Chiellini is pure class, when Verratti and Jorginho failed to position themselves well the backline of Bonucci and Chiellini did the job and for the shots that came through Donnarumma made a couple of great saves.

We lack a CB that would make a strong duo with T.Silva IMO.

Italy's semi with Spain should be interesting.

I expect Italy to win though Spain will be up for that though I think they lack the sharp cutting edge to beat Italy.

Jorginho has been very impressive in this competition, he's on the team of the Euros thats for sure...

3 hours ago, comtrend said:

Belgiums tactics was all over the place. The attackers and KDB would try to press high up the pitch, while their 3 slow defenders dropped low, leaving huge spaces in midfield for Witze and Tilemans to cover. Hopefully they get rid of that clown Martinez now.

Cannot believe the world number 1 side has such a muppet as manager. Would be like Bayern appoint Big Sam.

3 hours ago, axman2526 said:

Cannot believe the world number 1 side has such a muppet as manager. Would be like Bayern appoint Big Sam.

The only thing Martinez has done apart from ruining the Belgian golden generation is interfere in their club careers.. a team which had a prime Hazard /KDB/Lukaku/Kompany/Courtois should have won at least one tournament out of the 3/4 they competed in.. completely shambolic that Belgium couldn’t find a better manager than this fraud!

2 hours ago, Jangz said:

The only thing Martinez has done apart from ruining the Belgian golden generation is interfere in their club careers.. a team which had a prime Hazard /KDB/Lukaku/Kompany/Courtois should have won at least one tournament out of the 3/4 they competed in.. completely shambolic that Belgium couldn’t find a better manager than this fraud!

The Dutch may face the same problem. The old coaching/managing guard is retreating, but the new(er) generation, many former players, so far hasn't really convinced as managers. And the younger managers who are doing well at clubs (Ter hag for instance) probably know better than to accept the national job. How much success can be reasonably expected? 

Have to say it's been a pretty disappointing tournament for the good attacking teams. Shame to see turgid trash football progress to the semis on one side of the draw. 

Sad when England are arguably the most entertaining team in the tournament.

Pleased Italy went through, not a fan of Belgium in the slightest, littered with players I have a strong dislike for. Martinez is a fraud too.

20 minutes ago, Blue Exile said:

Pleased Italy went through, not a fan of Belgium in the slightest, littered with players I have a strong dislike for. Martinez is a fraud too.

Which ones apart from courtois ?

55 minutes ago, Jangz said:

Which ones apart from courtois ?

The back 3 which consist of a current spud a former spud and a former gooner. 
 

Lukaku - comes across as really arrogant, great example last night that he has no right to be.

KDB - don’t dislike him per se, but he has the face of a 12 year old who’s just been told off by his parents.

so that makes 6 including big nose in goal.

 

3 hours ago, Spiller86 said:

Have to say it's been a pretty disappointing tournament for the good attacking teams. Shame to see turgid trash football progress to the semis on one side of the draw. 

Sad when England are arguably the most entertaining team in the tournament.

Haha, I've found the Italians most exciting, that is until they decide to play keep ball to preserve a lead. Such neat and clinical players.

I'm interested tonight, have not seen much of the Ukrainians yet they run and run and some have a decent shot.

Mount might be needed as a sub if not a starter. 

 

12 hours ago, Strider6003 said:

Italy's semi with Spain should be interesting.

I expect Italy to win though Spain will be up for that though I think they lack the sharp cutting edge to beat Italy.

Traditionally Italy have tended to beat Spain ex that period when Spain went on the rampage and swept all before them (they beat Italy in one of the euros iirc?). Also I wonder if Enrique will be haunted by memories of Tassotti’s elbow smashing his nose when Italy beat Spain in the 1994 World Cup. Anyone remember that?

2 minutes ago, Dean said:

Traditionally Italy have tended to beat Spain ex that period when Spain went on the rampage and swept all before them (they beat Italy in one of the euros iirc?). Also I wonder if Enrique will be haunted by memories of Tassotti’s elbow smashing his nose when Italy beat Spain in the 1994 World Cup. Anyone remember that?

Yep, I remember that it looked brutal.

Spain have an inferiority complex with Italy and it crosses into other fields too not just sport.

Adds to the sense of theatre though think Il Azzurri wins this time.

Just now, Strider6003 said:

Yep, I remember that it looked brutal.

Spain have an inferiority complex with Italy and it crosses into other fields too not just sport.

Adds to the sense of theatre though think Il Azzurri wins this time.

Food is one of them for sure!

20 minutes ago, Dean said:

Traditionally Italy have tended to beat Spain ex that period when Spain went on the rampage and swept all before them (they beat Italy in one of the euros iirc?). Also I wonder if Enrique will be haunted by memories of Tassotti’s elbow smashing his nose when Italy beat Spain in the 1994 World Cup. Anyone remember that?

Spain has traditionally never had a strong national team. For those of us old enough the 2008-20012 period was unheard of and the exception rather than the rule. We never got past the round of 16, if we got to qualify. Maybe the final lost to France in the Euro of 1984 was the best we had ever done. And Italy has always been our nemesis, much like Germany to England. It was amazing to beat them in 2008 and 2012, but I’m afraid that this year things will get back to normal with Italy beating us. I remember the elbowing from Tassoti very well, I was watching the game in a hall of residence at UEA with some friends. I believe that Tassoti was banned from playing for a long number of games, not sure if he ever played again.

25 minutes ago, Strider6003 said:

Yep, I remember that it looked brutal.

Spain have an inferiority complex with Italy and it crosses into other fields too not just sport.

Adds to the sense of theatre though think Il Azzurri wins this time.

I don't like Spain but would prefer Dave to get a win. Chance for him to keep topping up his trophy cabinet. 

22 minutes ago, Dean said:

Food is one of them for sure!

If we have something that we are proud of and which is not below par with Italy, is food. Tortilla española, croquetas, cocido, fabada, pulpo a feira, all kinds of paella, gazpacho, salmorejo, a far superior ham (jamón ibérico pata negra) and cured meats like chorizo, salchichón, morcillas, fresh fish, Iberian pork meats…. Our tapas and pintxos, wines…. Nothing to envy Italy, though I like their country and their food as well very much and I feel close to Italians in many ways being Mediterranean.

7 minutes ago, RMH said:

Spain has traditionally never had a strong national team. For those of us old enough the 2008-20012 period was unheard of and the exception rather than the rule. We never got past the round of 16, if we got to qualify. Maybe the final lost to France in the Euro of 1984 was the best we had ever done. And Italy has always been our nemesis, much like Germany to England. It was amazing to beat them in 2008 and 2012, but I’m afraid that this year things will get back to normal with Italy beating us. I remember the elbowing from Tassoti very well, I was watching the game in a hall of residence at UEA with some friends. I believe that Tassoti was banned from playing for a long number of games, not sure if he ever played again.

I had always presumed the Spanish were good in the WC or Euros due to the success of clubs like Madrid or Barca.

I was working in an international company when Spain won the WC and congratulated a Spanish product manager and the response I got was amazing, his spoken English was very poor yet written English very good.

He said along the lines of, 'it was amazing and never expected to see it in his lifetime and how proud he was of the national team.' 

29 minutes ago, Strider6003 said:

I had always presumed the Spanish were good in the WC or Euros due to the success of clubs like Madrid or Barca.

I was working in an international company when Spain won the WC and congratulated a Spanish product manager and the response I got was amazing, his spoken English was very poor yet written English very good.

He said along the lines of, 'it was amazing and never expected to see it in his lifetime and how proud he was of the national team.' 

We were lucky to have that bunch of generational talent at the same time in the period 2008-2012. Other than that, the team always had some good players but not world class, and I think the best we always did was in the 90s to get to the quarter finals. Except the Euro 1984, when we got beaten by Platini’s France in the final, it was just an average team. And that’s what the Spanish kids now a days can’t believe, they think that Spain has been a strong team always because they grew up seeing the amazing triplet.

11 hours ago, axman2526 said:

Cannot believe the world number 1 side has such a muppet as manager. Would be like Bayern appoint Big Sam.

I think that has more to do with how this list is constructed. What has Belgium done to be considered the best footballing nation in the world? 

1 hour ago, RMH said:

If we have something that we are proud of and which is not below par with Italy, is food. Tortilla española, croquetas, cocido, fabada, pulpo a feira, all kinds of paella, gazpacho, salmorejo, a far superior ham (jamón ibérico pata negra) and cured meats like chorizo, salchichón, morcillas, fresh fish, Iberian pork meats…. Our tapas and pintxos, wines…. Nothing to envy Italy, though I like their country and their food as well very much and I feel close to Italians in many ways being Mediterranean.

I certainly didn’t mean to offend. FWIW I think Spanish cuisine is fantastic, one of the best. It’s just that Italy is THE best for me. V subjective of course. I would agree that some of the Spanish cured meats are better than the Italian ones and you can very plausibly make a case for Spanish food in general being better than Italian.
 

Btw since we are doing Mediterranean food comps, my favourite cured meat of all is the Dalmatian one (dalmatinski pršut) especially from around Drniš. Has to be the best ones, not the one you can buy in the supermarkets. You should try it if you ever go there. I get that I could be accused of bias here, so let me also say I think by and large Croatia doesn’t come anywhere close to either Spain or Italy in the food rankings.  

37 minutes ago, RMH said:

We were lucky to have that bunch of generational talent at the same time in the period 2008-2012. Other than that, the team always had some good players but not world class, and I think the best we always did was in the 90s to get to the quarter finals. Except the Euro 1984, when we got beaten by Platini’s France in the final, it was just an average team. And that’s what the Spanish kids now a days can’t believe, they think that Spain has been a strong team always because they grew up seeing the amazing triplet.

Kanté?

23 minutes ago, Dean said:

I certainly didn’t mean to offend. FWIW I think Spanish cuisine is fantastic, one of the best. It’s just that Italy is THE best for me. V subjective of course. I would agree that some of the Spanish cured meats are better than the Italian ones and you can very plausibly make a case for Spanish food in general being better than Italian.
 

Btw since we are doing Mediterranean food comps, my favourite cured meat of all is the Dalmatian one (dalmatinski pršut) especially from around Drniš. Has to be the best ones, not the one you can buy in the supermarkets. You should try it if you ever go there. I get that I could be accused of bias here, so let me also say I think by and large Croatia doesn’t come anywhere close to either Spain or Italy in the food rankings.  

No offence taken, mate! I was just surprised, we certainly are a lesser country than Italy in economy and many things like national team football, but certainly not in the food or I don’t think so, anyways.
I have seen a Croatian stall in my local market here in the uk that sell all kinds of cured meats and cheeses, and I have to agree that they have very good aspect, but never tasted them. I’ll put them on my list, certainly it is also a country I’d like to visit at some point.

27 minutes ago, Valerie said:

Kanté?

I’m sure Kanté was seeing running around in the pitch in 2008, 2010 and 2012, but they all talked about extraterrestrials having come in an UFO. Now it’s explained!

50 minutes ago, reparto corse said:

I think that has more to do with how this list is constructed. What has Belgium done to be considered the best footballing nation in the world? 

Win a lot of games I imagine