Euro 2016 and Copa América Centenario
- Thread starter Fun_dip
- Start date
13700721:Bonzalo said:
Jesus now you're arguing just to argue, aren't you? Yes, I understand how people feel about their national teams.
You said Messi was useless. I argued that you don't become your country's all time leading scorer, score 4 goals at the world cup and 6 at Copa America, and get your team to three straight finals, even if they did lose them, by being useless. Surely a player who can at least get to a final, which, you may be surprised to know, all but two teams in every tournament do, isn't a complete waste of space. I don't remember anywhere saying Messi has been as good for Argentina as he has for Barca, or that not winning at least one of the three finals doesn't hurt his reputation. Please show show me where I said that. All I said is that it's stupid as all hell to say that he is complete shit and Argentina would be better off without him. Maradona has said more than his fair share of incredibly stupid stuff and was, let's not forget, the man who proudly led Argentina to a 4-0 defeat against Germany at the 2010 world cup. The man was an incredible soccer player, but let's not act like he's some sort of genius. Of course he wants to remind people about how great he was as a player and how he won a world cup, let's not pretend him saying this sort of thing is anything other than him pushing his own agenda. His greatest fear in life is people thinking Messi might be better than him. He absolutely loves how much Argentina worships him, and doesn't want that taken away. He doesn't give a shit about Messi, or Aguero, or any of the others.
13700740:Fun_dip said:
Right? I'm pretty convinced there's some kind of giant conspiracy against Messi in Argentina. It's like everyone in that country, including the players on the national team, are doing everything in their power to stop him from winning a major trophy for them. I don't know how Argentina can make all the way through a tournament scoring goals, then suddenly become completely unable to finish even the easiest chances in a final over and over again.
.MASSHOLE.
Active member
WALES?!
If they do win 3-1, it is a shame Ramsey will be out. Stupid rule with the addition of a new round.
If they do win 3-1, it is a shame Ramsey will be out. Stupid rule with the addition of a new round.
PeppermillReno
Active member
13701648:.MASSHOLE. said:
Agree sucks. Wales have been fabulous this tournament and straight up the most fun team to watch.
13701648:.MASSHOLE. said:
Yeah, such a ridiculous rule that 2 yellow cards over 5 games warrants a suspension. If you're UEFA I don't know how you uphold that suspension and live with yourself. Especially since it was a soft yellow to begin with. Seems especially stupid since they changed some very innocuous things (not having to move the ball forward on a kickoff, no stutter step penalties) but didn't change the 2 yellow card rule, which can actually be a big deal.
Anyway. Here's to hoping Wales can knock out Portugal. If they play they way they have, and Portugal play the way they have, Wales should have a good chance at winning. Don't like how much everyone on ESPN (and TV in general) insists on overrating Bale, but better listen to them sing his praises than Ronaldo's.
.MASSHOLE.
Active member
13701873:1337 said:
It was dreadful.
I'm glad Germany won, but christ do they need a striker. It is a shame Reus has missed the last two major tournaments.
Have I mentioned I miss Klose? He was pure class.
.MASSHOLE.
Active member
13701872:Laurent. said:
https://cdn.streamable.com/video/mp4-mobile/zia0.mp4
If embed doesn't work.
https://cdn.streamable.com/video/mp4-mobile/zia0.mp4
Laurent.
Active member
I want to stab Zaza, but before doing so do that troll-walk.
But muh Buffon, Chielini, Bonucci & Barzagli.
Their defending antics this tournament have been insane. Grizzled aged men with beards, stubble and life experience.
Also that teary Buffon, I cried manly tears.
[img=]http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2016/07/02/23/35E5684E00000578-3671839-image-a-53_1467499463332.jpg[/img]
13701875:.MASSHOLE. said:
But muh Buffon, Chielini, Bonucci & Barzagli.
Their defending antics this tournament have been insane. Grizzled aged men with beards, stubble and life experience.
Also that teary Buffon, I cried manly tears.
[img=]http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2016/07/02/23/35E5684E00000578-3671839-image-a-53_1467499463332.jpg[/img]
.MASSHOLE.
Active member
Iceland put up a good fight, but Les Bleus were just too good. As I write this it is 5-1 
theBearJew
Active member
Iceland were sure fun to watch. Played till the final whistle everygame no matter the scoreline. Only lost one game when they played England, Portugal and France. Fuckin Iceland man.
.MASSHOLE.
Active member
Portugal got through by the skin of their teeth this entire tournament. Felt awful Ronaldo got hurt in the first 25 minutes, but glad for his sake they won.
13703516:.MASSHOLE. said:
Least deserved final win of all time? Has to be up there. Specifically for Ronaldo. Have to think that Ronaldo getting injured and not being on the field finally let the rest of the Portuguese players play without having to worry that Ronaldo was going to start screaming at them for no reason. Guy seems like an awful, awful teammate, especially when he plays for Portugal.
Can't wait for the headlines tomorrow saying what a hero Ronaldo is for leading Portugal to victory, despite being extremely subpar in every game of this tournament except the one against Hungary.
13703517:Laurent. said:
Right?
13703516:.MASSHOLE. said:
Least deserved final win of all time? Has to be up there. Specifically for Ronaldo. Have to think that Ronaldo getting injured and not being on the field finally let the rest of the Portuguese players play without having to worry that Ronaldo was going to start screaming at them for no reason. Guy seems like an awful, awful teammate, especially when he plays for Portugal.
Can't wait for the headlines tomorrow saying what a hero Ronaldo is for leading Portugal to victory, despite being extremely subpar in every game of this tournament except the one against Hungary.
13703517:Laurent. said:
Right?
.MASSHOLE.
Active member
13703524:Bogs said:
Up there with Greece for sure, but that was the tournament on the whole. Outside of Wales and Iceland (who were more novelties than anything), no team was exciting or played well on a consistent basis.
I do think losing Ronaldo forced Portugal to be more creative, but no one who has watched him consistently can call him a bad teammate. Passionate? Yes. Loud? Yes. Whiny? Definitely. But he commands respect from his teammates and his opponents.
And he had a rather large impact against Wales with his goal and assist. Not to make an excuse, but don't forget his season ended May 28th (CL Final) and this tournament started June 10th. Not a lot of time off for a guy who is 31.
fujarome
Active member
Funny thing is how normally I see the winner of these tournaments and think "wow, that's a team to look out for in the coming years"
Except Portugal.
I don't see them going anywhere from this. Russia 2018 will be France or Germany.
Belgium has blown their chance, Portugal don't impress despite having just won, England will be shit. Spain, the Netherlands, rebuilding.
Italy is a wild card I think.
And I don't know enough about most south American teams to really comment individually, I just know nothing especially great is coming out of there at the moment.
Overall euro2016 was a subpar tournament. Some great performances, some good goals, but nothing about it really stood out and amazed. Perhaps too many of the teams are either rebuilding, too old, or too young.
Except Portugal.
I don't see them going anywhere from this. Russia 2018 will be France or Germany.
Belgium has blown their chance, Portugal don't impress despite having just won, England will be shit. Spain, the Netherlands, rebuilding.
Italy is a wild card I think.
And I don't know enough about most south American teams to really comment individually, I just know nothing especially great is coming out of there at the moment.
Overall euro2016 was a subpar tournament. Some great performances, some good goals, but nothing about it really stood out and amazed. Perhaps too many of the teams are either rebuilding, too old, or too young.
13703525:.MASSHOLE. said:
Completely agree about Wales and Iceland being the biggest bright spots in this Euro. Wasn't the best, especially compared to the Copa that just took place.
I've watched him consistently. He's an awful teammate. Like you said, he'll whine constantly at his teammates, getting frustrated with them throwing his hands and himself around in little hissy fits all over the field, even if he himself is playing terribly. It's ridiculous. Even the end of the game today, when he's not even on the field, he was whining at I think Raphael for cramping in the 115th minute. Not encouraging him, just whining, and being pissy that he was cramping. Not to mention that, after only playing 20 minutes in the final, he then goes and lifts the fucking trophy like he scored the winning goal himself.The guy is a great player, and he works his ass off, and deserves a ton of respect for that, but he seems like a total and complete self-centered douche.
True, the header against Wales was nice...calling that off-target shot that Nani deflected into the net an assist is generous.
13703532:fujarome said:
You should have watched the Copa. Argentina, Chile, and Colombia all looked consistently better than any team at the Euro. I thought the Copa was far, far better than this Euro as far as quality of play went. If Messi comes back, Argentina should still be a pretty big threat in 2018, along with Chile, and Colombia could be another wild card.
fujarome
Active member
13703549:Bogs said:
True, I didn't get a chance to watch it as much as I'd have liked. But this happens nearly every time the world cup rolls along. South America's teams are performing, looking good, then the finals start, and suddenly Brazil and Argentina look to be the only real threats, with Uruguay popping up periodically. Not to say the rest are bad, Chile is a great team at the moment, and as mentioned, Colombia is solid as well. It's a bit like England, always paraded about as the best then do nothing when it counts.
Matter of opinion of course, but if you're looking at the teams that are in great positions for the next 2-6 years, South America falls a bit flat overall.
Laurent.
Active member
13703532:fujarome said:
Forget about the Netherlands, players are either old and in their heyday or young guns such as El Ghazi & Bazoer.
who are barely allocated any playing time.
Italy, is always a wild card, for Russia 2018, Buffon has said he will still be there, and considering the age at which Italian defenders quit, the unbreakable defensive line of Bonucci, Barzagli & Chielini will remain intact so that's great for them. Verratti (butch lesbian) & Marchisio (dreamiest man in the world) were injured but they could be there in Russia, De Rossi will never not go, Motta will probably be too slow by then even if he remains as solid. So that's a pretty darn decent team.
Italy just needs strikers really.
.MASSHOLE.
Active member
13703549:Bogs said:
For all the grief you're giving him about being awful teammate, I have yet to hear one, both current and former, complain about his attitude and ability as a teammate.
http://www.espnfc.com/european-championship/story/2911135/euro-2016-cristiano-ronaldo-gave-unbelievable-speech-to-in-shock-portugal-soares
That is not to say he certainly is not a diva at times, but what we as spectators may see as complaining, whining, yelling, etc. is most likely seen differently by his teammates.
Remember the "controversy" surrounding Ronaldo when Arbeloa of all people scored a goal and he got mad? He was mad because it took away a chance for him to win the Pichichi where he was in a very close race with Messi. Arbeloa himself even acknowledged this fact and said he was absolutely OK with it because he loves how passionate Ronaldo is.
If you want a good American comparison, look at MJ. MJ was known to punch teammates when they under-performed or made mistakes (Kerr for example was punched in practice) but everyone acknowledged him as a great teammate and player because of his competitiveness and how contagious it was.
But to your trophy comments:
He lifted the trophy like he did because A. he is the captain and we all know it is customary for the captain to lift it first B. he was on that 04(?) team that lost to Greece and he knew this was likely his last chance at redemption, and C. because Portugal had made 6(?) semi-finals in their last major tournaments including one final, and had never won. This was the monkey off their back.
13703662:.MASSHOLE. said:
I really doubt his teammates see it differently, but I guess we'll never really know.
MJ was a dick to his teammates to toughen them up, to get them to care as much as he did. Big difference between that and whining and being frustrated even when you yourself aren't playing well. And, by many accounts, he wasn't that great a teammate. Plenty of guys who played with him for years never really liked him all that much. Winning so much made it all okay, but I don't know if he was a guy that people would follow to the death if he asked them to.
The Arbeloa controversy is, like, the epitome of Ronaldo being a bad teammate: caring more about himself then, well, the team. If that doesn't make you a bad teammate, I don't know what does. Also it's not like Arbeloa was ever going to come out and say that he thinks Ronaldo is a shitty teammate in public. Not saying he's lying, but just because he told the world he was happy Ronaldo was a dick to him, it doesn't mean it's necessarily true.
I just feel a more humble, less selfish player would have thought "hey, you know what, I only played 10 minutes today before getting hurt, and these guys really won this trophy for me, so even though I'm the captain, I'll let one of them lift it because I'm grateful for what they just did" Maybe this is asking a lot, but I've seen it done before.
Guess we'll have to agree to disagree here.
.MASSHOLE.
Active member
Kind of a cool Ronaldo story.
http://jakarta.coconuts.co/2015/07/03/how-soccer-saved-boys-future-aceh-tsunami-survivor-martunis-joins-portuguese-club
http://jakarta.coconuts.co/2015/07/03/how-soccer-saved-boys-future-aceh-tsunami-survivor-martunis-joins-portuguese-club
13703937:.MASSHOLE. said:
Yeah, it's so strange because Ronaldo, by all accounts, seems like a really cool guy off the field, doing stuff like this, dumping Irina Shayk because she missed his mom's birthday party, etc., but he's such a douche and such a diva on the field that it makes it hard to really like him. At least for me.
But really, breaking up with your supermodel girlfriend because she misses your mom's birthday party has to be one of the coolest things anyone has ever done, right?
Laurent.
Active member
He has problems.
That was Ronaldo's story. Her story was quite different and run by the Sun, who on sappy juicy celebrity things i trust even more then the Daily Mail.
[img=]https://s2.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/Vb3lApEmXPiTChy1RdB3jw--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3NfbGVnbztxPTg1/http://l.yimg.com/os/publish-images/sports/2015-05-17/64048bf0-fc6a-11e4-8da6-83b7b034af23_CFL7K3gUMAMv9Pf.png[/img]
13703978:Bogs said:
That was Ronaldo's story. Her story was quite different and run by the Sun, who on sappy juicy celebrity things i trust even more then the Daily Mail.
[img=]https://s2.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/Vb3lApEmXPiTChy1RdB3jw--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3NfbGVnbztxPTg1/http://l.yimg.com/os/publish-images/sports/2015-05-17/64048bf0-fc6a-11e4-8da6-83b7b034af23_CFL7K3gUMAMv9Pf.png[/img]