ICE-LAND!!! We have beaten them in the qualification group, we ended up first before them, so if Iceland becomes the champion, it will be almost as if we would become the champions! Go Iceland, go!
After an emotional round of 16 for certain countries, the Quarter Finals are now approaching and lets dive into the games and see whats what!
Before we start lets check my strike rate for the last 16! Prediction - Poland 2-1 Switzerland Actual - Poland 1-1 Switzerland - Poland 5;4 Penalties Prediction - Wales 1-1 Northern Ireland - Wales win on Penalties Result - Wales 1-0 Northern Ireland Prediction - Croatia 3-2 Portugal Result - Croatia 0-1 Portugal - AET Prediction - France 2-1 Ireland Result - France 2-1 Ireland Prediction - Germany 2-0 Slovakia Result - Germany 3-0 Slovakia Prediction - Hungary 1-3 Belgium Result - Hungary 0-4 Belgium Prediction - Italy 2-1 Spain Result - Italy 2-0 Spain Prediction - England 2-0 Iceland Result - lol
Strike Rate of Teams Through - 75% 6/8 games correct 1/8 games perfect score
Quarter Finals
Thursday, Jun 30 7:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00) Poland showed level heads and expert penalties in their win over Switzerland in the last 16, however they did concede a late wonder goal to the Swiss after showing they were pretty much in cruise control for most of the game. Will get tested alot more at the back in this game vs the Portuguese however they should in fairness have as many chances as they did in the previous game with the subject defending from Portugal. Should be an interesting game on paper and you can make arguments for either side winning, however for me with the way Portugal are getting through by doing "just enough" i can see them advancing here. Also where the hell is Lewandowski? If he was on form here like how Wales has been carried by Bale maybe Poland could be arguably contenders here and not just making up the numbers in the knockout phase? Prediction Poland 1-2 Portugal Result TBA
Friday, Jul 01 7:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00) Bales vs Belgium, i mean Wales! Surprise outfit of Wales have made it to the Quarter Finals here and earned the right. Probably the worst performance of the tournament for them in a hard fought win over the Northern Irish which was an own goal in the last 15 minutes. They had been performing much better before and with Bale the counter attacks they can spring onto an opposing team can be pretty brutal. However i think Belgium will eliminate them as this Belgian side over the last couple of games are showing signs of the class we have been expecting. They were well beaten by Don Conte's Italy in matchday 1, but after putting Ireland to sword on matchday 2 and breaking down a tough Swedish side to win on matchday 3, they spanked Hungary 4-0 in the last game which also saw the return of form of one Eden Hazard. Missing for most of the season for whatever reason, he showed a small glimpse to Chelsea fans in the final 3 games of the season he showed what he was all about vs Hungary. Using his quick feet and low centre of gravity to glide passed the Hungarians who looked like they were wearing lead boots at times and he was the catalyst to that victory. I see him being too much for Wales alone and that is without adding in Lukaku and co who can all do jobs, lets just hope Wilmots sets the team up properly for this tie. Prediction Wales 0-2 Belgium Result TBA
Saturday, Jul 02 7:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00) I don't normally start these things off with a view on referee's but what on earth is UEFA doing here putting an Hungarian referee on this massive game between two sides who are probably gonna find themselves in the final. Viktor Kassai is given the officiating here and his most notable game to do date has been the Ukraine vs England euro 2012 game where he allowed clear foul on an English player to carry on which led to Ukraine having an offside shot which was cleared "off the line" and play continued, however the shot was about 1 yard over the line, which triggered the great Sepp Blatter to announce goal line technology must come. So, this ref isn't exactly the best and 2012 was his last reffed big game and he hasn't even refereed at this tournament yet! Ok back to the football, Germany vs Italy, you will struggle to find a game bigger than this with two giant footballing nations going head to head for a place in the semi finals. Many side stories to this game, but most notably we have the fact Germany have failed to beat Italy on 4 occasions in knockout football, all the times Italy win, so will it be the same again this time? Will Italy continue being the German Kryptonite or will the Germans led by Low, avenge the past and conquer the Italian defensive masterclass. I see this game as being very close first and foremost, Germany and Italy rarely concede goals, this tournament alone Germany have concede a grand total of 0 and Italy have conceded just the 1 in a game against Ireland where they made many changes to the first 11. This means it will be all about the team that takes their chances when they come as you are imaging their will be few and far between, that brings us to the Germany vs Northern Ireland game, now the similarities here are in the way Northern Ireland defend where they put their bodies on the line throwing themselves in the way of the ball with all their body to stop a shot or block a pass, this is what the Italians are gonna do to the Germans when they come forward, so they are going to need to be on point with their attacking play to grind this side down. However as shown vs Ukraine in matchday 1 and vs Slovakia, the Germans are prone to counter attacks due to how many they commit forward in attacks and how high their defensive line is, this will be exploited by the Italians and again it will come down to whether Italy take their chances. Tough, tough game to predict but have to make a choice based on history here and on what i have seen. Prediction Germany 1-1 Italy - Italy Win on Penalties Result TBA
Sunday, Jul 03 7:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00) France vs Iceland, the game that sends shivers down my spine for many a reason, but most notably that this has some how become a quarter final game, the minnows of Iceland, a population of 323,000 people which statistically speaking gives me a 28% chance of being in the Iceland football team if i was Icelandic, are taking on the mighty French in their backyard for a place in the Semi Finals. France will come in as huge favorites and rightfully so, they are playing pretty well, taking chances and Greizman has found some form after stuttering in matchday 1. Iceland, well the fairytale continues, after getting out of the group stage in a respectable second place, they found themselves against England and well.....they now head up against France the tournament hosts in the ultimate david vs goliath showdown! France will be looking to learn from mistakes of previous teams and make sure they are prepared for the long throw shenanigans Iceland bring to the table, they have been a little suspect in defence though the French with Evra and Sagna really showing their ages and Rami not being the quickest of centre backs either. Iceland will be looking to counter fast and using set pieces to help muster a challenge to the French on Sunday but could muster something up and keep the French honest, however i only see one winner here and this could and should be the ending of the Dream. Prediction France 3-1 Iceland Result TBA So the Quarter Finals, there it is! Now lets sit back and enjoy some great footballing games over the weekend! CSS: FO-nTTaX Awesomeness: Panda Pictures: Sneirac
On June 30 2016 20:02 zf wrote: Kassai is fine. I'd take him over the vast majority of the referees in the pool.
For me that game should be treated as the final to an extent of being given the best referee UEFA think they have, me personally i would have gave it Clattenburg.
I'm afraid France will be unprepared when facing Italy or Germany, we have yet to meet a decent team. I hope they will go to extra time and be very tired against France. The final should be easy though.
On June 30 2016 21:02 Savatage wrote: Italy without De Rossi and Motta so no playmaker midfielder... easy win for Germany
I disagree, I think Italy just has a lot of cohesion at the moment and relies less on individual skill than other teams. If it were not fo the home advantage, they would be the favorites in front of France imo.
If you make your choice for Germany-Italy based on penalties, have you taken the penalty shootout history of either team into account? Germany: 5W 1L Italy: 3W 4L I think this game is about even, but when it comes to penalties, I still think we should just win it.
Also about Kassai: "most notable game" as in, the game for which he is remembered most? Because if we take this criterium, any referee will be judged by his worst game, and therefore none can be considered a fit to ref any game. Kassai also reffed the germany-spain 2010 semifinal, and I dare say this was a more important game than england-ukraine.
Anyways, I found it always an odd idea that we should judge a refs ability because of games years back. I mean, imagine we applied this logic to players: "This defender tripped over his own legs once 4 years ago, so he should not be playing in this game here today."
poland portugal 2:0 wales belgium 0:5 could be even more imo germany italy 0:2 france iceland 3:0
poland might lead 1:0, portugal might have to open up and will concede a counter, same for italy vs germany wales yeah rip wales. and iceland it's been a good run.
On June 30 2016 21:18 Mafe wrote: If you make your choice for Germany-Italy based on penalties, have you taken the penalty shootout history of either team into account? Germany: 5W 1L Italy: 3W 4L I think this game is about even, but when it comes to penalties, I still think we should just win it.
well did you see özil's and müller's penalties this tournament? lmao but i doubt it will come down to penalties. italy will win rather convincingly
On June 30 2016 21:18 Mafe wrote: If you make your choice for Germany-Italy based on penalties, have you taken the penalty shootout history of either team into account? Germany: 5W 1L Italy: 3W 4L I think this game is about even, but when it comes to penalties, I still think we should just win it.
Also about Kassai: "most notable game" as in, the game for which he is remembered most? Because if we take this criterium, any referee will be judged by his worst game, and therefore none can be considered a fit to ref any game. Kassai also reffed the germany-spain 2010 semifinal, and I dare say this was a more important game than england-ukraine.
Anyways, I found it always an odd idea that we should judge a refs ability because of games years back. I mean, imagine we applied this logic to players: "This defender tripped over his own legs once 4 years ago, so he should not be playing in this game here today."
I said i fancy Italy on penalties, the reason for that is due to confidence in this Italian side is way higher than the German one for me. Kassai most notable game is the 2010 champions league final or something the Barca vs Yanited at Wembley, or whatever, i said his LAST most notable game was in the european championships of 2012 in which he made huge errors in that game and has not refed a "major game" since. You judge a referee based on games played, you just players on games played. Referee's are judged on big games when they are refereeing big games, there is no other way to do this. The best refs in the world are the same few guys always being around, right now the list probably has; Çakır - Turkey Felix Byrch - Germany Mark Clattenburg - England Kuipers - Netherlands (when he isn't being an idiot) Rizzoli - Italy Errikson - Sweden
These are the top officials from Europe these days, or at least have always been refereeing the big games, not the Hungarian referee that has refed hardly anytime or any big games recently, it is stupid. Also you can happily re address this conversation after the game is played.
Yeah 1st leg of quarter final and the semi final of Villareal vs Liverpool which was a shocking performance. He has never done any noteable game of late. http://worldreferee.com/referee/kassai Is the list. It's not a list of a referee i think deserves/should be in charge of a huge game for the championships, in which whoever wins will become the favorite for the whole tournament.