The Association Football Thread

[Elise]

Coming home...or coming Rome?

I love Italy. I love it when Italy is in the news, I love the language, the accent, obviously the food. If it was almost any other team I would support Italy. Now I don't know. Did I mention the Italian anthem is my favourite out of all that I've heard?

In terms of continuity, European coaches can sometimes be a good option for South American teams, but not now, and on the other hand, in that case, their game may lose its unique joy and skill....

Congratulations to you and Argentina. Why don’t you like European coaches?

[Alex Rien]

It's coming Rome. Donnarumma Incredibile. Complimenti Italia.

[Ben.Daly]

Originally Posted by Alex Rien

It's coming Rome. Donnarumma Incredibile. Complimenti Italia.

I'm devastated. Not because England lost or Italy won, I have no real connection to either place. But Saka's penalty miss at the end was hard to watch as an Arsenal fan.

I don't know what the process was to elect Saka as the 5th penalty taker, whether he stepped up first, Southgate picked him, maybe the other players backed down, I'm not sure. Regardless it just doesn't feel right for a 19 year old who's never taken a penalty for his club to be given that responsibility, especially given the much older and more experienced players in the line-up.

But from what he's shown at Arsenal he appears as someone with a strong mind who is prepared to face adversity head on when others around him aren't up to the task. I believe he can recover from this and continue being a star for club and country, it would be such a shame if in some way this event holds back his immense talent and hard work, he's still got so much playing ahead of him. The guy is the best young talent the club's seen for maybe a decade or more.

As for the teams in general I would've been content either way. There's a lot to like about this Italian team from the mix of their veteran defenders in Bonucci and Chiellini to their younger players in Donnarumma and Chiesa. All of those mentioned were very good on the night, Chiesa especially took my attention and I was a bit sad when he had to come off. It felt a tight game but I think Italy were the more threatening side in regular time and deserved their win.

England just can't catch a break I guess, though the next tournament is only in a year and a half. France lost in the final of the Euros in 2016 and won the World Cup 2 years later, perhaps England will repeat that this time 'round.

[AlizéeSuperFanFIN]

Wow! What is happening here!

Both wishes right! I could sometimes comment on the finale even more, but now maybe not More!

Originally Posted by Elise

Congratulations to you and Argentina. Why don’t you like European coaches?

Ty!! (And SorRy when the final didn't go according to your wishes...!)

I don’t practically “hate” European coaches, but as I said sometime in an earlier post, they often take the game too tactically and defensively...

Basically, the more northerly a country in Europe is, the more cautious and “joyless” the game is - of course there are exceptions!

[Elise]

Congratulations italy!

[Aragorn97]

I'm a bit late... However, it was so unexpected that victory. The last years have been pretty tough for our national team, but Mancini has been doing a great job; also the players are a good mix of promises and experience.
There is only one thing missing: a striker. Immobile and Belotti are decisive only with their respective teams and it isn't that great if on one hand you play against Lewandowski, Kane, Lukaku and Benzema and on the other hand you were used to Totti, Del piero, Toni and Inzaghi. But well... We can't complain.

[Ben.Daly]

Today, Lionel Messi had a press conference to say goodbye to Barcelona. Not sure what else to say really, a very emotional moment for many and the end of an era.







Reports say he will now move to France to sign for Paris Saint-German

[Ben.Daly]

Originally Posted by Ben.Daly

Reports say he will now move to France to sign for Paris Saint-German

And now it is official, PSG have released a video announcing the transfer:

https://twitter.com/PSG_inside/statu...89647303184386

[Ben.Daly]

Originally Posted by Ben.Daly

And now it is official, PSG have released a video announcing the transfer:

https://twitter.com/PSG_inside/statu...89647303184386

And from one legend of the game to another, almost out of nowhere Ronaldo has signed for his former club Manchester United.



What an absolutely insane transfer window, the number of high profile players switching clubs is incredible. And there's still a few days to go with other equally big deals being rumoured to happen...

[AlizéeSuperFanFIN]

PSG is now probably the best club in the world.

Now that Messi is in France, it would be interesting to know if he knows Alizée's career in any way...