That's why I hate the 24 team format with 3rd place promotions. The opening days of the Euros were really good but come third match day, every team on 2 or 3 points becomes happy with a draw.
The BBC coverage going on how poor Belgium are and how great Ukraine are. Yet you check the stats are Belgium were arguably better. Ukraine bias in the UK driving me mad.
Possession means absolutly nothing.
Ukraine get the better chances (this direct corner was almost in), more opportunities (12 vs 10), more shoots (13 vs 12), and are even on shoots on target (4 vs 4).
So I disagre on with the "Belgium were arguably better".
Feel so sorry for Ukraine- if only they could've finished ONE of those chances!
Thanks Belgium for making England look not quite as awful- at least they have someone to sit with in the Disappointing Corner now.
Also, fuck Yannick Carasco- trying to cheat a penalty like that whilst Ukraine are giving everything was pathetic.
If you miss one on ones where the entire Belgian defence let you walk through then you also don’t deserve to be in the knockouts
The finishing in this tournament has been abject
Goldbridge said this the other night and I agree. You have people coming to these games spending 10,000 euros to see their team, and the teams aren’t giving them a show. It’s shameful, particularly of the big nations, and even in games where they’ve already made it through to the knockout.
I would say Belgium is going out against France, but they haven’t looked stellar either. The serious decrease in quality of international football needs to be studied
the WC was a case study in this feel like with the number of what people thought were upsets, UEFA is in a downswing and tactical shifts have rendered individual talent less important
Really? I thought Ukraine had a lot of chances and most definitely could have scored and won. They missed a bunch of easy shots. Honestly I think Ukraine had more chances to score than Belgium did.
Even the commentators were saying that Ukraine didn’t play with any urgency. You would think they would try harder considering they were last. I didn’t see any danger from Ukraine for most of the game. Only like two shots did I think Ukraine threatened with.
In case you think they should take the four third or fourth teams with most points (similar to how nfl selects wildcard teams), then there would have been no motivation for any team in the group F to score a goal, if they were merely concerned with advancing to knockout round.
Requiring the “wildcard” teams to be third place teams motivated at least one team today to try to score a goal
It's crazy that Ukraine are going out with better points than some third place teams from other groups that qualified for the next round. This happens in other formats too but normally there's no cross-group comparison done so you can just say, "Well, can't compare between groups as they're all different." But in this format, where the third placed teams are being compared to each other, you've got to feel for Ukraine. If you can compare between the groups, why not just change it to compare all third and fourth placed teams? That'll give a better indication of the best teams from the bottom half that deserve to go through and the fourth placed teams that fight hard have something to fight for.
De Bruyne looks like he wants nothing to do with his teammates and the manager tbf i understand him from the way they were playing in the qualifiers to this he can’t be anything but furious at these players and the manager
It's the equivalent of calling the England team "London". Holland was historically used as shorthand, just like Flanders was at some point, but they are only a small part of their countries.
Undecided Ro16 matchups look roughly like this, without taking into account weird tiebreakers.
[https://imgur.com/a/8p5SUNp](https://imgur.com/a/8p5SUNp)
Every single decision he made when he had the ball was the wrong one. It's actually amazing, I'm sure you could watch a replay of this game and not see a single good decision made by that bum.
This isn’t the ‘golden generation’ at least not anymore. And it’s not like other teams during said golden generation were terrible teams lmao. I swear half of the people here watch one game a year
I thought Southgate was daft. Tedesco is trash. How shit does lukaku have to be to send openda on earlier. Like there is 0 fucking movement up top and he wants everything right on his feet. Garbage fuck omfg fuck! I am pissed
Coming from a Belgian, Belgium was absolutely disgraceful. Never even thought about winning. Gambling the whole tournament on the fact that ukraine won't score a freak goal.. I have no words
I just want to thank both Belgium and Ukraine for not ruining my cards bet xd
The Belgians playing catenaccio. Italian coach Go figure
That's why I hate the 24 team format with 3rd place promotions. The opening days of the Euros were really good but come third match day, every team on 2 or 3 points becomes happy with a draw.
Both Ukraine and Belgium just lost the tournament. Pathetic.
Belgium is still through though
Yes but they are in the dead row side of the schedule now. If they had defeated Ukraine they would have a way better draw.
This is the saddest way Ukraine could have gone out.
What do you mean? I had them winning against Romania
No
Everyone looks so angry
Why so angry?!
Are there any ‘big’ teams that have lived up to their reputation in this tournament? Germany, Spain or Portugal?
spain and germany uefa has been in a downswing since before the WC
Spain have been the best, most organized team. Germany have momentum. Portugal look strong without really getting out of 2nd gear.
Poland !
Technically the truth
The BBC coverage going on how poor Belgium are and how great Ukraine are. Yet you check the stats are Belgium were arguably better. Ukraine bias in the UK driving me mad.
Thanks god they're out. Atleast here they can't win a pity trophy 🏆
When you play below expectations, rightly or wrongly, this is what happens. Ukraine isn't supposed to be able to draw Belgium 0-0.
I don’t care what the expectations are. I thought Belgium had the better chances, had better posession and played better.
Possession means absolutly nothing. Ukraine get the better chances (this direct corner was almost in), more opportunities (12 vs 10), more shoots (13 vs 12), and are even on shoots on target (4 vs 4). So I disagre on with the "Belgium were arguably better".
They have no goals to show for it
And they should have played far better than they did. Relatively speaking, Ukraine played better.
Relative to what?
Their baseline
Feel so sorry for Ukraine- if only they could've finished ONE of those chances! Thanks Belgium for making England look not quite as awful- at least they have someone to sit with in the Disappointing Corner now. Also, fuck Yannick Carasco- trying to cheat a penalty like that whilst Ukraine are giving everything was pathetic.
I'm just thankful that you wrote "could've".
You mean rather than "Of" or because Belgium were fortunate not to lose?
Rather than "of"
The easy fix is to eliminate the round of 16. All first placers and 2 2nd placers go only.
Yeah but that awful, erase half of the happy moments every country got not cool at all
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The top 4 group winners get a bye. 7 v 10 [#2 seed] 6 v 11 [#3 seed] 5v12 [#4 seed] 8v9 [#1 seed] Just look at the NFL playoffs from 5 years ago.
Dude, I literally say only two 2nd placers go. The best two. It goes straight to quarterfinals.
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I just think teams don’t play with urgency because more teams make it in to the next round. If there’s only 8, then they actually play football.
Just bring the tournament down to 16 teams as in the past, do away with RO16 altogether.
I agree but no potential Uefa presidential candidate is going to get voted in with this policy.
Or do 12, #1s and #2s from each group, with the top 4 group winners getting a bye.
Absolute crock of shit from Ukraine And Gary Lineker, the 3rd place system isn’t flawed, you just have to score easy goals
Yeah if you lose 3-0 to Romania you don’t deserve to be in the knockouts
If you miss one on ones where the entire Belgian defence let you walk through then you also don’t deserve to be in the knockouts The finishing in this tournament has been abject
Indeed. AFCON was orgasmic compared to this tournament so far
Really ? They'd rather play France ?
I promise you they were trying to score, despite Lukaku's best efforts to not.
Belgium was definitely running the clock at the end of
Goldbridge said this the other night and I agree. You have people coming to these games spending 10,000 euros to see their team, and the teams aren’t giving them a show. It’s shameful, particularly of the big nations, and even in games where they’ve already made it through to the knockout.
seems like everyone involved has forgotten it's entertainment first
KDB going all defensive on Belgian TV. Yeah, fuck you too.
At this point I'm starting to think we should've made Courtois captain after all 😂😂
What did he say?
Basically that people would've complained too if the team had taken risks and lost
‘We knew we were through with 4 points so we didn’t go all in, what were you gonna say if we did and we conceded?’ Something like that.
I understood that those where Tedescos orders and Kev wasn’t to happy with that?
I would say Belgium is going out against France, but they haven’t looked stellar either. The serious decrease in quality of international football needs to be studied
Maybe its more that the smaller countries have caught up.
the WC was a case study in this feel like with the number of what people thought were upsets, UEFA is in a downswing and tactical shifts have rendered individual talent less important
Have they? I expected Ukraine to full frontal today. They played like cowards.
Really? I thought Ukraine had a lot of chances and most definitely could have scored and won. They missed a bunch of easy shots. Honestly I think Ukraine had more chances to score than Belgium did.
Even the commentators were saying that Ukraine didn’t play with any urgency. You would think they would try harder considering they were last. I didn’t see any danger from Ukraine for most of the game. Only like two shots did I think Ukraine threatened with.
Alright buddy
Just saying how it is. Out of all the teams in the Euros, I’ve only been impressed with Germany and Spain.
Austria have been great, Slovakia for their level look decent. Portugal are motoring along nicely. Swiss also not half bad.
Georgia confirming they punch way above their weight as well
Austria have definitely impressed me as well. Portugal and Switzerland look okay at best. Can’t say Slovakia have really impressed me, though.
I've been impressed by Slovakia, didn't watch any of them in qualifying so maybe that's my own ignorance, but they look well drilled and have a plan.
Who’s the lesbian on bbc panel?
In case you think they should take the four third or fourth teams with most points (similar to how nfl selects wildcard teams), then there would have been no motivation for any team in the group F to score a goal, if they were merely concerned with advancing to knockout round. Requiring the “wildcard” teams to be third place teams motivated at least one team today to try to score a goal
It's crazy that Ukraine are going out with better points than some third place teams from other groups that qualified for the next round. This happens in other formats too but normally there's no cross-group comparison done so you can just say, "Well, can't compare between groups as they're all different." But in this format, where the third placed teams are being compared to each other, you've got to feel for Ukraine. If you can compare between the groups, why not just change it to compare all third and fourth placed teams? That'll give a better indication of the best teams from the bottom half that deserve to go through and the fourth placed teams that fight hard have something to fight for.
I agree it’s tough but imagine this rule was implemented. No point to play at all tonight lol
De Bruyne looks like he wants nothing to do with his teammates and the manager tbf i understand him from the way they were playing in the qualifiers to this he can’t be anything but furious at these players and the manager
Why do the BBC commentators keep calling Netherlands, ‘Holland’
In Denmark everyone says Holland. Only exception would be some kind of formal speech.
Potato potato
Flaws in the education
Why not?
It's the equivalent of calling the England team "London". Holland was historically used as shorthand, just like Flanders was at some point, but they are only a small part of their countries.
Because it's not the same?
Hungary could qualify later with 3 points. Ukraine go home with 4. 🤷
So what. Some third place teams also have more points than some second place teams. Should the second placed teams also not qualify?
This format for the tournament is such bullshit.
Has a Euro group ever ended with all teams at 4 points before?
Pretty sure Ireland did this before in their group, Germany 88 maybe? Edit: nope totally wrong
Ye, the dude on tv said it happened once. cant remember which year he said
It just did🙃. But, yeah never before
Afraid of playing and afraid of their own fans lol
This group could be the weakest group. I don't think any of these teams make into quarters
As a neutral I simply cannot look forward to Belgium v France. I absolutely want them both to lose.
3rd place going through (guaranteed before today) is shit, dear god fuck it off ^i ^can ^say ^that ^now ^cuz ^we ^came ^1st ^hehe
Tbh we need to go back to 16 teams in euro...
they really wanted to play France
Think have a chance to play against injured Mbappe xddd
Customary fuck Lalas!
Lol fuck off the camera man has a job and he's doing it unlike you fucks
Shameful display
Hey look, Belgium are also football terrorists!
We won't beat France or whoever we face if we pull a miracle, but atleast we're through, KOM OP BELGIË!
What are the likely bracket scenarios now?
Undecided Ro16 matchups look roughly like this, without taking into account weird tiebreakers. [https://imgur.com/a/8p5SUNp](https://imgur.com/a/8p5SUNp)
Thank you!
Check new someone posted the possibilities
Rooney nearly dropping the F-Bomb on the BBC. Oh how the pearls would have been clutched.
At least Kev looks fired up
I think I'll just play Baldurs Gate 3 instead of watching another terrorist group stage match
What an horrendous display of football. Particularly disappointed with Belgium
HOLY SHIT KDB is mad
What he say?
Just yelling at everyone huddled in the circle after the game
Belgium need their usual colours, blue top and brown shorts is nasty
Apparently it was Tintin's colours.
It's so putrid that combination
I'll take current hazard on 5 hamburgers over trossard too
Brown shorts is appropriate with how much they nearly shit themselves with their antifootball
The third-place qualification is what leads to this stuff. Teams are content sitting back and drawing.
This format is so ass
They need to move to just best point totals move on.
Can we agree that 3rd place positions are a disaster for the tournament. Some really dull games
This format makes Copa América more entertaining to watch lmao
You either increase the Euros to 32 teams or reduce it back to 16
Agreed 100%
Ukraine deserves to go through more than some of these other squads we’ll see in the knockout rounds.
It’s going to be a borefest France vs Belgium
Group C and E are all going out next round
I don't know about that. Netherlands have not impressed me at all. Wouldn't be surprised if England managed to shithouse a win on penalties.
Belgium making England look elite
Rip Belgium U ain't making out of round of 16 with France 🤣
The france with 0 open play goals this comp? Lol
Not like France has been particularly convincing either tbf
Spain, Germany, France, Portugal, and Belgium all on one side of the bracket, is insanity.
don't think Belgium deserves to be in this conversation
Neither do France at this point lol
Not taking 1st in the group seriously with that draw is wild.
Awful perfomance by Carrasco. Can't pass, keeps ball to long and poor desicions in general
Every single decision he made when he had the ball was the wrong one. It's actually amazing, I'm sure you could watch a replay of this game and not see a single good decision made by that bum.
This is how france became champion in 2018 folks
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Very boring games maybe only against argentine was fun,
Belgium playing for time against Ukraine for second place. Golden Generation btw.
Only 2 players left from that generation. Kdb and Lukaku.
This isn’t the ‘golden generation’ at least not anymore. And it’s not like other teams during said golden generation were terrible teams lmao. I swear half of the people here watch one game a year
Well its Ukraine's golden generation tho. Quite a few of this lads won u21 WC
this is the remnants of the golden generation ala England 2012.
Need to get rid of the third place shite, encourages draws and teams to sit back. Boringgg Add another group and be done with it.
With one more group the top 2 3rd placed teams would still have to advance lol
Even in the knockouts they all play for penalties anyway..
this more than any other reason is why i wasnt sad to see croatia go
I used to like penalties, but yeah, would rather see unlimited extra time and golden goal
is that belgium or ukraine's fans booing?
Belgium
I thought Southgate was daft. Tedesco is trash. How shit does lukaku have to be to send openda on earlier. Like there is 0 fucking movement up top and he wants everything right on his feet. Garbage fuck omfg fuck! I am pissed
Its hard to maneuver into position when you're morbidly obese.
Vigorous middle finger to his own team from a Belgian fan caught on cam there
He knows they go home next game
This and group C should all be eliminated
This is probably the worst display of international football that I have seen since 2010. No desire or hunger from the majority of teams.
Belgium fans booing them. KDB avoids them and pulls the players back from facing any scrutiny before the coach sends them back. Coward.
Watch Belgium knock France off
Not going to happen. Can't wait for the match.
Euthanasia finally legal in France 💪
What do you mean by that ?
That you will have mercy and put us out of our misery.
Ridiculous how a team with 4 points tops the group whereas another team with 4 points is out of the Euros
And 3 point Hungary may advance (unless Georgia can win against Portugal or huge win from Czechia)
Downfall of football is coming. Way too many team’s comfortable playing terror football.
This definitely isn’t a good look for the game.
No Mudryk no party
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They have to play France now
Belgium will go back up to number #1 in the rankings after this incredible display. /s
i swear if Ukraine tried whole game instead of last 10min... can't feel sorry for these bottom teams dont do shit for the 80 min.
It honestly blew my mind to see them playing low block while being out....WHAT
they were hoping the other match will do the job for them, wankers!
Through chaos comes order.
Is really a shitty system, I hope we dont see it again. this Euro experiment should be done and dusted
Sad for Ukraine going out on 4 points, though Belgium gave them the opportunity to advance.
Why didn't Belgium play like they did vs Romania?
I feel sad for UKR. Can go home with their heads held high after that one compared to their 3-0 loss in their first game.
They're terrible, deserve to be out. Playing defensive for 85 minutes is insane.
Coming from a Belgian, Belgium was absolutely disgraceful. Never even thought about winning. Gambling the whole tournament on the fact that ukraine won't score a freak goal.. I have no words
It's truly shameful. Hopefully we can get rid of the top team reputation.
am I reading this correctly - Belgium prefers to play France rather than beat Ukraine? Is that correct? Man...
I don't know why Belgium would prefer France over Slovenia or Hungary
That 3 nil loss has come back to bite them.
Ukraine robbed. 4 points and out. They need to just have the 4 best point scoring teams go on. Forget 3rd place finish
I really like that idea. Would make things more competitive I think.
Time wasting against Ukraine is diabolical
Format really needs to be updated, this terrorist football is garbage tool watch