they handle it if things get tight against the Germans?
2. They shipped 2 goals pretty easy against Iceland who did great in the tournament by their standards but let's be honest are not the big hitting team that you would be comfortable conceding two against even in the circumstances.
The real final is Germany vs France. Which may cause Germany or France to lose focus on the actual final which may open the door for Portugal or Wales.
Portugal, though results haven't been good have been producing a huge amount of chances. So if things click for them they could be in with a bit of a chance and I think they have been generally under rated when talking about potential champions.
But it's France for me, home advantage and quality squad.
Funny, France's defence has been spoken about all tournament - yet prior to tonight, they'd only had three shots on target against them, including two penalties.
Yet going on tonight, you'd imagine Germany will have to create chances against that defence, and then France are in trouble.
Evra was deservedly singled out as rubbish after the Romania game, yet has continued to get his game because they've no-one else. Aren't they missing their regular centre-back pairing as well?
The defence will be key against Germany I think. Not entirely sure it's up to it.
Agree you'd imagine the winners of that semi will go on to win.
The Telegraph manage to make it all about England, as usual:
Wales' likely replacements for the suspended duo are Andy King (PL winner) and James Collins (lots of PL experience). It's not like the cupboard is bare. Collins is hit & miss and lacking finesse but he has coped against good forwards before.
Whatever about Robson-Kanu and summer swallows, he has always impressed me for Wales.
Germany look classy everywhere except in the penalty box. Mario Gomez is just a more exotic Conor Sammon.
I can't call it either. I never gave Greece a chance until 75 minutes into the 2004 Final.
I am so robbing that!
Yep, but they were particularly vulnerable to direct play against Iceland. I'm not sure Germany have that kind of threat.
Ultimately it was a very dissappointing performance from Iceland after 4 very solid games. French tactics aside but right from the kick off Iceland looked very nervy, passes misplaced, possession coughed up and it looked like a collecive wanting. France had their very effective game plan and were focussed throughout, leaving not much space. I was glad to see Eidur Gud. come on as a sub, he could have come on much earlier, in no time at all he set up the 2nd goal. As he said himself, if only he had these boys with him in the team when he was flying at the age of 27.
The charter flight flotilla will return to Reykjavik later today. The Icelandic FA's cash till overflowth, it has been ringing non stop, raking in the cash for 3 weeks now. The after effects of such a tournament forray will naturally be much greater in such an sparsly populated, isolated, social environment than elsewhere. Most of the current u21 squad are still playing in the local league, yet they top their qual group, ahead of France. The FA is functional, consolidation will be sufficient.
I think Germany are a better all round side who perhaps find it harder to score than France but who, as davidatrb has said, are yet to meet a top side. I don't rate them but home advantage does count for a lot so a close one to call but when the chips are down, rely on the Germans (unless it's 1945). Evra and Sissoko I wouldn't have even in a Sheffield Wednesday side. That said Ozil is still living on his reputation from a number of years back and Muller has yet to find any sort of scoring form. Looking forward to it.
Forget about the performance or entertainment. It's only the result that matters.
An exotic Conor Sammon that scores loads of goals! It was a brilliant little pass inside by him to create the opening for Ozil's goal actually, Sammon-esque you might say.
Sammon did set up Keane with a lovely pass one time. Was it Georgia in a friendly? I've been underwhelmed by German's potency in front of goal but I've been underwhelmed by France's defence. I can see it going either way, really looking forward to it.
Sure during the BBC's coverage at HT of Belgium-Wales they managed to cut to a pre-recorded interview of Frank Lampard discussing the England team’s exit last Monday. They did the same thing during the Wales-FATDAD game in the second round where they had Gabby Logan chatting to Rio Ferdinand. You know at HT when the games are meant to be analysed.The Telegraph manage to make it all about England, as usual:
And then the coup de grace was where Lineker announced that Wales are the first British team to make it this far in any tournament since England in Euro 96 (or something along those lines). I know Wales are British… but Jeebus, it took no length to claim it.
DID YOU NOTICE A SIGN OUTSIDE MY HOUSE...?
I don't think it was quite on the same level as the Gomez pass but a very good example of what McClean should have done to give Murphy as tap-in.
Definitely. Hummels is a big loss, he has his own critics but he's by a distance the best defender they have. He was the difference when the sides met in the World Cup, they kept France at arms length pretty comfortably after he scored. France look a more serious outfit now though so it should be a cracker. Germany have been poor in front of goal but that could change in an instant, mostly the same players that knocked eleven past Portugal and Brazil in the World Cup.
Last edited by DeLorean; 04/07/2016 at 10:58 AM.
Beyond belief really from the BBC. I'd get over RTÉ doing something similar as obviously their allegiance is to the Irish national team, but prioritising an England post-mortem over the biggest game in Welsh football history was seriously insulting. I don't mind the Lineker comment so much, it could be taken as another dig at England's own failings or emphasising the scale of Wales' achievement.
did BBC Wales not have their own coverage without the English slant?
No idea, possibly, but even so...
They would have had the national coverage the same way that I was watching Lineker and Co on BBC NI
S4C had coverage of the game as well to boot. Can't imagine there would have been an Engllish bias there.
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