I guess we can all agree we want to see France smash Portugal in the final...
But the laws of the game clearly say it has to be deliberate. If the guidance says otherwise they should change the wording of the law
The laws have to strike the balance between not making every handball illegal (because something they're just completely unintentional and unavoidable, and you don't want to incentivise attacking players to start smashing the ball into defenders' hands when they're in the box rather than trying to score), but also not allowing players to impede progress of the ball by placing their arms in the (likely) path of the ball and then claiming that the ball hit them, rather than them deliberately playing the ball - defenders could make themselves much bigger, and that would clearly have a major impact on the game.
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It just raises deep philosophical questions about what is natural and what is not. At what point in evolutionary history did humans become unnatural?
"At the end of the drive the lawmen arrive...
I'll take my chance because luck is on my side or something...
Her name is Rio, she don't need to understand...
Oh Rio, Rio, hear them shout across the land..."
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Not blaming the ref, just saying on a different day in a different stadium I could see those calls going the other way. Germany paid the price for. Their lack of a genuine striker. They were also lucky to not concede another when Boateng did his obligatory dangerous error and let Giroud clean throough
Loew had identified a couple of things before the tournament, teams don't press and harder to break down and has lamented the development of players in Germany hasn't produced that many that can beat the opposition with ball at their feet and also picked Gomez for games like this.
Bad errors from Germany resulting in goals, France not making errors - it was a very Mourinho-esque big game performance.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2015/apr...
As average as Gomez is, Germany have looked 10 times better with him in the line-up than without at this tournament. They'll need to solve that problem if they want to retain their world title in 2 years' time.
France is a team that's actually still on the up - and once they iron out some of their defensive problems, they could be the dominant world team over the next 5 years or so.
Germany did have the 2nd youngest squad at the Euro's, even guys like Hummels and Boateng could still be there abouts for the 2022 WC.
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Not blaming the ref, just saying on a different day in a different stadium I could see those calls going the other way. Germany paid the price for. Their lack of a genuine striker. They were also lucky to not concede another when Boateng did his obligatory dangerous error and let Giroud clean throough
Loew had identified a couple of things before the tournament, teams don't press and harder to break down and has lamented the development of players in Germany hasn't produced that many that can beat the opposition with ball at their feet and also picked Gomez for games like this.
Bad errors from Germany resulting in goals, France not making errors - it was a very Mourinho-esque big game performance.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2015/apr...
As average as Gomez is, Germany have looked 10 times better with him in the line-up than without at this tournament. They'll need to solve that problem if they want to retain their world title in 2 years' time.
I don't know why Loew didn't pick a Kiessling/Meier type player in the squad to cover for Gomez.
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Yeah, Loew never seemed a big fan of Kiessling, even when he was younger and banging them in at club level. Are there any up and coming, young, German centre-forwards, I haven't been following the Bundesliga very closely the last couple of years?
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But the laws of the game clearly say it has to be deliberate. If the guidance says otherwise they should change the wording of the law
The laws have to strike the balance between not making every handball illegal (because something they're just completely unintentional and unavoidable, and you don't want to incentivise attacking players to start smashing the ball into defenders' hands when they're in the box rather than trying to score), but also not allowing players to impede progress of the ball by placing their arms in the (likely) path of the ball and then claiming that the ball hit them, rather than them deliberately playing the ball - defenders could make themselves much bigger, and that would clearly have a major impact on the game.
People like Coldplay and voted for the Nazis. You can't trust people.
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Yeah, Loew never seemed a big fan of Kiessling, even when he was younger and banging them in at club level. Are there any up and coming, young, German centre-forwards, I haven't been following the Bundesliga very closely the last couple of years?
Meier and Kiessling are both the wrong side of 30, Meier was top goal scorer a couple of seasons back. No young centre forwards in that mold have made an impact at Bundesliga level.
They have struggled for a long time to produce strikers, apart from the two mentioned above only Klose and Gomez are German nationals that have been top scorer in the Bundesliga in the past 15 yrs.
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But the laws of the game clearly say it has to be deliberate. If the guidance says otherwise they should change the wording of the law
The laws have to strike the balance between not making every handball illegal (because something they're just completely unintentional and unavoidable, and you don't want to incentivise attacking players to start smashing the ball into defenders' hands when they're in the box rather than trying to score), but also not allowing players to impede progress of the ball by placing their arms in the (likely) path of the ball and then claiming that the ball hit them, rather than them deliberately playing the ball - defenders could make themselves much bigger, and that would clearly have a major impact on the game.
The interpretations have now been included in the LotG. Also, obviously 'arm not in natural position' isn't the only consideration, but it has to be one of them.
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From what I saw in the second half France could have easily caused Germany more problems after they've scored the second goal. However, the huge difference was their decent defence against a rather pedestrian German attack. Not even a single one goal from Germany.
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I don't like Ronaldo and I want France to win but I still feel sorry for the guy seeing him struggling to play and then being stretchered off. Sharkty way for your big night to end
People like Coldplay and voted for the Nazis. You can't trust people.
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No winner this year, I would not mind. Don't like the football.
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yawn
People like Coldplay and voted for the Nazis. You can't trust people.
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Endorsed by
People like Coldplay and voted for the Nazis. You can't trust people.
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Well done Portugal------------------------------------------
If you are old and wise you were probably young and stupid
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Well that was a disappointing tournament all round
People like Coldplay and voted for the Nazis. You can't trust people.
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Well that was a disappointing tournament all round
24 teams yawn.
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#POR results after 90 minutes, including finishing 3rd in their group:
1-1 vs. #ISL
0-0 vs. #AUT
3-3 vs. #HUN
0-0 vs. #CRO
1-1 vs. #POL
2-0 vs. #WAL
0-0 vs. #FRA
Champions.
I'm an optimistic pessimist.
I'm positive things will go wrong.
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#POR results after 90 minutes, including finishing 3rd in their group:
1-1 vs. #ISL
0-0 vs. #AUT
3-3 vs. #HUN
0-0 vs. #CRO
1-1 vs. #POL
2-0 vs. #WAL
0-0 vs. #FRA
Champions.
People like Coldplay and voted for the Nazis. You can't trust people.
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Well that was a thoroughly uninspiring tournament.
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France run out of luck, Portugal not.
I was reading a good interview from Lucien Favre about the Euros. He said to many teams and the players are to tired from the regular season plus Champions league games, he is even more concerned about the plan for 40 nations world cup. He thinks fans are not stupid and will switch of because games going to be boring. He also says soon there will be only 5 5 tactics because players will be so flexible to switch to what ever is need in the game situation. He has not a good single word on Italy, he said they only play 5 in the back because they are just not good enough to play with 4 in the back, and the general lack of talent and no youth. Favre also disliked the whole 'defense tactic' talk he thinking it is easier to defend that why teams do it when they have no other quality. That said he is attack minded coach. He had some nicer words for Germany to actually try to play good football and had the quality but could not compensate all the injury in the semi, he think they are to slow moving forward.
I agree with him about the boring defensive tactics, I rather see my team occasional lose an exciting game than watching a defensive bore fest. It not always the result we like to see, it is the spectacle on the pitch. That why everybody loved Iceland, they played with some guts.
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This must be a dream!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
wellingtonista and benfiquista
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And what the fudge happened to Eder???!!!!??? In portugal he's seen in the same way as someone like appiah!
wellingtonista and benfiquista
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Endorsed by
And what the fudge happened to Eder???!!!!??? In portugal he's seen in the same way as someone like appiah!
Supporter For Ever - Keep The Faith - Foundation Member - Never Lets FAX Get In The Way Of A Good Yarn
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for the love of god, it's "lose" not "loose"
I like tautologies because I like them.
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for the love of god, it's "lose" not "loose"
Loose spelling will make them lose street cred with their homies
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for the love of god, it's "lose" not "loose"
People like Coldplay and voted for the Nazis. You can't trust people.
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Shame for France. Jammiest winners ever. Crazy that 1 win and 6 draws in 7 games can win the tournament.
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Loew reckons the Germans were the better team after losing 2 - 0...Anyhow Portugal will beat the French in the final...Really impressed with young Sanches and Ronaldo is firing !
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Euro2016 was a very strange tournament however it was fun being there. I got to see a few games live and traveled to other cities to watch games in the Fan zones.
The best part of the whole thing was the off field stuff. The thousands of foreign supporters made it a wonderful spectacle. Big ups for both the Irish teams supporters, the Iceland supporters were excellent too. The French too got right into it. France has had a shark 18 months with terrorism and domestic strife and thousands of Frenchies decided it was time to party. The Fan zones were great fun, colourful, loud and lively(some of the fan zones were regularly getting 80,000+ people). France is a great country to have a football tournament. Its easy to get around by fast train, its tourism/hotels/restaurants/bars etc all work very well. The sun shines, the wine/beer is cheap and its not too expensive outside of Paris.
I have to say that much of the football was often very average. The format where 3rd pool placed teams qualified for the finals was stupid. Many teams played defensively for a draw. Bizarrely most of the top seeds finished on one side of the draw. Portugal deserved to win the final because they outscored France but they were a shark team to watch in most of the earlier games. The Croatia Portugal game was one of the worst games of football that I have had the misfortune to watch in my life. Incredibly Portugal only led for around 75 minutes in the 700+?? minutes they played in the whole tournament.
Heres my picks
best game.....Italy vs Spain
worse game.....Portugal vs Croatia
best team.....Italy followed by France
should have done better......Belgium closely followed by Croatia and Spain
worst team.......England...at least Albania tried to play
best story....Iceland
best player....... Griezmann followed by Buffon
best fans.....Irish
scariest fans...Russians followed by Hungarians
best stadium...Veledrome in Marseille(and not coz I live down the road)
best bar....can't remember
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So apparently Eric Dier could've played for Portugal considering he was part of the Sporting CP Academy. Why would he choose to play for a team that has had a losing, negative mentality for decades over a team with Cristiano Ronaldo, etc. is beyond me.
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