havent watched colombia so no analysis but just some advice for scaloni: sub out tired players early!! after 70 mins your midfielders arent proactive, and messi and di maria dont offer much. this is especially important because aggressive pressure is your whole style of defending... youre not really relying on how amazing your starters are individually. you have paredes, lo celso, acuna, one of the 9's, and molina on the bench! i think scaloni either being scared to sub or overestimating how much better his starters are has cost him many times and was his weakness even in the wc final. i know theres no chance he subs out messi, and im pretty sure di maria will get minutes in his last match. if argentina prefer to lose than to win without their stars that they are so grateful to, then so be it. but if you constantly look terrible in the late game and concede and have to go to pens... you need some advice. not that they are bad at pens, but why not just sub?... i dont get it
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27 weeks ago
@Icarax it was a difference in quality as well really. on the attack some england players showed 1v1 skills and as a result created some better chances. england were able to tactically change the run of the play towards the end to score before FT, this convinced me southgate is underrated and far better tactically than people like to admit (beyond the fact that he's had great results with a team that used to struggle to make QFs). i think englands biggest weakness going forward is simply if they can find collective plays and not let matches go to penalties. both englands penalties and their reliance on 1v1 prowess sometimes are too volatile for my liking. still, they have collective quality in offense, and when you pair that with the one in defense, i wouldn't bet against them.
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27 weeks ago
there is so much to say i might need several paragraphs but luckily this comes few days late. i couldnt watch this match with a clear mind and missed the pen, but i have to say england are severely underrated. i understand this was their best match so far. to be fair to NL, if we consider the pen soft then they can feel quite hard done by by the refereeing; aside from the pen at some point all 50/50s seemed to go englands way, ref missed a NL corner etc etc. still, england deserved to win this match. more and better chances created. NL only really had a few half-chances, as a whole they struggled against the proactive and tight england defense. and when the NL struggles to outplay with ground passing plays, you know what's coming: spamming crosses. even then they lacked quality, not just the crosses but weghorst was so slow when he could've easily got to some balls. generally NL overcomplicated too much and spammed crosses when there were easier and more effective options.
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27 weeks ago
eng are tight, tough proactive & collective defense to play imo. of course, offensively spain are much better. finals are usually quite tight so seeing as the whole tournament has been so flat... its hard not to go for a 0-0 FT. i just dont trust southgate not to poop his pants here, but really, after the semifinals im convinced both teams have quite a bit of trickery (not to mention quality) up their sleeves and would try to clinch it inside 90 mins (as they both did in the semis). surprisingly england was able to control the tempo of the match at will against the netherlands - won't be the same against spain. i think, with carvajal back and with the england players' profiles, spain's weakness (blocking crosses) won't be exploited. their slightly smaller weakness which is 1v1 defending will be, instead. at the same time it will be hard for players like foden, mainoo & jude to be at their dangerous best centrally against the defensive numbers spain keep back. 1-0/1-1. if ET eng win
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27 weeks ago
@tkr thank you. Probably the reason the rule is hard to change because deciding a "serious foul" is more subjective than just any foul in the box. But completely agree. Beyond being too punitive, pens are too soft and still inconsistently given. With a stricter penalty rule there would be far less diving as well, it's embarrassing to watch really.
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27 weeks ago
@Beh I saw ur comment too late, but anyway I haven't watched England much so I wouldn't be able to give an accurate analysis sorry. Congrats for the correct btts bet so far (if you went ahead with it)
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27 weeks ago
some missed chances for canada but in the end they werent that threatening. argentinas defensive tactics, their instant aggressive pressure, are really good, and even with sort of flat performances offensively at this copa they seem too pragmatic to eliminate, not to mention the quality of finding some sort of incisive play at least once per 90 minutes hence their scoring record. they feel like champions and play with confidence, they know what they have to do in terms of dirty work but also provide great passing football, albeit less than at the WC. the only vulnerability i see is that after 70 minutes of playing so proactively, they are very tired, and cant keep up the same level of pressure. this aligns fully with their defensive record past 70 mins; think australia, netherlands, france, ecuador. if uruguay qualifies tomorrow things will be different because uruguay is a different monster to canada. messi: still decisive enough to keep his spot, wonder if itll be the same in 2026.
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27 weeks ago
@Murdock38 if i was argentina and i paid fifa and thats the "advantage" they give me? im asking for my money back
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27 weeks ago
forgetting germany's missed opportunity i think this is probably justice for football as spain seem like the only team at this euros whose main game plan is collective plays (although the goals today came off great individual actions). maybe without yamal's great equalizer the match wouldve been very different. both teams still very wasteful, especially france's attacking quality at this tournament has been abysmal for their standards. in any case, the openness in this match (although a defensive weakness as i've stated before) was entertaining, felt closer to the level of club football. if i had only got the score prediction correct i wouldn't brag as i could've easily been wrong with all those missed chances, but i'll pat myself on the back further since france did score from open play and it was an un-blocked cross against jesus navas who played instead of carvajal (who i said would be decisive on such actions and keep the score at 2-0). my work here is done
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27 weeks ago
@Sputnik not shaky relative to their competitors at this tournament per se, and i feel like that record is also thanks to their opponents' wastefulness (germany). but what i meant mostly is shaky compared to how perfect they could be. in my eyes they are not that kind of team that you can fully trust on a bet, as real madrid are for example. mostly due to the reasons ive been presenting, such as the space they allow, not blocking crosses, and some of their defenders' 1v1 prowess. the only defender that was decisive enough in my eyes was carvajal and he is out, also as a result of having to foul like that (which maldini would call a mistake as well). spain have good defence in this euros context, yes, but as an experienced viewer im sure you can also see the openness and exploitable spaces when you watch them. luckily for them all teams at this euros are like this or worse, not to mention far worse or even terrible offensively.
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