Euro 2016

First France v Germany at the Euros it seems! Crazy!

Also Germany reached 20 semi-finals in 26 tournaments thats insane, especially considering I grew up with the 1998-2004 period, but then again they still made the final.

hurts so much......

Never a pen..also a late first half lead is never good for the match.

There was me thinking it was a decent game between the 2 best teams, then a ref comes along and takes a shit on proceedings. I hope Germany ruin them now.

All footballers should aim for the opponents hands from now on. One of the first decisions in football. Touch a ball with your hands by accident, gift other team a certain goal..

Hope game is not destroyed now. I hate those fucking handball decisions from refs. Some refs give them some don't..no clear line

Boateng dead, that isnt our lcuky tournament it seems. But come on, still time to defeat the fucking french

Thats game then. This game lacks rivalry for some reason. Griezmann..I doubted him to be a leader like Zidane..but so far he is proving me wrong.

were better team but just can't score. thats what counts. such a bad finishing/final passing

If Germany manage to score once the French will collapse.Cant believe Low took Schweimi to this tourney

I'm enjoying the Sissoko praise from the commentators, maybe it will persuade someone he's worth the asking price.

OH FFS! the same ref who ROBBED Argentina in the World Cup final in 2014 (adidas had 10 million German shirts ready with the added star already before the final was played) now just gave France a huge push against the same cheats!

You could NOT make it up! Return the fucking World Cup you cheats!

f**k YOU!

Was never a pen. But ultimately Germany did not score a goal.

Their main weakness is they've only managed to find two strikers this century in Gomez and Klose. Reminds me of Portugal back in the day pre-Ronaldo. Great build up but never had anyone to put it away. Muller has good history in important games but tonight he was woeful.

Why is it not a pen? He leads with his hand in the air. I'm not a fan of the excessive calls by the ref for handballs but in cases like this I don't think there is a problem.

Germany were dominant but while it was 0-0 they didn't have any big chances except Emre Can's shot and France had Griezman's early chance. They should have done more and I'm impressed with France's ability to control the midfield or even their counters which were surprisingly sparse until the last 20 mins. But Lloris was hardly a contender for motm except for the great save in the end.

France vs Portugal is likely to be quite stale because they are quite similar to each other. Both teams are less than the sum of their talent and both struggle to create chances whether in build up or on counters. Portugal looks more secure in their defensive shape and France will be pushed forward in the final so it is quite equal. Deschamps got the tactics wrong for this one but I hope he keeps the same team because with 3 man midfield with Kante, it will be a scruffy final.

Super Progress wrote:Why is it not a pen? He leads with his hand in the air. I'm not a fan of the excessive calls by the ref for handballs but in cases like this I don't think there is a problem.

Agree  

I don't understand controversy. He had his fist close to Evra's head and clearly handballed the ball. It was difficult to spot actually (I think Rizzoli used his assistant suggestion), but it was a very good decision actually.

I agree with general sentiment about handball calls/non-calls being aften not clear, but this one wasn't one of them.

Very good match, I never though I will say that any team could miss Gomez... but this was the match (he was good against Italy and would really help yesterday). Muller has awful tournament, nothing works for him, even his instincts are failing him.

I can see why it would be given as a pen, but most of the time it wouldn't be given IMO. The rule is also deliberate handball, that wasn't deliberate as he was shielding his head, and the talk of unnatural hand positions is extremely subjective.

Kimbo wrote:I can see why it would be given as a pen, but most of the time it wouldn't be given IMO. The rule is also deliberate handball, that wasn't deliberate as he was shielding his head, and the talk of unnatural hand positions is extremely subjective.

You don't shield your head when going for a header, come on.

If referee would spot it a situation like this (which would not happen in all cases, as it was not very obvious to see live, especially in crowded penalty box) he will give it 10 out of 10 times IMO.

Well the obvious solution is video replays to help the ref, because I guarantee similar incidents will happen dozens of times next season without a penalty being given.

stinger wrote:

Kimbo wrote:I can see why it would be given as a pen, but most of the time it wouldn't be given IMO. The rule is also deliberate handball, that wasn't deliberate as he was shielding his head, and the talk of unnatural hand positions is extremely subjective.

You don't shield your head when going for a header, come on.

If referee would spot it a situation like this (which would not happen in all cases, as it was not very obvious to see live, especially in crowded penalty box) he will give it 10 out of 10 times IMO.

I don't see Germany complaining about this either although I did see that the British commentators/tv studio seemed to agree that is harsh.

Kimbo wrote:Well the obvious solution is video replays to help the ref, because I guarantee similar incidents will happen dozens of times next season without a penalty being given.

Maybe a few times when referee miss situation like this (someone punching the ball close to opponent head) and 0 times when he sees situation like this and decides to play on.

I don't remember handball controversy from last few years in Premier League with someone doing what Schweinsteiger did. For example all Huth handballs, which in some cases should be penalties, were totally different (usually he was hit in his hand when it was or it was not in natural position). He doesn't need to punch the ball though, he uses his head for stuff like this.

As NBA is showing video replays are killing tempo of the match. Never thought I would say it, but I am actually agains implementing it on bigger scale in football (Goal Line technology + maybe one challenge for coach per match is maximum I can accept).

I thought it was a pen too. Really couldn't understand the controversy.

But was there even a controversy though? Aside from this forum and the commentators from English highlights I saw, I haven't seen it being controversial and nor did I hear objections to the call by the German camp.

Swiney new what he was doing and got court

Ronaldo off already!

Shame

fucking french. how much luck can u have in a tournament, really? No opponents til semi, gifted pen, now ronaldo off. Wait for the winner in 88th minute now

They wouldnt have won it if this wasnt at home for them thats for sure. But on the otherhand should Portugal deserve it then the only beat Wales in normal time.

This game is the dog shit final this tournament deserved

I don't care anymore

Ya really shit final. Portugal might as well win, such a shit team winning would be appropriate for the tournament